I've asked Christians from all walks of faith this question: why are you Christian? I get all sorts of responses like:

• I was raised in a Christian home
• I like the worship
• It makes me feel good
• Someone told me about Jesus and I liked the message
• God healed me when I/someone prayed
• I dunno...

I get a kick out of the look they get on their face when I tell them, "That's not good enough."

Don't get me wrong! Those are all legitimate reasons for someone to follow Jesus. Praise God this was the way they got connected with Him!

But when push comes to shove, the reason why these aren't "good enough" is because you will find people from every other religion, including those who don't believe, that have a similar answer.

What now? You tell someone that you believe in Jesus because you witnessed/received a miracle and someone from the Santaria Cult says they believe what they do because they also received a miracle.

How are you now going to tell them that their miracle was not as authentic as yours and that they need to follow Jesus?

When it comes down to these reasons, the problem with them is that they are all subjective. Which means they are all biased and personal.

They are good things and we need them in our lives. But they alone are not strong enough to keep us rooted in Christianity. Why? Because all it will take is one strong blow from the  opposite direction (aka a bad experience, if the only reason we are Christian is because of a good experience) to have us wonder if all this is true.

Let me answer the question:

The reason we/anyone are/should be Christian is because Jesus raised from the dead.

Paul even asserts this: If Christ is not risen, your faith is in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:17

We believe in and follow Jesus because of a historical moment. This either happened or it didn't happen. It's objective. It pertains to facts.

We aren't/shouldn't be Christians simply because it makes us feel good. This is a nice benefit. But its subjective. These pertain to feelings.

Jesus Is ALIVE

When you have a solid understanding of this, your faith will also be solid. This is not to say that you'll be 100% doubt free -  and that's not even the issue.

It's okay to have doubts because we might be natural wonder-ers. The issue is when we let our doubts rule because we don't pursue an answer.

But with this little acronym I guarantee your confidence in talking with people and even your confidence in Christianity is going to go to a whole other level.

Why? Because you will have an objective basis for your faith. A fact based faith, not a feeling based faith.

And when the storms of life come and all you see is rain and pain and it seems like God is forever away, all you have to point back to is the historical moment of the resurrection.

If that actually happened, then God is still with you despite what you are going through.

When you observe the facts, I think you too will agree that the resurrection is a heavy-hitter of an argument.

Here we go. #Jesus is ALIVE:

• A - Appearances of Jesus post resurrection
• L - Low status of women
• I - Immediate preaching
• V - Voluntary suffering
• E - Empty tomb

Appearances of Jesus Post Resurrection

There were numerous reports of Jesus being seen after His crucifixion. These weren’t just sightings of Him off in the distance in the fog or by the town crazy person.

These were sightings up close and personal by groups of people. 1 Corinthians 15 says He was first seen by Cephas, then the twelve (remember how He ate with them and Thomas even touched Him), and then over five hundred (most of whom were still alive as mentioned by Paul).

Then He was seen by James and finally Paul himself. If anyone claimed that Jesus had not been seen anyone could simply point to one of the couple hundred eye witnesses to verify.

If Jesus had not been seen, Paul should not have mentioned any names, and rather haven just kept it general. But he did mention actual people still around.

He challenged the readers of that day to ask for themselves. If Paul was lying people could have said, “Hey, I was actually there. Paul only had some sort of hallucination in

the desert. Who are you going to believe?”

Low Status of Women

In that area of the world at that time in history the status of women was similar to that of an animal or other piece of property according to Flavius Josephus, ancient Jewish historian for Rome.

It is said that a woman’s testimony was worthless to the point that if they had to be brought into court over something their testimony wouldn’t be taken seriously.

In saying that, do you remember who found the empty tomb? It was the women (Luke 24:10).

Notice how Paul didn’t mention in 1 Corinthians 15 anything about the women finding Jesus? Maybe this is why. But I digress.

When judging scriptural authenticity on ancient documents, historians have a few criterion they use to verify if a document is authentic.

One of the criterion is called the Criterion of Embarrassment.

For this culture, the women finding the tomb would be just that. It is an incident that is either awkward or counterproductive for the early Christians to have laced that detail into the scriptures if they were simply making the story all up.

If someone were going to make up a story like this, say for example the manly apostles, they wouldn’t use women as the ones finding the empty tomb.

Anyone else would have been a better option.

This piece of information is so embarrassing considering all things, that the only possible reason it’s in there is because it must be true.

The tomb of Jesus was found empty and it was found by women.

Immediate Preaching of the Gospel

The Jewish people believe that when the Messiah comes He is going to reestablish David’s throne in Jerusalem (most likely with blood shed).

Their idea is more than just a warrior king; He’s also going to be a spiritual shepherd of Israel.

