Thoughtful Beliefs

What are the alternatives?

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What Are The Alternatives?

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Only 4 options — Jesus is either:

LiarLunaticLegend, or LORD

ANY IMPORTANT DECISION IN LIFE, like: Who should I marry? How do I respond to a dangerous situation? What do I believe?; comes with different options, consequences, and support. Standing on the one best supported, all things considered, is the standard, and best approach.

EXTRAORDINARY EVIDENCE
It is unique in the extreme to have the amount and strength of evidence we have regarding the resurrection of Jesus. Try to find another religion that sets itself up to be tested, or even another historical event near that time, which has comparable supportive evidence. The evidence we have is extraordinary, and leaves us with . . .

ONLY 4 OPTIONS:
Jesus, his disciples, and others close to him, are either liars, lunatics, just a legend, or are telling it like it is.

THE ONE THING JESUS IS NOT is what is typically taught in schools & our culture.Jesus was not just a “great man & moral teacher.” He was either a severely narcissistic liar, an insane but lucky fraud, the greatest hoax of all time, or the most important potential love in your life. Sounds dramatic, but that is SIMPLY THE REALITY OF THE SITUATION.

As C.S. Lewis noted:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish things that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. . . . Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse . . . But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Jesus, and the disciples, and other close followers during his ministry, claimed: he was God, the one way for us to be freed from the debt of our acts against God (sins), Jesus did numerous and continuous miracles, predicted his own death and resurrection, rose from death and gave finishing lessons before leaving to Heaven, and even losing your life on Earth was worth following Jesus into Heaven – if anyone claimed those things about themselves or anyone else, they leave us with only 4 general alternatives.

Any belief about Jesus is a claim about reality or truth, therefore, it is judged the same way we do other truth claims in science, history, life (as explained in the How Can We Know section).

So what is the best explanation? When you analyze all the different alternatives, you may be surprised with the clarity of difference there is between the options. Below are all the possibilities given since the time of the cross, you decide for yourself which of the 4 you believe. Below is a quick summary, then each of the alternatives are covered in detail.

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Options Bottom-line Evaluation
Liar
Lunatic
Legend
Coma
Hallucination
Twin
All six non-biblical theories are characterized by:

  • Why would you believe this theory? Lacks reasonable supportive evidence
  • Does not fit the data
  • Fails miserably in standards by which theories are judged
  • Has significant evidence against it
  • Requires unrealistic, ad hoc or irrational belief(s)
  • Far and away inferior to biblical claim in every way theories are tested
Biblical Claim
  • Has extraordinary supportive evidence
  • Best explanatory power & scope
  • Positive trend as discoveries increase
  • Tied to evidence in multiple areas, making a comprehensively verified case

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Details of possible support and possible failings for each alternative belief concerning Jesus’ claim will covered in the next 4 sections below.

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A. Liar Theory

HE KNEW his Claims were FALSE » Deliberate Liar » Fool, as he died for it,  & Evil as he told others that following him was worth even being killed

For each of the possible explanations regarding Jesus, we will first cover the support for each alternative theory, then will cover reasons against belief in the theory, to display for the reader how solid each theory is to stand upon.

Positive supports for this theory:
+1 Many examples throughout history of people lying about religious issues
+2 The Talmud declared the disciples stole the body
+3 Maybe Jesus just went into a coma, but didn’t die
+4 What’s easier to believe, that they lied, or Jesus actually rose from the dead?

Problems with +1
If you have to discard everything that had a history of people lying in it, then you would lose science, history, politics, family, . . . everything. People lie in every area of life, therefore it is not valid to assume lying occurred regarding this claim just because people have lied before.

When someone 2000 years ago invents a lie, often they have no idea of the investigative abilities that may come to expose the lie. For example, Joseph Smith, founded Mormonism and produced the Book of Mormon a couple hundred years ago. Smith made claims about Jesus coming to America, complete with descriptions of massive civilizations, metal-working, and specific plants, animals, buildings and battles involved. Yet, every single applicable archeological find and historical study disproved his claims. Joseph Smith fabricated history and claimed it was the word of God, that is amazing arrogance. Jesus went even further and claimed he was God, the difference is Jesus backed up his claim with entirely unique and checkable events, which his followers checked to verify his claims, and every generation up to today has also checked using multiple fields of study.

