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Propaganda, deception, myth, junk science, can you distinguish the truth? published December 16, 2010 Notice the title carefully. It describes the subject. I will be using some examples of things that might fall into the categories above, but please remember that the examples are not the topic, the topic is about being deceived vs. discerning the truth. We are bombarded with messages from television, newspapers, magazines, movies, radio, schools, the web. Even our friends share their opinions and beliefs with us. It is easy to accept what our loved ones tell us. Children are especially susceptible to believing what parents tell them. I believe this is God's design. He want children to learn from their parents, and He wants parents to teach their children. While the most important subject that a parent can teach a child is about a loving Creator/God and His plan for redemption, it is not the only thing. We who are parents, are responsible for training our children in ethics and life skills, and from my observation, I think many are doing a poor job. Of course, it is not easy, the same things I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph, are bombarding our children as well. This is not about parents and children though, it is about everyone, so let's look at some examples of challenges we face. Example 1 - Emotional Manipulation in Media Let's take global warming as one example. I am not here to debate the validity of either side in that debate, but I want to show one way that information is used to sway our opinions. The image below has become very famous. It is used in magazine and articles on the web, documentaries etc. It depicts a polar bears on a small piece of ice. Often, the accompanying test or commentary will say something to the effect, that this polar bear is drifting out so sea on this little chunk of ice, because man made global warming is melting the polar ice caps. Now, is global warming real? Maybe. Is it caused by man? It is possible we are contributing to it. But let's examine what the picture is, how it is used, and what it is said to be of. First off, you will notice that the photo I put here, has the iStockphoto watermark. iStock is the source of the picture, they are a stock photo agency that licenses buyers to use their pictures (without the watermark). If you were to go to the iStockphoto website, and locate this picture, you will find the text: "A polar bear managed to get on one of the last ice floes floating in the Arctic sea. Due to global warming the natural environment of the polar bear in the Arctic has changed a lot. The Arctic sea has much less ice than it had some years ago." Sometimes, that quotation accompanies the picture in articles. What you would also see at iphoto, is this: "(This images (sic) is a Photoshop design. Polarbear (sic), ice floe, ocean and sky are real, they were just not together in the way they are now)" In case you have not guessed, this last part is usually not quoted, maybe it never is. So what do we have here? We have people knowingly using a contrived picture, and implying that this is one of the last ice floes, and somehow, this lucky polar managed to find it. This is designed to arouse your emotions, feel sorry for the polar bear, and generate real concern about this disappearing ice floes. This could be expected to work on children, but it has also seemed to work on adults. Again, I am not debating global warming here, I am demonstrating manipulation. One might think that is is a good thing to do something like this, because it is an important cause which needs to be promoted. I say fine, if global warming is real, then sell it with facts. Will the people who use this kind of tactic bother to tell you that there are 5 times as many polar bears today as there were in 1950? I doubt it. Will the mention that DNA genome studies indicate that the polar bear has survived previous global warmings? Not likely. Do they mention that polar bears can swim 60 miles? Seldom. Do they mention that polar bears can live on land, without any ice? You get the idea. While the ice may be thinning, and the polar bear's normal habitat may be shrinking, they are manipulating information and images to manipulate your emotions. Resist emotional manipulation, recognize it when it is happening, and look deeper into things. Don't believe something, just because it tugs your heart strings, believe things because facts back them up. Remember, even people we trust, who would never lie to us, can also be deceived. Example 2 - Email Urban Legends I got an email one time, one of those chain emails that people forward to their friends. Fortunately, I do not have many friends, so i do not get these often. This one was talking about some woman who purchased a large potted cactus, and put it in her home as a decoration. Without going into all the details that builds the story up, the cactus later explodes from the pressure of growing baby tarantulas inside it, and the house is filled with the little critters. http://www.omegazine.com/images/tarantula.png Now I read this, and had a huge laugh, because the story is so ridiculous. Where do I begin? Cactus are not house plants, they need sun. Tarantulas do not lay eggs in cactus. The babies, in order to grow, would have to have a food supply, they eat insects. If there were enough insects in the cactus to feed them, would not the cactus have already exploded