Dr. Mark Ross Luke’s Account Of The Resurrection Focus Of Final Seminary Lecture For The Academic Year At Erskine Dr. Mark Ross, associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, discussed Luke’s account of the resurrection as a basis for faith during the finale of this academic year’s seminary lecture series at Erskine College. Ross was substituting for Dr. John R. de Witt, senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, who became ill this week and was unable to come to campus. Ross will join the Erskine Seminary faculty in July, as First Presbyterian in Columbia becomes a seminary extension site. Ross will be the resident professor and will also teach courses in Due West, according to the Rev. H. Neely Gaston, vice president of the seminary. Luke 1:1-4, the prologue to the book of Luke, and Luke 24 stood at the center of Ross’ message. Ross said the prologue has been under rigorous scrutiny by Bible scholars and entire books have been written about just those four verses. “Luke is trying to give some explanation for why he is writing (the book) and why you should take the time to read and ponder it,” Ross said. First, there is the reference to “Theophilus,” who is mentioned again by Luke at the beginning of Acts but nowhere else in the Bible. Ross said scholars debate whether Theophilus is an individual or a group of people. “All we have is what we find here,” he said. A key to the identity of Theophilus is that in the Greek, Theophilus means “friend of God.” Ross said Theophilus appears to be someone who is knowledgeable about Christianity. “A lot of you are probably in that category,” Ross told the audience gathered at Lesesne Auditorium. “You have more than a passing acquaintance with the Christian religion, but are unsure of its certainty.” Ross said Luke was trying to show Theophilus and his readers that the account he was writing was indeed the truth. “I was born on a Monday and was in church the following Sunday,” Ross said. “Every Sunday the first year of my life, I was in church. They put my picture in the paper for setting a Sunday school attendance record. That gives you an idea of how small the town is where I grew up.” Church attendance was just the beginning of Ross' “thorough” Christian education, he said. But Ross discovered when he went to college that he had the knowledge of Christianity, but wasn’t living his life for Christ. “Perhaps my greatest sin was my indifference,” Ross said. “I was indifferent to the Lord of the universe.” The leader of a Fellowship of Christian Athletes Bible study led Ross to Christ. That leader challenged Ross to approach his faith as he approached sports in order to understand the reliability and certainty of God’s Word. Ross said Luke didn’t write his gospel for the sake of repeating information. “Luke wanted to tell about how a plan was brought to its completion,” Ross said. He made reference to Luke 24 – the story of the resurrection and how Jesus appeared before different witnesses so they would have evidence that he rose from the dead. Luke makes frequent references to Old Testament Scriptures and how the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus were foretold. “Long ago, it had been predicted – not just by Jesus, but the whole of the Old Testament,” Ross said. The Bible says Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection were foretold all the way back to Moses and numerous prophets in the Old Testament. Through his account, “Luke is inviting us to go back into that Bible and check him out,” Ross said. “Open up those Scriptures and follow those links.”