We have been living in the scientific age for five centuries. Science is very proof oriented. The Greek philosophers asked, ‘is the earth a flat disk or a round ball?’ The first line of proof was offered by Aristotle when he watched ships slowly ‘sink’ over the horizon and Eratosthenes used what is now high school algebra to support the theory by calculating the circumference of the earth—measuring shadows in two locations.
Is it possible to use the scientific method to proof God? Not really. Believers have used all kinds of arguments to try to prove that God is real. One common one today is to say that the Bible says it, it is true. That requires that everyone must accept the Bible as completely true. That is not science, that is faith.
The author of Hebrews wrote, Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. NIV Faith is not the same as proof. I have faith in God, but I cannot prove God.
Unless…
Just suppose God took the form of a human and walked among us for a few years.
Is that proof?
No.
In verse 8 of the reading in John, we see, Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” ESV Keep in mind that at this point Philip and the other Apostles had been living with Jesus 24/7 for nearly 3 years and they still had no idea who he was.
Jesus said, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? ESV
I underlined the word believe because Jesus is saying that Philip and Thomas and Peter and John and you and I need faith. Jesus is the proof, but only if we faithfully believe that he is who he says he is.
Is there any scientific proof regarding Jesus’ claim? Some, but nothing that will please the doubters. Too bad God did not think to stamp Jesus with Made in Heaven by God. What he did instead is create a human male child using DNA of God’s design and allowing a very human woman to incubate that egg for nine months. But I digress, that is a faith statement.
A Jewish man named Yeshua bar Yosef claimed to be a prophet of God about 30 AD. He gathered around him a small band of a hundred or so people, including twelve full time talmidim. He preached the Good News that God is a God of Love and He invites all humans to join him in Love.
There are 27 writings that are considered by Yeshua’s followers to be authentic that tell us a great deal about the man and his message. There are many other writings that are rejected. There are also writings from the next few centuries that support the 27 works.
Most importantly, Yeshua is mentioned in Roman and Jewish writings of the First Century. None of those disprove him. They instead support his followers in a backhanded way.
Most importantly, all 27 writings support the claim of the faithful followers that Yeshua was executed on a cross by Roman soldiers (which Roman and Jewish writings also say) and that Yeshua spent three nights in a tomb only to be seen by hundreds of his followers for a few weeks after that. Oh, yes, many say that the tomb was empty (strong disagreement by Roman and Jewish sources).
When you add all that up, it does not reach the highest standards of scientific proof. It is evidence, but not conclusive evidence. Millions of Moslems believe that Mohamad memorized the Koran as given to him in a cave by Alla/God. Millions believe that Joseph Smith found gold plates written in a heavenly language which he translated into English with the help of the angel Moroni. There are twelve classical world religions. In alphabetical order they are: Baha’i, Buddhism, Christianity , Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam , Jainism , Judaism, Shinto , Sikhism , Taoism , and Zoroastrianism. Each of them have many, many splinter groups or sub-divisions.
Every one of the thousands of belief groups requires faith.
What sets Christianity apart?
Paul sums it up this way.
Now if the rising of Christ from the dead is the very heart of our message, how can some of you deny that there is any resurrection? For if there is no such thing as the resurrection of the dead, then Christ was never raised. And if Christ was not raised then neither our preaching nor your faith has any meaning at all. Further it would mean that we are lying in our witness for God, for we have given our solemn testimony that he did raise up Christ—and that is utterly false if it should be true that the dead do not, in fact, rise again! For if the dead do not rise neither did Christ rise, and if Christ did not rise your faith is futile and your sins have never been forgiven. Moreover those who have died believing in Christ are utterly dead and gone. Truly, if our hope in Christ were limited to this life only we should, of all mankind be the most to be pitied! Phillips
The proof is that the very men and women who personally knew Yeshua preached his resurrection. Millions since then have believed the Word and have continued to be faithful to it.
Be righteous and do good.
Mike Lawrence
Mike Lawrence Books 