from their volume? Cacti are not hollow, there is no place for all of this to even happen. Cacti are stronger that fragile spiders, if the pressure were that great, the spiders would have been squished. There are so many levels that point this out as an urban legend, but as obvious as it was so to me, apparently it was not obvious to the friend that forwarded it to me. If you receive this sort of email, do a little research before passing it on. Think also, of what the consequences of passing it on might be. For example, there are often emails forwarded about some new way criminals have come up with to get their victims. I won't go into examples, and I would not forward these. Most of the time, they are not true. Some of the time, the tactics might even be clever. By forwarding these around, the will eventually fall into the hands of criminals, who believe it or not, also have friends with email. Why give them clever ways to victimize people? There is one of these that surfaces once in a while about Madalyn Murry O'Hair, telling of here successful effort to remove Bible reading and prayer from schools, and her plans to get the Federal Communications Commission to ban the gospel from broadcasting. It urges Christians to petition the FCC. It also says that Madalyn is campaigning to remove Christmas songs and programs from public schools. I have no problem with Christian activism. What saddens me, is that people just assume that these sorts of emails are true, after all, it was forwarded to them by a trusted friend, so they forward it to people that trust them. So, is there any truth to the claims in the email? Ms. O'Hair never petitioned the FCC on the topic, nor does the FCC have the authority to ban religious programming. Those who know me, know that I believe that we need to be ever vigilant though, as the Federal government has had a track record of overstepping it's constitutional bounds. Never-the-less, petition number RM-2493, to which the email refers, had nothing to do with Ms. O'Hair and was not about banning religious broadcasting, it was about preventing religious organizations from obtaining broadcasting licenses on channels reserved for educational purposes, and then using them for other purposes. It was defeated in 1975, yet the FCC still is receiving petitions to stop Madalyn (who had nothing to do with it) from having her way. Now, if someone were to read this email, and then just look up Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the would discover that she went missing in 1995, and her remains were discovered in 2001, so you can rest assured that she is not a danger to your religious liberty. There is a newer version of this email floating around out there, that has president Obama as the villain. Scare Tactics Did you notice that in all the cases above, that those who were perpetuating this disinformation, did so one the basis of fear? You have heard all of the dire predictions of the result of global warming, the stripping of your religious rights, how scary would it be to have a house full of Tarantulas? If you read something, and it induces fear, that is a good time to take a deep breath and say "Wait, is this really true?" If you can get the fear out of it, you can more clearly think rationally, let fear grip you, and you will focus on the fear, and stop looking for the truth. Fear paralyzes, truth empowers. This tactic of employing fear is wide spread. We see it in politics - vote for us, because our opponents want to send your babies to war, and feed you parents dog food. I know, it sounds silly, but those have been used to mobilize opposition. For some reason, we are willing to believe our guys when they lie to us, and are ready to believe the worst of "the other guys". Don't fall for it, both sides lie and use fear in politics. It is true in day to day advertising as well. If you have dandruff, bad breath, tooth decay, wrinkles, you will not be happy. If your laundry is not a white as can be, if your car doesn't get 40 miles to a gallon of gasoline, you will be ostracized or you are not a responsible world citizen. Some of this stuff isn't even public advertising, some of it is just word of mouth rumor. Years ago, in a discussion on Worthychat, the topic of artificial sweeteners came up. One person contending that Aspartame (NutraSweet, and Equal) had formaldehyde in it, and could lead to cancer and brain tumors. Now, I am immediately skeptical of such claims, because our food an drug administration is fairly cautious, so cautious that you could make a valid case that thousands have died, as a result of being denied medications that could have saved their lives, because they have not passed the stringent FDA guidelines that allows release to the public. We sometime have to wait a decade or more, for the release of a drug in the U.S., that has been successfully employed in other countries. There is no way around this, we can either be cautious, and lose people, or we can be reckless, and lose people. My point is, that it is doubtful that the FDA would approve something, that it knew caused cancer and tumors. I did not challenge the chatter's assertion that Aspartame contains formaldehyde, because I just did not know the the facts. I did however, look it up in the next few days. What did I discover? Aspartame does contain formaldehyde, well sort of. Under certain conditions of temperature, a small amount of formaldehyde can form in aspartame. How much? Let's