What evidence is there that Jesus and the disciples were lying? All the evidence we have points to their honesty. This was a public execution in Jerusalem and his post-death appearances and empty tomb were first proclaimed right in that same city! The skeptics were challenged from the beginning to prove the claims about Jesus were false, and the Jewish religious leaders (at least the ones who rejected Jesus) and Roman authorities had the motivation and authority to prove the claims false, but provided nothing, there is a silence, except . . .

Problems with +2
The Talmud (early writings of Jewish Rabbis), claimed the disciples stole the body, and in a letter to a skeptic, an early Christian leader remarked that you (the critic) was still claiming the body was stolen. Aside from the phenomenal problems with the idea of anyone stealing the body in that situation, all those critics have done was admit the tomb was empty that third day.

So if the body was stolen, it agrees with and explains the empty tomb (the 5th minimal fact), but does nothing to explain the other 4 facts, including the disciples sincerely HE KNEW his Claims were FALSE A. Liar Theory believing they saw Jesus risen from the dead. Very difficult to explain, if they had stolen the body. Early critics’ writings also confirm that Jesus did “wonders,” but explain the miraculous acts away by claiming he must have been demon-possessed.

Problems with +3
The idea that Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross, and after recovering, came out of the tomb, has been known as the swoon or coma theory. Anyone, who understands how crucifixions operate, realizes the fantasy of this idea.

Crucifixion is an agonizingly slow death by asphyxiation. The stresses it causes on the muscles and diaphragm force the chest into the inhaled position; basically, in order to exhale, the individual must push up on his feet so the tension on the muscles would be eased for a moment. In doing so, the nail would tear through the foot, eventually locking up against the tarsal bones. After managing to exhale, the person would then be able to relax down and take another breath in. Again, he’d have to push himself up to exhale, scraping his bloodied back against the coarse wood of the cross. This would go on and on until complete exhaustion would take over, and the person wouldn’t be able to push up and breathe anymore.2

It’s fairly obvious when they are dead. In addition, the Roman and/or Jewish authorities, who went to the trouble of giving a Roman scourging and then crucifixion, can ensure or speed up death by breaking the legs, or by putting a spear in the heart. When this occurred, the NT writer noted blood and water came out, which modern medicine now knows to happen with pericardial and/or pleural effusion. It takes too much blind faith to believe Jesus survived this, and there are more problems.

The blood loss and trauma would be fatal while in the tomb, and even if he survived and was flown to the best hospital, worked on by the best surgeons of modern times, then flown back so he could appear to his disciples, do you really believe they would buy his story of being God, who is capable of resurrecting us to new life? They would realize he somehow survived, and is a total wreck, not a God who they can trust with their lives. And they claimed he gave them many convincing proofs, for over a month, then rose into Heaven. So we are back to the Lie Theory, and all the problems that come with it.

Islam began around 600 years after Jesus, and accepts much of the NT accounts, with some major exceptions, such as the claim that Jesus was neither crucified, nor killed.3 Muslim ideas on how to explain this have included: God gave someone else Jesus’ appearance and caused all to believe it was Jesus; a minority claim Jesus wasn’t on the cross long enough to die, or his immortal body couldn’t die on the cross; or that the crucifixion just never happened. All of these claims have obvious problems, no supportive evidence, and are contradicted by all the evidence we do have.

Another theory, is that Jesus had an identical twin, and they were somehow separated at birth. This Jesus-look-alike hears of Jesus’ works, and lurks in the shadows until after the crucifixion. Then he self-inflicts crucifixion wounds, and comes out to present himself as the risen Lord. As is true with all the naturalistic theories: no historical evidence, cannot even explain the minimal facts, excessively strains credibility, and exposes the desperation of people, who really want to avoid the conclusion that naturally follows from the evidence.

Problems with +4
This commits a fault in logic known as a priori reasoning, which means one assumes something is fact prior to any empirical research. Or, a person makes up their mind before (or without) taking in the evidence. Many have decided miracles cannot happen, so it doesn’t matter what the evidence is. Reminds me of people in scary movies that close their eyes tight and hope somehow the danger will go away. Your ignorance or disregarding of information, does not make the consequences of those facts go away.

It is not about what is easier to believe, it is about the facts and what actually did happen. Many things may be difficult to believe, but reality does not care what our preferences or opinions are. Almost everyone rejected the idea that the Universe actually had a beginning, and came up with every possible (and impossible) alternative, but reality is what it is, and exposed the critics faulty hold on inaccurate ideas.

