The Litchfield Cathedral Choir and congregation lead us in singing this marvelous hymn. Inspiring!
** Update 3/24/08 - A Canadian female pastor wants to take Christ out of Christianity. How sad and how foolish, as if you could retain hope without its basis in the love of God and the salvation God has made known through Christ. I think Ken Samples said it well when he wrote about the resurrection of Christ as follows (his emphases):
"Many believers today fail to grasp the tremendous significance that the resurrection of Jesus holds both doctrinally and apologetically for the historic Christian faith. Easter is what ultimately separates the Christian faith from all other religious traditions and claims.
Both the doctrinal nature and evidentiary truth of Christianity rest squarely upon Jesus Christ's bodily resurrection from the grave. For Jesus' being raised to new life three days after His death pumps the heart of the Christian gospel (doctrine), and is Christianity's central supporting fact (apologetics). The truth of Christianity uniquely
stands or falls on Christ's resurrection. The apostle Paul explains:
"If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (I Corinthians 15:14). "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (I Corinthians 15:17).
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the major theme of the apostles' original preaching (Acts 1:22; 2:31; 4:2, 33; 17:18) and thus served to birth Christianity as a faith distinct from Judaism. His disciples claimed to be direct "witnesses" and "eyewitnesses" of their Lord's resurrection (Acts 3:15; 5:32; 2 Peter 1:16). "He is risen" is the confessional cry of the primitive church. The entire New Testament was inevitably written in light of Christ's resurrection. Each book therein bears witness to its historical reality. In fact, a person could only serve as an original apostle if they had witnessed Jesus' resurrection (Acts 1:22).
It is critical to appreciate, however, that Jesus' resurrection was not merely a coming back from the dead (resuscitation or near-death experience). Nor was it akin to the Eastern mystical doctrine of reincarnation. Rather Jesus was resurrected to a new type ofhuman life -- eternal life with a transformed, glorified physical body no longer subject to weakness, pain, sickness, and death (I Corinthians 15:42-44). By His resurrection, Jesus Christ fully and completely conquered death forever.
The resurrection of Jesus also powerfully impacts the lives and destinies of His followers. For Christ's resurrection is the pledge and model for the future bodily resurrection of all believers (I Corinthians 6:14; 15:20; Philippians 3:21). Because He rose, we will also rise.
Jesus Christ's resurrection is the answer to mankind's ultimate existential crisis, being stalked by death. The fact of the resurrection provides hope, purpose, meaning, and confidence in the presence of death. For Jesus promised that death will never ultimately triumph over those who place their confident trust in Him:
"I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)
(Kenneth Samples is Senior Research Scholar at Reasons to Believe and author of Without a Doubt: Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions and also A World of Difference: Putting Christianity's Truth -Claims to the Worldview Test.)