put it this way. If you drank 500 cans of soda sweetened with aspartame, you would be ingesting about as much formaldehyde as is contained in a single orange. A similar one, is that in some countries, they have all but ceased using sodium lauryl sulfate. What is that? It is the main ingredient in many if not most shampoos. It is rumored to cause cancer. Big surprise, most 'dangerous' things are using the cancer scare. It is said, that it is a powerful detergent, used to clean garage floors. Now, there is some truth to that. The properties that make for a good garage floor cleaner, would be that is is able to clean, dissolve oil and grease, be water soluble, and not be too dangerous. These are the same properties that we want in a shampoo, the ability to clean, break down grease and oil, and dissolve in water. Furthermore, since it is going down the drain, it cannot to too toxic, or we put the environment at risk. Bio-degradibility is what we need. This type of substance, is known as a biodegradable anionic surfactant. We usually refer to them as detergents. While there are others, they all do the same thing. Any ingredient that will clean your hair well, will also clean a garage floor. There are two types of people who will attempt to scare you about sodium lauryl sulfate - those who are ignorant, and those who willfully deceive in order to sell you an alternative. Use what you want, but don't be fooled by urban legend hype. How did this get started? The cancer scare and shampoo started in the early seventies, because shampoo contained nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are known carcinogens (cancer causing substances). What is odd though is that bacon contains nitrosamines, and we eat that. We were afraid to put nitrosamines in our hair, but not too afraid to eat them. Go figure. There is one ingredient commonly used in industry, which is responsible for the deaths of thousands. It is commonly dumped into our oceans lake and streams, and there is some in every household. An analysis of your blood, would show it's presence. It is not only in the chemical solutions of cleaning products that we use, it is even used in food preparation and even as an ingredient in the food itself. This dangerous chemical compound, is Dihydrogen Monoxide. according to the Dihydrogen Monoxide Research Division : Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the highly reactive hydroxyl radical, a species shown to mutate DNA, denature proteins, disrupt cell membranes, and chemically alter critical neurotransmitters. The atomic components of DHMO are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol. Petitions have circulated in the U.S., but to date, no legislation has been enacted to ban or curtail it's use. New Zealand, however, had been on the cutting edge of fighting DHMO. In 2001 a staffer in New Zealand Green Party MP Sue Kedgley's office responded to a request for support for a campaign to ban dihydrogen monoxide by saying she was "absolutely supportive of the campaign to ban this toxic substance". In 2007 Jacqui Dean, New Zealand National Party MP, wrote a letter to Associate Minister of Health Jim Anderton asking "Does the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs have a view on the banning of this drug?" You have probably heard of this dangerous substance before. In the U.S., we usually refer to it as water. That is how normal, ordinary things, can become something to fear. Nothing said about water above, was untrue. Of course, when there is a fear, it is an opportunity to sell the antidote - to sell hope. We fear cancer, so we will but things that offer us hope of prevention. I know someone who spent $500 on what amounts to a blender with colored LEDs. Supposedly, you put water in this, swirl it around, and you get hexagonal water, which prevents cancer. I wish you could see me roll my eyes. However, just because there is no science to back up claims of health from certain practices and substances, doesn't mean they won't work. Look up the placebo effect sometime. What is the point of all this? I'll bet you thought I would never come to that. The point is that we are easily and readily deceived. Deception What all of the above have in common is deception. Deception can be done to us, or we can be self deceived. The worst kind of deception by far, is religious deception. The are thousands of religions and cults offering differing world views and ideas. Atheism and related dogma (like evolution as an example), while not properly religion, are practically religion, because they are based on faith and offer alternative thought to traditional religion. Let's be clear about one thing, if there are ten ideas which contradict each other, no more than one of them can be correct. Some may question why I said religious deception is the worst kind. If it is true (and it is obviously true) that it is impossible for two or more contradictory statements to all be true, then we have to compare religious claims, and their implications. The bible tells us that mankind is too flawed to enter in to eternal life in Heaven, and that we need a savior to deliver us from the consequences of our sins. The Bible presents Jesus as that savior, and the only way that we may enter Heaven. That claim is either true, or it is false. If it is true, then we must follow that faith, or suffer eternal consequences. If it is false, then we should not go about being self deceived and deceiving