Resolving The Impossible

1 Corinthians 15:12-19 Mountain climbers scale cliffs that turn back the average hiker. They do it by training and practice. In the field of industry, researchers defy what some say is impossible. Over a hundred years ago, it was suggested that the patent office be closed since all the inventions had already been made. How wrong they were! For example, the invention of the transistor in 1948 by Bell Telephone Laboratory revolutionized communication. But that has been left in the dust. In the past fifty years, we have seen the development of much more complex systems based on microchips, a distant relative of the transistor. What was thought to be impossible has become a reality. Mrs. Yoder and I have hosted seminar trips to the Holy Land for a number of years, and in the 1960s and even the 1970s, when I wanted to telephone the office, I would place my telephone call with the operator at the hotel, and she would say, “I’ll call you.” And generally, I had to wait thirty minutes for that call to get through. In 1994 when we were in Israel, I telephoned the AAA traveler’s checks office in the US. The call went through so quickly that I thought I was talking to Tel Aviv. Instead, I was talking to New York! Can you believe it! Right from the hotel in Israel, without any delay it seemed, I was able to talk with the people in New York City. Communication is frightening in some respect. If such achievements are possible in the physical sciences, what about the areas of philosophy and metaphysics? Some progress has been made there. Of course, our minds are not programmed, although they operate by certain laws. In other words, in the physical sciences, you can program and come out where you expect to come out. However, in the field of the mind, it’s different. For example, no statement can be true and false at the same time. That’s a philosophical law. Paul was well trained. When the Holy Spirit directed his intellect, Paul was used of God to present the truth. In I Corinthians 15:12-19 he faces the impossible. 12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 And if Christ be not risen, then [is] our preaching vain, and your faith [is] also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith [is] vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. By raising certain false positions, the apostle Paul deals with Resolving The Impossible. The first position the apostle raises is: THE FALSE PREMISE 12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: The false premise was there is no resurrection. That was based on the ordinary. Nobody had seen anyone else rise from the dead. For that matter, nobody saw Jesus actually rise from the dead. So since nobody saw Him, some said there is no resurrection of the dead. Well, I remember a number of years ago when we lived in Harrisonburg, Virginia, a...