2/27/20 Quinn
When asked for his beliefs about life after death in a
sidewalk conversation, a young man named Quinn immediately began bringing to
mind the latest studies of people who’d had “near-death experiences”. He seemed to truly believe that if it could
be scientifically determined that our souls exist independent of our bodies,
then that would be the determining factor for life after death.
Quinn told me that science is basically the driving force
behind his investigation of truth claims.
The scientific method relies on gathering empirical evidence – which is
defined as that which can be observed or experimented on. Science-oriented people like Quinn would look
to near-death experiences for evidence, because as an observable spiritual
event it would seem most likely to offer some empirical evidence for someone
who limits acceptable evidence to natural phenomenon.
However, I have to wonder about the logic of this line of
thinking, because, by definition, a spiritual realm of existence wouldn’t have
any dependence on the physical realm.
Surely God would know when someone is truly dead and that it’s time for
their soul to move on, as opposed to someone who is only “nearly dead” and able
to be resuscitated. God, at least the
omniscient God as described in the Bible, would recognize a false alarm when He
sees one.
Additionally, most spiritual events such as those recorded
in the Bible are presented as historical events which can no longer be
observed, or are based on supernatural phenomenon not subject to natural laws
so they wouldn’t necessarily yield consistent results in experiments. So I think it is a mistake to depend on
science, useful as it is for the study of the natural order, as the primary way
to determine truth about the supernatural, which isn’t subject to natural laws.
But there are many other types of evidence one needs to
consider when investigating truth claims.
In the biblical account of Jesus’ resurrection, for example, there are
four main types of evidence presented: real evidence (tangible things, such as the
empty tomb or Jesus appearance to Thomas); demonstrative evidence (a model of
what likely happened at a given time and place such as the account of the
resurrection repeated throughout the New Testament); documentary evidence
(letters or other documents, such as the Gospel accounts or the letters to the
churches); and testimonial evidence (witness testimony, such as we find written
by or about the eyewitnesses to the resurrection in the Bible).
Skeptics often dismiss the Bible as valid evidence in their
search for truth about religion. First,
they might say that because it contains references to God and miracles, it must
be biased and therefore untrustworthy.
But isn’t such a skeptic the one who is really biased for refusing to
even consider all the available evidence, especially pertaining to the question
that just this sort of spiritual realm might be possible?
Second, they might say referencing the Bible is just
circular reasoning, because they see the Bible as just one source of
information about religion when in fact it is a whole dossier, a collection of
literary works from dozens of authors from different geographic locations over
a time period of several thousand years.
It would, in fact, be a treasure trove of evidence and should be taken
very seriously by anyone who would claim to take an intellectual approach
toward considering its claims.
Luke, the historian, explained why he wrote his Gospel in
the first paragraphs of the first chapter: “Many have undertaken to draw up an
account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were
handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of
the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated
everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for
you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the
things you have been taught.”
Historically researched evidence is available to us in Luke’s
gospel and the Book of Acts, also written by Luke, as well as the dozens of
other primary-source documents of the Old and New Testaments. We can do better than just checking out the
latest account of a near-death experience in our search for truth about God, spirituality,
and eternal life.
Thanks, Quinn, for allowing me to record our
conversation. It can be seen at
https://youtu.be/7In0jr3UruY
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