Outrage Over Ignored Witnesses!
Rioting breaks out in the streets after the defendant is released.
The anger and distrust of the judicial system was apparent in the frustrated crowd. This type of decision seems to have been happening more and more recently. But in this case, where a person who had committed such horrible crimes against children was let go and the strong evidence IGNORED, well, the people just couldn't take it any more. So now other innocent people will be wronged because justice was not provided. And more children will be harmed because the guilty was set free.
The anger and distrust of the judicial system was apparent in the frustrated crowd. This type of decision seems to have been happening more and more recently. But in this case, where a person who had committed such horrible crimes against children was let go and the strong evidence IGNORED, well, the people just couldn't take it any more. So now other innocent people will be wronged because justice was not provided. And more children will be harmed because the guilty was set free.
Yes, there have been many highly publicized cases where the public at large had a strong viewpoint of a judge or jury's decision. But in this case the prosecution had 11 eye-witness accounts of people that had been directly associated with the defendant for three and half years! Their testimony, while not identical (as you would expect from unique individuals) was clearly collaborative and left no doubt about the guilt of the defendant. How could he be found not guilty in the face of such overwhelming evidence? There is simply no rational reason that can explain this but the motives of those that allowed it to happen must be brought into question. We believe that an appeal is imminent because you can't ignore the testimony of multiple witnesses!
While the above scenario is fictitious, something similar happened about 2000 years ago. In this case the defendant was actually innocent of the charges against him, except for one- this man claimed to be the Son of God! The testimony against him was so inconsistent and illogical that even the Roman governor, Pilate, after hearing some of the facts asked the accusers "what evil has he done?" and made the statement "I find no fault in this man". But out of concern for his own political neck Pilate turned Jesus over to be crucified. Out of selfish ambition and evil motives the religious leaders of the day (that clearly should have been prepared for Jesus, the coming Messiah) brought about a riot that led to his death.
So was Jesus "the Son of God" as he claimed?
He backed the claim up with supernatural miracles that clearly no normal human being could have done. He healed the sick of all kinds of diseases. He opened the eyes of the blind and raised the dead. He walked on water and calmed a raging sea. He would on one occasion feed 5000 men plus women and children with 5 loaves and 2 fish and they had 12 baskets full of leftovers.
On another occasion in a strikingly similar manner he would feed 4000 men plus women and children from 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish. There would be 7 baskets full of leftovers. He chose 12 men to be a part of his inner circle and worked with them pretty much 24/7 for 3 1/2 years. One of these 12 would betray him. But after realizing what he had done Judas made the statement "I have sinned, betraying innocent blood." He would go and kill himself. Two of the remaining disciples or apostles would carefully write out their testimony of the events of Jesus' life. From this we still have in the Bible the book of Matthew and the book of John as well as John's 3 letters written to churches or members and the conclusion to the Bible, the book of Revelation. Another eye-witness account was from Peter who recorded 2 additional letters to the churches (the books of 1 Peter and 2 Peter in the Bible). Are these accounts identical? Of course not! But they clearly substantiate key events and ideas that leave us no doubt of Jesus' claim.
While Luke would not be a direct witness of Jesus ministry note how the book of Luke starts out (Luke 1:1-4):
While the above scenario is fictitious, something similar happened about 2000 years ago. In this case the defendant was actually innocent of the charges against him, except for one- this man claimed to be the Son of God! The testimony against him was so inconsistent and illogical that even the Roman governor, Pilate, after hearing some of the facts asked the accusers "what evil has he done?" and made the statement "I find no fault in this man". But out of concern for his own political neck Pilate turned Jesus over to be crucified. Out of selfish ambition and evil motives the religious leaders of the day (that clearly should have been prepared for Jesus, the coming Messiah) brought about a riot that led to his death.
So was Jesus "the Son of God" as he claimed?
He backed the claim up with supernatural miracles that clearly no normal human being could have done. He healed the sick of all kinds of diseases. He opened the eyes of the blind and raised the dead. He walked on water and calmed a raging sea. He would on one occasion feed 5000 men plus women and children with 5 loaves and 2 fish and they had 12 baskets full of leftovers.
On another occasion in a strikingly similar manner he would feed 4000 men plus women and children from 7 loaves of bread and a few small fish. There would be 7 baskets full of leftovers. He chose 12 men to be a part of his inner circle and worked with them pretty much 24/7 for 3 1/2 years. One of these 12 would betray him. But after realizing what he had done Judas made the statement "I have sinned, betraying innocent blood." He would go and kill himself. Two of the remaining disciples or apostles would carefully write out their testimony of the events of Jesus' life. From this we still have in the Bible the book of Matthew and the book of John as well as John's 3 letters written to churches or members and the conclusion to the Bible, the book of Revelation. Another eye-witness account was from Peter who recorded 2 additional letters to the churches (the books of 1 Peter and 2 Peter in the Bible). Are these accounts identical? Of course not! But they clearly substantiate key events and ideas that leave us no doubt of Jesus' claim.
