Who died and saved you?

“Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics. You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded. Because the elements, the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars. And the only way they could get into your body is if the stars were kind enough to explode. So forget Jesus. The stars died so you could be here today.”  

                                           - Lawrence M. Krauss

Miracles play a critical role in the bible - in both the Old Testament of the Jews and the New Testament of the Christians.  Bible mentions many miracles explicitly.  Other miracles are implied. 

Miracles are central to Christian belief.  The most important miracle for Christians is the miracle of resurrection: that Jesus died on the cross and then came back to life days later.  Without this central belief, the entire edifice of Christianity will collapse like a pack of cards.  

But why is the miracle of resurrection so important to Christians?

Supports claim that Jesus is Son of God:
Christians say that rising from the dead is impossible for humans, that bringing someone dead back to life is only possible for God.  Thus, Christians claim, resurrection of Jesus after his death on the crucifix proves that Jesus is himself God or that God has special reasons to resurrect Jesus after Jesus died on the crucifix.  

Supports claim that Bible is truth:
Christians argue that, since Jesus is either God himself or is so special to God, what Jesus said must be true.  Christians believe that  bible is an accurate depiction of what happened and what Jesus said.  Christians argue that, if the bible and Jesus has special status.

Non-Christians do not find such descriptions satisfactory. 


There are three ways in which non-Christains argue against Christian-belief centered on miracles.

One, miracles are a violation of natural order.  To believe in miracles, we should demand evidence commensurate with what we are asked to believe.  Since a miracle is an out-of-the-ordinary experience, evidence has to be that much stronger, rooted in facts.  In fact, the only reason that a miracle can be accepted is that non-acceptance of the miracle forces us to accept an even bigger violation of natural order. 

Suppose that we saw a completely collapsed 100+ story building reassemble itself from the rubble in a second right in front of our eyes. Let us say that we are rational humans with a strong penchant for truth. Let us also accept as fact that no engineering or technology marvel can accomplish such a fast reassembly.  We cannot simply ignore the stupendous event that we just witnessed and walk-away as if nothing happened.  We are left with only two choices for explaining the event: (a) say that the event was an extraordinary act of magic that fooled our eyes, or (b) call the event a miracle.  Without any further evidence, we cannot really say anything more specific.  We have to admit, however, that calling what we witnessed a magical event or a miracle is not really an explanation of the event but merely labeling the event.  Labeling events does not make us any wiser.

Two, even if one grants the possibility of miracles, there is no way of ever establishing that a miracle actually occurred to raise Jesus from dead.  The famous magician David Copperfield made the statue of liberty "disappear" right in front of hundreds of spectators.  Would we believe that he truly made the statue disappear?

Three, even if miracles actually occurred, and even if Jesus died on the cross and then resurrected, it does not follow that Jesus is God or son of God, or that he was born of a virgin, or that words ascribed to him in the Bible are true.  Strength of the challenge is that it does not concern itself with the question of whether miracles are possible.  Instead, the argument grants the possibility of miracles and focuses on the essential claim: Is Jesus God or son of God?  

No historical evidence can ever be offered to justify this claim.  Thus, in the final analysis, Jesus is son of God is merely a belief with no justification outside the Bible (in terms of history).  

Does the Bible offer justification for this critical dogma?

Does the Bible support the belief that Jesus is the son of God?

Looking closely at the Bible, we will not see a single statement by Jesus that only he is son of God.  In fact, we will find specific evidence to the contrary:

John 10:34
Jesus answered, "It is written in your law that God said, "I said you are gods."

Jesus is referring here to Psalm 82:6
God Most High, say, "You are gods, my own sons."