Top 10 Secular Evidences for the Resurrection

This week, in honor of the world giving lip service to The Resurrection at Easter, your host Fred Williams and co-host Doug McBurney condescend to entertain secular alternatives to the bodily death, burial & resurrection of Jesus Christ by listing the top 10:

 

* Jesus Died by Crucifixion: The resurrection means nothing if Jesus didn’t actually die. But virtually all scholars — even skeptical ones — agree Jesus died by Roman crucifixion. Why?

• The Roman method was brutal and efficient.
   

• The Journal of the American Medical Association published a medical study affirming death by crucifixion.
   

• Eyewitness accounts, including Roman historians like Tacitus, confirm it.
   

Jesus wasn’t resuscitated. He was dead. The resurrection wasn’t a near-death experience — it was a reversal of death.

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* The Tomb Was Empty: The empty tomb is reported in all four Gospels, and it’s confirmed by:

• Jewish leaders never produced the body. Instead, they said, “His disciples stole the body” — confirming the tomb was empty.
   

Even critics like atheist historian Bart Ehrman admit the tomb was likely empty — the question is why.

 

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* The Disciples Believed They Saw the Risen Jesus: Something transformed a group of cowardly fishermen into bold proclaimers of a risen Christ.

• After Jesus’ death, they were in hiding.
   

• Then they claimed to have seen, touched, and eaten with the risen Jesus.
   

• Many of them were martyred — not for what they believed, but for what they claimed to have seen.
   

People don’t generally die for a lie they made up, especially when they get nothing in return but beatings and exile.

 

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* The Rapid Spread of Christianity: How did a tiny, persecuted sect become the largest religion in the world?

• No political power. No money. No military. Just the message: He is risen.
   

• Within weeks, thousands of Jews — fiercely monotheistic — believed Jesus was Lord and worshipped Him as God.
   

• That doesn’t happen unless something earth-shaking occurred.
   

 

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* Testimony of Enemies: Who testified to the resurrectio