Scenes reminiscent of courthouse trials were brought to life in Ellen King’s Bible classes on Nov. 13-14, as students debated the truth of Christ’s resurrection.

In an effort to encourage students to think seriously about what they believe, King led her class through a mock trial, in which the validity of the resurrection was called into question.

“When kids put things into their own words and act it out, it tends to come alive for them,” King said. “I hope that through this experience, the drama surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection will come become very real to them.”

The class was divided into prosecution, defense and jury teams, along with a few students acting as judge, bailiff and stenographer. As they watched the trail unfold, the sometimes-surprising outcomes made some question their faith.

“I was on the jury, and in my class the group defending Jesus’ resurrection did not do a very good job,” Suzi Falk, ’06, said. “I thought a lot of their logic was flawed, but the scary thing was, I couldn’t really come up with anything better. It made me realize that sometimes it is really hard to defend your faith to others.”

Students tried to be creative in defending their points. Examples of hard evidence presented to the courts included items ranging from “urine samples” to “blood tests.”

“My group was trying to prove that Jesus did not rise from the dead,” Joshua Powell, ’05, said. “We had a lot of fun being creative in the way we presented our case. I created a photograph on my computer showing a homeless man rolling away the stone from Jesus’ tomb, ?proving’ that it was not a miraculous event.”

In order to provide witnesses, some students were called upon to portray well-known Biblical characters, such as Mary Magdalene and Doubting Thomas. Other students took on lesser-known identities, such as Mark Bonnar, ’05, who acted the role of the disciples’ bartender.

“It was fun to go up and be questioned by the lawyers,” Bonnar said. “With my testimony, my team was able to prove that all of the defense’s witnesses were drunk, and only saw Jesus in their hallucinations.”

The truth of the Biblical account of this miracle has been called into question and hotly debated for generations.

“The resurrection of Jesus is the hinge upon which Christianity rests,” King said. “Lots of people really struggle with the whole concept. When it all comes down to it though, people are just going to believe what they want to.”

For more information of King’s Bible classes, contact the high school office at 297-9464.