Scientist finds 'compelling evidence' that Jesus Christ resurrected on Easter Sunday

This weekend, Christians all over the world are getting ready for Easter. They remember the Bible story of how Jesus came back to life after being crucified.

The religious text claims this happened three days after he was buried, but many still question how such a miracle could occur and if there is any evidence of it.

Joshua Swamidass, from Washington University in St Louis, says there's strong proof it happened.

Writing for the Veritas Forum in 2017, he said: "I am a scientist. Still, on Easter, I celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead about 2,000 years ago.

"This event is the cornerstone of everything. In the same way that trust-like faith in science is connected to evidence, so is the faith I have in the resurrection.

"Without the physical resurrection, two thousand years of history are left begging for explanation, like a movie missing a key scene.

"No other event in all recorded history has reached so far across national, ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural, political, and geographic borders."

"The message spread with unreasonable success across the world. During just the first few centuries, it spread without political or military power, prevailing against the ruthless efforts of dedicated, organised and violent opposition."

Prof Swamidass used the Bible to support his view.

He added: "How did a small band of disempowered Jews in an occupied and insignificant territory of ancient Rome accomplish this unequaled act?

"With dates established by radiometric analysis, prophecies from centuries before Jesus' birth predict his life, death, and resurrection."

"These prophecies include specific details that Jesus and his followers could not control.

"For example, before the Romans invented crucifixion, Psalms 22:16 described the piercing of Jesus' hands and feet.

"Isaiah 53 is a particularly important prophecy too that lays out the story of Jesus and the meaning of the resurrection."

The scientist also notes that "Jesus was a real person in history who died" as evidence that he did not simply fake his passing.

He added: "Several manuscripts from multiple sources, including Jewish historians, describe a man named Jesus who lived and was executed.

"Specific details reported about His execution confirm 'blood and water' spilled from a spear wound in his side.

"He really died and was not merely unconscious."

"The early accounts of the resurrection and prophecies predicting it were reliably transmitted through history.

"More than 66,000 early manuscripts are known, orders of magnitude more than other ancient texts."

Prof Swamidass said these had been "carbon-dated to before Jesus' time," which makes him think there's a "pattern of consistency" that suggests the resurrection really happened.

He added "The final verdict, for me, is that the Resurrection makes sense through the lens of history."

"The evidence is compelling, but not definitive."

"Faith in Jesus is reasonable and is certainly not without evidence."

Despite this BBC survey in 2017 found that one in four Christians in Britain don't believe Jesus came back to life.

Reverend Dr Lorraine Cavanagh thinks that might be because grown-ups don't want to believe things the same way they did when they were kids at Sunday school.

She says: "You're talking about adults here. And an adult faith requires that it be constantly questioned, constantly re-interpreted, which incidentally is very much what Modern Church is actually about."

She also mentions that new science and thinking changes how we see things, and this affects everyone's beliefs.

"So to ask an adult to believe in the resurrection the way they did when they were at Sunday school simply won't do and that's true of much of the key elements of the Christian faith."