If Christ be not raised

If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

And we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.

If the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.

If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!

If in this life only we have hope in Christ (if there exists no resurrection), we are of all men the most pitiable.

All that's from Paul (1 Corinthians 15:12-19). Do you think he felt the resurrection a substantial doctrine? Do you think that he put great weight on the historic occurrence of Jesus' resurrection?

Is it any surprise that the most recent attack upon historic Christianity would target this foundational doctrine? An ancient tablet from the region where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found has been interpreted to say that Jewish tradition already had a three-day resurrection account before Jesus came along. Scholars and theologians have taken that to mean that the Messiah's disciples had heard this tradition and simply applied it to the dead Rabbi.

The tablet and its translation remain controversial (remember the James Ossuary or the Gospel of Judas?). Early translations rendered the troublesome section indecipherable. Out of the mist pops a Jewish scholar who can read it plain as day.

It seems the professor held this theory back in 2002 when he wrote "The Messiah Before Jesus" which then makes his translation even more suspicious.

Where are the voices of refutation? They are out there, but to find them, you have to wade either deep into lengthy articles (see Time Magazine's treatment here), or figure out how to strain through the mass of information that Google regurgitates to find the masked nugget.

For many, the damage is done. As the Proverb states, "The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him" (Proverbs 18:17). Because of articles that give great support to the Jewish professor (here), those who've already rejected God and those in doubt will become further blinded by deception.

Even if the tablet proves to be authentic, such a legend (perhaps a prophecy?) in no way neuters the biblical and extra-biblical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rest easy. There is no other event from ancient history so well documented and so replete with corroborative evidence as the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ provides a concise look at that evidence). Pray that the lost would not be deceived.

But let's say the delusion catches fire and many become convinced the resurrection is a hoax. What would happen if, like global warming, homosexuality, and evolution, the resurrection of Christ became a topic that could not be discussed within our society because "the facts are in and the discussion closed?"

And then what would happen if, in front of our instant-anywhere media , a man were to receive a mortal wound but then in front of the camera's lens came back to life? With Jesus dismissed, this man would become a celebrity. He would become a hero. He would become a god.

Is the stage being set?