Reflections of a Variant

My professor posted this video in the discussion thread of my Christian Worldview class and asked for our thoughts. It’s not theologically groundbreaking by any means, and the argument was just okay, but it did leave me with one big takeaway to consider: When it comes to the historical accuracy of Jesus and the resurrection, unproven does not mean disproven.

For the sake of intellectual honesty, anything that cannot be disproven must be on the table. If our argument for Jesus as God resurrected stands on the fact that those events can’t be disproven, and that it’s dishonest to toss out arguments that we don’t like, then it’s equally dishonest to not to entertain any theory that can’t be disproven.

My mother has a theory that Gene Roddenberry was a time traveler who got stuck here and gave us Trek as his way of telling us what was to come without violating the Prime Directive. I can’t disprove that. It’s on the table. We also can’t disprove that we’re living in a Matrix-like simulation where we’re nothing more then energy stores for our artificially intelligent overlords.

So if everything is on the table, what sets Christianity apart from every other theory and religious system? Why would I choose to believe it?

Gospel writers worked against their own self interest

Jesus’ interactions with women were quite radical for the time. In a patriarchal society that viewed women as property, Jesus made women equals, engaging them in theological dialogue, affirming their place as students of his teaching and not just for domestic work, and permitting women to travel with him. Women were recorded as remaining faithful to Jesus when the male disciples weren’t, and were recorded as the first to spread the news of his resurrection. These stories never should have been written. Considering the sentiment toward women at the time, it would have been against the patriarchal self-interest of the writers to include events that elevated women in this way. If women are out ministering as equals, who is going to make the sandwiches? Following Jesus changed his disciples so much that they wrote about women in such a controversial way.

Many of the disciples and first Christians were persecuted, lost everything, and killed for spreading the message of Jesus. They stood by their account of being eye-witnesses to these events to the point of death and gained nothing from it.

The probability of prophecy fulfilled

Jesus fulfilled dozens of messianic prophesies in just the week leading up to his death. The religious leader’s efforts to crucify him in order to discredit his claims as the son of God resulted in the fulfilling of scriptures that were written about the coming Messiah hundreds of years prior.

The cohesive theme of scripture

The Bible is a love story between creator and creation told over four acts: The garden, the fall, redemption, and restoration. Within the old testament, these acts play out over and over again; smaller stories within a larger story foreshadowing the coming of the savior like masterfully woven threads in a tapestry, and when we stand back and take in the finished piece, we see Jesus. The consistency and cohesiveness of this story spread out among dozens of authors and and thousands of years is nothing short of miraculous.

Personal encounters with my creator

Lastly, I can’t explain away my own experiences with my creator. This will be its own post later in the week, but “everything I have I owe to Jesus” is more than song lyrics to me, it’s truth. On February 25th, 1999, Jesus became 13-year-old me’s fixation, and thank God! He took a neruodivergent girl who hated herself for not being able to keep friends or understand schoolwork and gave her himself as a friend, a seat at his table, and a purpose. I am alive, standing on two feet today, a happy wife and mother, pursuing dreams because of Jesus.

I’m not gonna lie, though. I won’t be terribly disappointed if the whole Trek theory pans out.