Of course, if we didn’t look at any of the evidence, then it is easier to believe they lied. Always check the natural explanation first. But sometimes typical explanations fail, and when the evidence points to something else, it is irrational, wishful thinking to hold onto your belief in the impossibility of miracles when that is where the evidence points. And as covered in The Beginning section, the greatest miracle has already occurred and comes with scientific proof.

Someone can say in all their experience they never saw a miracle. That may, or may not, be true, but miracles are rare by definition – that is the point! If you do a Bible study, you will find that miracles are clustered around a few individuals or times, in order to establish the authority beyond man’s ability. There is much more to this topic, as people often bring a lot of misunderstandings into their discussions of miracles. Check the article Miraculous Misunderstandings.

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Why the LYING THEORY is not a reasonable option:

1 Why would they lie?
Former detective James Warner Wallace, who has been featured on Dateline for his solved crimes more than any other cold case detective, has observed that every crime can be traced back to one or more of these three motives: financial greed, relational lust, or the pursuit of power. If Jesus and the disciples profited and lived like some modern televangelists, that would provide possible motivation, but the contrary is true.

Any disciple could be used as an example, but Paul and James are good as initially both were critics of Jesus’ claims, and had no motivation to lie to support a belief they rejected. Yet, both abruptly changed their belief, and Paul went through every form of punishment imaginable, yet never stopped working for Jesus with total devotion. Among many other recorded punishments, Paul suffered through the forty-minus-one lashes five times, yet even during his sentencing, stated that as soon as he was released he would continue to tell others about the one he had full trust in. The forty-minus-one punishment used a whip with multiple leather strips with battering or shredding material tied at the ends. At the time it was said that 40 lashes would shred a person so badly that the person would likely die, so they gave 39 lashes. Paul not only lacked reasonable motivation to lie, but also had to have absolutely no doubt in the resurrected Jesus to face the abuse he knew he would consistently receive.

Do people invent conspiracies or lie, sure, but when you put them on the torturer or executioner’s table, you start to hear true confessions. Yet that is precisely what we do not have with Jesus and the disciples. Different groups brought all forms of persecution, yet eventually only silenced them with martyrdom.

2 How could they lie?

  • The claims (including the creeds mentioned earlier) were made to the people living at the same time and place where Jesus was just crucified. They even appealed to the eyewitnesses, empty tomb, and other checkable sources.
  • How does one convince the skeptics, like Paul & James, to lie with you?
  • Conspiracies do not work when they rely on a number of people, when separated from each other, who are forced to suffer constantly and expect likely martyrdom for their claim, who know for fact the claim is false, and no benefits are expected after death.

3 There is no evidence supporting the lie/conspiracy/hoax theory.

  • If you want to believe a theory, you must have evidence. Otherwise, it is just wishful thinking, or even delusional thinking if there is more/better evidence against your theory.
  • Why are there no charges of lying? Skeptics of that time admitted a lot of information about Jesus, including performing wonders, but no charge of lies.
  • All evidence seems to point to strong moral character and honesty, if they lied they would be hypocrites, fools, and wicked at the highest level, as they were willing to die for their lies, and countless others followed Jesus, even through severe loss and death because of their witness and advice. What evidence is there for Jesus and his early followers being fools and wicked to such a remarkable level? There is none.

The Bottom-Line:

  • The Lie Theory does not have supportive evidence
  • Fails miserably in every way we judge theories to provide an explanation of the evidence (even fails to explain the minimal facts)
  • Requires unrealistic and unsupported beliefs – it does not work.

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B. Lunatic Theory

HE DIDN’T KNOW his Claims were FALSE » Sincerely deluded » Lunatic based on what he claimed & believing in continual supposed miracles & dying for it

Positive supports for this theory:
+1 If anyone I knew claimed to be god, insanity is my first guess
+2 Just like the Heaven’s Gate members, who drank the poisoned Kool-aid
+4 What’s easier to believe, all the miracles happened, or the witnesses are crazy?
+5 All the supposed witnesses had hallucinations

Problems with +1
If God did come to Earth to achieve something in our relationship, then it better be accompanied by verification that is beyond man’s ability to do, otherwise, it is likely just someone with mental issues, or just another attempt by man to make a god how we want God to be, by inventing beliefs we like, instead of determining what God is actually like.