While Luke would not be a direct witness of Jesus ministry note how the book of Luke starts out (Luke 1:1-4):
Since many took in hand to draw up an account concerning the matters which have been borne out among us, even as those who from the beginning delivered to us, becoming eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word, it seemed good to me also, following all things accurately from the very first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus, so that you might know the certainty of those things in which you have been instructed."
This sounds like he wanted to do careful research, using the eye-witness testimony available to him. He wanted Theophilus and those of us who would read his letter in years to come to "know the certainty of those things in which you have been instructed". Luke would also provide us the book of Acts- the testimony of the early church after Jesus was no longer on this earth in a physical form. Much of this was his own eye-witness testimony.
As a general historical record it is widely believed that of the 11 apostles that were eye-witnesses to Jesus's ministry 10 of them died a martyr's death. In other words, they died because they continued to preach and teach about the life of Jesus. It is hard to understand why anyone who thought Jesus claims were a hoax (as did the religious leaders of the day) would continue to proclaim the hoax to their death. They backed up their eye-witness accounts with their lives!
The sign of Jesus's claim to be the Son of God
The miracles and the teaching of Jesus, his care and concern for humanity and his life lived without breaking God's law should have been sufficient proof to anyone of his claim. For many then and many today it is more than enough. But the one sign Jesus would leave the skeptics and unbelieving was that "as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish so the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The enemies of Jesus understood this sign and asked that the tomb Jesus was placed in be carefully sealed and guarded so the disciples of Jesus didn't come and take away the body and claim Jesus had risen from the dead. Would Jesus rise after three days and three nights as he said he would?
Well, he appeared to the eleven at different times after rising from the dead. Do your research and check it out. Some of the women that served with Jesus were eye-witnesses of his resurrection. In fact, an angel reported to the women (Matthew 28:5b,6):
As a general historical record it is widely believed that of the 11 apostles that were eye-witnesses to Jesus's ministry 10 of them died a martyr's death. In other words, they died because they continued to preach and teach about the life of Jesus. It is hard to understand why anyone who thought Jesus claims were a hoax (as did the religious leaders of the day) would continue to proclaim the hoax to their death. They backed up their eye-witness accounts with their lives!
The sign of Jesus's claim to be the Son of God
The miracles and the teaching of Jesus, his care and concern for humanity and his life lived without breaking God's law should have been sufficient proof to anyone of his claim. For many then and many today it is more than enough. But the one sign Jesus would leave the skeptics and unbelieving was that "as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish so the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The enemies of Jesus understood this sign and asked that the tomb Jesus was placed in be carefully sealed and guarded so the disciples of Jesus didn't come and take away the body and claim Jesus had risen from the dead. Would Jesus rise after three days and three nights as he said he would?
Well, he appeared to the eleven at different times after rising from the dead. Do your research and check it out. Some of the women that served with Jesus were eye-witnesses of his resurrection. In fact, an angel reported to the women (Matthew 28:5b,6):
Do not fear, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.""He has risen, as He said.
We are starting to get a pretty good group of eye-witnesses, the highest form of testimony. But we want to note one more piece of testimony here. The Apostle Paul wrote many of the books we have in the New Testament of the Bible. Once a strong persecutor of the early Christian church, he would be converted to Jesus following a special vision. While not an eye-witness of Jesus earthly ministry Paul claims to have been given direct revelation by Jesus regarding his ministry to the non-Jewish people. In his first book to the church at Corinth Paul writes (1 Corinthians 15:3-12):
For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas (Peter), then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?"
Did you catch that bit about 500+ eye-witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus?
Not just 11 disciples- 500 plus, most of whom were still living when Paul was writing this letter! There should be outrage when the testimony of eye-witnesses are ignored and the guilty are set free or the innocent are condemned. How do some say that there is no resurrection? How do some say that Jesus was just a good man, and not the Son of God? In some cases it may be out of ignorance but in many cases it is a personal desire to continue breaking God's law, to live in sin. You can try to cover up the facts or ignore them but at the final Judgment that won't be good enough. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures. So what will you do with the information you have?
The testimony of the eye-witnesses have spoken. Will you believe them or not?
Not just 11 disciples- 500 plus, most of whom were still living when Paul was writing this letter! There should be outrage when the testimony of eye-witnesses are ignored and the guilty are set free or the innocent are condemned. How do some say that there is no resurrection? How do some say that Jesus was just a good man, and not the Son of God? In some cases it may be out of ignorance but in many cases it is a personal desire to continue breaking God's law, to live in sin. You can try to cover up the facts or ignore them but at the final Judgment that won't be good enough. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures. So what will you do with the information you have?
The testimony of the eye-witnesses have spoken. Will you believe them or not?
