The Empty Tomb

The sun slowly rises behind you.  The warmth permeates your very presence.  Your shadow is cast out disproportionately out in front of you.  Your shadow seeps out into the army that is laid out in front of you.  You are but one soldier, a general no less, but just one.   The opposing army begins to stand, each squinting due to the sun in utter disbelief.  Could it really be that you have come alone, undefended to face this entire army?  They scatter to wake their leader, readying for a charge, worried of an impending trap.  On the charge, you stand boldly, confidently, arms peacefully by your side, your sword a distant thought in your mind.  Come to me, you think, and see what you find. 

“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” (1 Cor 15:17)

Let’s think about this very statement.  If the resurrection had not occurred our faith is futile.  The very heart of the Christian message rests on this singular event.  Without it, Christianity is dead.  The result is faith in a dead God, a dead person, just as any other faith or religion.  It is as if Paul taunts his opponents with this very thread, begging them to explore the resurrection.  ’Come to me and see what you find.’ 

Paul has told you where to look to debunk Christianity: the resurrection.  He begs you to come, look, and see what you find.  Like a general, standing alone, awaiting the opposing army’s charge.  Foolishness?  Or is that confidence rested on something permanent?  Is there evidence pointing toward the resurrection?  Yes, in fact, there is. 

First and foremost is that the tomb of Jesus Christ is empty. Empty.  Is it really empty?  Suppose it wasn’t, then of course in light of the birth of Christianity the Romans or the Jews would have destroyed their claims.  How?  They would have simply taken Jesus’ dead body and put it on display for all to see, in a true William Wallace fashion.  

In either case, there are even deeper details which I refer to article by Dr. William Lane Craig, “Contemporary Scholarship and the Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.” In the following, we’ll consider naturalistic and common reasons for the empty tomb.

1. Theft theory – this is easily the most common theory proposed by a nonbeliever.  If the body was stolen who stole the body?  There are three possible choices: Romans, Jews, or the disciples.

Let’s consider if the Romans stole the body.  Let us remember that Jerusalem was merely part of the Roman empire.  The goal of the Romans was to keep the local culture unstirred and peaceful to ensure that Rome would benefit from trade and taxes, thus become wealthier.  The punishment of a Roman citizen not following Roman law or other treasonous acts was death, typically by crucifiction.  In fact, Roman soldiers were put to death if they were deemed to not have fought hard enough in a battle, a policy that continued even if they won the battle!  Jesus was given to the Jews to be killed in hopes of keeping the peace among the Jews.  Rome wanted peace (i.e. taxes) not a new religion causing turmoil in Jerusalem!

Now let’s consider if the Jews stole the body.  What is the incentive? To aggravate Jesus’ followers even more?  Recall that the Jews were quite concerned about how much Jesus’ spoke and indicated that on the third day He would rise.  Concerned so much they asked the Romans for additional protection, beyond their temple guard, of Jesus’ tomb.  Even so, if the body was stolen then what not put Jesus’ dead body on a stake in front of the temple when the disciples started claiming to have seen the risen Christ? That would have ended Christianity before it even had time to be called such a name!

Lastly, consider if the disciples stole the body.  Finally, there is at least a clear incentive!  But how did simple fisherman coordinate such a theft?  They needed to gain access to the tomb itself, bypassing the temple and Roman guard, break the seal on the tomb, and move the slab of stone blocking the entrance to the tomb itself!   If this is possible, then we should easily be able to dig up and steal John F. Kennedy’s body! A feat not easily accomplished now or then.  Suppose though, that they were successful, could the lie remained when faced with death?  Remember many of the earliest followers of Christ faced, such as James, the brother of Jesus, was put to death for preaching the gospel! Could you take that lie to the grave as you watched all of your loved ones persecuted and killed?  And if you could, could all of your friends and extended family?  Absurd.

2. Swoon theory - Jesus did not die on the course, rather it only appeared so.  This theory has partly been pushed by Ahmadiya Muslims, in the late 19th century, that Jesus  was resuscitated in the tomb and went to India to search for the lost tribes of Israel. Once there he adopted the name Yuz Asaf, married Mary, and had children. He then died at the age of 120 and was buried in the district of Srinagar.  Come again?  The rest of the Muslim world doesn’t share this opinion as it is not founded in the Koran or in any extra-biblical and historical written accounts. 

