IV. Appellant's Expanded Brief
4/24/11
(This page is in the middle of reconstruction.)

 

- As you skeptical members of the jury began to evaluate Jesus in years past, you were assaulted by various obvious, serious and quite reasonable objections.  I get it.  I was besieged by those same objections.
- My general claim, however, is that those obvious, serious and quite reasonable objections, are quite SUPERFICIAL.  That if we probe the depths of this issue, at least most of those objections “disassemble”… (Click here)

 

First, please keep in mind that

  1. We humans are not nearly as smart as we think we are…
    1. We have never been as smart as we thought we were.
    2. Based upon past experience, we should expect profound changes in our scientific worldview in the next decade or two (let alone century or two).
    3. It’s always been that way -- only now, profound changes occur virtually overnight.
    4. We humans (especially us intellectuals) should not take ourselves so seriously…
    5. After all, as a chicken's understanding of reality is to human understanding of reality, human understanding of reality COULD be to perfect understanding. We humans trying to understand reality could be like worms trying to understand calculus.
    6. And then, our perception of life could be analogous to a dream…
    7. And finally, as you mull through the various claims and counterclaims, keep "Jabba's Razor" in mind -- i.e., Sarcasm must not be multiplied beyond necessity (sarcasmos non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem). In other words, the least sarcastic argument is usually the correct one...

  2. It turns out that the two hemispheres of the human brain have TWO QUALITATIVELY DIFFERENT WAYS OF THINKING.
    1. For most of us, the left hemispheres of our brains process data "analytically," while our right hemispheres do it "holistically."
    2. This would appear to relate to Aristotle's claim that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It would appear that it is in the right hemispheres of our brains that the whole becomes more...
    3. In addition, we humans -- especially us males -- tend to be dominated by one hemisphere or the other, and think mostly in line with that particular hemisphere.
    4. That we are dominated by one side, however, doesn't mean that we don't use the other... Good thing, I suppose...
    5. Then, at least many of us humans sense (or, imagine) something we call "transcendence" ... if we call it anything.
    6. It turns out that transcendence (and with it, God), apparently, is not sensed (or imagined) by our analytic hemisphere -- apparently, it is sensed (or imagined) only by our holistic hemisphere (note the connection to Aristotle's claim above).
    7. This explains why the God concept can appear so foolish to some of us thinkers -- and so obvious to others.
    8. This might also explain why the poorly educated in Western society more readily accept the God concept than do the well educated in Western society. Western schools teach almost entirely to the analytic hemisphere -- and to some extent at least, marginalize the sensing of transcendence and God amongst those who do well in school...
    9. And so, if God seems like a ridiculous concept to you, it is probably because you are dominated by your analytic hemisphere. (But, do keep in mind that if there be a God, he (it?) probably is not a "Big Man" anyway. Maybe, Emerson's "Oversoul," or Lucas' "Force" is a better fit for you -- and, will relieve some of the tension... Maybe.)
    10. But then, whatever, we seem stuck with a crucial question. Is the analytic hemisphere transcendence blind (as in "color blind"), or does the holistic hemisphere hallucinate? We'll leave that up in the air for now.
    11. But then, holistic thinking is where human solace (Salvation?) lies.
    12. In other words, if human life has Meaning, we will find it through holistic thinking -- we will not find it through analytic (reductionistic) thinking...
    13. And consequently, we had best HOPE, at least, that the analytic hemisphere is guilty as charged (suggested).
    14. Those of us who are dominated by our analytic hemispheres have little sense of what we others call "transcendence" (the germ of God) -- and therefore, little ability to appreciate the "magic" involved in religion. In other words, it may be that atheists are not simply smarter than the religious (as is easily suspected) -- rather, they may simply be transcendence-blind, and simply cannot see the forest for the trees....
    15. For more discussion re the physiology of religion, click here.

