600+ at RISE: Evidence for the Resurrection

Over 600 people attended an amazing evening at Rise this past Saturday! There was much anticipation in the air, as we awaited to hear from one of the most well-known Christian philosopher, author, professor, debater, and apologist of our time! Friends came from as far as Fresno and Vacaville to hear Dr. William Lane Craig give his arguments for the plausibility of Jesus’ resurrection, and how this life-changing event of Christ conquering death was really the hinge of history.

The evening started off in a haze, that is, from the fog machine on stage, as we had an uplifting time of praise and worship by the praiseband. Then there was a skit called “The Resurrection on Trial”, which took place in a courtroom, where the prosecution tried to present some possible theories as to why Jesus never really rose from the dead. The theories were presented through hilarious vignettes, like the kung-fu version of Jesus who used his chi-force to push away the two-ton stone or the ninja disciples who distracted the Roman Soldiers with Little Caesar’s pizza to steal Jesus’ body (all done through shadow puppets) or the disciples who accidentally went to the wrong tomb because the sign pointing to Jesus’ tomb was tampered with by a klutzy disciple. These are actual theories held by scholarly figures who claim that Jesus never came back to life, and it makes you wonder if they really believe what they are saying. Dr. Craig mentioned later that there was even one person whom he debated that was adamant that Jesus had an identical twin brother!

William Lane Craig lays out the Evidence

Then Dr. Craig came forward to present many compelling reasons for why the resurrection is true and not just a fairy tale or a figment of someone’s imagination. I won’t rehash all his arguments here, but you are more than welcome to check out his website at Reasonable Faith or just order one of his two recent books, On Guard and God is Good, God is Great. If you want to push yourself intellectually by taking it to the next level, he has written many other books that has much more detailed and lengthy reasons on this topic. He ended his talk with a stirring testimony of how he came to know Christ as a teenager, through a friend who was gracious enough to introduce him to God, and how that led him down a path of becoming a seeker, asking many questions about Jesus and finding out for himself if God was really who He said he was as written in the Bible. He had his God-moment one night while looking up at the night sky, and being awestruck by the fact that God would want a loving relationship with him, a sinner. That changed his life forever, as he has faithfully devoted the rest of his life to championing the truth of Jesus Christ, and the result of that is that God has used him to impact countless lives.

We had a Q&A time afterwards, where we got into small groups and tried to come up with some questions to ask him. He winsomely answered many of Christianity’s toughest questions, and everyone walked away feeling a little bolder and more confident in our faith. Some of these questions we hope to tackle at our future InterHigh monthlies!

Share with us your Experience!

Were you there?

What was your favorite part of the evening? (praise, skit, WLC talk, discussion, Q&A)

Let us know below in the comments section!