Acts 17:32-34 :

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”

Thus Paul went out from among them. But certain men joined with him, and believed, among whom also was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Paul was faithful in that he delivered the message to the people about the resurrection and the coming judgment of mankind and we read here that there were three kinds of reactions. It is amazing to me that people can actually deny a historical fact. Some today might argue that the history of the resurrection is questionable, but that is only because they haven’t looked into it or have taken the word of untrustworthy people. The fact is, they have prejudicially determined that it is not true without doing a proper investigation. There are those who immediately reject the idea and simply make a mockery of it. They may blame others of being closed minded but they also hold to the fundamentals of their anti-supernaturalisic dogma by failing to look into the matter.

Many others simply choose to delay thinking about the whole thing. They are still denying a historic fact, but rather than mock it, they choose to be ignorant.

Fortunately, there are others who actually look into the matter and realize that it is true and that we are all in a great deal of trouble if we don’t make things right with our Creator. Some of the believers names were recorded right here in the Bible. Usually, these names are useful in doing further historic research and are helpful for those who decide to not remain ignorant about history and study to see if it is true or not.

One thing I want to mention before I go on is that, although Luke probably didn’t know it at the time he wrote these words, he would someday be killed in this city according to records outside of the Bible. Christianity has always been scorned by mockers who choose not to accept the facts and Luke would one day die by the hands of people like that in Athens, even though he, himself, was an accurate historian.