“
I looked through the Gideon Bible in my motel room for tales of great destruction. The sun was risen upon the Earth when Lot entered into Zo-ar, I read. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
So it goes.
Those were vile people in both those cities, as is well known. The World was better off without them.
And Lot's wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human.
So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes.
”
”
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Slaughterhouse-Five)
“
My conversion left my former friends and family thinking I was loony to the core. How could I leave a worldview that was open, welcoming, and inclusive for one that believes in Original Sin, values the law of God, seeks conversion into a born-again constitution, believes in the truthful ontology of God’s Word as found in the Bible, claims the exclusivity of Christ for salvation, and purports the redemptive quality of suffering? Only one reason: because Jesus is a real and risen Lord and because he claimed me for himself.
”
”
Rosaria Champagne Butterfield (Openness Unhindered: Further Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert on Sexual Identity and Union with Christ)
“
Jesus would be another wise man or philosopher like Socrates if it were not for three words. With the declaration of these words the message of the good news of Jesus Christ changed from "fanatical audacity", to the fantastic reality of a reconciled relationship and eternal hope. "HE IS RISEN!
”
”
Tom Barton (The Bible: Its Text and Background)
“
The gospel by which individuals come to personal faith, and so to that radical transformation of life spoken of so often in the new Testament, is the personalizing of the larger challenge just mentioned: the call to every child, woman, and man to submit in faith to the lordship of the crucified and risen Jesus and so to become, through baptism and membership in the body of Christ, a living, breathing anticipation of the final new creation itself
”
”
N.T. Wright (Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today)
“
He is not here: for he is risen
”
”
Bible (The Holy Bible: King James Version)
“
Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6He is not here, but has risen.
”
”
Anonymous (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (without Cross-References))
“
6He is not here, but has risen.
”
”
Anonymous (ESV Classic Reference Bible)
“
Is the Bible enough for us? These days I think Jesus himself would say again to those who sit down in melancholy, “It is not here, it is risen. Why seek ye the living among the dead?
”
”
Vincent van Gogh (Delphi Complete Works of Vincent van Gogh (Illustrated) (Masters of Art Book 3))
“
My mom was a sayyed from the bloodline of the Prophet (which you know about now). In Iran, if you convert from Islam to Christianity or Judaism, it’s a capital crime.
That means if they find you guilty in religious court, they kill you. But if you convert to something else, like Buddhism or something, then it’s not so bad. Probably because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are sister religions, and you always have the worst fights with your sister.
And probably nothing happens if you’re just a six-year-old. Except if you say, “I’m a Christian now,” in your school, chances are the Committee will hear about it and raid your house, because if you’re a Christian now, then so are your parents probably. And the Committee does stuff way worse than killing you.
When my sister walked out of her room and said she’d met Jesus, my mom knew all that.
And here is the part that gets hard to believe: Sima, my mom, read about him and became a Christian too. Not just a regular one, who keeps it in their pocket. She fell in love. She wanted everybody to have what she had, to be free, to realize that in other religions you have rules and codes and obligations to follow to earn good things, but all you had to do with Jesus was believe he was the one who died for you.
And she believed.
When I tell the story in Oklahoma, this is the part where the grown-ups always interrupt me. They say, “Okay, but why did she convert?”
Cause up to that point, I’ve told them about the house with the birds in the walls, all the villages my grandfather owned, all the gold, my mom’s own medical practice—all the amazing things she had that we don’t have anymore because she became a Christian.
All the money she gave up, so we’re poor now.
But I don’t have an answer for them.
How can you explain why you believe anything? So I just say what my mom says when people ask her. She looks them in the eye with the begging hope that they’ll hear her and she says, “Because it’s true.”
Why else would she believe it?
It’s true and it’s more valuable than seven million dollars in gold coins, and thousands of acres of Persian countryside, and ten years of education to get a medical degree, and all your family, and a home, and the best cream puffs of Jolfa, and even maybe your life.
My mom wouldn’t have made the trade otherwise.