When Jesus came in riding on a donkey through Jerusalem this was a direct fulfillment of what the people were waiting for (Zechariah 9:9).

However; the Messiah is expected to live forever. So when Jesus was killed it was a big sign to everyone that they must have been following the wrong guy.

The death of Jesus for claiming to be the Messiah is not unique however. In fact there were many before Him that claimed this while trying to overthrow Rome.

They too died and their disciples were scattered as enemies of the state (Acts 5:36-38). What’s very different about Jesus is that a few days after His death we see His contemporaries, preaching in the heart of anti-Christianity (Jerusalem), about Christ resurrected.

None of the other rebel leaders had disciples willing to do that for them after their death.

We have to remember the disciples were Jews and they had the same traditional beliefs about the Messiah as any other Jew.

That’s why they never really took Him seriously when Jesus mentioned His death and resurrection in places like Matthew 16:21-23.

First, it was because according to their traditional beliefs the Messiah shouldn’t die and second, messiahship and resurrection had no connection. To them, Jesus was talking crazy.

There’s nothing about the #Messiah in the Old Testament about Him being killed and then coming back to life.

There are Old Testament references like in Isaiah 53 where He is “pierced for our transgressions” but even still this apparently went over everyone’s heads.

So when Jesus was murdered they felt they were likely next, and thus they fled for their lives.

This would explain why they were in the upper room hiding with fear when the women found them (John 20:19). The question is: how can we explain such a dramatic transition in their behaviors from hiding for fear of death to preaching in the face of it?

Only one answer: they saw Jesus.

Some of the refutations against the resurrection story are that the disciples were making all this up for power, money, or fame.

We must then ask: who dies for a lie knowing it’s a lie?

What was their motive? Is power, money, or fame worth death? Would you accept ten million dollars with the guarantee that in ten years you would have your skin torn off your body?

Because that is essentially is the deal the disciples would have had if they were making all this up.

We do also have to keep in mind that Christianity was an underground movement (by threat of death) for the first few hundred years until Emperor Constantine. We would have to ask, is power and fame worth dying for if you would only get it 300 years after

your death?

Voluntary Death

They all preached in the face of death and eventually received it. Records show that each of the disciples were brutally murdered all except for John who was exiled.

They tried to boil him alive in oil but when that didn’t work I guess they figured it’s best to just leave him alone.

Peter was crucified upside down; James was beaten with a club and thrown from the top of a building. Paul had it easy by being executed with a sword. All of them died.

For what? For a lie they believed or for what they actually saw? People are dying for what they believe all the time.

Muslim terrorists do it daily. However; these are not dying for something they claim they have seen; they are dying for something they claim they will see.

They are dying by faith; something to come. The disciples died for their testimony; about something that had come.

“But what if they were crazy and saw a vision of Jesus? They could have seen Him but only in their mind.”

Are we suggesting that twelve people all had the exact same hallucination at the exact same time with the same exact details? Or that the crowds of witnesses that saw Jesus post resurrection were all hallucinating as well?

The nature of a hallucination is that something is misfiring within the brain which cases someone to hear, see, smell, or experience something that isn’t really there.

But the point is that it’s within the subject’s brain meaning it’s a case by case phenomenon.

If I see a pink elephant eating chocolate bars in the corner of the room you are not likely to see the same thing unless there’s an actual elephant there.

You might also have a hallucination at the same time, but because it’s in your mind, you will have your own experience. Group hallucination has not been verified and it’s safe to say it probably won’t be.

Empty Tomb

The reason why there are excuses as to why the tomb was empty is because the tomb was empty!

If it wasn’t then why didn’t the Romans, Pagans, or the Jews simply go dig up His body while all the disciples were preaching and carry His body around the streets saying, "Here's the risen Christ”?

That would have stopped Christianity before it could have even started.

All the gospel accounts say the Roman guards were paid to give false testimony of why the tomb was empty.

This is where you get the arguments that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross and later broke out or that the grave was robbed by bandits or the disciples.

None of these are great arguments for they either go against science (as in the case of surviving crucifixion later to push away a three ton boulder on their own) or they go against logic (as in the case of the disciples dying for a known lie without a real motive).

The fact that Christianity started at all, given the circumstances, is evidence that Jesus resurrected.

All other religions are based upon myths, legends, mysteries, prophecies, or

science fiction.

Someone behind a curtain with a book no one else is allowed to read or revelations from a prophet that don’t really say anything terrific beyond man’s wisdom or superstitions. Christianity is based upon a historical event: the resurrection.

It either happened or it didn’t and according to the evidence and arguments, it’s safe to say He did and is still ALIVE. And THIS is why we are to be Christians.

Testimonies and miracles simply back this up making it a tighter case.

So What Are Your Thoughts?

Comment below if you've ever had an experience with any of the above mentioned. How did it go? What tips could you share?