others. This is of such vital importance, that we should spent to most effort possible, to arrive at what is true. To fail to do so is to risk eternal damnation for ourselves and for others. Nothing can possibly be more important. Much of what I discussed above, involves what many call "junk science". I would like to propose, that there is also "junk religion". Junk religion, is similar to junk science and urban legends. It plays on fears, exploits false hopes, and like junk science, can be exposed with a little research and a willingness to yield to the fact, if we can get past our emotions. Some might argue that playing on fears and emotions, offering false hope is exactly what religion does. That is true. Since it is true that no more than one religion can really be true (I am not talking about denominations, but truly different religions), then that means that all but perhaps one, is a junk religion, However, if there is one that is true, we need to find that one and avoid all others, and discourage others from getting involved in false hope with eternal consequences. we need to avoid all of them but one, if even one is true. I am haunted by something Penn Gillette said: "How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?" Pretty convicting words coming from an atheist. Whatever else you may think about Penn Gillette, I do believe truth is important to him. He just has not discovered it yet. Never-the-less this foul mouthed entertainer and skeptic, has done much to expose a lot of the junk science that is out there, one can only hope and pray that one day he will receive a blessing from God and use his sharp mind and investigative skills and apply them to the religious issue. We as Christians, are aware that forces of deception exist, but being aware of them is not enough to be free of their effects. We need to be vigilant in our pursuit of the truth, ever on the guard for religious deception, even from within our own ranks, perhaps especially so. Dr. John Warrick Montgomery wrote an interesting book called "Damned through the Church", it is worth a read. From within the ranks of those that call themselves Christians, we have seen doctrines emerge which appeal to our base instincts. The prosperity gospel, for example. Some have come to believe that God wants us all healthy, happy and rich. He wants us content in our circumstances, but that does not mean that He wants our circumstances to cause our contentment. As usual, I have not set about to write this blog, knowing exactly where I am going, so it should not surprise you to learn, that I do not know when and where to end. So, having grown weary of writing by now, I will leave you with the following verses to ponder: 2 Tim 2:15 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth. NASB 1 Tim 6:3-10 3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. NIV 2 Tim 4:3-6 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. 5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. NASB 1 Peter 3:14-18 14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. NASB Be content! Omegaman 2.0

If guys are going to embrace free will I will go somewhere else.

John Coleman (weather channel founder) speaks out on the topic of climate change. The first video is short, and from October of 2014. The second video, is older, but included for those who may wish to hear more on the topic, from the same man, more detail and interviews with PhD scientists. http://youtu.be/GOhSCeTIIu8 http://youtu.be/13kRznssNCk Now, this link ( http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog/P30/ ) has a lot of info, admitedly it from the perspective of global warming skeptics. I think that is appropriate however, because most media sources do not include information except from one perspective, and then try to imply, that the verdict is in, and there are only a handful of voices who disagree with them, and that those should be regarded as out of touch with reality. Seeing the other side, affords us an opportunity to make up our own minds, about who is telling the truth.

We all wonder what will happen to us after we die. When a loved one dies, we long to see him or her again after our turn comes. Will we have a glorious reunion with those we love or is death the end of all consciousness? Jesus taught that life does not end after our bodies die. He made this startling claim: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.” According to the eyewitnesses closest to him, Jesus then demonstrated his power over death by rising from the dead after being crucified and buried for three days. It is this belief that has given hope to Christians for nearly 2000 years. But some people have no hope of life after death. The atheistic philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote, “I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my own ego will survive.”1 Russell obviously didn’t believe Jesus’ words. Jesus’ followers wrote that he appeared alive to them after his crucifixion and burial. They claim not only to have seen him but also to have eaten with him, touched him, and spent 40 days with him. So could this have been simply a story that grew over time, or is it based upon solid evidence? The answer to this question is foundational to Christianity. For if Jesus did rise from the dead, it would validate everything he said about himself, about the meaning of life, and about our destiny after death. If Jesus did rise from the dead then he