With Easter around the corner, a new apologetics ministry announced this week that it will soon be offering a course that examines why the resurrection of Jesus is such a core teaching in the Christian faith.
The course, entitled "The Historicity of the Resurrection," will be offered as part of Athanatos Christian Ministries' new online academy, which launched at the beginning of February.
A Barna Group survey last October found that 75 percent of Americans believe in the resurrection as the literal truth.
Athanatos Executive Director Anthony Horvath, one of the course's facilitators, says that resurrection is a claim that is unique to the Christian faith and is not present in any other religions.
"Jesus claimed to be God. The resurrection gives us a very important reason to believe His claim," explained Horvath to The Christian Post.
"God respects our need to have evidence for things," he added. "He didn't send a guy out to make some claims and disappear into the clouds."
Athanatos’ online offering is designed to be taught at an introductory level. It is for the average Christian who has questions but doesn't know where to go, according to Horvath.
Horvath, who has ten years of experience in the apologetics ministry and has taught at a Bible college, said he used to direct his ministry toward hard-core atheists but only recently began focusing on Christians.
While ministering to non-Christians, Horvath observed that most of them had been Christians before.
"They were raised Christians but they leave Christianity because they never really understood it in the first place," he said, noting his comment was true for "Skeptic" magazine editor Michael Shermer and "The God Delusion" author Richard Dawkins.
Horvath’s goal now is to equip Christians with a proper understanding of Scripture before misunderstandings cause detriment to their faith.
"We have launched our online academy because many people long to know more about the Christian faith but are not being taught," said Horvath. "Many Christians will fall away from the faith completely."
Instruction for the apologetics course is set to begin April 15.
For the two-week course on Jesus' resurrection, students will be referring to the book "Son Rises: The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus," written by Christian apologist William Lane Craig, as the base text.
The Athanatos Online Academy will also be offering classes on other topics such as the New Testament Canon and an introduction to biblical Greek. Each course costs $15 and would require five hours or more each week.
"The formation of the New Testament Canon seems very academic and wouldn't get covered in most Sunday school classes," said Horvath.
The course would help "immunize" Christians against challenges posed by books like "The Da Vinci Code," he said.
Whichever course people decide on taking, Horvath is hoping that Christians will take a pro-active approach to studying their faith.
"The one thing that we can't do any more is assume that just by virtue of being in a Christian climate we're going to raise informed and educated Christians."
On the Web: More information on courses offered by Athanatos Christian Ministries at www.athanatosministries.org/courses
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Comments
<<In any case, Mithrias is an extremely poor case.>>
Why? How is Mithraism a poor case for comparison? The similarities between the two religions are far reaching.
<<nor do I believe that the belief is intellectually sustainable, however, even if it were true, it would indeed invalidate those "more primitive religions",>>
How? Can you prove that the primitive religions, which had followers are invalidated by the existence of a recognizably similar, borrowed tradition called Christianity, which historically arrived on the scene after the Advent of Christ?
<<unless of course you believe the Bible is a lie, if you believe it is a lie, then you can say anything you want, but if you believe it is a lie, you can't really call yourself a Christian now can you?>>
Many Christians assert a different doctrine than I believe, yet I allow that they are Christians because they are asserting and professing their faith in Jesus exists; they are also asserting what they believe as they understand it. Many Christian tenets, doctrines and beliefs exist, contradicting what some other Christians believe. Are you saying those who don’t believe the Bible aren’t Christians, even though they profess Christ? I haven’t read anything in the Bible that indicates to me that in order to be a Christian I need to believe the Bible is true. I am a Christian if I profess Christ, no?
<<unless of course you believe the Bible is a lie, if you believe it is a lie, then you can say anything you want, but if you believe it is a lie, you can't really call yourself a Christian now can you?>>
Many Christians assert a different doctrine than I believe, yet I allow that they are Christians because they are asserting and professing their faith in Jesus exists; they are also asserting what they believe as they understand it. Many Christian tenets, doctrines and beliefs exist, contradicting what some other Christians believe. Are you saying those who don’t believe the Bible aren’t Christians, even though they profess Christ? I haven’t read anything in the Bible that indicates to me that in order to be a Christian I need to believe the Bible is true. I am a Christian if I profess Christ, no?
I know of no scripture which says belief in the Bible credits one as a Christian, do you?
myTmuus said:
"Many Christians like me, believe that primitive religions foreshadowed what would later take place after the advent of Christianity, does that invalidate those other more primitive religions?"
Chris333 said
<<I am not sure that many Christians believe this>>
I know many who do. In fact the very subject is discussed on Athanatos Online… I quote
“For the sake of this post, let’s merely concede that there are similarities to ancient myths and train our minds on the critical distinction: none of them are set against a historical backdrop as fleshed out as Christianity. In other words, it may be absolutely true that Christianity is ‘borrowed’ but the fact that the resurrection actually happened, nonetheless, only means looking with less skeptical eyes on the ‘ancient myths.’ For example, we might ask ourselves if the ancient myths were foreshadows. A standard literary device. I’m sure most have heard of it.
Maybe there are ‘pagan parallels’ in Christianity, but if in fact the historical evidence is that the Christian account actually happened, the significance of those parallels changes dramatically.”
http://sntjohnny.com/front/easter-is-no-legend-the-resurrection-is-no-mere-myth-myth-made-fact-is-a-different-story/236.html
<<I wonder if myTmuus is another alias. >>
For whom? I just joined last week, prior to last week I had never participated in these discussions.
