THE FINAL RULING: IS CHRIST RISEN AND WERE APOCRYPHA SCRIPTURE?
THE FINAL RULING: IS CHRIST RISEN AND WERE APOCRYPHA SCRIPTURE?
There are at least a thousand and one ways to explain the evidence. Of course there are. In fact, many of the old arguments still exist, and nothing “demands” that one give them up.
There is never only one way to explain the evidence, but an infinite number of ways. Amateur sleuth Father Brown makes this point in comic fashion in G.K. Chesterton’s classic story The Honor of Israel Gow.[1]
So focus on what is actually true, not what you want to prove is true. If it is true, then it will survive attack from your smartest and most diabolical opponent: thine very own self. Wake up tomorrow and take the other side of the argument. We often know that we are wrong, we just do not realize it, because we keep arguing for our side and never against it. So play Devil’s advocate, using everything you know to prove it wrong. If it is actually true, then it will still be true the next day; if not, it was never true in the first place.
Then shift gears and try to predict the outcome: stop thinking about your own choice and consider what a reasonable, unbiased and thoroughly competent judge would decide. It is a thought experiment that may allow you to see your own cognitive biases, and should help you to think in terms of what the evidence shows, rather than what you assume the facts are.
As for me, years ago I nearly died. As I was recovering, I looked back on my life without a single real regret: it was a good life, no complaints, and we all have to leave sooner or later. (If that sounds shallow, that is because so I was.) But there was one stupid little thing: I was always going to read those books I was named after, but I had never done so. I ordered a box of various “textual variations” from Amazon; one thing led to another; and I eventually found myself immersed in the case for Christianity.
In the end, after arguing with myself for a long time, I came to believe that a judge would rule that the best and most reasonable explanation of all the evidence is that Christianity’s historical claims are indeed true. In other words (and after several philosophical steps which I just pass over), she would decide that she has to convert—which is exactly why I did so.
But I had bought a box of Bibles—plural. The Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of the Bible are absolutely fundamental questions, and the answers are not trivia. Because not every Christian Bible is “The” Bible—and not every Bible can win the case for Christianity.
Simon Greenleaf was not wrong about the evidence, and Lionel Luckhoo has still not been out argued. They are but two of the many great legal minds who analyzed the case for Christianity and concluded that that the evidence and the arguments are on the side of Christianity. But they did not focus on the “Achilles’ heel of Protestant Christianity” (D. F. Strauss), the “hidden, dragging illness of the Church” (Herman Ridderbos), and what could be “the single thread that unravels the entire garment of the Christian faith” (Kruger).
I believe that a fair judge would accept as proved both (a) the case for Christianity and (b) the Apocrypha as authentic Apostolic teaching. But Luke 16:31 (“neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead…”) works in reverse as well. And if the Christians in the case insist upon maintaining their pre-supposition, and “admit” that the evidence is not enough to prove that the Apocrypha were authentic Apostolic teaching, then the evidence will not be enough to authenticate the Resurrection either.
In such a case, I believe a fair, neutral judge would rule that Christ is not raised, our faith is in vain, they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished, and we are of all men most miserable. (1 Corinthians 15:16-19).
But that is just my view. Good luck to you in your own research and decisions. God bless.
If you learned anything from this book, please leave an honest review on Amazon and/or social media. This is my first book, so (a) I will be reading all reviews, and (b) reviews are crucial to spreading the word about this “outsider scholarship.” That you hate all my opinions is only to be expected, but I am hoping to at least make people aware of my research. I sincerely hope that you learned something you did not know already, and I would appreciate you saying so. Thank you very much!
[1] www.gutenberg.org/files/204/204-h/204-h.htm#chap06. The money quote for present purposes is “Ten false philosophies will fit the universe; ten false theories will fit Glengyle Castle. But we want the real explanation of the castle and the universe.”
