Only The Resurrection of Christ Can Explain These Facts

The bodily resurrection of Christ is the only reasonable explanation for these 11 points summarized by Lewis and Demarest (Vol 2., 482-484):

1. Jesus of Nazareth died and was buried. It is beyond reasonable doubt that Jesus died and was buried.
2. After the crucifixion a resurrection was unexpected.
3. The tomb was open and empty.
4. The grave clothes were undisturbed.
5. For 40 days Jesus appeared to people prior to his ascension.
6. The disciples were transformed from despair to hope, their disbelief to faith, their fear to courage.
7. A new movement arose in Jerusalem and quickly advanced through the region. It was based on the belief that Jesus was alive . . . There is nothing but the resurrection to distinguish the first Christians from any other Jews of the day.
8. The Christian church still exists today . . .The frailty and fallibility of church leaders has become notorious in literature and the media. Had it not been for its confidence in the One who conquered sin and death, the church would have long ago disappeared.
9. Christians generally practice Sunday worship . . . If not for the resurrection, what remarkable first century event can explain that major transformation of a longstanding Sabbath tradition?
10. The first century produced the written New Testament, which remains to this day. If Jesus did not rise, what first-century event did motivate the written preservation of the apostles’ teaching?
11. The calendar directs attention to what happened before Christ (B.C.) and after the birth of the Lord (A.D.). If Jesus did not rise, what event in history better accounts for the change in the dating of all events that later occurred?