If you believe it’s true, that there is a God and He wants you to believe in Him and He sent His Son to die for you—then it has to take over your life. It has to be worth more than everything else, because heaven’s waiting on the other side.
That or Sima is insane.
There’s no middle. You can’t say it’s a quirky thing she thinks sometimes, cause she went all the way with it.
If it’s not true, she made a giant mistake.
But she doesn’t think so.
She had all that wealth, the love of all those people she helped in her clinic. They treated her like a queen. She was a sayyed.
And she’s poor now.
People spit on her on buses. She’s a refugee in places people hate refugees, with a husband who hits harder than a second-degree black belt because he’s a third-degree black belt. And she’ll tell you—it’s worth it. Jesus is better.
It’s true.
We can keep talking about it, keep grinding our teeth on why Sima converted, since it turned the fate of everybody in the story. It’s why we’re here hiding in Oklahoma.
We can wonder and question and disagree. You can be certain she’s dead wrong.
But you can’t make Sima agree with you.
It’s true.
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
This whole story hinges on it.
Sima—who was such a fierce Muslim that she marched for the Revolution, who studied the Quran the way very few people do read the Bible and knew in her heart that it was true.
”
”
Daniel Nayeri (Everything Sad Is Untrue)
“
5But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here, for he has risen, s as he said. Come, see the place where he [1] lay.
”
”
Anonymous (ESV Classic Reference Bible)
“
You can know God intimately while acknowledging the mystery, even the absurdity, of such a notion. You can experience the proven neurological benefits of prayer even as you contemplate how science shows prayer's limitations. You can be part of the global body of people who follow God without turning off your brain or believing things that go against your conscience. You can read he Bible without having to brush off its ancient portrayal of science or its all-too-fruquent brutality.
And you can meet a risen Son of God named Jesus while wondering how such a thing could ever be true.
”
”
Mike McHargue (Finding God in the Waves: How I Lost My Faith and Found It Again Through Science)
“
John the Baptist. But others say, lElijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, m“The Christ of God.
”
”
Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
“
One thing she did know was the greatest book on human psychology is the Bible. If you were lazy and did not wish to work, or if you had failed to make your way in society, you could always say, 'My kingdom is not of this world.' If you were a jet-set woman who believed in sleeping around, VD or no VD, you could always say Mary Magdalene had no husband, but didn't she wash the feet of Our Lord? Wasn't she the first person to see our risen saviour? If, in the other hand, you believed in the inferiority of the blacks, you could always say, 'Slaves, obey your masters.' It is a mysterious book, one of the greatest of all books, if not the greatest. Hasn't it got all the answers?
”
”
Buchi Emecheta (Second Class Citizen)
“
6And he said to them, d “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7But go, tell his disciples and Peter that e he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, e just as he told you.
”
”
Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
“
Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.”
Note the “I Am.” In the Greek it is the strongest possible form of expression – Ego Eimi. Both ego and eimi mean “I am” but the former puts the emphasis on the “I” while the latter puts it on the “am.” Taken together they are the strongest Greek form to express the name of God as the great “I AM.” That is how the risen Christ here refers to Himself. “Lo, I AM with you!” But there is a lovely feature in the Greek construction here which does not reveal itself in our English translation. It reads like this:
“And lo, I with you AM…”
You and I dear fellow believer, are in between the “I” and the “AM.” He is not only with us, He is all around us. Not only now and then, but “always” which literally translated is, “all the days” … this day, this hour, this moment. Why, when we reflect on it, were not our Lord’s sudden appearings & disappearings during the 40 days between His resurrection and His ascension meant to teach those early disciples (and ourselves) this very thing, that even when He is invisible He is none the less present, hearing, watching, knowing, sympathizing, overruling? Let us never forget that the special promise of His presence is given in connection with our going forth as winners of others to Him.
”
”
J. Sidlow Baxter (Baxter's Explore the Book)
“
kingdom. MAT26.30 And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. MAT26.31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. MAT26.32 But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. MAT26.33 Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended because of thee, yet will I never be offended. MAT26.34 Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. MAT26.35 Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.