alone would have the answers to what life is about and what is facing us after we die. On the other hand, if the resurrection account of Jesus is not true, then Christianity would be founded upon a lie. Theologian R. C. Sproul puts it this way: Many skeptics have attempted to disprove the resurrection. Josh McDowell was one such skeptic who spent more than seven hundred hours researching the evidence for the resurrection. McDowell stated this regarding the importance of the resurrection: So, is Jesus’ resurrection a fantastic fact or a vicious myth? To find out, we need to look at the evidence of history and draw our own conclusions. Let’s see what skeptics who investigated the resurrection discovered for themselves. Cynics and Skeptics But not everyone is willing to fairly examine the evidence. Bertrand Russell admits his take on Jesus was “not concerned” with historical facts.4 Historian Joseph Campbell, without citing evidence, calmly told his PBS television audience that the resurrection of Jesus is not a factual event.5 Other scholars, such as John Dominic Crossan of the Jesus Seminar, agree with him.6 None of these skeptics present any evidence for their views. True skeptics, as opposed to cynics, are interested in evidence. In a Skeptic magazine editorial entitled “What Is a Skeptic?” the following definition is given: “Skepticism is … the application of reason to any and all ideas—no sacred cows allowed. In other words … skeptics do not go into an investigation closed to the possibility that a phenomenon might be real or that a claim might be true. When we say we are “skeptical,” we mean that we must see compelling evidence before we believe.”7 Unlike Russell and Crossan, many true skeptics have investigated the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection. In this article we will hear from some of them and see how they analyzed the evidence for what is perhaps the most important question in the history of the human race: Did Jesus really rise from the dead? Self-Prophecy In advance of his death, Jesus told his disciples that he would be betrayed, arrested, and crucified and that he would come back to life three days later. That’s a strange plan! What was behind it? Jesus was no entertainer willing to perform for others on demand; instead, he promised that his death and resurrection would prove to people (if their minds and hearts were open) that he was indeed the Messiah. Bible scholar Wilbur Smith remarked about Jesus: In other words, since Jesus had clearly told his disciples that he would rise again after his death, failure to keep that promise would expose him as a fraud. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. How did Jesus die before he (if he did) rose again? A Horrific Death and Then. . . ? You know what Jesus’ last hours of earthly life were like if you watched the movie by road warrior/brave heart Mel Gibson. If you missed parts of The Passion of the Christ because you were shielding your eyes (it would have been easier to simply shoot the movie with a red filter on the camera), just flip to the back pages of any Gospel in your New Testament to find out what you missed. As Jesus predicted, he was betrayed by one of his own disciples, Judas Iscariot, and was arrested. In a mock trial under the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate, he was convicted of treason and condemned to die on a wooden cross. Prior to being nailed to the cross, Jesus was brutally beaten with a Roman cat-o’-nine-tails, a whip with bits of bone and metal that would rip flesh. He was punched repeatedly, kicked, and spit upon. Then, using mallets, the Roman executioners pounded the heavy wrought-iron nails into Jesus’ wrists and feet. Finally they dropped the cross in a hole in the ground between two other crosses bearing convicted thieves. Jesus hung there for approximately six hours. Then, at 3:00 in the afternoon—that is, at exactly the same time the Passover lamb was being sacrificed as a sin offering (a little symbolism there, you think?)—Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (in Aramaic), and died. Suddenly the sky went dark and an earthquake shook the land.9 Pilate wanted verification that Jesus was dead before allowing his crucified body to be buried. So a Roman guard thrust a spear into Jesus’ side. The mixture of blood and water that flowed out was a clear indication that Jesus was dead. Jesus’ body was then taken down from the cross and buried in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. Roman guards next sealed the tomb, and secured it with a 24-hour watch. Meanwhile, Jesus’ disciples were in shock. Dr. J. P. Moreland explains how devastated and confused they were after Jesus’ death on the cross. “They no longer had confidence that Jesus had been sent by God. They also had been taught that God would not let his Messiah suffer death. So they dispersed. The Jesus movement was all but stopped in its tracks.”10 All hope was vanquished. Rome and the Jewish leaders had prevailed—or so it seemed. Something Happened But it wasn’t the end. The Jesus movement did not disappear (obviously), and in fact Christianity exists today as the world’s largest religion. Therefore, we’ve got to know what happened after Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb. In a New York Times article, Peter Steinfels cites the startling events that occurred three days after Jesus’ death: “Shortly after Jesus was executed, his followers were