Investigate It!

Linda and I were in Romania a couple of weeks ago, and we visited a medieval castle where the vampire legend of Count Dracula was supposedly based.

But that castle, Bran Castle, was probably never occupied by Vlad Dracula. He may have visited, but even that is unknown.

It’s interesting how legends evolve. Even vampires themselves, largely the invention of author Bram Stoker, were not really Romanian in origin. Stoker got the idea from pagan Romanian lore of the Strigoi, which were more like zombies than vampires.

Without ever visiting Romania, Stoker caught wind of the Strigoi, heard about bloodthirsty Vlad the Impaler (a ruthless medieval ruler in that region) whose family name was Dracula, saw a picture of the Bran Castle in Transylvania, and wrote his blockbuster horror book, Dracula, about it all.

None of it was meant to be embraced as history…just entertaining fiction with historical and geographical names. But most people are eager to visit Vlad’s Castle, believing it was where Count Dracula lived. As entertaining as all of that may be, it’s not true.

Which is what a lot of people think about Easter.

That may be you. You come to church on Easter, partly because you are with family or friends…and it’s Easter. It’s the thing to do on Easter.

But you can’t really believe it. A man was killed by torture, then he came back from the dead? We don’t believe in zombies or vampires or strigoi, but we’re supposed to believe that? And maybe the big celebration of all these Christians, to you, feels like a lot of hype over a legend.

That’s what Frank Morrison thought. He was an attorney who set out to prove that the basis of Christianity was myth. He wrote a book explaining his findings and why he, instead, became a Christian.

Albert Ross, C.S. Lewis, Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, and John Dickerson were all highly educated professionals who did the same thing. They started off as skeptics, some even mocking the idea of a resurrection. But after honestly analyzing the evidence, they became firm believers that Jesus was not only real, He was who He claimed to be, and He rose again after dying like He said He would.

That’s my challenge. Just do an honest investigation. Don’t only focus on your echo chamber of fellow skeptics. Read also from those who became convinced and pay attention to their reasons. Some of the brightest minds in history, highly educated and very intelligent, became convinced that Jesus’ resurrection happened.

If it didn’t, nothing really matters. But if it did, it’s the most important event in history. And your eternal destiny rests upon it.

Don’t just ignore it. Investigate! And we at The Bridge are here to help.