IS EASTER UNBELIEVABLE?
By Rebecca McLaughlin
Good Book Company. 63 pages. £2.54
ISBN 978 1 784 988 302
Following on from her book Is Christmas Unbelievable?, Rebecca McLaughlin has produced an equally impressive short account of the claims from the first Easter for a non-Christian audience.
McLaughlin’s writing is so engaging, drawing you in from her very first sentence through regular use of clever illustrations, funny stories, and a relatable style. There is a warmth and quality that some apologetic writing can lack: a sense that she really understands people and the questions they have about life. She manages to answer the dilemmas regarding the historical evidence for the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, whilst also painting a picture of Him that is so attractive it’s hard to imagine any reader would be left not wanting the story of Jesus to be true.
In dealing with the evidence surrounding Jesus, this book is a triumph owing to how much it squeezes in. In a short work it’s impossible to answer every objection, but you’re left feeling that the strangest conclusion to reach would be to deny the Bible’s account of the life of Jesus, so plainly obvious does it appear.
Constantly intertwined with the evidence is a case for why this all matters, which is anchored in the real-life experiences and emotions of the reader. For example, in explaining how Jesus’ death was to rescue sinners, McLaughlin presents a convincing case from our experience of life that makes it hard to deny that we are, indeed, sinners. This is linked to a constantly attractive portrait of Jesus, one who embodies all the values of justice, equality and love that contemporary society so passionately cares about.
This would be a brilliant book for churches to give away in bulk this Easter, or as something to give personally to a friend. It’s one that will hopefully leave non-Christian readers asking themselves why they continue to resist the message of Christianity, not just for its historical credibility, but for the incredibly attractive Jesus who, as the last chapter shows, offers not just life after death, but life right now.
