WEEK EIGHT PRESESSION NOTES -- PP. 201-226

CHAPTER 13 -- THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION

1. It is usual to think that the burden of proving the reality of the resurrection of Christ is on believers. However, "The resurrection also puts a burden of proof on its nonbelievers" (p. 202). How so? (Hint: see the two paragraphs which begin at the bottom of p. 202 and continue to middle of p. 203). The birth of the church is one of the most startling of all historical occurrences. If it is not explained by the Resurrection of Christ there must be an "historically feasible alternate explanation." The cynic can't responsibly simply dismiss the resurrection as an explanation for the existence of the church without posing something that more reasonably explains it.

2. If the early church was attempting to fabricate a story to substantiate the truthfulness of the resurrection of Jesus "There was no possible advantage to the church to recount that all the first witnesses were women............ The only possible explanation for why women were depicted as meeting Jesus first is if they really had" (p. 205). How so? Their "low social status" made their testimony inadmissable and without weight.

3. What is "chronological snobbery" (p. 206)? How does it at times play into a denial of the resurrection? (Hint: "The very idea of an individual resurrection would have been as impossible to a Jew as to a Greek" -- p. 207). Our culture has its assumptions -- one being that resurrection is impossible -- and we believe the ancients had another (i.e. that resurrection is possible). Thus they were easily duped into believing that Jesus had been raised -- but not us!! We're snobs (guilty of what is also at times called "generational arrogance") who think we're brighter than the ancients.

4. What is the significance of the word "explosion" on p. 208ff? (Hint: It normally takes a (long) period of time filled with discussion and argument to cause a "massive shift" in the worldview of a group of people -- p. 209). The Christian view of the resurrection of Jesus sprang up full blown immediately after the death of Jesus. That is NOT the way worldview shifts usually happen.

5. What possible explanations are there for this "explosion"? That Jesus really was raised from the dead is one. Keller -- and you and I -- are awaiting another from the skeptics (see #1 above).

6. What is meant by Pascal's assertion, "I believe those witnesses that get their throats cut" (p. 210)? Therefore, what is a logical concusion to draw based on the knowledge that many of the early Christians suffered martydom? They truly believed that Jesus had been resurrected -- enough to die for their belief.

7. CHAPTER 14 -- THE DANCE OF GOD

1. "That creates a dynamic, pulsating dance of joy and love" (p. 215). What does? Who are the dancers? The idea of the Trinity means that God is himself (alone -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit) relational. He (They) are to a depth and a level unfathomable for us glorifying each other, dancing around each other, focused on each other.

2. The idea of the Trinity is unique to Christianity -- and essential. Without it there can be a concept of a sovereign God, but no adequate concept of love. WHY? (Hint: The wonder is expressed in the phrase which describes loving relationships as the "great fountain ..... at the center of reality" -- p. 216). Love is the essence of relationship with someone else. The great mystery of the Trinity is that God is One absolutely, but distinctly Three. "God is love" -- even without the creation. Without that concept it is possible to view God as powerful and sovereign, but with a belief in the Trinity comes an ability to believe that the essence of God is love.

3. We can never fully discover ourselves except in "self-giving, other-directed love" (p. 217). "Self-centeredness destroys the fabric of what God has made" (p. 217). Explain that in your own words. As God is in his Triune nature, we are because we're "in his image." God is love. Thus love is the fabric from which we come. When we are stationary, evaluating the world and others by how they revolve around and serve us, we're out of sync with the great reality of our best and truest nature. It's when we dance around others, seeking their joy and fulfillment, that we are like God.

4. If God is infinitely self-giving, why "does he ask us to obey him unconditionally, to glorify, praise and center our lives around him" (p. 218)? In his love for us he desires our joy -- a joy he knows can only exist for us in our loving him as we are loved. The Christ on the throne and the Christ on the Cross are the same. He didn't endure the cross so he could ascend to the throne. He did both for the same reason -- because his is relational and the entire basis of his relationship to us is love.

5. "We lost the dance. The dance of joyful, mutually self-giving relationships is impossible in a world in which everyone is stationary, ......." (p. 220). What does our being "stationary" have to do with it? We were made to dance (to constantly revolve around God and others for their joy and glory). When we don't, when we stand and evaluate all around us by ourselves (what's in it for me?), we lose everything that is at the heart of our truest nature.

6. "What was Jesus getting out of" dying for us? .......what benefit did he derive from the Cross (p. 220)? What's the answer. "Not a thing " (p. 220). So what was he thinking? He didn't go to Gethemane or Calvary asking what was in it for him. If there was a question on his mine, it was "What's in it for God, the Holy Spirit and the lost souls for whom I'll die?"

7. The story of the gospel explains everything. (p. 225). What does it explain that leads Christians to do "restorative and redistributive justice wherever they can"? (Moral obligation and justice). What does it explain that causes Christians to "do evangelism ...."? (Man's religiousness). What does it explain that causes Christians to "work sacrificially to strengthen human communities"? (Our profoundly relational nature). What does it explain that causes Christians to "become stewards of the material world"? Our delight in beauty.