If God did come to Earth to achieve something in our relationship, then it better be accompanied by verification that is beyond man’s ability to do, otherwise, it is likely just someone with mental issues, or just another attempt by man to make a god how we want God to be, by inventing beliefs we like, instead of determining what God is actually like.

The difference beween Jesus, and anyone else who ever claimed to be God: Jesus brought the verification, such as the entire Old Testament & Israelite traditions, and predictions, which all came way before Jesus, all pointing clearly to Jesus; miracles; resurrection with extraordinary evidence that no other comparable claim can compare with. If you do not think this claim is entirely unique, what other examples can you provide of one claiming supernatural authority, and then verifying the claim with a comparable level of evidence?

My first guess about quantum mechanics was that parts of the theory seemed foolish and were wrong, but the problem for me was the facts overwhelmed my thoughts on the issue, and what I thought was foolish, is in fact reality. Even the brightest minds in science have through experience recognized the need to have humility – sometimes our best guesses or understandings may turn out to be the foolish ones, especially if they are guesses, and not backed up with solid support.

Therefore, while insanity should be investigated first, if the evidence does not support that theory, then, if you want to be rational and base your choice on what is most likely true, you better look for another theory even if it goes against your comfort and opinion.

Problems with +2
On a vacation, I drove by what seemed like some big religious meeting, and had to check it out. It was very different from meetings I was used to, so I located one of the leaders and asked her what the basic beliefs were. Very interesting. The leader said that Jesus had already returned, and she was currently living in NY. My natural, not-so-nice instinct was to ask her if this Jesus was “hot.” And then ask if I could have her number. But, I held back on the sarcasm because I did not want to ridicule, or make her defensive. Instead I said that I believe in a different Jesus, one that verified his claim, and I gave her a brief set of evidences. I asked if her Jesus provided any verification that could be checked . . . and the leader left the conversation shortly after, being unable to provide any examples.

People have a spiritual need to be filled, and because people have a tendency to bypass truth and fill themselves instead with what they think is appealing, we will always have things like the group I ran into at the meeting, or Heaven’s Gate tragedies. Marshall Applewhite convinced the Heaven’s Gate group that a spacecraft travelled in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet, and they had to commit suicide to “evacuate Earth” in time to be transported to the spacecraft. Creative idea and promises of spiritual fulfillment beyond human existence led 38 people to commit suicide. Tragedy of flawed thinking. These people, as well as the 9/11 plane hijackers, and others through history have died for beliefs, but can you see the difference with Jesus and the disciples?

Jesus and the disciples died not for beliefs, but for what they knew for fact to be true or false. Entirely different situation, which disproves the +2 idea.

Problems with +3
The tomb Jesus was buried in was specifically named as one owned by a known Jewish religious leader, Joseph of Arimathea. Naming a well known and checkable leader leaves little room for failing to determine the correct tomb. What evidence is there that they went to the wrong one, other than someone doesn’t want to believe in the resurrection?

The Roman and/or Jewish authorities, who went to the trouble of giving a crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, would not then just allow Jesus’ disciples to continue to give the same message, plus the added emphasis that Jesus just overcame the authority of Rome, Jewish religious leaders, and death. It was a short walk, and those opposed to Jesus’ claim had the resources, motivation and authority to end the empty tomb claim, unless it was indeed empty.

And this only explains the empty tomb, it entirely fails to give reasonable explanation to the other minimal facts involved, such as the disciples sincerely believing they saw Jesus after the cross – so we are back to liars or lunatics.

Problems with +4
Same as for +4 in Liar Theory.

Problems with +5
Sure psychiatric events like hallucinations, conversion disorders, and breavement-related visions occur, but these are medical symptoms, and therefore require a clinical appraisal of the likelihood of these theories. Rarely do those offering hallucinations as a theory provide such an analysis, as most are NT scholars and not in the medical field, or because the disciples’ belief in the resurrection is entirely inconsistent with the medical records and understanding of these psychiatric events.

NEVER in the peer reviewed medical or psychology literature4,5 has there been published examples of collective-hallucinations, at different times, places, and circumstances, where 100% of the group is all seeing the same things and routinely interacting tangibly with who they claimed to see. Nor are there examples of people then giving their lives over to testify to the fact, and being certain even to the point of death. Bereavement-related visions only convinced those in medical studies that the person was dead, Jesus’ appearances and activities, on the other hand, unanimously convinced all who saw that Jesus was alive, entirely well, and active for over a month before ascending to heaven with angels also there that noted how he will return for us. And grief surely was not influencing Paul, who at the time when Jesus appeared to him was a critic of Jesus and supported his crucifixion.

