1 Session 8.2

Life’s BIG Questions

Week 8

Session 2

2 Session 8.2

Is there more to life than this?

3 Session 8.2

Life in 21st Century

Increased pace of life

• Increased pressure to– Buy latest gadget– Try latest fad

• Increased stress– Holding down a job– Increased debt– Increase in divorce rate

• Credit crunch– Job losses, unemployment– Uncertainty

4 Session 8.2

Life in 21st Century

• Suggestion that credit crunch caused by greed– Bankers taking unnecessary

risks

– Driven by lure of big profits and bonuses

• We may all have had some part to play

Seems that 21Seems that 21stst century lifestyle century lifestyle fuelled by greedfuelled by greed

5 Session 8.2

Life in 21st Century

Benefits• Relative health

– Life expectancy

– Modern medicines & treatments

• Potential for better diet

– Variety of foods

• More leisure time

– Time for families & friends

6 Session 8.2

Stressful Lives

• There is stress in our lives– Increased debt

– Pressure on relationships• Increase in divorce rate

• If working may work all hours for– Promotion or status

– More pay

– Simply to hold down the job!

Perhaps its time to take stock . . .Perhaps its time to take stock . . .

7 Session 8.2

Is this all there is?

Is there more to life than:

• Buying the “latest”?

• Socialising?

• Holding down a stressful job?

8 Session 8.2

Problems

• Life may be good

• We all have problems

• We are all getting older

We all face an uncertain futureWe all face an uncertain future

9 Session 8.2

Uncertain FutureI never think of the future. It comes soon enough.

Albert Einstein

The future is something which everyone reaches at the

rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever

he is.

C.S. LewisThe future has a way of arriving unannounced.

George WillPrediction is very difficult, especially of the future.

Niels Bohr

We don’t know what tomorrow will bringWe don’t know what tomorrow will bring

10 Session 8.2

Lives in Danger

• We try to avoid danger

• But if our short term future is threatened– illness

– accident

• We don’t refuse help

Call an ambulance to get help ASAPCall an ambulance to get help ASAP

11 Session 8.2

Lives in Danger

• We trust paramedics and doctors – To provide right help

• They have had sufficient– Training

– Experience

Help has to come from a trustworthy source – Help has to come from a trustworthy source – but we don’t ask for qualifications!but we don’t ask for qualifications!

12 Session 8.2

Uncertain Future

• Our long term future is uncertain– We need urgent help

• We suggest that trustworthy help is found in the Bible

We have the opportunity to test the We have the opportunity to test the qualifications of the Biblequalifications of the Bible

13 Session 8.2

Planning for the futureBeing prepared

• All sorts of insurance– Car insurance

– Medical

– Home

– Life

• Insurance doesn’t prevent bad things happening

Life insurance often called “life assurance”Life insurance often called “life assurance”We can be assured that we will all die!We can be assured that we will all die!

14 Session 8.2

Planning for the future?Now listen, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

James 4:13-14

We can’t predict our future … our lives are We can’t predict our future … our lives are fleetingfleeting

15 Session 8.2

Warning against greed

Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

And he told them this parable: The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry . . .

16 Session 8.2

Jesus’ Teaching

…But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night

your life will be demanded from you. Then who

will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

This is how it will be with anyone who stores

up things for himself but is not rich towards

God.

Luke 12:15-21

Jesus says be rich towards GodJesus says be rich towards God

17 Session 8.2

Be Content

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. . . People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 6:6-10

18 Session 8.2

Bible Teaching For Life Now

• Be content – Can’t take anything with us

• Seeking wealth can be harmful

• The love of money causes all kinds of evil

• Be rich towards God

That is about life now – what about long term?That is about life now – what about long term?

19 Session 8.2

What about our long term future?