  3. To believe that Jesus was the prophesied Jewish Messiah, and even to "TAKE HIM AS ONE'S LORD AND SAVIOR," may not require that one embrace all of normative Christianity...
      (Link to follow)

  4. n addition, whoever Jesus was, and whatever he was trying to convey, he was constrained, as well as driven, by the specifics of his LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AUDIENCE AND MESSAGE -- and we should expect that some of our natural interpretations of what he and his apostles were saying would be misguided…
    (Link to follow)
  5. According to science, there are like 100 billion stars in our galaxy, and 100 billion galaxies in our universe! That is literally AMAZING... Also according to science, while the universe is about 14 billion years old, the Earth is only about 5 billion years old. Also, archeology has provided evidence of ancient technology that modern science cannot explain. If science is correct about these things, it's easy to suspect that we have long been visited by advanced extra-terrestrial civilizations and that some of the supernatural Biblical accounts can be explained by such visitations. (If you think about it, such a possibility is very real, and supports, rather than undermines, the liklihood that Jesus was in fact the prophesied Jewish Messiah ... and, it doesn't discount a transcendental God...)
    (Link to follow)

Otherwise, I will TRY to show the following:

  1. Reality is not the deterministic, impersonal machine that pure logic, and mainstream science, would have us believe…  In that sense, reality is in part “MAGICAL” – and, that the Jesus concept/story (c/s) invokes magic (our MAIN objection) should not be a problem for us...
    1. Analytically speaking, some of reality simply does not "make sense"...
    2. Free will, "Meaning" (as in the Meaning of life) and Love, for instance, do not make sense (to be fully discussed somewhere below)...
    3. In other words, reductionism (i.e., reasoning), does not fully account for reality.
    4. This is true because THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS (per Aristotle).
    5. And in that sense, at least, the world is "magical."
    6. There is more here than meets the rational eye...
    7. There should be no "summary judgment" here based upon the concept's invocation of magic.
    8. If you “believe in” free will, meaning and love, for instance, you already believe in magic.
    9. When considering the idea of Jesus, we should open our minds for a moment; accept that the world may not be the deterministic machine that our logic would have us believe;
    10. And, go from there...
    11. For more discussion regarding “magic,”click here.

  2. The lesser objections to the Jesus c/s are even lesser problems for us. (Click here)

  3. “Taking Jesus as one’s Savior” is a real neurological event that ushers in a real neurological state that tends, at least, to turn the person’s life around for the much better.  In that sense, at least, the Jesus concept WORKS.  (Link to follow)

  4. The concept works THE WAY THAT JESUS SAID IT WOULD.  It fits human nature like a glove.  In other words, the Jesus concept MAKES SENSE. (Click here)

  5. The existence of a God, or a very reasonable facsimile thereof, seems unavoidable. (Click here)

  6. We are surely immortal. (Click here)

  7. And finally, the Jesus story is actually very well-evidenced…
    1. Archeology (Link to follow)
    2. Extra-Biblical writings (Link to follow)
    3. Prophecy: Prophecies: the 'face' of Jesus can be perceived, or at least easily 'imagined,' in the Messianic 'cloud' of the OT.  (Link to follow)
    4. The stars and constellations (in their ancient identities and movement) actually predicted Jesus’ comings and goings. (Click here)
    5. The Shroud of Turin was in fact the cloth that covered Jesus’ body when he was buried.(Click here)
    6. There is substantial MATHEMATICAL support for Jesus encoded in the Bible.  (Link to follow)
    7. All of Jesus’ apostles were persecuted for their continued preaching. They wouldn’t stop. They must have believed.
    8. All (but one) of Jesus’ apostles were martyred. That other apostle was banished to an otherwise uninhabited island, where he wrote the book of Revelation.
    9. The growth of Christianity around Jerusalem in the first century was exponential. How could that have happened if the body hadn’t disappeared? And, how could the body disappear when the grave was said to be, and would have been, so closely guarded?
    10. The Bible “speaks to” peoples all over the world. Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world, and the second largest (Islam) also holds that Jesus was the prophesied Jewish Messiah.
    11. The New Testament is, by far, the most well documented of ancient texts, and has been only further supported by modern discoveries.