”
”
Anonymous (The Holy Bible, King James Version (KJV))
“
tells us in Ephesians 1:20–21 that when God raised Jesus from the dead, “he seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion” (ESV). It was only after Christ had risen that God’s plan was “made known … to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). These cosmic forces are “the rulers and the authorities” disarmed and put to shame by the cross (Col 2:15). The incident at Babel and God’s decision to disinherit the nations drew up the battle lines for a cosmic turf war for the planet. The corruption of the elohim sons of God set over the nations meant that Yahweh’s vision of a global Eden would be met with divine force. Every inch outside Israel would be contested, and Israel itself was fair game for hostile conquest. The gods would not surrender their inheritances back to Yahweh; he would have to reclaim them. God would take the first step in that campaign immediately after Babel.
”
”
Michael S. Heiser (The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible)
“
MATTHEW 28 m Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and n the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2And behold, there was a great earthquake, for o an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 p His appearance was like lightning, and q his clothing white as snow. 4And for fear of him the guards trembled and r became like dead men. 5But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here, for he has risen, s as he said. Come, see the place where he [1] lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, t he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8So they departed quickly from the tomb u with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9And behold, Jesus v met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and w took hold of his feet and
”
”
Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
“
The Resurrection MATTHEW 28 m Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and n the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2And behold, there was a great earthquake, for o an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 p His appearance was like lightning, and q his clothing white as snow. 4And for fear of him the guards trembled and r became like dead men. 5But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here, for he has risen, s as he said. Come, see the place where he [1] lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, t he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8So they departed quickly from the tomb u with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9And behold, Jesus v met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and w took hold of his feet and x worshiped him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; y go and tell z my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.
”
”
Anonymous (Holy Bible: English Standard Version (ESV))
“
(AIR)
THE BOOK OF LUCIFER
THE ENLIGHTENMENT
The Roman god, Lucifer, was the bearer for light, the spirit of the air, the personification of enlightenment. In Christian mythology he became synonymous with evil, which was only to have been expected from a religion whose very existence is perpetuated by clouded definitions and bogus values! It is time to set the record straight. False moralisms and occult inaccuracies must be corrected. Entertaining as they might be, most stories and plays about Devil worship must be recognized as the obsolete absurdities they are. It has been said "the truth will make men free". The truth alone has never set anyone free. It is only with DOUBT which will bring mental emancipation. Without the wonderful element of doubt, the doorway through which truth passes would be tightly shut, impervious to the most strenuous poundings of a thousand Lucifers. How understandable that Holy Scripture should refer to the Infernal monarch as the "father of lies" - a magnificent example of character inversion. If one is to believe this theological accusation that the Devil represents falsehood, then it surely must be concurred that it was HE, NOT GOD, THAT ESTABLISHED ALL SPIRITUAL RELIGIONS AND WHO WROTE ALL OF THE HOLY BIBLES! When one doubt is followed by another, the bubble, grown large from long accumulated fallacies, threatens to burst. For those who already doubt supposed truths, this book is revelation. Then Lucifer will have risen. Now is the time for doubt! The bubble of falsehood is bursting and its sound is the roar of the world!
”
”
Anton Szandor LaVey (The Satanic Bible)
“
He requested an opportunity to address the Officer Corps in Berlin, and General von Fritsch, who was in command at the time, agreed but only on condition that Rosenberg would refrain from attacking the Church in his talk. The newspapers the next day announced that he had made an impressive address, but all Berlin was buzzing with the true story. Rosenberg had broken his promise and had flung his customary accusations against the Church. Fritsch, followed by his entire Officer Corps, had risen and walked out, leaving Dr. Rosenberg an empty auditorium in which to fulminate. Rosenberg’s book, The Myth of the 20th Century, had become the Nazi bible. It was the book of the Hero-cult, of state worship, of the theory that the Nordic blood is divine; its pages were full of foul invective against the Lutherans, the Catholics, and the Jews. In 1935, the Bruederrat published a series of papers assailing The Myth of the 20th Century, refuting its absurdities in clear language and opening fire on the very heart of the Nazi beliefs. These papers were widely disseminated although the government made frantic efforts to confiscate them. It is probable that no copies of any of these papers exist in the United States, since it was too dangerous––rather, it was impossible––to bring them out of Germany.