suddenly galvanized from a baffled and cowering group into people whose message about a living Jesus and a coming kingdom, preached at the risk of their lives, eventually changed an empire. Something happened. … But exactly what?”11 That’s the question we have to answer with an investigation into the facts. There are only five plausible explanations for Jesus’ alleged resurrection, as portrayed in the New Testament: Jesus didn’t really die on the cross. The “resurrection” was a conspiracy. The disciples were hallucinating. The account is legendary. It really happened. Let’s work our way through these options and see which one best fits the facts. Was Jesus Dead? “Marley was deader than a doornail, of that there was no doubt.” So begins Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, the author not wanting anyone to be mistaken as to the supernatural character of what is soon to take place. In the same way, before we take on the role of CSI and piece together evidence for a resurrection, we must first establish that there was, in fact, a corpse. After all, occasionally the newspapers will report on some “corpse” in a morgue who was found stirring and recovered. Could something like that have happened with Jesus? Some have proposed that Jesus lived through the crucifixion and was revived by the cool, damp air in the tomb–“Whoa, how long was I out for?” But that theory doesn’t seem to square with the medical evidence. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association explains why this so-called “swoon theory” is untenable: “Clearly, the weight of historical and medical evidence indicated that Jesus was dead. … The spear, thrust between His right ribs, probably perforated not only the right lung, but also the pericardium and heart and thereby ensured His death.”12 But skepticism of this verdict may be in order, as this case has been cold for 2,000 years. At the very least, we need a second opinion. One place to find that is in the reports of non-Christian historians from around the time when Jesus lived. Three of these historians mentioned the death of Jesus. Lucian (c.120–after 180 A.D. referred to Jesus as a crucified sophist (philosopher).13 Josephus (c.37–c.100 A.D.) wrote, “At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man, for he was a doer of amazing deeds. When Pilate condemned him to the cross, the leading men among us, having accused him, those who loved him did not cease to do so.”14 Tacitus (c. 56–c.120 A.D.) wrote, “Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty … at the hands of our procurator, Pontius Pilate.”15 This is a bit like going into the archives and finding that on one spring day in the first century, The Jerusalem Postran a front-page story saying that Jesus was crucified and dead. Not bad detective work, and fairly conclusive. In fact, there is no historical account from Christians, Romans, or Jews that disputes either Jesus’ death or his burial. Even Crossan, a skeptic of the resurrection, agrees that Jesus really lived and died. “That he was crucified is as sure as anything historical can ever be.”16 In light of such evidence, we seem to be on good grounds for dismissing the first of our five options. Jesus was clearly dead, “of that there was no doubt.” The Matter of An Empty Tomb No serious historian really doubts Jesus was dead when he was taken down from the cross. However, many have questioned how Jesus’ body disappeared from the tomb. English journalist, Dr. Frank Morison. initially thought the resurrection was either a myth or a hoax, and he began research to write a book refuting it.17 The book became famous but for reasons other than its original intent, as we’ll see. Morison began by attempting to solve the case of the empty tomb. The tomb belonged to a member of the Sanhedrin Council, Joseph of Arimathea. In Israel at that time, to be on the council was to be a rock star. Everyone knew who was on the council. Joseph must have been a real person. Otherwise, the Jewish leaders would have exposed the story as a fraud in their attempt to disprove the resurrection. Also, Joseph’s tomb would have been at a well-known location and easily identifiable, so any thoughts of Jesus being “lost in the graveyard” would need to be dismissed. Morison wondered why Jesus’ enemies would have allowed the “empty tomb myth” to persist if it wasn’t true. The discovery of Jesus’ body would have instantly killed the entire plot. And what is known historically of Jesus’ enemies is that they accused Jesus’ disciples of stealing the body, an accusation clearly predicated on a shared belief that the tomb was empty. Dr. Paul L. Maier, professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University, similarly stated, “If all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable … to conclude that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was actually empty on the morning of the first Easter. And no shred of evidence has yet been discovered … that would disprove this statement.”18 The Jewish leaders were stunned, and accused the disciples of stealing Jesus’ body. But the Romans had assigned a 24-hour watch at the tomb with a trained guard unit (from 4 to 12 soldiers). Morison asked, “How could these professionals have let Jesus’ body be vandalized?” It would have been impossible for anyone to have slipped by the Roman guards and to have moved a two-ton stone. Yet the stone was moved away and the body of Jesus was missing. If