The Resurrection Hinge

1 Corinthians 15:14 "And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless." At one time I would have accepted that with absolute assent and not a thought. There is something in me now that wants to argue with Paul about it. Does our whole faith, our whole life with Jesus hinge on his resurrection? My life spent with him is much more dependent on his teachings-on the truth about how staying on the love path makes life work., and on my personal and shared fellowship with him. But then I have to remember that when Paul wrote this the absolute awesome miracle of the resurrection was so fresh. Everything they were thinking, the very reason they were bending their lives to the teaching and leadership of Jesus was because of the resurrection. Many other self proclaimed "messiahs" had come and gone. Jesus was the only one who had come and gone and come back again. It's strange to my experience of Jesus following that the miracle of his resurrection was the fuel that birthed the church. I have been after him so long that I take for granted his resurrection. I know he lives because I've met him; "you ask me why I know he lives; he lives within my heart." I know and accept that the fact of the resurrection is the warrant for belief in him. But is that why or how most people come to follow him today? My experience with people who come out of the world and begin to follow him is that they do it because of a deep yearning for God in their own hearts and minds and souls, and most often, a connection with someone who is already following him. What seals the deal for them seems to be his character matching their need, and his way being the good news they have always been looking for. I cannot recall a single person who seemed to be buying in on the basis of believing that Jesus really was raised from the dead. I'm guessing that is because believing that is inherent in believing in him. My guess is that we are a community of faith so immersed in the resurrection that we don't much even think about the huge importance of that historical fact for the formation and foundation and ongoing life of his tribe. Or maybe it's just me.