”
”
Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (Day of No Return)
“
Now, in comparison to both Matthew 17 and Revelation 1, it appears that the risen Christ, before his ascension, was not yet fully glorified. If he would have been glorified, surely his identity would have been immediately apparent to Mary Magdalene (John 20:14), the disciples on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:15-16), and Peter and the apostles when they saw him on the shore (John 21:4). Consider
”
”
Randy Alcorn (Heaven: A Comprehensive Guide to Everything the Bible Says About Our Eternal Home)
“
But we should not be surprised when the spirit leads us into this place of birth-pangs and wordless groanings. The church is called to stand at the place where the world is in pain precisely in order that the spirit, the living presence of the loving God, may be there, groaning to the father from within the depths of the world’s pain, of our own pain, of the puzzles of the birth-pangs of the new world. This is what it looks and feels like when the powerful breath of new creation is given to us by the father of Jesus the crucified Messiah and risen lord.
”
”
N.T. Wright (Interpreting Scripture: Essays on the Bible and Hermeneutics (Collected Essays of N. T. Wright Book 1))
“
The Bible stands firm and true, and cannot be discredited.
”
”
Calvin W. Allison (The Sunset of Science and the Risen Son of Truth)
“
Studying the Bible, and memorizing scripture (chapter and verse), is important for a number of reasons. It helps you understand God better, it strengthens your relationship with God, it replaces the carnal pattern of thought with a spiritual pattern of thought, it allows you to see life from a spiritual perspective, it strengthens your faith, it makes your witness more fruitful, it equips you with spiritual weapons to fight against the forces of evil, it keeps your feet steady on the narrow way, and it prepares you for the storms of life.
”
”
Calvin W. Allison (The Sunset of Science and the Risen Son of Truth)
“
On Thanksgiving night in 1915, fifty years after the close of the Civil War, Simmons and fifteen other men clambered up the granite monolith of Stone Mountain in Georgia. They built an altar on which they laid a Bible, an American flag, and a sword. The men set fire to a cross and shouted to the heavens an oath of allegiance to the Invisible Empire of a new age. The Ku Klux Klan had risen, Simmons proclaimed, “awakened from a slumber of a half a century.
”
”
Timothy Egan (A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them)
“
Words that once teemed with life nettled her mind, and stories that once captured her imagination triggered her doubts and darkest fears. It was as if the roots of beloved and familiar trees had risen up to trip her on the path. There was no map for a world suddenly rearranged, no incantation to light the road ahead.
”
”
Rachel Held Evans (Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again)
“
The disciples' question in Acts 1:6 indicates that they expected the kingdom would be a visible result of the resurrection. Instead, the gospel summons people to faith in the risen and now invisisble Saviour.
”
”
Graeme Goldsworthy (According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible)
“
Rise up to be illuminated, O Jerusalem! For your light has arrived, and the glory of the Lord has risen over you.
”
”
The Biblescript (Catholic Bible: Douay-Rheims English Translation)
“
The Bible is not, in other words, simply a list of true doctrines or a collection of proper moral commands—though it includes plenty of both. The Bible is not simply the record of what various people thought as they struggled to know God and follow him, though it is that as well. It is not simply the record of past revelations, as though what mattered were to study such things in the hopes that one might have one for oneself. It is the book whose whole narrative is about new creation, that is, about resurrection, so that when each of the gospels ends with the raising of Jesus from the dead, and when Revelation ends with new heavens and new earth populated by God’s people risen from the dead, this should come not as a surprise but as the ultimate fulfillment of what the story had been about all along.
”
”
N.T. Wright (Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church)
“
As we saw concerning Chronicles in chapter 2, the Old Testament already does in principle what Paul is doing here: reworking the past to speak to the present. That interpretive conviction is seen time and time again throughout Second Temple Jewish literature where the past needs to be rethought in view of the present. This can be counterintuitive for modern readers: it is the very act of altering the past to address present circumstances that ensures its continuation as the active and abiding Word of God, not a relic of a bygone era. That is why the Chronicler does what he does with Samuel–Kings, and it is why Paul does what he does with the Abraham story. The text is not the master: it serves a goal. For Paul, that goal is the absolute and uncompromised centrality of what God has done here and now in the crucified and risen Christ.