Jesus’ body was anywhere to be found, his enemies would have quickly exposed the resurrection as a fraud. Tom Anderson, former president of the California Trial Lawyers Association, summarizes the strength of this argument: So, with no body of evidence, and with a known tomb clearly empty, Morison accepted the evidence as solid that Jesus’ body had somehow disappeared from the tomb. Grave Robbing? As Morison continued his investigation, he began to examine the motives of Jesus’ followers. Maybe the supposed resurrection was actually a stolen body. But if so, how does one account for all the reported appearances of a resurrected Jesus? Historian Paul Johnson, in History of the Jews, wrote, “What mattered was not the circumstances of his death but the fact that he was widely and obstinately believed, by an expanding circle of people, to have risen again.”20 The tomb was indeed empty. But it wasn’t the mere absence of a body that could have galvanized Jesus’ followers (especially if they had been the ones who had stolen it). Something extraordinary must have happened, for the followers of Jesus ceased mourning, ceased hiding, and began fearlessly proclaiming that they had seen Jesus alive. Each eyewitness account reports that Jesus suddenly appeared bodily to his followers, the women first. Morison wondered why conspirators would make women central to its plot. In the first century, women had virtually no rights, personhood, or status. If the plot was to succeed, Morison reasoned, the conspirators would have portrayed men, not women, as the first to see Jesus alive. And yet we hear that women touched him, spoke with him, and were the first to find the empty tomb. Later, according to the eyewitness accounts, all the disciples saw Jesus on more than ten separate occasions. They wrote that he showed them his hands and feet and told them to touch him. And he reportedly ate with them and later appeared alive to more than 500 followers on one occasion. Legal scholar John Warwick Montgomery stated, “In 56 A.D. [the Apostle Paul wrote that over 500 people had seen the risen Jesus and that most of them were still alive (1 Corinthians 15:6ff.). It passes the bounds of credibility that the early Christians could have manufactured such a tale and then preached it among those who might easily have refuted it simply by producing the body of Jesus.”21 Bible scholars Geisler and Turek agree. “If the Resurrection had not occurred, why would the Apostle Paul give such a list of supposed eyewitnesses? He would immediately lose all credibility with his Corinthian readers by lying so blatantly.”22 Peter told a crowd in Caesarea why he and the other disciples were so convinced Jesus was alive. We apostles are witnesses of all he did throughout Israel and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by crucifying him, but God raised him to life three days later….We were those who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. (Acts 10:39-41) British Bible scholar Michael Green remarked, “The appearances of Jesus are as well authenticated as anything in antiquity. … There can be no rational doubt that they occurred.”23 Consistent to the End As if the eyewitness reports were not enough to challenge Morison’s skepticism, he was also baffled by the disciples’ behavior. A fact of history that has stumped historians, psychologists, and skeptics alike is that these 11 former cowards were suddenly willing to suffer humiliation, torture, and death. All but one of Jesus’ disciples were slain as martyrs. Would they have done so much for a lie, knowing they had taken the body? The Islamic martyrs on September 11 proved that some will die for a false cause they believe in. Yet to be a willing martyr for a known lie is insanity. As Paul Little wrote, “Men will die for what they believe to be true, though it may actually be false. They do not, however, die for what they know is a lie.”24 Jesus’ disciples behaved in a manner consistent with a genuine belief that their leader was alive. No one has adequately explained why the disciples would have been willing to die for a known lie. But even if they all conspired to lie about Jesus’ resurrection, how could they have kept the conspiracy going for decades without at least one of them selling out for money or position? Moreland wrote, “Those who lie for personal gain do not stick together very long, especially when hardship decreases the benefits.”25 Former “hatchet man” of the Nixon administration, Chuck Colson, implicated in the Watergate scandal, pointed out the difficulty of several people maintaining a lie for an extended period of time. Something happened that changed everything for these men and women. Morison acknowledged, “Whoever comes to this problem has sooner or later to confront a fact that cannot be explained away. … This fact is that … a profound conviction came to the little group of people—a change that attests to the fact that Jesus had risen from the grave.”27Were the Disciples Hallucinating? People still think they see a fat, gray-haired Elvis darting into Dunkin Donuts. And then there are those who believe they spent last night with aliens in the mother ship being subjected to unspeakable testing. Sometimes certain people can “see” things they want to, things that aren’t really there. And that’s why some have claimed that the disciples were so distraught over the crucifixion that their desire to see Jesus alive caused mass hallucination. Plausible? Psychologist