Welcome back to our blog series based on Josh’s best-selling apologetics classic: More Than a Carpenter. Our goal is to show you that Jesus definitely lived, died, and resurrected. Why? Because if Jesus really is the truth, then He puts everything else about life into perspective!
In this post we answer, “Does science disprove Christ? Does it hold that power?”
“Often when I’m speaking to a philosophy or history class,” notes Josh, “someone confronts me with the challenge, ‘Can you prove the resurrection scientifically?’ I usually say, ‘Well, no, I’m not a scientist.’ Then I hear the class chuckling and the students say things like, ‘Then don’t talk to me about it,’ or ‘So I’m supposed to take it on faith?’ Their response makes me chuckle!”
Does Science Disprove Christ? Yes/No?
No is the correct answer. Those students have it wrong: Science can only prove what it can repeat in a controlled environment. Science is great when it stays in its lane. But it oversteps its authority when it chooses to make definitive claims beyond its boundary. This hasn’t stopped the scientific community, in general, from curtly dismissing the miraculous and supernatural as “old fashioned” and “preposterous” ideas that belong in the past.
This explains why many people mistakenly hold the belief that if something can’t be proved scientifically, it isn’t true. Many have accepted that science has adequately disproved the basis for rational faith — when it hasn’t. Because it CAN’T.
Think about this reality for a moment: YOU freely accept, as truth, many facts that can’t be verified by the scientific method. Did you watch TV last night? Did you eat lunch today? Don’t try using the scientific method to answer these questions, because it can’t. But you can find answers using legal-historical proof.
The scientific method is related to measurement of phenomena and experimentation or repeated observation. This method, however, can’t prove anything outside of an environment it can replicate. So the scientific method isn’t a reliable tool when we’re seeking to learn the truth about historical events or people.
Legal-historical proof incorporates three sources: oral testimony, written testimony, and exhibits (perhaps a bullet, glove, or other item). This method provides answers, beyond reasonable doubt, using available evidence. Courtrooms rely heavily on legal-historical proof to determine verdicts. An inquiry into whether you watched TV or ate lunch might begin with these questions: Was someone with you? Did an eyewitness observe you? Is there a restaurant receipt? What’s in your trash can?
Did George Washington chop down a cherry tree? Science can’t say. Was Martin Luther King, Jr., a civil rights leader? Science can’t say. Did Jesus live, die, and resurrect? Science can’t say, despite its assertion that miracles don’t happen and God doesn’t exist.
Do we value the scientific method? Highly. Do we believe that science has proven many facts about the earth and how the universe works? Absolutely. Do we believe that science alone validates what is true or possible or believable? No way. Science has proven many things, but it has not disproved God. Don’t blindly accept that it has. Instead, dig into the wealth of legal-historical proof that shows that Jesus is so much more than a carpenter!
Jesus: He’s More Than a Carpenter!
> FREE download: Read the first chapter of Josh’s bestseller, More Than a Carpenter. You can buy the book here.
> Watch how More Than a Carpenter changed one reader’s life AND set off a chain reaction that introduced many others to Jesus. That’s how the truth of God’s love is shared: person to person!
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