”
”
Peter Enns (The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn't Say about Human Origins)
“
COL3.1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. COL3.2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. COL3.3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. COL3.4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. COL3.5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: COL3.6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: COL3.7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
”
”
Anonymous (KING JAMES BIBLE with VerseSearch)
“
I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe.
”
”
Ricardo Graham (The Book of Job Bible Book Shelf 4Q 2016)
“
It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. It might be better to say that experience is the mother of invention. It was the experience of seeing the risen Lord that created the inner circle of Jesus, and the coming of the Spirit that birthed the church. In other words, naturalistic historical explanations alone will never adequately explain the crucial events that led to the rise of the inner-circle leaders within the Christian movement and the rise of the movement itself.
”
”
Ben Witherington III (What Have They Done with Jesus? Beyond Strange Theories & Bad History-Why We Can Trust the Bible)
“
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, bwho is even at the right hand of God, cwho also maketh intercession for us.
”
”
Anonymous (KJV Study Bible: Second Edition)
“
The Bible is authoritative not because we accept it as such, but because it is the word of the risen Lord. It has a claim on all people. Its truth is the truth for every person in every place. Why, then, would we be reluctant to communicate that truth in our apologetics? Perhaps because we have not reckoned with the actual lordship of Christ. Perhaps we haven’t really set him apart as Lord in our hearts.
”
”
K. Scott Oliphint (Covenantal Apologetics: Principles and Practice in Defense of Our Faith)
“
One thing she did not know was the greatest book on human psychology is the Bible. If you were lazy and did not wish to work, or if you had failed to make your way in the society, you could always say 'my kingdom is not of this world'. If you were a jet-set woman who believed in sleeping around, VD or no VD you could always say Mary Magdalene had no husband but didn't she wash the feet of our Lord? 'Wasn't she the first person to see our risen Saviour'? If on the other hand you believed in the inferiority of the Blacks you could always say 'slaves obey your Master. It's a mysterious book, one of the greatest of all books, if not the greatest. Hasn't it got all the answers?
”
”
Buchi Emecheta
“
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.” 8 And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report it to His disciples.
”
”
Anonymous (New American Standard Bible - NASB 1995 (Without Translators' Notes))
“
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. 2And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. 5The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. 6He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. 7Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.
”
”
Anonymous (New American Standard Bible - NASB 1995 (Without Translators' Notes))
“
If you recognize the genuineness of the testimony of Mary and Joanna, and realize that they became apostles, bearing witness to the risen Jesus, you have to recognize certain facts about the historical Jesus. He did not just present himself as a great teacher, a wise sage, a miracle worker, an exorcist. This inner circle knew better than that, and they were faithful to say so after the fact. The Jesus about whom the earliest disciples bore witness was and is the real Jesus of history and faith. The impact crater in the lives of these disciples, male and female, matches up with the impression Jesus deliberately left on these persons, as we will see in more detail as we turn now to Peter.
”
”
Ben Witherington III (What Have They Done with Jesus? Beyond Strange Theories & Bad History-Why We Can Trust the Bible)
“
Here we are able to reach a major conclusion of this study. None of these major figures who constituted the inner circle of Jesus would have become or remained followers of Jesus after the crucifixion if there was no resurrection and no resurrection appearances of Jesus. The church, in the persons of its earliest major leaders, was constituted by the event of the resurrection, coupled with the Pentecost event! The stories of these figures, especially their post-Easter stories, are the validation of this fact. There would be no church without the risen and appearing Jesus.
”
”
Ben Witherington III (What Have They Done with Jesus? Beyond Strange Theories & Bad History-Why We Can Trust the Bible)
“
how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 1CO15.13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 1CO15.14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
”
”
Anonymous (King James Bible Touch)
“
5The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.
