Resurrection - Fact or Fiction: A Trial Lawyer Looks at All of the Evidence

By Wilbur McCoy Otto

Why Did I Write This Book?

If Jesus was resurrected with a new body after death, this is easily the single most central fact and event in all history - past, present or future. Quite simply, it is a matter of life or death leading each person to decide whether our earthly life –

• will have been but a “vanishing mist,” with nothing thereafter; or
• is a mere passageway – like passing through a foreign country before returning to our native land - in this case, God’s Kingdom and Eternity!

Should one choose to not believe that Jesus was resurrected – read on – because fact is fact, truth is truth and non-belief erases neither. Whether seeker, agnostic, atheist, skeptic, young or old, this book will present facts and evidence you may have never read or considered. These facts and the evidence are not assembled by a theologian, but rather by an experienced Trial Lawyer, and are such that will convince any lay jury beyond any reasonable doubt that Jesus was the first resurrection – to be followed by all of His followers.

In this ever-increasingly evil world, it is our young people - our precious children and grandchildren - that are at greatest risk, and perhaps this includes you or one you love.

In addition to the above, why did we write this book? How could we not! As water must flow over a waterfall, so must God’s and His children’s love and desire for none to perish flow over all, including -

• our children and grandchildren,
• our neighbors;
• the lost; and finally
• YOU and yours!

Remember, there is only one person ever born who has proclaimed “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (Jesus at Jn. 14:6.) Please, elect, nay seize this Eternal L ife for yourself!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490883786

Wilbur McCoy Otto

My senior high school annual read: “Joe Otto, a US Senator, made out great – he is a presidential candidate!” However, fate had very different plans. I soon met God’s chosen and ideal mate at Dickinson College, graduated from Michigan Law School, served in the JAGC, U.S. Army, assigned to the faculty of the U.S. Military Academy teaching law, and after having had two daughters born at West Point, revised the Academy’s entrance criteria to allow women candidates. Thereafter, I served on the faculties of Point Park University, the University of Pittsburgh, and numerous Trial Advocacy Institutes at the Universities of Michigan, Pittsburgh and Duquesne Law Schools and as a trial lawyer tried over 200 cases to jury verdict while supervising thousands of other cases. At the same time, we also helped build one of Pittsburgh’s largest law firms, medical systems and the captive insurance industry. In the process we have raised 4 children – all lawyers, one a judge - and currently are praying hard for our 9 grandchildren - including graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy, Michigan, Olivet-Nazarene, and Penn State, with Dickinson College, Ohio University and West Point currently pending. I have also taught numerous Adult Sunday School classes, and in the process realized that while thorough study of the Bible and God’s Word will lead any open-minded person to God and all fundamental truths – the average person will never take time to do so. However, in all of God’s Truth one single fact stands out that if proven, will confirm to all God and His plan for salvation and eternity. This fact is of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus following His crucifixion and death. Finally, to present the evidentiary proof of this fact, not as a theologian, but rather as a layman, and Trial Lawyer experienced in the presentation of evidentiary facts to a lay jury - and now to You! Currently, with His leading we are working on two other books: “The Christian Walk and World View,” and “Life is a 2 Act Play: Act I is Required, Act II is an Elective.”

Book preview

RESURRECTION

FACT OR FICTION

A Trial Lawyer Looks at All of the Evidence

• LIFE’S TWO QUESTIONS

• PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN

• THE ISIS CRISIS

• FREE WILL & FREEDOM

• MEANING OF LIFE

• PREJUDICE AND INEQUALITY

• CHRISTIAN EXCLUSIVITY

• CHRISTIAN CHRONOLOGY

• GOSPEL FACTS

Resurrection: Fact or Fiction, is an interesting and compelling blend of logic, debate, and historical information from both scriptural and secular sources. Shining through it all is a genuine concern for the spiritual state of every individual as it relates to the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Westbow Press Editor

Wilbur McCoy Otto

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Copyright © 2015 Wilbur McCoy Otto.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

All Bible references are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®, copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-8377-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8379-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8378-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015909318

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/30/2015

Contents

Dedications

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Chapter 1.   World Crises

•   Ishmael v. Isaac

•   Warning of 9/11

•   Are Your Children and Grandchildren Safe?