Even so, let’s consider that it was true.  Jesus underwent six trials where He was beaten, scoured with 39 lashes that left His back naked, raw, exposed so that scavenger birds nipped at it while on the cross.  In addition, He was given a crown of thorns, forcibly placed on His head, tearing His scalp open.  Oh I forgot! He was also crucified!  His hands and feet were nailed to a wooden cross; a cross that He was forced to carry.  All the while He hung on the cross, He bled freely without any food or water for hours.  Please, go for a 3 hour run, right now without food or water and see how you fare. 

When it appeared Jesus was dead, a spear pierced his side, emitting both blood and water, a clear indication that His blood had clotted.  When His body was taken down from the cross it was covered in spices to preserve the body and then tightly wrapped.  If He was truly alive at this point, this would add even further stress putting a large amount of weight onto His body.  Not to mention the spices adhere to the skin and linens acting as a glue.  To take the wrapping off is not be easily done, let alone in such a pathetically, weakened state. 

If Jesus feigned His death then this is more remarkable than the resurrection itself!

3. Hallucination theory - All of the post-mortem sightings of Jesus Christ were mere hallucinations.  How does this explain the empty tomb again?  Was all of Jerusalem hallucinating that Jesus’ body really wasn’t there?  When the ‘high’ waned would this not have been then sorted out? 

4. Yo! You went to the wrong tomb theory! - Even I am lost for words.  However, a close friend stated this to me as a plausible theory.  Let’s assume it is correct, wouldn’t Joseph of Arimathea, the owner of the tomb, have sorted this out?  Wouldn’t the Jews have pointed people to the real tomb?  In addition, have you personally ever lost and buried a loved one?  Do you remember where they are buried?

Sometimes it is just easier to believe in the truth.  Or put simply by Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson in The Sign of the Four:

 ”How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?”

Existing Unknowable II

The ideas from the previous post can still be expanded.  Chaitin’s constant illustrates that science as a whole is quite limited.  Scientism in itself pictures all of reality as a knowable landscape, say a plane.  However the existence of unknowable quantities illustrate that this landscape is not smooth.  In other words if you were a bug crawling on its surface you may fall through the numerous holes littered throughout! 

 Consider taking sheet of paper.  This is the “knowledge plane”.  It represents the total knowledge of knowable and unknowable quantities.  Now take a finite collection of coins, say 10.  Each coin represents what is knowable through an exhaustive collection of tools.  As the coins land and settle they represent an area of the knowledge landscape that is known, or at least can be known.  In order to make leaps in our knowledge means jumping between separate coins requiring tremendous intuition, luck, and perspiration.  This example illustrates why a certain area of science may never “bridge the gap” between areas, albeit how close they actually are.  Science is not exhaustive, rather limited, and nonetheless full of interesting discoveries that await.  However, my fear is that too many people are waiting for the discovery of the unknowable, in that they require exhaustive knowledge to make a definitive decision rather than looking at suggestive evidence pointing toward a certain direction.  This is ever apparent in the existence of God and in his precious son Jesus.  God has the ability to reveal himself and lead us toward him as much or as little as He sees fit.   Indeed, in Jesus, He has.

What evidence is required to trust that Jesus is that very revelation?  This is not an issue of ‘time’, evidence is evidence regardless of its age.   Like a juror in a trial, you must make a decision.  It will not be an unreasoned decision, however the decision will be made on faith.  It is a reasonable faith.  Such as casting a guilty or not-guilty verdict, after all a juror in a trial will not have been present at the events in question!  Even Jesus’ followers during His ministry were faced with a similar predicament (John 20:29).  Consequently, after His resurrection and ascension, His followers were also faced with similar issues, such as when Paul was preaching in Rome (Acts 28:24-28). 

