Scotch College

They did not believe (Luke 24:10); yet They Changed their minds Chaplain’s Reflection

This Easter past I was recently reminded of the familiar way Australian scepticism is expressed – with a double positive, as in “Yeah, right”.

In my childhood I lacked scepticism about the resurrection narratives. This was because I knew and trusted those who taught me. Later, with a more sceptical environment and the adolescent need to question everything, I intentionally explored the credibility of an event so extraordinary. I was at university studying engineering, when I read Frank Morrison’s book Who Moved the Stone?

Morrison realised the Achilles heel of the Christian faith is Easter. The apostle Paul said as much in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15. Morrison wanted to expose the foolishness of such belief. If he could it would effectively destroy Christianity, because, unlike other religions, Christianity is not primarily good advice, but good news; good news contingent on the resurrection of Christ. Unexpectedly, the evidence of the empty tomb changed Morrison “Who had the body?” he wondered. He became a Christian.

In 1967 I heard Professor Sir Norman Anderson (via a state of the art reel-to-reel audio recording tape) speaking as a lawyer of the Evidence for the Resurrection. He raised many issues I had not considered, from within the New Testament, but also beyond it. Questions such as: What changed the disciples? How did we get from the seventh day Sabbath to the first day Sunday?

You may know that Matthew’s Gospel (Chapter 28) mentions an early alternative explanation of the missing body of Jesus. The soldiers were told to say that his disciples stole the body. How realistic is it that the disciples conspired to steal the body of their Lord? This would mean that they were prepared to endure horrific martyrdom for something they knew was a lie. Anderson rated this as highly improbable.

Charles Colson, a ‘hard nosed’ lawyer and ‘hatchet man’ in the White House of President Richard Nixon at the time of the Watergate conspiracy came to the same conclusion. As he was facing arrest, a close friend gave Colson a copy of Mere Christianity by C S Lewis. Having seen how his own conspiracy unravelled he shared Sir Norman Anderson’s conclusion, but for his own personal reasons! Colson became a Christian.

Charles Colson’s conversion was initially treated with a great deal of scepticism. One commentator wrote “The most worldly among us treat (Colson’s conversion) as a huge joke, as if W C Fields had come out for the Temperance Union. They are waiting for the second act, when the resolution comes and W C Fields is toasting his rediscovery of booze, and Colson is back practicing calisthenics on his grandmother's grave.”

Morrison, Anderson, Lewis and Colson are all available in published format and online today. Read them and consider the matter for yourself.

The fact that all the Gospels mention the first witnesses of the resurrection were the women is remarkable. Why? In that culture women were ipso facto ineligible as witnesses. “The disciples did not believe them.” They changed their minds. Others have. Could you?