The Bible tells us:

• Our creator is concerned about people

• God has a rescue plan for us

• God’s son, Jesus Christ, is the central part of that plan

If we die before Jesus returns we can be If we die before Jesus returns we can be raised from the deadraised from the dead

20 Session 8.2

The Rescue Plan• God’s will send his son Jesus Christ• Who will tackle worldwide problems of:

– injustice– poverty– illness– ageing and death– war and famine– natural disasters

21 Session 8.2

The Guarantee

“For [God] he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

Acts 17 v 31

God raised Jesus – He can rescue our earth God raised Jesus – He can rescue our earth as well!as well!

22 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

...there arose about this time Jesus, a wise man, if indeed we should call him a man; for he was a doer of marvellous deeds, a teacher of men who receive the truth with pleasure. He was the Christ. And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross… those who had loved him at the first did not cease… …for he appeared to them on the third day alive again, the divine prophets having spoken these and thousands of other wonderful things about him; and even now the tribe of Christians, so named after him, has not yet died out.Josephus, “Antiquities of the Jews”, III.1

Non Biblical evidence

23 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

Best documented event in history:24,000 manuscripts of New Testament

86,000 NT quotations by early church fathers

Quotations written within 150 years support majority of NT

Biblical evidence

Most secular ancient works have handful of manuscripts

Overwhelming support for reliability

of NT text!

24 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

His body was placed in a rock-cut tombThe tomb entrance was covered by large stoneThe stone was sealed Guards were posted by the authorities

– To prevent removal of Jesus’ body by his disciples

– To ensure that Jesus’ predictions of his resurrection would not be fulfilled

Biblical evidence from the Bible record:

25 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

•The tomb was empty. The body could not be produced on third day

– If it had been, Christianity would never have started

– The fact was that the body was missing!

•Either Jesus was raised from the dead or there is some other explanation.

Biblical evidence from the Bible record:

26 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

– The disciples stole the body– Jesus did not really die – The disciples went to the

wrong tomb

Alternative explanations:

27 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

– In AD30 Judea occupied by Romans• No place for soldiers to sleep in the

open, they would be killed by Jewish freedom fighters

– Tomb sealed as well as guarded• Guards would be woken by the sound

of the stone being moved

– Why would disciples perpetrate such a deception

• And then be prepared to suffer persecution for something they knew was a lie?

The disciples stole the body?

28 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

The Romans were expert in crucifixion– Jesus given spear thrust to his side. If not

already dead, that would have killed him– If he survived spear thrust, would have

died in tomb without medical attention

Jesus had damaged hands and feet, and a pierced lung, yet he would need to:

– Release himself from his grave clothes– Roll aside the stone from wrong side– Fight his way past the guards– Walk seven miles to Emmaus for a

resurrection appearance– Fool his disciples into believing that his

new condition was eternal life

Jesus didn’t die – he revived?

29 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

The tomb was in a private garden known to the disciples

The Authorities would have pointed to the correct tomb. They didn’t; - invented the story of the stolen body

Jews only had to point out correct tomb with body in it

In the interests of the Jewish Authorities to discredit the story of the resurrection of Jesus. They were unable to do so.

Disciples went to wrong tomb?

30 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

The church grew rapidly in spite of – Persecution– Ostracism– Social deprivation

Message spread rapidly despite extremely difficult circumstances Evidence of the resurrection very compelling

– Early church members were prepared to die rather than deny their faith

Christians were persecuted in Rome – Many died in the Coliseum

They remained steadfast because of their faith in the afterlife

– which the resurrection of Jesus guaranteed

The rise of Christianity

31 Session 8.2

Resurrection of Jesus

The Apostle Paul wrote:

If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. 1 Corinthians 15 v 19 (NIV)

All the evidence supports the fact that Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead.

32 Session 8.2

SummaryThere is more to life• We can’t predict the future

– except that one day we will die

• Bible has a message for life now and long term– We can be raised from dead– Be involved in God’s rescue

plan for our world

• Can be confident Jesus rose from the dead

We can be equally confident there is more to life

than this!

33 Session 8.2

Conclusion

• Thank you for being here this week

• Review the notes from this session

• Final summary