Alive - by Dave Smith

them by others. The apostles died for holding to their own testimony
that they had personally seen the risen Jesus. Contemporary martyrs
die for what they believe to be true. The disciples of Jesus suffered
and were willing to die for what they knew to be either true or false.’ 14
As writer William Lane Craig points out: ‘without a prior belief in the
resurrection of Jesus, the Christian Way could never have come into
being. The disciples would no doubt have remained defeated
men...The origin of the Christian Way therefore hinges on the belief of
the early disciples that God had raised Jesus from the dead.’ 15
Put simply, we cannot understand the explosive growth of
Christianity in the first few centuries, nor its continued expansion
throughout history, without considering the central tenet of the faith:
that on the first Easter, Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is still
alive today. Just as he changed lives back then, he is still doing the
same today!