<<Lazarus was only temporarily raised from the dead and died again, others mentioned died again as well, and their remains remain.>>
That “temporary” theory is only taught in religious traditions. Are there any Bible scriptures indicating that Lazarus, Jarius' Daughter, the young man during his own funeral procession and the other similar resuscitations performed by the apostles, like Dorcas and Eutychus ever went beyond the miraculous event they are written?. I think, the miracle of the resurrections occurs and the narratives end as such. So, are you naturally assuming or guessing that later they died, or is there some better evidence else where, other than in the Bible which confirms it?Because to the best of my knowledge the Bible stops at their resurrections.
<<accension is a rising of the soul, resurrection is a complete body and soul being taken into heaven.>>
Do you think an ascension is just “a rising of the soul?” I ask because I was taught that when Jesus ascended it was his resurrected body. And the same theory goes for the other Gods I previously mentioned, i.e. Osirus, Attis and Mithra. The hieroglyphs, texts, artwork and oral traditions their followers left, claim bodily resurrections occurred.
<<The Bible is clear that the only man who was Resurrected was Jesus Christ.>>
How do you explain this statement? “Throughout Christian history up to the present day there have been various accounts of Christians raising people from the dead.”
<<I am not sure how to answer this, my comment was in response to the difference between the two such as dying and going to heaven is more of an accention rather then a resurrection per se... >>
Well the reason I asked was because several pre-Christian religions present resurrections their followers claim actually occurred. Does it matter if we call them stories, legends, or myths? These are all faith based beliefs and practices.
Some Christians claim the Bible is factual. I don’t wish to step on any toes, so I am being very careful with how I turn a phrase. I do understand that according to Egyptian holy texts and hieroglyphs convey the story that Osirus rose from the dead. Accounts from ancient Greek texts say the God Attis, was resurrected and so does the sacred texts in Persian witness a resurrection for the God Mithra.
<<There are many post Jesus documents that talk about his ressurection as well as his accention and many of the witnesses documented what they saw as well…>>
Indulge me if you will, but what are the names of the “many Jesus documents” to which you are referring? Could you be more specific?
<<Do you think the tower of babel was built for the fun of it, no it was built in defiance of God's commandments, same as worshiping other "Gods" or in this case "false Gods". So to ask how do i know they were false Gods is because i believe in the 10 commandments, number 1 being there shall be no other God…>>
You side stepped my question. But, FWIW I don’t think anything about the Tower of Babel other than it being an allegory or a story that explains the origin of nations, of their languages, and of Babylon (Babel). The story's theme of competition between the Lord and humans appears elsewhere in Genesis, in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The story displays the Lord's contempt for human ambition.
The traditional Judaeo-Christian interpretation, as found for example in Flavius Josephus, explains the construction of the tower as a hubristic act of defiance against God, ordered by the arrogant tyrant, Nimrod.
I don’t understand, other than through a blatant misinterpretation, how anyone could confuse an allegory about language, the origins of nations and God’s disdain for human ambition, with it being a story about FALSE Gods. The story pretty much speaks for it’s self as the way .
You guys have got to check out this article on a recent poll done in the UK. Atheists have the craziest beliefs. If you are like me you'll have to read it two or three times to get it.
“The opinions of atheists are especially interesting. 23% of respondents identified themselves as such, but 14% of these think Easter was about Jesus dying for the sins of the world, 12% believe he rose again from the dead, and, remarkably, 7% think he was son of God.”
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/over.half.of.britons.believe.jesus.rose.from.the.dead/17383.htm
Thanks Chris for backing me. This would be the third time in the last few days. I especially enjoyed your closing comment, “…only the popular anti-Christian writers would put forth something so unscholarly.” It made me think of Dr WL Craig trying to arrange a debate with Richard Dawkins whom declined on the grounds that he wasn’t a bishop. Having had the luxury of being present in one of Craig’s debates, I can say that he would demolish Dawkins.
You may want to go to Craig’s new web sight Reasonable Faith to download his latest podcasts, they are most interesting, very short and quick to the point.
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/PageServer?pagename=podcasting_main
Thanks Star! It looks like he flagged your earlier post exposing him. I wonder if myTmuus is another alias.
seedplanter
Re:star2,
Is this bobcu?
Yes as well as Dwen/yyyy/xxxx/oldguy/first/danny2/danny/BobC/BobCu and who knows what else.
"Many Christians like me, believe that primitive religions foreshawdowed what would later take place after the advent of Christianity, does that invalidate those other more primitive religions?"
I am not sure that many Christians believe this, nor do I believe that the belief is intellectually sustainable, however, even if it were true, it would indeed invalidate those "more primitive religions", unless of course you believe the Bible is a lie, if you believe it is a lie, then you can say anything you want, but if you believe it is a lie, you can't really call yourself a Christian now can you? In any case, Mithrias is an extremely poor case.
William Lane Craig said in his debate with Sinnot Armstrong:
"Sinnot-Armstrong's mention of Mithraism is baffling, since Mithraism does not even purport that Mithrias was raised from the dead. Perhaps Sinnot-Armstrong hopes to resuscitate the hypothesis of the nineteenth-century History of Religions School that myths of dying and rising pagan deities like Osiris and Adonis led the disciples to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. That hypothesis, however, collapsed early in the twentieth century due to two factors: (1) The purported parallels were spurious. These pagan deities were merely mythological symbols of the crop cycle, as vegetation dies during the dry season and comes back to life during the rainy season....(2) The causal connection is missing. As the eminent New Testament historian Martin Hengel explains, it was precisely because of the Jewish belief in the resurrection of the dead that the Hellenistic mystery religions "could gain virually no influence" in Jewish Palestine. Thus even the skeptical Hans Grass admits that it would have been "completely unthinkable" for the Jewish disciples of Jesus to have sincerely come to believe that Jesus was risen from the dead because of the influence of myths of pagan deities."
The idea that Christianity "borrowed" from pagan religions is absurd and obsolete, only the popular anti-Christian writers would put forth something so unscholarly.