Gary Collins, former president of the American Association of Christian Counselors, was asked about the possibility that hallucinations were behind the disciples’ radically changed behavior. Collins remarked, “Hallucinations are individual occurrences. By their very nature, only one person can see a given hallucination at a time. They certainly aren’t something which can be seen by a group of people.”28 Hallucination is not even a remote possibility, according to psychologist Thomas J. Thorburn. “It is absolutely inconceivable that … five hundred persons, of average soundness of mind … should experience all kinds of sensuous impressions—visual, auditory, tactual—and that all these … experiences should rest entirely upon … hallucination.”29 Furthermore, in the psychology of hallucinations, the person would need to be in a frame of mind where they so wished to see that person that their mind contrives it. Two major leaders of the early church, James and Paul, both encountered a resurrected Jesus, neither expecting, or hoping for the pleasure. The Apostle Paul, in fact led the earliest persecutions of Christians, and his conversion remains inexplicable except for his own testimony that Jesus appeared to him, resurrected. From Lie to Legend Some unconvinced skeptics attribute the resurrection story to a legend that began with one or more persons lying or thinking they saw the resurrected Jesus. Over time, the legend would have grown and been embellished as it was passed around. In this theory, Jesus’ resurrection is on a par with King Arthur’s round table, little Georgie Washington’s inability to tell a lie, and the promise that Social Security will be solvent when we need it. But there are three major problems with that theory. Legends rarely develop while multiple eyewitnesses are alive to refute them. One historian of ancient Rome and Greece, A. N. Sherwin-White, argued that the resurrection news spread too soon and too quickly for it to have been a legend. 30 Legends develop by oral tradition and don’t come with contemporary historical documents that can be verified. Yet the Gospels were written within three decades of the resurrection.31 The legend theory doesn’t adequately explain either the fact of the empty tomb or the historically verified conviction of the apostles that Jesus was alive.32 Why Did Christianity Win? Morison was bewildered by the fact that “a tiny insignificant movement was able to prevail over the cunning grip of the Jewish establishment, as well as the might of Rome.” Why did it win, in the face of all those odds against it? He wrote, “Within twenty years, the claim of these Galilean peasants had disrupted the Jewish church. … In less than fifty years it had begun to threaten the peace of the Roman Empire. When we have said everything that can be said … we stand confronted with the greatest mystery of all. Why did it win?”33 By all rights, Christianity should have died out at the cross when the disciples fled for their lives. But the apostles went on to establish a growing Christian movement. J. N. D. Anderson wrote, “Think of the psychological absurdity of picturing a little band of defeated cowards cowering in an upper room one day and a few days later transformed into a company that no persecution could silence—and then attempting to attribute this dramatic change to nothing more convincing than a miserable fabrication. … That simply wouldn’t make sense.”34 Many scholars believe (in the words of an ancient commentator) that “the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church.” Historian Will Durant observed, “Caesar and Christ had met in the arena and Christ had won.”35A Surprise Conclusion With myth, hallucination, and a flawed autopsy ruled out, with incontrovertible evidence for an empty tomb, with a substantial body of eyewitnesses to his reappearance, and with the inexplicable transformation and impact upon the world of those who claimed to have seen him, Morison became convinced that his preconceived bias against Jesus Christ’s resurrection had been wrong. He began writing a different book—entitled Who Moved the Stone?—to detail his new conclusions. Morison simply followed the trail of evidence, clue by clue, until the truth of the case seemed clear to him. His surprise was that the evidence led to a belief in the resurrection. In his first chapter, “The Book That Refused to Be Written,” this former skeptic explained how the evidence convinced him that Jesus’ resurrection was an actual historical event. “It was as though a man set out to cross a forest by a familiar and well-beaten track and came out suddenly where he did not expect to come out.”36 Morison is not alone. Countless other skeptics have examined the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection, and accepted it as the most astounding fact in all of human history. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ raises the question: What does the fact that Jesus defeated death have to do with my life? The answer to that question is what New Testament Christianity is all about. Did Jesus Say What Happens After we Die? If Jesus really did rise from the dead, then he alone must know what is on the other side. What did Jesus say about the meaning of life and our future? Are there many ways to God or did Jesus claim to be the only way? Read the startling answers in “Why Jesus.” -from y-Jesus.com

This was really thought provoking. What do you think? God bless, GE