This leads to a natural question: what evidence is so profound that leads a person to trust that Jesus Christ is who He says He is and to put your life into His hands?  The answer?  The resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In fact, the entire faith rests on that very fact.  If Jesus Christ did not raise from the dead our faith is futile, we are still unreconciled to God, and dead to our sins (1 Cor 15:12-58).  It seems that this precarious thread must be, in fact, quite strong.  In the following post afford me the opportunity to explore this even further.

 

 

Existing Unknowable

Mathematics.  A large bag of tools used to discover many of the greatest kept secrets our world has to offer.  Some secrets can be mined using our applicable tools, while others are unknowable even when exposed to an exhaustive collection of tools. Yes, there are unknowable ‘things’, if that is even the right word for them, yet we can prove their existence.  What?!  In other words, there are concrete limitations to science as a whole. 

Consider Chaitin’s constant as a simple example. This is a number that is known to exist but can be shown that not a single bit of it can be computed.  Sounds like trying to pin down an eggshell in water!  However, if this number was known or be found it then could be used to prove a slew of theorems most notably the Riemann hypothesis, arguably the most famous unsolved problems of all mathematics!

How could this be?  What is so special about this number?  Let us consider the following.  Suppose you have an oracle, called her Bec Oracle.  The oracle tells you if something is true or not.  You ask Bec, “Hey is the Riemann hypothesis true or not?” She nods her head yes.  Proven. You also now inherit the million dollar award for solving this problem.  Thank you Mrs. Oracle!

This is because Chaitin’s constant is connected to a certain type of computer program.  This program can review any other program and see if that program will stop or not.  For instance suppose we have the following program:

count=1; flag=0; while(flag==0), count=count+1; end;

This is a bad program.  It continues to add one to count indefinitely, never-ending.  You take your algorithm and ask Mrs. Oracle if the program will stop.  She states you have a probability of zero, that is, it will not stop.  

Now assume you have a program that tests a certain hypothesis of a theorem.  You could then ask the Oracle if it will stop.  Hence the theorem is proven or disproven.  Gee, you could disprove a theorem without even constructing the counter-example, as you’ll know that one exists!

The future of science is quite mysterious, the hope of having a continuum of scientific knowledge oozing between different fields is a mere fantasy.  At best our complete knowledge will still have holes for which are unknowable.  They exist.  And no amount of passing, fleeting time will ever encapsulate that.   

 

And the blind shall see

You wake up in the morning from the sun’s rays piercing through your bedroom windows, delicately onto your skin.  You gently roll over to one side, sliding your feet to the edge, and prepare for the full weight of gravity to be felt underneath your rested feet.  You reach and take a sip from your glass of water, ever so carefully so that nothing spills.  You stand, stretch your arms wide, and blink.  Nothing but darkness seeps in through your eyes.  You are blind, a person down to 4 senses: taste, touch, hearing,  and smell.

In your world you are complete.  However, so many have told you there is this seeing world.  A world with 5 senses, that is, your four combined with the ability to see.  You have been told that you have all the physiological infrastructure to be able to have this sense, yet it does not work. 

This morning you push on your ‘eyes’.  They have told you that this is the location on your body that your eyes reside.  The place where light from the outside world would enter, constructing an image, whatever an image actually is.  You have been afforded the opportunity to touch their working eyes, you know, the ones that ‘see’.  They feel just like yours, they even move like yours but yet they claim they can ‘see‘. 

You wonder if it is really true.  Are they lying?  Maybe they can’t see, after all you do have an imagination of your own and can fancy quite interesting thoughts yourself!  However, they have given much evidence that is suggestive there is truth behind their claims.    Clearly you understand that an apple is an apple while an orange is an orange as they taste and feel so different, but they claim they can know it just by the color.  Whatever color is! 

You have some friends that share the same world as you.  They are a 4-sense people.  Oh, the discussions with them are invigorating, often talking about what it would be like to be able to see.  What it must be like with that sense.  However, you can’t fully understand what it must truly be like, even with constant interaction with your 5-sense friends.  What must water look.  Can they see air?

