Elvis is Dead; Jesus is Alive

By David Heras

Many of us have heard the argument: “The Gospels don’t report the true history of Jesus of Nazareth. The Gospels were written years after His death. Because of this, they are filled with mere rumors and fables.”

The explanation seems to make sense. After all, we have all played that childhood game of “telephone.” You get 20 of your closest friends that are under the age of 10. The first person whispers a message into his or her neighbor’s ear. Each player passes along the message until it reaches the end of the circle. By that time, the message has completely changed into silly nonsense. If a simple sentence can be miscommunicated in such a small amount of time, surely the same thing happened with the Gospels.

Sadly, most people don’t take enough time to consider the obvious flaws in this logic. The writers of the Gospels weren’t 10, and they weren’t whispering. Instead, they were researching and writing. The message they delivered wasn’t a silly sentence, but a message that could literally cost them their lives. The “telephone” metaphor just doesn’t apply here.

When we look at the Gospels, we see that the dates for their writing aren’t that distant from the actual events. For example, Merrill F. Unger of Dallas Theological Seminary dated the Gospel of Luke at 61 AD and the Gospel of Matthew at 45 AD at the latest. Now most historians believe that Jesus was born between the years 6 BC and 4 BC. This means that, at the very latest, Luke was written only about 34 years after the death of Jesus, and Matthew was written a mere 18 years after Jesus’ death. Therefore, the question we need to ask ourselves is whether this is enough time for crazy rumors, legends, and exaggerations to develop.

The answer is, of course it’s enough time! However, the better question is whether 18 or 34 years is enough time for credible rumors to develop. Is it enough time, for example, for rational people to say that they saw a beloved dead man alive and to convince others of the fact?

Which brings me to Elvis Presley. Elvis, the King of Rock and Roll, was born in 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi, and he died on August 16, 1977, in Memphis, Tennessee. That makes it almost 33 years since his death.

Now whether or not you are a big Elvis fan, you probably know that there have been plenty of rumors about the King. Many eyewitnesses claim that Elvis faked his death, and that he is indeed alive. If we believe Luke’s accounts that Jesus lived on after his death, why shouldn’t we believe the claims of Elvis witnesses? Isn’t believing in one just like believing in the other?

Good question. Let’s compare:

Five Reasons Why We Can Believe that Elvis is Dead.

Elvis has a tomb. That tomb is in a well-known spot in Memphis, which mourners still visit on a regular basis.
Elvis had close family members. These family members, such as ex-wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie, have publicly corroborated his death.
The Elvis-is-alive movement has grown quieter and less credible as the years have gone by. Their media attention has gone from primetime to supermarket-line to online (where no rumor ever dies).
Elvis’ witnesses lack credibility. The sightings are often brief, distant, and insignificant.
The intervening years have not unearthed a purpose. There still doesn’t seem to be any great reason why Elvis would fake his death and why he would keep up the lie thirty years later.

Five Reasons Why We Can Believe that Jesus Rose from the Dead.

Jesus had a tomb, in a well-known spot in Jerusalem. If He was still there after the third day, all the opposition would have needed to do was take the body out. Christianity would have been killed before it even began.
Jesus had a close family member, His half-brother James, who was not an apostle or even a follower of Jesus until after the resurrection. James is one of those who claimed to have seen Jesus alive after the resurrection, and he later became a leader of Jesus’ Jewish followers in Jerusalem. Jesus’ mother and other half-brother Jude also testified that He resurrected.
The Jesus-is-alive movement grew louder and stronger as the years went by, even without websites. This was due greatly to that fact that…
Jesus’ witnesses were very credible. Even after intense questioning, threats, and imprisonments, their stories could not be shaken. Keep in mind that the sightings of Jesus were not “sightings” at all, but visits that included conversation, meals, touch, and time. Furthermore, many of these visits were with groups of people, one with more than 500 in attendance. And the original eyewitnesses did not change their testimony, even when their lives were threatened. Elvis sightings brought media attention to the witnesses. The followers of Jesus who claimed to see Him resurrected were imprisoned, beaten, and killed, yet they never revoked their claims.
The resurrection of Jesus is filled with purpose. His followers understood that His return from the dead proved that He was who He claimed to be: the Way, the Truth, the Life, the only Way to get to God the Creator. The resurrection of the Christ was promised in the sacred writings of old and would become the basis of the faith that would be called Christianity.

So what does this show us? Mainly this: the idea that the Gospel accounts are merely exaggeration, rumor, and fable do not stand up to scrutiny. Belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ is both logical and rational.

In other words, Elvis may have left the building, but Jesus left the tomb.

David is a husband, father, writer, high school teacher, and very small-time actor.

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Elvis is Dead; Jesus is Alive