Dear Editor,

Mr Michael E Dingwall's letter in the Jamaica Observer on April 5 - 6, "There was no resurrection" grabbed my attention, but also caused me to question his stance. He greatly reminded me of "Doubting Thomas" whose views were basically similar to his. Did Jesus not prove Himself to be alive and resurrected to Thomas (John 20:25-28)?

"The Christian is one who believes that Jesus came to this earth, died on the cross for the sins on man and rose again after defeating Death, Hell and the grave, thus earning victory." To remove any part of that sentence would deem Christianity to be fake and a blatant lie, since there would be no basis on which to hold beliefs; and as far as I know, the four gospels contain endless proof against such. Mr Dingwall, where is yours?

Mr Dingwall, as it relates to your claims of Joseph the Pharisee, there is a probability that such may have been true - until the part where you denounce Christ's resurrection. By whichever means the body ended in that grave, would it not be the important detail to recognise that Jesus rose again? There is a saying that "God controls everything" and the scripture states that "...for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28). If He was able to create the world and control the actions of man, then would God not be able to use Joseph of Arimathea's actions (whatever his intentions were) as steps in His plan for Mankind's redemption? Just look at Joseph, the son of Jacob - his brothers meant to sell him to die as a slave, which fitted into God's plan to become second in command to the Pharaoh of Egypt. The truth is, God works in mysterious ways, and many Christians can testify to actions done by themselves or others which may have been negative, but worked out for the best.

Simply put, no resurrection would mean no salvation, for there would have been no victory gained and Jesus' mission would have been a failed one. There is no logical way to believe that only part of Jesus' story was true - one must choose to accept or deny the whole account. The plan was so simple that even children are able to grasp it - then again, that is why they call it the fool's faith (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Shekinah Ade-Gold

shekygold@hotmail.com