WHY NOT BELIEVE IT? by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 16, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 16.

WHY NOT BELIEVE IT?

By Editor

In that able paper the Christian Advocate of New York, edited by Dr. J. M. Buckley, is a leading editorial entitled, "Meditations for Easter." Among other good things is the following:—

The resurrection is the corner-stone of our faith; upon it the superstructure rests. If it is removed or weakened, the entire structure falls into ruins. But the fact of Christ's resurrection is well authenticated through the appearance of Jesus to Peter, to the twelve, to more than 500 brethren, to James, to all the apostles, and to Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, whose evidence is of the most positive and valuable character. It was Paul who declared with a conviction that had its foundation in knowledge, "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; and if Jesus Christ be not raised, your faith is vain." The resurrection of Jesus . . . helps to answer the question propounded by Job, "If a man die, shall he live again?" It is true that there are many other foundations upon which our hope of immortality is based; but if Jesus had not risen from the dead, if

He had not won that sublime victory over the grave, the fond hopes which Christians cherish concerning the future life would not seem to be as firmly grounded as they are. It strengthens every suggestion of immortality which the soul possesses to know that He who "tasted death for every man," and who said, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, tho he were dead, yet shall he live," and, "Because I live, ye shall live also," has "risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." For, as Paul so unequivocally put it, "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen;" but "He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus."

Now why not believe this? Paul also said that if there be no resurrection, "then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." See 1 Cor. 15:12-18. But if man had an immortal soul, a self-conscious personal entity, which is, after all, the real man, which survives death and lives on in a more mentally active state than when in the flesh, then the resurrection is needless; it is not the corner-stone of our faith. But it is not needless. It is the only answer to the question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" Any other suggestion of immortality which the soul possesses is a hypnotic suggestion of Satan, having no support in the Bible. If Jesus had not risen from the dead, not only "the fond hopes which Christians cherish concerning the future life would not seem to be as firmly grounded as they are," but there would be no Biblical grounds at all, and hence no true ground of hope in a hereafter. If Paul's sublime words mean anything, they mean that there is absolutely no hope of a future life save through the resurrection.