I Need Proof
One of the issues raised by Easter is the relationship between faith and evidence. The big example of this in the Easter story is Jesus rising from the dead. No one can prove it, but Christians believe it.
Some try to argue that faith and evidence are mutually exclusive. One definition of faith that I came across is this, “Faith is believing what is not true.” As a person faith, I find that offensive and as a university researcher I find it to be ignorant and ill-informed.
In the bible, faith and evidence go hand in hand. One of Jesus’ followers, Thomas, when he heard that Jesus had supposedly returned from the dead, responded, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side” (John 20:25). Isn’t that how many of us would respond? If I can’t see it with my own eyes, I won’t believe it.
A few days later, Jesus gave Thomas the proof he wanted. The two met and Jesus’ said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” (John 20:27). Thomas got his proof and was convinced by the evidence in front of him. Jesus then said to him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me” (John 20:29). That was Jesus’ way of saying that faith and evidence are not mutually exclusive. Thomas had faith because of his personal encounter with the risen Jesus. Others have faith without that experience. It doesn’t change the truth of what happened. In fact, there are many things in life that we believe but can’t empirically demonstrate, like love or friendship. The cynic might argue that these are just the outworking of our basic self-interest. We do something good for another in the expectation that they will return the favour when we need it. But most of us know, deep down, that true love, or true friendship, are not like that. We intuitively know this to be true without empirical evidence.
Part of our problem is that we are caught up in a simplistic way of thinking that says that universe operates according to a set of inviolable natural laws. On this thinking, if Jesus died, it is impossible that he could un-die. This way of thinking came out of the rationalistic Eighteenth-century movement called the “Enlightenment.” This movement was the start of modern science and, don’t get me wrong, I am pro-science and very much in favour of rational thinking. But modern science has moved on. According to quantum physics, many previous so-called universal laws, for example the speed of light, are not universal at all. Much that was once thought to be impossible, now isn’t. While we have a good general understand of how the universe works, we are a long way from having a complete understanding of it
So, I have no problem with believing that Jesus rose from the dead, even though I didn’t get to see it with my own eyes. As the bible says, these “things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses… [and taught] to other trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others” (2 Timothy 2:2).
Neil Percival
Some try to argue that faith and evidence are mutually exclusive. One definition of faith that I came across is this, “Faith is believing what is not true.” As a person faith, I find that offensive and as a university researcher I find it to be ignorant and ill-informed.
In the bible, faith and evidence go hand in hand. One of Jesus’ followers, Thomas, when he heard that Jesus had supposedly returned from the dead, responded, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side” (John 20:25). Isn’t that how many of us would respond? If I can’t see it with my own eyes, I won’t believe it.
A few days later, Jesus gave Thomas the proof he wanted. The two met and Jesus’ said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!” (John 20:27). Thomas got his proof and was convinced by the evidence in front of him. Jesus then said to him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me” (John 20:29). That was Jesus’ way of saying that faith and evidence are not mutually exclusive. Thomas had faith because of his personal encounter with the risen Jesus. Others have faith without that experience. It doesn’t change the truth of what happened. In fact, there are many things in life that we believe but can’t empirically demonstrate, like love or friendship. The cynic might argue that these are just the outworking of our basic self-interest. We do something good for another in the expectation that they will return the favour when we need it. But most of us know, deep down, that true love, or true friendship, are not like that. We intuitively know this to be true without empirical evidence.
Part of our problem is that we are caught up in a simplistic way of thinking that says that universe operates according to a set of inviolable natural laws. On this thinking, if Jesus died, it is impossible that he could un-die. This way of thinking came out of the rationalistic Eighteenth-century movement called the “Enlightenment.” This movement was the start of modern science and, don’t get me wrong, I am pro-science and very much in favour of rational thinking. But modern science has moved on. According to quantum physics, many previous so-called universal laws, for example the speed of light, are not universal at all. Much that was once thought to be impossible, now isn’t. While we have a good general understand of how the universe works, we are a long way from having a complete understanding of it
So, I have no problem with believing that Jesus rose from the dead, even though I didn’t get to see it with my own eyes. As the bible says, these “things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses… [and taught] to other trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others” (2 Timothy 2:2).
Neil Percival