In short, [Jesus] was elevating human agency so that his followers would do the work of God, just as he had done.
. . . It’s up to you now, he said in effect.
Jesus had healed diseases, cast out demons, and brought comfort and solace to the poor, the oppressed, and the suffering—but only in one small corner of the Roman empire. Now he was setting loose his followers to take that same message to Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.
Two thousand years later, 3 billion people around the world identify as followers of Jesus. The message he brought has spread to Europe, Asia, and every other continent.
The chance of that spread without the jolting event we celebrate as Easter is vanishingly small. Before his resurrection, Jesus’ few followers were denying him and hiding from the temple police. Even afterward, Thomas doubted until he saw proof in flesh and scars. But as they came to understand what had happened in the Resurrection, the disciples were able to glimpse Jesus’ cosmic view.
Here.
Apart from the dubious assertion that Jesus embraced human agency, let's just look at the numbers.
Are the chances of Christianity's growth to 3 billion "vanishingly small" without the resurrection?
One estimate of the global Christian population in 1800 puts it at about 204 million, growing to 2.7 billion by 2025. Not that far off from Phil Yancey's 3 billion. He is rounding up, obviously.
The rate of growth? 1,227%.
How about for Islam, though, over the same period?
2,067%.
Hindus have grown by a respectable 922%.
And the Sikhs by 1,567%.
Meanwhile more than 7 BILLION people have died globally from 1850 to 2022.
If "it's up to you now", are those deaths on them, many of whom never heard the gospel?
These things boggle the mind, but not Phil Yancey's, who has been writing books since 1976.
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| Cosmic Cowboy 1978 |