”
”
Anonymous (Holy Bible: NIV, New International Version)
“
I’m a man. A masculine man.
I think like a man and I dress like a man.
I walk like a man, and I talk like a man.
I behave like a man, and I’m brave like a man.
I shave like a man, and I wave like a man.
I’m a Conservative man, a patriotic man.
A doing something Republican man.
A devout Christian man
(who reads the Bible, and not the koran).
A thankful to be an American man.
”
”
Calvin W. Allison (The Sunset of Science and the Risen Son of Truth)
“
I looked through the Gideon Bible in my motel room for tales of great destruction. The sun was risen upon the Earth when Lot entered into Zo-ar, I read. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. So it goes. Those were vile people in both those cities, as is well known. The world was better off without them. And Lot’s wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes. People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore. I’ve finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun. This one is a failure, and had to be, since it was written by a pillar of salt.
”
”
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Slaughterhouse Five)
“
Who has ever risen from His table unsatisfied? His mercies are new every morning and fresh every evening. Who can calculate the number of His benefits or value the extent of His provision? Every passing day we are the beneficiaries of a myriad of mercies. The wings of our hours are covered with the silver of His kindness and with the yellow gold of His affection. The river of time bears from the mountains of eternity the golden sands of His favor. The countless stars serve as the standard bearers of incalculable blessings. Who can measure the benefits that He bestows on His servant or recount the extent of His mercies toward His own? How shall my soul extol Him who loads us with daily benefits, and who crowns us with loving-kindness? O that my praise could be as endless as His provision. O miserable tongue, how can you be silent? Wake up, I pray, lest I call you no more my glory, but my shame. “Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.
”
”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Morning and Evening: A New Edition of the Classic Devotional Based on The Holy Bible, English Standard Version)
“
It is not only heretical Christians who interpret Jesus' crucifixion as divine deception.
”
”
Austin Busch (Risen Indeed? Resurrection and Doubt in the Gospel of Mark (Early Christianity and Its Literature, 31))
“
Keep your attention on Jesus Christ as risen from the dead and descended from David. This is according to my gospel. I suffer for it to the point of being bound like a criminal, but God’s message is not bound... For if we have died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny Him, He will also deny us.” She closed the Bible and placed it back inside
”
”
Raena Rood (Sanctuary (Subversive #2))
“
But if, because He is not seen, His having risen at all is disbelieved, it is high time for those who refuse belief to deny the very course of Nature. For it is God's peculiar property at once to be invisible and yet to be known from His works, as has been already stated above.
”
”
Athanasius of Alexandria (The Complete Works of St. Athanasius (20 Books): Cross-Linked to the Bible)
“
May you both “know him and the power of his resurrection.” Why should souls who are made alive with Jesus wear the grave-clothes of worldliness and unbelief? Rise, for the Lord is risen.
”
”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Morning and Evening: A New Edition of the Classic Devotional Based on The Holy Bible, English Standard Version)
“
The best comparison that I could give for islam, in relation to another false religion, would be mormonism. Both were started by self-proclaimed prophets who distorted truths from the Bible so to establish their own version of the Gospel. By definition, that act would be called "Historical Revisionism (Negationism)." Which, in accordance to the proper context of their deed, would be defined as - The Illegitimate Distortion Of The Historical Record.
”
”
Calvin W. Allison (The Sunset of Science and the Risen Son of Truth)
“
Science, in its authentic findings, will line up with the Bible.
”
”
Calvin W. Allison (The Sunset of Science and the Risen Son of Truth)
“
I looked through the Gideon Bible in my motel room for tales of great destruction. The sun was risen upon the Earth when Lot entered into Zo-ar, I read. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. So it goes. Those were vile people in both those cities, as is well known. The world was better off without them. And Lot’s wife, of course, was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes.