•   The Two Most Important Questions in Every Human’s Life

•   The Centrality of the Issue of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Chapter 2.   Key World Facts, Circumstances, and Status

•   Calendar Dating

•   Christianity

••   Pre-Resurrection

••   Post-Resurrection

•   Ishmael vs. Isaac

•   The Symbolism of the Cross

Chapter 3.   The Crucifixion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

•   Prophecies

•   History Recorded by Secular Historians

•   God and Creeds

•   New Testament Letters and the Four Gospels

•   Lapse of Time between Events, Reports, and Recordings

•   Overall Chronology of Key People, Events, Reports, Writings, and Old and New Testament Letters and Books

•   Old Testament Blood Sacrifice

••   Cain and Abel

••   Abraham and Isaac

•   Key Details of Reported and Recorded Evidence, Events, and Facts Regarding Jesus Christ’s Resurrection

•   The Curse

•   The Two Guards

•   A Small Miracle

•   Convert the Enemy/Saul becomes Paul

•   The Thorn

•   The Skeptic

•   Study – Not Blind Faith

•   Committed Doers of Evil

•   Shroud of Turin

•   Why did Jesus—Son of God—and God— have to die?

Chapter 4.   The Ascension of Jesus Christ, the Great Commission, Free Will, Freedom, and the Return of Jesus Christ

•   Trusting in God

•   Meaning of Life

•   Free Will and Freedom

•   Elimination of Prejudice and Inequality

•   Christian Exclusivity?

•   Answering the Question of Christ’s Resurrection

•   Where Are You Going?

About the Author

Endnotes

Dedications

First and foremost, this book is dedicated to the service of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We also dedicate this book:

To the many victims of prejudice and inequality in this World, past and present, and the unsaved souls in our families and the world.

To Peggy, deceased but alive with the Lord, beloved wife of Roger and mother of Matthew, sister of Tammy, whose wrongful death case in California required much travel, capturing critical blocks of time to work on this book.

To Nancy, my wife and partner for fifty-seven years.

To our four faithful children Mark, Christiann, Jennifer and Stephen, who have delighted us by seeing each of them become better lawyers and parents than I ever was, adding to our family their wonderful life-mates, Lori, Peter, Gene and Amy, and giving us nine precious grandchildren, Joshua Mark, Luke Joseph, Lea Marie, Gabriella Nicole, Alexia Grace, Jacob Sebastian, Kiera Jane, Bridie Kathleen, and Matthew John.

To sister Dodie, brother Richard, brother-in-law Charles, and all of our families’ parents and grandparents, including, in particular, Mary, Kathy, Juanita, Marjorie, Pearl, Richard, Charles, Sebastian, and Joe.

To Will Franklin, my grandfather and great grandson (times six) of John Franklin (brother of the Ben Franklin), who raised thirteen children with his great, discipling wife, Naomi, who read to the family daily from the Bible (the only book the family owned) in the Great Smoky Mountains at Crossnore, North Carolina. Will was distrustful of formal education, and he was upset when his firstborn, McCoy, became the first of many to leave home upon reaching 21 out of a desire to get a formal education. McCoy went on to become an ordained minister and a highly sought speaker and preacher. Despite Will’s total lack of formal education, he built, largely with his own plans and hands, several buildings in his community. At age sixty-five, to honor McCoy’s return to Crossnore to pastor the church, Will built the incredibly beautiful stone and timber Presbyterian Church of Crossnore, a building now designated as a National Historic Landmark (see photo).

To Martin Luther, an alleged great-grandfather (times fifteen) of our family through Luther’s maternal grandmother, M. Zeigler of Eisleben, Germany, whose descendent Barbara Zeigler married into the Otto side of our family in 1850 and came to reside in Harmony, Pennsylvania.

Finally, to Bonnie Gift, my loyal administrative assistant, for her many years of dedicated service and her many, many hours in helping prepare the manuscript for this book.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Reverend Dennett H. Buettner, Rector of Church of the Savior (COTS) in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, former lawyer and counselor, whose only client is now the chief counselor and advocate for all of us—Jesus Christ—and who gave special attention to our early manuscript.

We