Yesterday, I explained that people have a tendency to spread comforting lies rather than listen to harsh truths.  Facebook is rife with examples of unexamined statements that are easy to verify as false, yet people spread with glee.

This could work against the Resurrection.  Wouldn’t people believe that Jesus rose from the dead and was thus vindicated by God as the Messiah rather than face the harsh reality that he died on the cross and is still in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea?  Isn’t that just like the rant misattributed to Bill Cosby that people keep spreading around the Internet uncritically because it supports their own beliefs perfectly and they would like to think that Bill Cosby agrees with them because Bill Cosby is supercool?

Maybe.  However, I think that there are two good reasons I will remain a steadfast Christian.  First, there are always natural skeptics who will hear something and not just spread it, but instead spend their time trying to inform others of the grievous error they are making by believing it.  Second, not everyone who believed in the Resurrection needed it as a “comforting lie.”  Paul, for example, was predisposed to believe otherwise, yet came away a believer. Read the rest of this entry →