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REASONS TO BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION: 1. The event is testified to by 5 independent sources (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul, who refers to numerous other sources as well, such as Peter and James in 1 Corinthians 15).
2. The location of Jesus' tomb was well known by all, so if Jesus had not risen, if His body were yet in the tomb, this could have been easily checked out. Both Jesus' followers (who would suffer persecution for their faith) and the opponents of Jesus (who would want to falsify Christianity) would have a motive for checking this out. Yet, all agreed, the tomb was empty.
3. No one disputes that the Christian church began in Jerusalem just a few weeks after Jesus' crucifixion. It exploded in growth. And the content of the message that caused this explosion was that Jesus was the Messiah, the Lord of all, as was evidenced by His miracles and resurrection from the dead (see Acts 2:16-37). This audience knew and heard Jesus!
4. The resurrection accounts in the Gospels lack common legendary characteristics. They instead reflect common eyewitness-based reports. There is for example much detail, much of it being irrelevant to the story line. To give one illustration, Mark mentions the name of a the well-known member of the Sanhedrin who donated a tomb for Jesus--Joseph of Arimathea. Now if one is going to fabricate an account, one doesn't create this sort of detail, especially prominent names of people who can be easily cross-examined. There is also a good bit of counter-productive material. Legend lacks this. The fact that women were the first to encounter Jesus resurrected, could, in the first century context, do nothing but damage the testimony of the Gospel authors. Women were regarded as liars & irrelevant witnesses. Finally, there is a total lack of explanation of hard themes. The Gospels contain hard to understand phrases that are never explained. For example, in John 20, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene, "Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet returned to the Father." Why not? The author doesn't say, he just records it. This is just one example among many.
5. The conversion of Paul is unexplainable except on the basis he himself gives: he encountered the resurrected Jesus (see Acts 9 & 1 Corinthians 15). Paul (then Saul) was dead set against Christianity, arresting Christians, even overseeing the execution of the Christian Stephen, and then in one moment he's converted and eventually beaten time after time, imprisoned, and ultimately killed for his preaching that Christ resurrected. What explains this if not the resurrection?
6. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul gives an early list of Jesus' resurrection appearances, trying to convince some Christians that the resurrection did in fact happen. He lists the appearance of Jesus to the apostles, James and to "more than 500 at the same time, most of whom are still living" (1 Cor 15:6). The idea here was to say, "if you don't believe us, go and ask one of these people!"
7. There is no way of accounting for the transformation of the disciples except on the basis of the resurrection. If you compare the disciples before the death of Jesus with after the resurrection appearances, you will see a world of difference.
8. Finally, there is no motive for the disciples to fabricate this story. They had nothing to gain and everything to lose.
There are some alternative explanations for the resurrection:
* Could someone have stolen the body? Who could do this? Who would have had an interest? How could they have gotten past the Roman guards (whose lives could be at stake in protecting it--the tomb was sealed under the authority of Rome). And how does this explain the Resurrection appearances?
*Could the disciples have just hallucinated about "seeing" Jesus? How does this explain the empty tomb? Besides, the appearances have none of the qualities of hallucinations. They occur over a relatively long period of time (40 days). They occurred to groups of people at the same time (who interact with, even eat with the "hallucination"). The appearances transformed those who witnessed them. Hallucinations don't have this effect.
* Could Jesus have contrived the whole thing? How does one fake a death (amidst executioners who are experts of killing this way) and a resurrection? Is this consistent with anything else we know about the character of Jesus and the disciples? We know Jesus was beaten, nearly to death before crucified. If He didn't actually die, how did He convince over 500 people that He, the bloodied and beaten preacher was the resurrected Lord of Life?
* The authorities (Jewish or Roman) moved the body to another tomb; when the women came they mistakenly went to the wrong tomb, now empty and assumed a resurrection. This one is simple to refute. All the authority figures would have needed to do as soon as the resurrection story began to circulate was go and get the body of Christ and parade it through town, crushing at once this young religion.