This theory also does not explain all the numerous other miraculous signs Jesus provided, nor does it explain the empty tomb. And these people were so certain of what they knew concerning Jesus, they challenged others, saying you too witnessed these things or can check with those who did! The proposed psychiatric theories are naïve when proper medical and psychological analysis is included, and therefore do not offer plausible explanations for the biblical account of Easter.

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More Reasons Why the lunatic theory is not a reasonable option:

1 No supportive evidence
The NT is characterized by careful, clear thinking, proven ideas, accurate historical details, and harmonization between very different writers. I have not heard of any facts to support that Luke, Paul, or any of the disciples were lunatics. If you have some facts, what are they?

Consider Jesus’ and the disciples’ actions, words, care for others, and psychologically, emotionally, and morally healthy lives. Opponents never claimed they were crazy, just that Jesus was demon-possessed to perform his wonders.

The one person who did at one time say Jesus is “beside-himself,” was his half-brother James! That is an embarrassing thing to write in the Bible, but scholars regard this highly because when a source includes details that embarrass their own claims, it is likely to be very trustworthy in its other claims. Can you blame James, poor guy. You think you have problems with a perfect sibling, James must have often muttered, “Oh Jesus, he never does anything wrong,” and then to hear Jesus claim to be God come to earth to fulfill a purpose, that was just too much for James – until he was confronted with the risen Lord. James then abruptly came to fully accept all that Jesus claimed, even led the church in the very place that crucified Jesus, and because he wouldn’t stop his testimony, he was thrown from the roof of the Temple, then stoned as he hadn’t died immediately from the fall.

There were plenty of critics, but no witnesses or evidence of insanity.

2 Doesn’t explain any of the minimal facts
Even if there were evidence supporting Jesus being a lunatic, it does nothing to explain all the other evidence, such as the minimal facts.

Some facts may be explained if Jesus just happened to get lucky enough to assemble a group of people, who were as insane as he was, who were just as willing to die and lead others to suffering. If they were all lunatics, then it could explain some of the minimal facts, but the abrupt change in skeptics, empty tomb and other stubborn facts still tear down the lunatic theory. And of course, there is no evidence to support the insanity of them all.

The Bottom-Line:

  • The Lunatic Theory does not have supportive evidence
  • Fails miserably in explaining even the minimal facts
  • Requires unrealistic and unsupported beliefs – it does not work.

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B. Legend Theory

Positive supports for this theory:
+1 It sounds like a myth/legend.

Problems with +1
It does not sound like a myth/legend, according to literature scholars. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John (the Gosples, or “good news”, in the Bible), and see for yourself. Myths, legends, fables, etc., have certain characteristics, like occurring in the murky, vague past, no checkable events to verify core claims, no historical details that scholars initially doubt, but later find to be true, etc. On the other hand, the biblical accounts have all the characteristics of the type of literature known as historical narrative (giving an account of what happened). I understand that appealing to what the “scholars” think doesn’t necessarily prove anything, but you can simply check this yourself. Read a myth, for example, Babylonian myths, or read the Vedas (Hinduism), or the paragons of thinking, the Greeks is given below, and then read the Bible.

Or compare the Bible to the Gnostic Gospels, which were written as a reaction against Christianity about 100-300 years after Jesus. The Gnostics took things they liked, such as a blend of Jesus and eastern religious ideas, and added what they claimed was “secret knowledge.” Followers of Gnosticism put out a number of books and attempted to capitalize on the authority of those connected with Jesus, deceptively calling their books the Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Mary, etc. This fabrication has been exposed by literature scholars, along with historical errors and adding legendary content, such as stating that when Jesus came out of the tomb he was so tall his head was in the clouds, and the cross also floated out of the tomb, and the cross was talking.

The only similarity with myths or legend is the inclusion of a supernatural God and miracles, which does make it sound like some myths we do have, but does not make the account myth/legend. If it did, then modern physics books must be myth too, because the necessity of a supernatural cause of the Universe (something outside all matter, energy, space, and time of nature) is accepted. There are many claims that may surprise, or shock us, but reality does not depend on our limited understanding, but will depend on and be supported as the evidence comes in. And for those who are uncomfortable with the idea of “miracles,” see the article Miraculous Misunderstandings in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section.

