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Evidence for the afterlife

By Spencer Gear - posted Tuesday, 24 March 2020


Where will we be one minute after our last breath? How can we demonstrate there is, or is not, life after death?

On Line Opinion, the Bible, myth and fantasy

Feedback from the OnLine Opinion community express some of the views of the wider community – religious and non-religious. Comments (mainly in response to my articles) do not generally recommend the Bible as reliable evidence for God, Jesus and the cosmos. Here are a few examples:

'Your only authority comes from hugely plagiarized and embellished works that were subjectively included and revised to fit a narrative that the pagan sun-worshipper Constatine (sic) could accept'.

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Another wrote that 'the Bible is not evidence.… The resurrection of Jesus is myth'.

These inflammatory comments continued: 'The Bible may have some historical accuracy, but most of it appears to be just superstitious nonsense'. Yet another contributor engaged in this pejorative throw-away line: 'Every minute fraction of this essay is an exercise in childish fantasy, and the naive mommy-daddy "creator-God"'.

As for Jesus's birth, the proclamation was: 'The common nativity story is largely a myth'. Jesus also received a drubbing through this criticism: 'All of the entirely fictional stories about Saint Jesus of Galilee are just plain and simply NOT TRUE'.

Reflecting views of wider community

The views of the wider community mirror those of my OLO critics. I asked one fellow: 'Why are you not taking Jesus seriously? Or the challenge of what happens at death?' He replied, 'I don't take fairy tales seriously'. When asked for examples, he offered no response (link no longer online).

There's a thread on the Internet that asks, 'What is your favorite Bible fairy tale?' One response: 'An all-powerful perfect being creates the world, but he screws it up so bad (sic), he wipes it out with a flood and starts over'. Other such fairy tales include Noah's Ark, the Creation Story, Daniel and the Lions. Others nominated those who live to be over 600 years, the notion that Jesus lets people kill him, and the story about unbelievers tossed into the Lake of Fire.

Scholars have jumped on the mythsl or fairy tale bandwagon. My doctoral dissertation considered John Dominic Crossan's critique of some aspects of the historical Jesus. He claimed 'Jesus's burial by his friends was totally fictional and unhistorical. He was buried, if buried at all, by his enemies, and the necessarily shallow grave would have been easy prey for scavenging dogs' (1994:160). Crossan did not present any convincing evidence to support his claim.

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For an earlier generation, the German theologian Rudolf Bultmann (1884–1976) took on the task of demythologising the New Testament. He stated his views succinctly: people can't use electric lights and radios, be treated using modern medicine – and still believe in the world of the spirit and wonder of the New Testament. To retain the spirit world, for him, was to make the Christian proclamation unintelligible for contemporary people (New Testament and Mythology, p. 18).

However, there are historians who disagree with this appraisal.

The Bible: myth or reliable history?

The eminent Christian apologist, Dr William Lane Craig, challenged Crossan's views. His assessment was that the driving force behind Crossan's scepticism 'is not historical, but philosophical considerations, namely, Crossan's anti-supernaturalism. As emerges under cross-examination in my debate with Crossan on Jesus's resurrection, Crossan is, in fact, an atheist who thinks that God is just a construct of the human imagination which believers impose on reality. Therefore, a supernatural event like the resurrection is a priori impossible, regardless of the evidence' (Craig & Crossan 1998:49-51).

Jesus spoke to the people in parables. His disciples asked, why? – and Jesus's response was that the disciples 'are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not' (Matthew 13:11). These were not myths, but were earthly stories with a heavenly meaning that were meant to conceal some things from unbelievers.

How can one discern whether the Bible contains once-upon-a-time fairy tales like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland – or reliable history?

We know from reading the 66 books of the Bible that they refer to leaders from secular history whose existence and actions can be checked out through other sources. These luminaries include Cyrus, King of Persia (539-530 BC), Artaxerxes I (464-423 BC), and Darius III (336-331 BC). The edict of Cyrus, circulated in 538 BC 'has been shown to be substantially historical as a result of modern archaeological discoveries, and constitutes one of the earliest acts of Cyrus after establishing the Persian empire' (Harrison 1969:193). See the biblical record in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23.

As for the New Testament, here are other prominent historical figures who can be verified by outside sources: King Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12), Agrippa II (Acts 26), Caesar Augustus (Mark 12:17; Luke 2:1-52) Pontius Pilate (see Matt 27:19Pilate stone), and Emperor Nero.

Leading ancient historian and historical Jesus scholar, the Australian Dr Paul Barnett, rejects the mythological Bible for one which locates Jesus by discovering 'text-based historical enquiry: sociological analysis, though useful, has significant limitations'. Barnett, who taught ancient history at Macquarie University, considers that 'the gospels are self-consciously historical, [so] a better way to begin to investigate Jesus is with the gratuitous information found in the [New Testament] letters. From these a rough grid may be established by which to validate or otherwise the Gospels' (1997:164).

Is it possible to separate an alleged myth from actual history in the Bible or any other historical documents? Ancient historians have developed criteria to determine if an historical document can be trusted.

Captain James Cook vs the Bible

How do we know that Captain Cook sailed up the east coast of Australia and circumnavigated New Zealand in 1770? He is alleged to have

set sail on the first of three voyages to the South Seas, he carried with him secret orders from the British Admiralty to seek 'a Continent or Land of great extent' and to take possession of that country 'in the Name of the King of Great Britain'….

