I Corinthians 15:12-19 ". . . and if Christ is not raised, your faith has been in vain." (NIV)
1. Should anybody ever be afraid of the truth, no matter what it is? Should we be willing to
investigate things that may challenge our faith? (Several times in the story different people express a desire to destroy the evidence that they believe will prove Jesus did not literally rise from the dead. Also,
several times it is stated that all that matters is what people think is true.) Ultimately truth cannot be destroyed, but our concept of it can be. Would you have wanted the "evidence destroyed if it meant a
possibility of it being the bones of Jesus? (page 133, 169, 223)
2. What is faith? Is faith "blind," or can it be based on knowledge and evidence? Or, can it be based on both knowledge and trust? Discuss.
3. What did you learn about archaeology as a science that can prove or disprove parts of the Bible?
4. Would a discovery such as this have the effect on Christianity that is suggested in this story? Look at other
scenarios: Would finding Noah's Ark prove to the world anything? Did Christ's miracles change everyone's faith? What about the story of the rich man and Lazarus? (Luke 16:19-31). Even seeing Jesus risen from the dead
and seeing the empty tomb did not convince everyone!
5. There is much evidence to prove Christ's resurrection (also see page 253-54), but why is it so important that Jesus be raised from the dead?
6. What are some of the economic and political effects that Christianity has had on the world?
7. What was Jennings' motivation to plant this hoax? (It goes back to the basic problem of evil. "Evil disproves
God." See pages 162 and 313.) How do we explain the problem of evil?
8. Do you think this story would play itself out in real life the way it's written? For example, would people really try to commit suicide, or
murder? Would as many people be as upset as the author suggests? Would people believe that the end was upon us? Would they believe the archaeologists to be Anti-Christs? Would church attendance drastically
decline? Would there be people trying to profit from such a crisis as this? ( pp. 130, 155-157, 165-167)
9. How might the effect on everyone's faith of discovering Jesus' bones compare to the effect of Darwin's work,
The Origin of the Species, published in 1859, "proving" evolution, on people in the 19th Century? What might some other challenges be to a person's faith? Has your own faith ever been challenged?
Explain.
10. Some people are very hostile towards any form of apologetics (the defense of Christianity). There is a bumper sticker that says: "God said it, I believe it, that settles it." What's wrong
with this "philosophy"? How would this apply to A Skeleton in God's Closet?
11. This novel also revolves around the importance to Christianity of a physical resurrection of Jesus. How else would you
explain the empty tomb? That would have had to have been a hoax, therefore making a lie out of what Jesus said he would do, and thus weakening all of Christianity. Read the following scriptures as references for this
story: Matthew 16:21, 17:23, 20:17, 27:62-64 and Luke 9:22, 24:7-12, 24:21-23. Would it make a difference to your faith and to Christianity if Christ had not physically resurrected?