Why the legend option does not work:

1 No supportive evidence
If you believe it is legend, why? The scholarship does not accept the legend theory, so if you do, you need to have the appropriate evidence.

2 Fails to explain any of the minimal facts

3 The legend option has already been directly eliminated by the disciples
The disciple Peter stated, “We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” (2 Peter 1:16) He could be lying about being eyewitnesses, but this removes legend as an option – you are inescapably back to Liar Theory.

4 No time for legend to develop
The creeds (belief statements) cover the core facts about Jesus, and allow no time for legend to be added. Even the NT was written when witnesses were still alive, and in a culture really non-conducive to legend building, providing no time or conditions that legends typically need to arise from in order to begin their obfuscation of the facts.

5 Endless other problems

  • The standard historical method places the burden of proof on the historian to show the written historical account is unreliable. The NT claims to give an historical account, and reads that way. So the rule of thumb is: if the author seems to attempt to communicate history, assume it is, unless you have good evidence it is not historical. We have amazing and continually growing evidence of the accuracy of the Bible, so much so that historians and archeologists rely on the Bible to direct them to new finds.
  • The biblical account has been scoured over with the finest-toothed combs, by far the most read and studied in all history – and what do we find – a trend. The more information we gather, the more the biblical record is verified at the expense of critics.
  • There is much more, but any one of these reasons is alone fatal to the legend theory, which is why no one familiar with the evidence attempts to use this theory.

The Bottom-Line:

  • The Legend Theory does not have supportive evidence
  • Fails miserably in explaining even the minimal facts
  • Cannot help but fall into the Liar Theory
  • Requires unrealistic and unsupported beliefs – it does not work.

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More Reasons Why the lunatic theory is not a reasonable option:

1 No supportive evidence
The NT is characterized by careful, clear thinking, proven ideas, accurate historical details, and harmonization between very different writers. I have not heard of any facts to support that Luke, Paul, or any of the disciples were lunatics. If you have some facts, what are they?

Consider Jesus’ and the disciples’ actions, words, care for others, and psychologically, emotionally, and morally healthy lives. Opponents never claimed they were crazy, just that Jesus was demon-possessed to perform his wonders.

The one person who did at one time say Jesus is “beside-himself,” was his half-brother James! That is an embarrassing thing to write in the Bible, but scholars regard this highly because when a source includes details that embarrass their own claims, it is likely to be very trustworthy in its other claims. Can you blame James, poor guy. You think you have problems with a perfect sibling, James must have often muttered, “Oh Jesus, he never does anything wrong,” and then to hear Jesus claim to be God come to earth to fulfill a purpose, that was just too much for James – until he was confronted with the risen Lord. James then abruptly came to fully accept all that Jesus claimed, even led the church in the very place that crucified Jesus, and because he wouldn’t stop his testimony, he was thrown from the roof of the Temple, then stoned as he hadn’t died immediately from the fall.

There were plenty of critics, but no witnesses or evidence of insanity.

2 Doesn’t explain any of the minimal facts
Even if there were evidence supporting Jesus being a lunatic, it does nothing to explain all the other evidence, such as the minimal facts.

Some facts may be explained if Jesus just happened to get lucky enough to assemble a group of people, who were as insane as he was, who were just as willing to die and lead others to suffering. If they were all lunatics, then it could explain some of the minimal facts, but the abrupt change in skeptics, empty tomb and other stubborn facts still tear down the lunatic theory. And of course, there is no evidence to support the insanity of them all.

The Bottom-Line:

  • The Lunatic Theory does not have supportive evidence
  • Fails miserably in explaining even the minimal facts
  • Requires unrealistic and unsupported beliefs – it does not work.

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D. The only remaining option — The Lord Theory

HIS CLAIMS are TRUE » Knew & Told the Truth » Verified claims with well-supported events

Positive supports for this theory:
+1 Best explains the data;
+2 All alternative theories lack explanatory power & scope, do not fit or explain all the data, have no supportive evidence, have extraordinary evidence against, require unrealistic and unsupported belief, and are far and away inferior;
+3 Increasing trends of supportive evidence;
+4 Tied to evidence in multiple areas, making a comprehensively verified case.

An event studied so intensely for over 2000 years, presents only the options explained above to choose from. If you think you have another, please contact us so it can be analyzed and added.