The maps, journals, log books and paintings from Cook's travels are just some of the State Library's incredible records of this exciting time'.

Were those maps, journals, log books and paintings accurate? We face the same challenge when we examine his documents and other historical writings. How do we know those writings are reliable in content? Ancient historians face this challenge. We apply the same tests (criteria) to the Bible as we do to Cook's journals.

Tests for historical documents

How do we know these texts are trustworthy? Historians use these key criteria to check the authenticity of any writing from history (as summarised by John P Meier (1991: 13-16; 167-182)):

  • Embarrassment: A fact or event that appears to cause embarrassment to the theology of the gospel authors is less likely to have been invented by them than a fact or event that bolsters their theology.
  • Discontinuity: A fact or event that does not appear to have had any basis in earlier tradition is less likely to have been invented by the gospel authors than an event that may have been predicated in an earlier tradition.
  • Multiple attestation: A fact or event that appears to have been preserved down multiple lines of independent tradition is more likely to be true than one that is only preserved down a single line.
  • Coherence: A fact or event that appears to be consistent with our present understanding of the historical context is more likely to be true than one which appears to be at odds with it.
  • Rejection and execution: A fact or event that looks as though it might provide a realistic explanation for the rejection or execution of Jesus is more likely to be true than the more tendentious explanations offered consciously by the gospel authors (e.g. divine providence, the Jews being in league with the devil etc.). (This criterion is less strong as it presumes historicity of the execution to begin with, but given that the execution of Jesus appears to satisfy each of the four previous criteria, it's based on a fairly solid foundation so far as second-order criteria go.) [summary courtesy Gary, Eschaton Now 2010].

Meier gave this warning:

Our survey indicates that five suggested criteria of historicity or authenticity are really valuable and deserve to be ranked as primary criteria….

The use of the valid criteria is more an art than a science, requiring sensitivity to the individual case rather than mechanical implementation. It can never be said too many times that such an art usually yields only varying degrees of probability and not absolute certitude. But … such judgments of probability are common in any investigation of ancient history, and the quest for the historical Jesus cannot apply for a special exemption (Meier 1991:184).

Applying the tests

What happens when we apply the tests to what the Bible says about Jesus's resurrection and the afterlife? Or to the question, where will Christian believers and non-believers be at the moment of death? Historically, does the Bible confirm life after death?

The National Church Life Survey of 2009 of people across the community found that 'in 1993, the proportion of people affirming a belief in heaven and in life after death was just over half. In 2009 these figures had declined by only several percent'.

'A national Essential poll (2018) shows that 40% of all Australians believe in heaven. But the crucial figure is that a staggering 51%of those aged 18-34 hold such a belief! This compares to just 29% of the public who are over 55 years old'.

Which criteria do ancient historians use to confirm historical reliability of the Bible on the theme of life after death? They include:

  • Embarrassment: Who witnessed the empty tomb of Jesus? Two women! Women were unreliable witnesses in Jewish culture. See: Josephus: Women unacceptable witnesses. Matt 25:46 states: 'And they [unrighteous] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life'. 'Eternal punishment (damnation)' would be an embarrassment to the Jews. So, here we have reliable history, based on embarrassment in that culture.
  • Discontinuity is a test that depends on knowing details of Judaism and the early church in the first century after Jesus. Our information is limited so it must be applied with caution. However, 1 Corinthians 15:14-19 (NLT) states our preaching is useless and the Christian faith is futile unless Jesus is raised - if there is no resurrection of the dead. Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus where, after death, Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom [heaven] while the rich, ungodly man was in torment in Hades (Luke 16:22-23). This is hardly what the Jews wanted to hear.
  • Multiple attestation: A similar passage to Matt 25:46 is in Matt 7:13-14Mark 9:44-48John 5:29, and Acts 24:15. This teaching is affirmed in a number of different locations so it is likely to be true.
  • Coherence: What is the coherence or consistency of Matt 25:46 with John 14:1-4 and 1 Cor 15:53? The John passage confirms that for believers Jesus has prepared a place of 'many mansions'. For believers, our mortal bodies will be transformed to be immortal at his Second Coming. For unbelievers, what will happen after death and at Christ's return?

Revelation 20 explains the Great White Throne judgement of unbelievers. Rev 20:12-13 (NLT) states: 'I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books.The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds'. No unbeliever can run and hide from God's judgement. There is an afterlife for the godly and ungodly – with two different destinies.

· Rejection and executionMatthew 26 records the Jewish plot to kill Jesus, Peter's denial of Jesus, how the high priest and others spat in Jesus's face, and Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Him. According to Matthew 27, Judas Iscariot hanged himself. Jesus was on trial before Pilate, was mocked by the soldiers, and a crown of thorns placed on his head. Rejection is written all over this trial and execution, thus affirming one of the historical criteria to demonstrate the New Testament is a reliable set of documents – including on the afterlife.

Apply the method used

In this article I have attempted to show that:

  • The New Testament is a reliable set of documents, with five tests of historicity as used by ancient historians.
  • In this reliable document it is demonstrated there is life beyond the grave for believers in Jesus and for unbelievers.
  • Therefore, I conclude there is strong evidence to support an afterlife. It is not a leap of faith to accept life after death.
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About the Author

Spencer Gear PhD (University of Pretoria, South Africa) is a retired counselling manager, independent researcher, retired minister of the The Christian & Missionary Alliance of Australia, and freelance writer living in Brisbane Qld, Australia.

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