Women of Intelligent Faith

Inquiring minds should want to know. Recently one of my fellow attorney co-workers mentioned how she had grown up Catholic and later walked away from faith when she got older. She did not believe in miracles or the resurrection of Jesus. If given the opportunity to answer the question, “How do you know Jesus rose from the dead?” I would initially concentrate on just one of several historical facts, the empty tomb. [i] The truth of Christianity hinges on the resurrection of Jesus. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, the Christian faith is futile. [ii] One of the most important pieces of evidence that Jesus rose from the dead is his empty tomb. Historian and New Testament scholar Gary Habermas claims that approximately “75% of scholars on the subject accept the empty tomb as a historic fact.” [iii] The discovery of the empty tomb has multiple attestations from “very early independent sources,” such as the four Gospels, Acts, and 1 Corinthians. [iv] According to Christian apol...

Christians hold the belief that their Holy Scriptures are able to make them wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. [i] Furthermore, the Bible says, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” [ii] Many Christians would like to improve their knowledge of the entire Bible (“all scripture”) to be better “equipped for every good work,” but are lost when it comes to understanding the Old Testament. [iii] Specifically they wonder if the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament should relate to their lives, and if so, how. Unfortunately there is no simple and straightforward answer to this question because Christians disagree about the role of the Mosaic Law in the life of the believer today. [iv] The New Testament itself contains statements that appear to be contradictory on the matter. [v] Scholars reach fundamentally different conclusions ...