How do we evaluate the different models? What are the objective standards used?
a) Does it fit with logical consistency
b) Explanatory power and scope
c) Faithful to the facts
d) Avoids unwarranted assumptions
e) Avoids poor logic, like ad hoc attempts to save the theory from contrary evidence
f) Provides claims that can be tested for truth or inaccuracy, and trends upward in support
g) Stands apart in the cumulative case, meaning when considering all applicable fields, the theory is supported better than the competitors

These are standards historians, scientists, attorneys, crime scene investigators (CSI), logicians, and everyone associated with evaluating evidence have relied upon. It is extraordinary how far separated the biblical option stands from all other theories – “One of the claims is not like the others.”

In addition, as noted in +3, as time goes on, and more and more evidence comes in, you can see the trend of evidence for the biblical model against all other models. Trends are important because there will always be disagreement about this or that piece of evidence and what it means, but over time, as the evidence grows and becomes better understood with new discoveries, one model trends upward beyond all others. And that is exactly what we see with the Christian model, as not only new understandings (for example, creeds), but also significant discoveries (for example, the Hittites, the Davidic tunnel, writing during Moses’ time) have bolstered the reliability of the Bible’s claims, and turned most of the objections against Christianity into phenomenal supports.

Furthermore, when you consider evidence in every area of study to support atheism, agnosticism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc., the comprehensive case for the Christian model is overwhelming, which makes it that much more likely it is accurate regarding the resurrection also.

Critics have attempted to combine theories, like the Coma + Hallucination, attempting to add explanatory scope, but at the same time, they just multiplied all the associated problems, and still end with lack of supportive evidence, greater unreasonable strain on credibility, etc. The Christian model gives one simple, comprehensive explanation of all the facts, without resorting to unsupported and strained alternatives.

An atheist organization president at UC Berkeley provided no evidence to back up her coma + hallucination belief, couldn’t respond to the flaws in her belief, couldn’t detract from the positive evidence I provided for the Christian account, but still said she would not look further into the possibility that the biblical model may be accurate. She seemed to hold to her belief more emotionally than intellectually, but in the end it is her choice and her consequences to be faced if she chooses to stand on an inaccurate belief.

Currently, many opponents to the Christian model do not even attempt to bring up a theory to explain the evidence surrounding Jesus and the resurrection, they either:

  1. Only turn to negative claims against Christianity, instead of positive support for where they choose to stand – like a bad politician,
  2. Or, simply admit, “Something happened, but I don’t know.”

Claiming “I don’t know” seems like an honest and reasonable stance, but it is neither in this case. What would you think of someone claiming, “Someone put together the Declaration of Independence, I just don’t know that Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams were involved.” It is intellectually dishonest because we do know too much about this issue to claim ignorance. A person may not like where the evidence leads, but ignoring it does not change the reality of the situation. Picture a close friend with an abusive fiance, it may not be comfortable for them admitting the fact that abusers typically get worse after marriage, not better, but recognizing an unstable position and moving to a supported one is how we reach what is best for us.

While it does say something about a person’s beliefs, when they focus on negative shots at others, instead of positive supports for where they stand, the negative claims against the Christian model should still be looked at, and addressed.

For example, a number of critics have written that the NT accounts cannot be trusted because they are biased. Objections or questions that commonly come up when thinking about beliefs are covered in the FAQs section, so if a question pops up for you, check out that section, and if not answered there, please send that question to us. As a sample, let’s hit a couple objections now.

1 Objection: Written 1000s years ago, we can’t trust we have what was originally written.

Answer 1: Why do you believe that? The claim above is a statement, not an argument with evidence. Worse, it goes against the evidence.

Answer 2: The actual scholars involved recognize that we have what was originally written. Scholars accept as certain about 99% of the 138,000 words, and about 1,400 words are debatable, This has always been made clear in the footnotes (see figure at right), and these 1% are inconsequential things like grammar or punctuation, and none touch any important issue not redundantly covered elsewhere.

Answer 3: If God exists, then do you think God would be incapable of getting us the message he wanted to reach us? Why would you believe that? What evidence do you base that on?

