One sure way to answer the question, “Is the world a better place because of Christianity?” is toaskifitprovides a solution to the problem of human suffering. Theologian Kavin Rowe writes that early Christianity “pulsateswiththe hope of eternal life.” Hope. Hope the likes of which mankindhadneverlaidclaimbefore. A hope that Christians cannot help but embody and live in witness to. A hope of such enduring value that martyrs were willingly exchanged for possession of it. Hope of such powerthatthesickwerenursedeven at the risk of death to themselves. And that hope found its genesis in a grand story of everything.
We all have a story in our minds andourunderstandingofeverything. Rowewrites,“Thestoryofeverything is a story about all that there is.” It is a story about God and all that God created because that is all that exists. All other stories that are told fit within the story of everything. No wider story encompasses that story. And because it is the story of everything, it gives us answers to the most fundamental questions in life: Where did I come from? What does it mean to be human? What is my purpose in life? And what happens to me when I die? Ultimately, these questions can only be answered by and through our story of everything. It is a story that begins and ends in a state of absolute perfection. But in between the original perfection and the magnificent return to perfection, there is a great and horrible fall. In the Christian motif, we identify these movements of life that occur within the story of everything as Creation, the Fall, and redemption through Christ. In this way, the event that consummates the perfect ending to the story is the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
For Christians, the resurrection is the central truth around which all other matters turn. It is nothing less than the way God Himself is identified: God is the one who raised Jesus from the dead. Take away the resurrection; God, as we understand Him, disappears as well. That is because in the resurrection, God brought a new reality into the world: “life over death, the reversal of Eden, the hope of the future, and a power for the present.”
Quite simply, Jesus changed everything. He came into the world to save mankind from itself. But fallen humanity revealed its true darkness in that “not only can we not help killing each other, we will even kill the Lord who comes to heal us.” In that way, the crucifixion provides concrete evidence of the human condition. Everywhere there are humans, there will be crucifixions. Suffering abounds. Nations are at war. Communities are fractured. Leaders fail. People are enslaved by their sins. Dreams are crushed. Hopes are dashed. The Messiah is executed. The disciples desert him and flee. Life loses. Death wins. Without the resurrection, this is where the story of everything ends: a man claiming to be the Messiah was crucified. But nothing more. Nothing changed. No peace was found, no hope was gained. Rowe writes that if this were the end of the story, then “[c]rucifixion would be the deepest reality, and any hope we could muster would always be tempered by the realization that our race against decay and death would end in defeat.”
For the Christian, the story has a different ending because the resurrection is the climax of the story of everything. It is the reversal of the pain and the death on the Cross. It is nothing less than full reconciliation with God. We are crucified with Christ and will someday be raised with Him. In that way, the resurrection is the joy that comes in the morning after the long and horrible night. Sinners repent. Salvation is given. The Messiah is raised. The disciples believe. Hope abounds. Death loses. Life wins. The resurrection of Jesus is not a hope in fantasy; it is an evidenced hope. Paul said to the Corinthians, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:19). But Paul knows there is evidence to back his claim. Some witnesses are still living; go ask them for yourselves (1 Cor 15:6). And it is because of this evidence that Paul can boldly proclaim, “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor 15:19-22). Hope, real hope.
From the Cross, Jesus still calls to us today; He calls out to us amid our suffering—“Don’t turn away, don’t give in, don’t give up on the story of everything because I have written a beautiful ending. It is an eternal story of hope built rock-solid on the sacrifice of Christ, who “has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). Hope. That is the solution to the problem of human suffering. It is the reality of the hope Jesus brought into the world, and that is the everpresent hope He freely offers all people still today: death loses, and life wins. Is the world a better place because of Christianity? Absolutely! It is the only true hope that there is.
Gloria in excelsis Deo! TyB.Kerley,DMin.,isanordained minister who teaches Christian apologetics, and relief preaches in Southern Oklahoma. Dr. Kerley and his wife Vicki are members of the Waurika church of Christ, and live in Ardmore. You can contact him at: dr.kerley@isGoddead.com.