Leading scholar Mike Licona to speak and answer questions about the evidence for Christianity’s claims

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

The Resurrection of Jesus—it is the central and most important claim of Christianity, but is it true? Apologetics ministry Dig & Delve is diving into this topic with a two-day conference featuring Dr. Mike Licona, a world-leading scholar on the historical trustworthiness of the resurrection.

“That is actually the make or break point. If Jesus resurrected, then He truly is the only God, He truly is the one who he claims to be, so then our life has to change in response to that,” says Greg Kopczyk, a Dig & Delve committee member and youth pastor at the MET.

Kopczyk says the resurrection is not a Christian legend. Dig & Delve aims to use this conference to underscore the historical evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The conference runs in person and online, March 24 and 25, at the MET.

“This is actually something rooted in time, space, and place,” Kopczyk states. “For Christians, it’s easier to live out your faith knowing this is the truth. For those who are not Christians, I hope they are moved to deeper thinking about what is the foundation for their life, and whether they are living a life of reality or not.”

“It’s not unusual for me to talk to somebody, and they give me something that they think they up to date with, but it 50 years out of date.”

“It’s not just a matter of faith—it’s a reasonable faith,” adds George Sinclair, also a committee member and pastor of Church of the Messiah. “I hope, for those having doubts and struggling, like ex-vangelicals, maybe they would reconsider some of their doubt and realize the problems they bring up have good and reasonable answers. In fact, the history and facts are not on the side of ex-vangelicals.”

Mike Licona, the conference speaker, went through a phase of really struggling and doubting his faith. In the process, he almost walked away from his faith, but he investigated the claims and evidence for Christianity as well as other major religions and atheism. In the end, his investigation grounded his faith and gave him confidence that Jesus truly is the Son of God.

The conference will include lectures, but also plenty of time for those attending to bring their questions, doubts, and skepticism, putting hard questions to Licona. Sinclair emphasizes that archeologists and other fields of study continue to unearth evidence for the reliability of the Bible and the claims of Christianity.

“It’s not unusual for me to talk to somebody, and they give me something that they think they up to date with, but it 50 years out of date. They don’t realize there have been many, many more discoveries since that, so the confidence and accuracy of the New Testament documents has increased over the time, not decreased. Scholars today have more ancient copies of the New Testament than they did 10 years ago.”