Answer 4: People often bring up the “phone game” as a comparison, which shows they simply are using a claim they heard somewhere, without looking into it – as that claim is thoroughly faulty. Never has one of those critics shown to me they had any clue about how meticulous biblical manuscripts were copied.More importantly, when you have something copied by thousands of people, across different nations, and then you find thousands of copies and they all match, except for minor variations in 1 copy, or a copy and those that copied from it, then it is straightforward in determining what was originally written. And we have that with the Bible, more so than with any other comparable historic writings accepted by the scholars. We even have “chains of custody,” where the writings were handed from one recognized person to the next.6

2 Objection: “I have a problem with miracles?” See Miraculous Misunderstandings.

The Bottom-Line:

  • The Biblical Theory entirely fits the evidence
  • The evidence is extraordinary: no other religious claim, or even comparable historic event, comes close
  • The gap between the biblical theory and all alternate theories is historically wide
  • Only a priori faulty logic or inaccurate assumptions that miracles must never occur would make another option plausible
  • The trend of evidence & comprehensive case point directly to the biblical model

What does this mean?
If any of the former theories are correct, then Jesus really is of no importance, and as the apostle Paul noted, Christians are pitiful. If the biblical theory is correct, then Jesus is of ultimate importance, and:

Bad News: 1) Our situation must be serious if that is the pardon that was required.
Good News (or Gospel): 2) Divine confirmation of Jesus’s authority
3) We must be loved pricelessly (the value of something is determined by what one is willing to pay for it)
4) What you do with your relationship with Jesus is as serious and impactful as it gets.

In this life God reaches out to each of us, and we have the ability to choose to accept his plan, which comes with the sacrifice Jesus made for us, allowing us to be in a Heaven that will be free of sin (things against God’s nature or character), or go a different way that we choose, separating us from Jesus’ pardon and placing us in a position to deal with the consequences ourselves.

While there are many issues about this to discuss, e.g., we can talk about whether this is fair, justice, whether God should have done it another way, why not just being “a good person” isn’t enough, whether we know enough to claim God should have done things in a way we feel is better, etc., all worth thinking about, but none of these things change the reality of our situation, nor he evidence that points to a specific reality: There is a personal God that created the finely-tuned universe and us with a purpose, and disclosed himself in an even more personal way through Jesus, and expects us to actively trust him. Have you accepted what God offers? If not, why? Do you believe in 1 of the alternative explanations of Jesus, or just reject God’s way? We would be interested in knowing why one would choose to hold the door to themselves closed, when God knocks.

If you stand on another worldview belief system – see how it compares & what it means in A Fair & Healthy Cage Match.

If you want to know what accepting Jesus, or “salvation” means to you – check Salvation? Who, What, When, Where, Why

No Jesus – then what?
Israelites lived under crassest idolatry and needed taught from bottom or basics Holy v unholy, separate, garments, sacrifices, offerings, building, clean and unclean etc, days, vessels, washings, learn God is holy (not of things or places, but God). Then Christ immediately ye heard it was said, but I say Matt 5, OT schooling over and holy of holies weren’t so all enter, not Jerusalem but in spirit and truth. John 21:21-4. Old distinctions days, places, things holy only legalistic, sacraments. Heard some say horse led from burning building stubbornly run back to it to die in the fire. Catholic church run back.

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References

1 Lewis, C.S., Mere Christianity, London: Collins, 1952, pp. 54-56.

2 Metherell, Alexander M.D., Ph.D., as interviewed by Strobel p. 195-9.

3 Qur’an, sura 4 (An-Nisa ) ayat 157-158.

4 This is based on Bergeron’s comprehensive data base search of the Pubmed and American Psychological Association websites. In agreement with this conclusion, another author and researcher also attested in March, 2009: “I have surveyed the professional literature (peer-reviewed journal articles and books) written by psychologists, psychiatrists, and other relevant healthcare professionals during the past two decades and have yet to find a single documented case of a group hallucination, that is, an event for which more than one person purportedly shared in a visual or other sensory perception where there was clearly no external referent.” Gary A. Sibcy, Ph.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Piedmont Psychiatric Center, Centra Health Hospitals, Virginia, USA, as cited in The Resurrection of Jesus: a Clinical Review of Psychiatric Hypotheses for the Biblical Story of Easter. Joseph W. Bergeron, M.D. and Gary R. Habermas, Ph.D, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rQljKoh2kiyVDwIzgpqLoLj2w9tp_ 60OSBJ4YVr3ZA/mobilebasic?pli=1#ftnt1

5American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. (Washington: DC. 2013).

6 James Warner Wallace, who was on Dateline mutliple times for crimes he solved, is a cold-case detective who applied his expertise to the biblical accounts in an attempt to disprove them. He became a Christian and provided an interesting read covering the facts in Cold-Case Christianity, and allowed me to use the images on this page.

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