You embrace your world fully, hopeful in the expectation and faith in reality of this other world.  Yet, when you ask your 5-sense person if there is something beyond them, another sense, many of them state “Nope, that’s it.”  While others claim there is and that they have experiences something far bigger, much more vast, than even with all of their 5 senses can even comprehend.

And you begin your day with the realization that Jesus Christ does help people see.

Redemption in Christ.

A quick synopsis of my journey to faith in Christ and the existence of God.

Confronting Contradictions

I’ve been wrestling with proving a theorem for some time now.  Its proof or disproof will be extremely useful in the field of computational mathematics.  However, I realized it doesn’t matter! Why you ask?  Well I have decided to assume that is true.  Yes, I realize that I could be faced with contradictions down the road, but I am willing to take that.  You know what? Let’s go one step further and abolish certain troublesome and fickle rules of mathematics.  Let me list my suggestions.

1. (a + b)^2 = a^2 + b^2 .  I am tired of marking this wrong anyway! Plus it does work for certain circumstances (let a=0).  Yes I know it doesn’t work if, say, a=b=1.  But let’s face it!  It’s a lot easier my way.
2. sin( x y ) = x sin(y).  Seriously, when I want to factor I will do it my way.  I recognize that this is not true in general, but it is true in some cases.  Let’s just say it is true for all cases. (Boy, I know a lot people in the biological sciences that do this!)
3. ln(a / b) = ln(a)/ln(b).  Need I say more?  Let’s just redefine the properties of logarithms.  The whole idea of logarithms is lost onto students anyway.
4. d/dx ( f(x) g(x) ) = f ‘ (x) g ‘ (x) .  Product rule?  No.  This is far easier.  It’s also quicker!  That reminds me let’s reinvent the chain rule while we are at this.
5. d/dx ( f (g(x)) ) = f ‘ (g(x)).  Ah, that is refreshing! Now I won’t have to  remember to take the derivative of the inside function. Phew!
6. The roots of x^2 – p^2 will only be p.  No more mention of the negative branch.  After all, all my books in geometry seem to ignore that case anyways.
7. All limit processes (sums, integrals, etc.) can now be interchanged.  No longer do we need big theorems like Monotone Convergence Theorem or Lebesgue’s Dominated Convergence Theorem.  Functional analysts can now go home.
8. A solution to every problem exists and it is unique.  Phew,  I was just starting to think that any value of x satisfies the equation x = x.  Thank goodness!

With these appropriate changes I am going to make my own mathematics.  Force will no longer be measured in Newtons rather Drageruaebs.  Life will bliss, journal publications will soar!  Peer review will be a snap!  I can’t wait to don the honor of obtaining the Field’s award in Drageruaebatics. 

Why hasn’t anyone done this before? I’ll tell you why.  It’s simply ridiculous and contradictory to our understanding.  You may get away with some of the above for a while, but at some point you will come face to face with a glaring contradiction. 

It means that when we disagree you can not simply say that everyone is right.  That is, taking a universalistic perspective.  That statement in itself leads to glaring contradictions.   Put simply, suppose that everyone is right.  Then it follows that my position is correct, however my position refutes your position!  That, my friend is a contradiction! 

Let’s put this into practice.  Suppose everyone is right.  Alright! Now I show you a circle and state boldly that it is a square.  I’m right but assumption.  Nonsense.  The statement in itself is self-refuting.

In mathematics there can be situations where there are multiple ways of obtaining the same result.  For instance, there are many different ways of proving the Pythagorean theorem.  However, at the backbone we use the same fundamental assumptions either about the reals, geometry, etc. The very fact that there have been attempts to prove the Pythagorean theorem which have failed gives credence to the idea that not every way is correct.

The problem is that this ideology is ever-present in our society.  You hear that “there are many ways to God or salvation”  or “everyone is right“, and its other variants.  Therefore there must be a correct path to God, to connect with Jesus Christ, to salvation, and you can not simply pick and choose what is befitting for the day.   My faith in Jesus Christ is grounded on substantial arguments that do not contradict itself when confronted with logic and reason,  such as in the case of moral relativists or universalists who claim that everyone is right.  In this the atheist and theist seem to agree.

Taking A U-Turn