Happy Resurrection Day ("Easter") Everyone!
Today, I just want everyone to think about the reason why this day was originally celebrated by the early Christians. It had nothing to do with rabbits or eggs or chickens or baskets.
It was all about the Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, who conquered death so that we could have life in Him. I don't want anyone to "just believe" based on credulity without knowing the facts. That is why I want to encourage everyone to search Google, Wikipedia, your Library, your bookstore, and any other sources and examine both sides of the Resurrection debate. Then make a decision about what to believe, based on the facts and evidence. The truth will never go against logic. The truth will stand up against all challenges.
Here are a few sites to start your investigation at:
http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t009.html
http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t008.html
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/resurrectionofchrist.html
In fact, the Apostle Paul challenged everyone to investigate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ -- He said this doctrine was the center of Christianity and that if it is false, the entire belief system of Christianity crumbles.
1 Corinthians 15:14-20 (Good News Translation): and if Christ has not been raised from death, then we have nothing to preach and you have nothing to believe. More than that, we are shown to be lying about God, because we said that he raised Christ from death---but if it is true that the dead are not raised to life, then he did not raise Christ. For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins. It would also mean that the believers in Christ who have died are lost. If our hope in Christ is good for this life only and no more, then we deserve more pity than anyone else in all the world. But the truth is that Christ has been raised from death, as the guarantee that those who sleep in death will also be raised.
I leave you with some prophecies and Scriptures about the Resurrection of the Messiah:
Psalm 16:9-11 (ESV): Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Isaiah 53:8-12 (ESV): By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
1 Corinthians 15:1-8 (Good News Translation): And now I want to remind you, my friends, of the Good News which I preached to you, which you received, and on which your faith stands firm. That is the gospel, the message that I preached to you. You are saved by the gospel if you hold firmly to it---unless it was for nothing that you believed. I passed on to you what I received, which is of the greatest importance: that Christ died for our sins, as written in the Scriptures; that he was buried and that he was raised to life three days later, as written in the Scriptures; that he appeared to Peter and then to all twelve apostles. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of his followers at once, most of whom are still alive, although some have died. Then he appeared to James, and afterward to all the apostles. Last of all he appeared also to me---even though I am like someone whose birth was abnormal.
Here is the Good News summed up:
All men are sinners, who cannot save themselves by any good works (see Romans chapters 3 and 4), that God The Father loved the world so much that He sent His Only-Begotten Son to the earth (see John 3:16-18), and that Jesus was The Son of God and God (see John 1:1, 1:14, 1:18, 5:18, 5:23, 8:58, 20:28, Colossians 2:9), who became flesh to suffer, die, and shed His blood for our sins (see Isaiah chapter 53, Philippians 2:5-11, John 1:14) and was buried and rose again on the third day (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-8) and was taken up to heaven where He sits at God's right hand (see Psalm 110:1, Hebrews 1:3), and He is our Lord, Savior, Mediator, and High Priest, and that we must turn from our sins (repent) and we are saved only by grace through faith in Him and His sacrifice, and by trusting in Him and calling on His Name, and once that happens then we are born again and washed from our sins by The Holy Spirit who then dwells in our hearts.