”
”
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Slaughterhouse-Five)
“
I know that a man of my reading might be expected to dream of dragons. But while in the nightmare I could not have fitted in my waking experience. The waking world is judged more real because it can thus contain the dreaming world: the dreaming world is judged less real because it cannot contain the waking one. For the same reason I am certain that in passing from the scientific point of view to the theological, I have passed from dream to waking. Christian theology can fit in science, art, morality, and the sub-Christian religions. The scientific point of view cannot fit in any of these things, not even science itself. I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.
”
”
Christopher Watkin (Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture)
“
As we cast our gaze back to the foundations of modern religious faiths, we should consider the times in which they developed. Recall that the printing press was invented in 1436. The literacy rate was likely minuscule and limited to the religious clergy or the wealthy. Considering a historical perspective, literacy levels for the world population have risen drastically in the last couple of centuries. While only 12% of the people in the world could read and write in 1820, today, the share has reversed: only 12% of the world population, in 2020, remained illiterate.
”
”
Rico Roho (Aquarius Rising: Christianity and Judaism Explained Using the Science of the Stars)
“
Josh opened his Bible and began to read, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.” He looked across the chasm in the earth at Mackenzie. He spoke loudly so his voice would carry to those in front and behind. “Paul goes on to say, ‘If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.’ “Our faith is not in vain. Rev put his faith in Jesus and will be resurrected on the day of Christ’s return. Which, from the looks of things, could be any second now. Rev explained his understanding of the timing concerning the last days, and I think he made a solid argument.
”
”
Mark Goodwin (World Order (Beginning of Sorrows, #2))
“
...the Christian life requires a continual turning away from sin. But it also requires constant faith, for the Christian daily looks to Christ for loving care. The penitent believer never stops trusting in the saving power of the crucified and risen Saviour.
”
”
Philip Graham Ryken (The Message of Salvation: By God's Grace, for God's Glory (The Bible Speaks Today Bible Themes Series))
“
He has risen.
May God resurrect everything that died in you, that is important into your life.
May he resurrect your hope, dreams, life, marriage, relationship, love, faith, courage, strength, job, career, skill and talent, passion, humanity and peace. May he rise them, as he is also risen.
Luke 24:6-7
”
”
D.J. Kyos
“
The same Christ is Revealed in all the Covenants since the Fall. They are as many Cabinets one within another: but Christ the Jewell within them All. All their Promises lead to him, and Center in in him, All their Commandments refer to him, All their Threats drive to him, All their Ceremonies Typifie him, All their Sacraments signfie him, All their Ordinances magnifie him, &c. But in every of them how differently is the same Christ represented! As the Seed of the woman bruising the Serpents Head; in the First: As the true Noah saving an Elect Remnant by water by his blood, in the Ark of the Church; in the Second: As the Seed of Abraham in whom all the Nations of the earth should be blessed in then third: As the Prophet like Moses raised up from among the People Israel, to be hearkned unto in all things, under severest Penalty: in the Fourth: As the Royall Seed of David, that should sit upon his Throne, ruling the House of Jacob, The Church of God, for evermore; in the Fifth: As the true DAVID, Shepheard, Prince and King of the Redeemed Captives for ever; in the Sixth; And, as God manifested in the Flesh, Crucified, Dead, Buried, Risen, Ascended, and Set down on the Right hand of God, For the actual accomplishment of his Elects Redemption; in the Seventh.
”
”
Francis Roberts (Mysterium & medulla Bibliorum the mysterie and marrow of the Bible)
“
The Bible is authoritative not because we accept it as such, but because it is the word of the risen Lord. It has a claim on all people. Its truth is the truth for every person in every place.
”
”
K. Scott Oliphint (Covenantal Apologetics: Principles and Practice in Defense of Our Faith)
“
May you both “know him and the power of his resurrection.” Why should souls who are made alive with Jesus wear the grave-clothes of worldliness and unbelief? Rise, for the Lord is risen
”
”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Morning and Evening: A New Edition of the Classic Devotional Based on The Holy Bible, English Standard Version)
“
The risen Christ is “Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Rom 14:9), including biblical interpreters today, which is why John Webster said both the Bible and its readers belong to “the domain of the revelatory presence of Christ.
”
”
Kevin J. Vanhoozer (Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What It Means to Read the Bible Theologically)