Christianity stands or falls on the identity of, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If you want to demonstrate that Jesus is not the Son of God or that his message is false, you need to deconstruct the resurrection. It is the resurrection that provides the final evidence as to Jesus’ identity and the efficacy of his work.
Do you want to prove Christianity false, then focus on the resurrection. Allow me to help you in your endeavor, fruitless as it may be.
To refute the resurrection of Jesus you need to deconstruct four lines of evidence:
The testimony of the eyewitnesses
The reliability of the written record
The predictions of Jesus about his resurrection
The Old Testament predictions of the resurrection
To deconstruct these lines of evidence, you must prove why the specific eyewitness testimony is false. You must demonstrate why the biblical testimony about Jesus cannot be trusted. You must show that Jesus either didn’t predict his own resurrection, or why his prediction was false. You must be able to show that the predictions pre-dating Jesus in the Old Testament either don’t apply to Jesus, or are false.
If you cannot systematically deconstruct these four lines of evidence, then the claims of a risen Jesus stand as a factual event in real history. And if the resurrection stands as a real event in history, then so do Jesus’ claims about himself and his authority. To then disbelieve in Jesus would not only be intellectually dishonest, it would be a catastrophic, eternal error for the one who refuses to believe. Such disbelief is nothing less than obstinate, intentional rebellion against God. No one lacks the ability to believe. But some lack the will to believe. This is why disbelief is rebellion, because it is willful.
Once we are confronted with the evidence of the resurrection, and we disbelieve, there exists no excuse for disbelieving. We cross from ignorance and mistake to willful, intentional error that can only be classified as rebellion. And if we reject Jesus in rebellion then he will reject us for eternity.
There isn’t a single more important issue in life than this one. What we believe about Jesus will impact us for eternity. While we are on the earth we have time to examine the evidence and come to a conclusion. But if we wait too long, all hope is lost, for eternity.
So, get started. Refute the resurrection, show why it is an impossibility, or prove the eyewitness accounts are in error or a lie. Find out if the written record is or isn’t reliable. Test Jesus’s claims about his resurrection. Deconstruct the prophecies about Jesus that were written 600 to 1,500+ years before his birth. Go ahead. Examine the evidence. Be thorough. Take your time. I’m not in a rush. I’ll still be here when you are done.
