Why I Believe

By Chris Hansen

A fictional debate

 between a Christian and his friend.

A friend of mine was worried.  He thought I’d lost my head.

He came to me one evening, and this is what he said:

“I know you follow Jesus.  Your faith is very strong.

I think you’ve lost your reason! How could you be so wrong?

How can you follow Jesus, when you know that he has died!”

“Because he came to life again,” I quietly replied.

He said, “The dead do not come back!  It simply isn’t true!

He tricked the people of his day, and now he’s fooled you too!

He was drugged, or quite unconscious, when they laid him in the tomb.

Somehow, He lived, and then escaped.  That is what I assume.”

I spoke up in amazement, saying, “Just how was this done?

He loosened heavy grave clothes, and unwrapped them one by one?

He pushed aside a heavy stone, with hands so badly marred?

With wounds in hands and feet and side, he overcame the guard?

That brings up another point, the deep wound in his side.

With flowing blood and water, he surely should have died!

Only death could have made, the blood and water come apart.

He must have died some time before, the spear point burst his heart.

But if, somehow, he lived, escaped, and overcame the guard,

And if he then walked many miles, so wounded and so marred,

That alone should make you think! That alone should make you pause!

That alone should be enough, to compel you to his cause!”

My friend exclaimed, “You win this round, but I have more to say.

Your case for death is strong, but there is another way.

Perhaps they stole his body, before the guard was to arrive.

The empty tomb convinced the people, that he was still alive.”

“An empty tomb is not enough,” I very quickly said,

“They would not seal his tomb unless, he still were there, and dead!

Even if they came, before the guard was to arrive,

Suffocating grave clothes, made sure he could not survive!

Let me see if I can guess, the very next thing you’ll say.

They stole his body while guards slept. That’s how he got away.

A noisy stone was rolled away, and still the guards remained asleep?

In all that noise and confusion, not one guard made a peep?

Merely a stolen body, would not inspire so much zeal!

He must have been alive and well! He must have been quite real!

Men do not give up their lives, in order to deceive!

Men do not die for something, they truly do not believe.

For such a noble cause, you might find one or even two,

But twelve men, or even hundreds? You know that’s just not true!”

My friend exclaimed, “I see your point! Perhaps they saw him rise,

But only with demented minds, that played tricks on their eyes.

Perhaps he was nothing more, than someone’s legendary tale.”

Then I said, “Here’s where your logic, really starts to fail!

Five hundred people, really saw him, in person!

I fear that your logic, is starting to worsen!

One or two minds, may have started to go,

But five hundred minds? That’s just simply not so!

His name appears, in historical diction,

So we know that he wasn’t, somebody’s fiction.

Now some will say that he had a twin brother, and that’s how he rose.

But this “twin” is not mentioned, not even by foes!

Now imagine this twin, with wounds in hands, and feet, and side,

Just like Jesus had, when He was crucified!

No, the only course left, is that Jesus did rise!

No fiction!  No fancy! No folly!  No disguise!”

My friend really thought, for a moment or two.

With surprise in his eyes, he said, “Then it must all be true!

He really did rise, so that I might believe!

He really did rise, so that I might not grieve!

If only I’d seen! If only I’d known!”

“Don’t worry,” I said, “I too had to be shown.

Now we are brothers, with no fear and no doubt!

Let us tell others, what we have found out!

And when we meet Jesus, at the end of our days,

He will say, “Well done, faithful servant! I give you my praise!”

Chris Hansen

Author:

“Secret of the Psalms,”

Amazingly accurate prophecies about Jesus

 in the Psalms of Israel, written down centuries ahead:

“Revelation Revisited,”

Dramatic guide through book of “Revelation”:

“Grandfather’s Journal,”

Touching illustrated children’s book:

A boy loses his fear of death

after reading his grandfather’s journal.

 The young boy

learns that because Jesus rose from death,

there is no reason to be afraid.

Local bookstores

Or: day or night phone orders: 

1-888-795-4274

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