RE: Another "I saw Jesus" claim
May 17, 2015 at 9:51 am
(This post was last modified: May 17, 2015 at 9:56 am by Randy Carson.)
(May 17, 2015 at 1:08 am)robvalue Wrote: I don't see how the claim can be investigated. For one thing, no one knows what Jesus looks like anyway. Secondly, we're relying entirely on the kid's testimony about what happened. There's no way to properly examine it (unless they happened to record his brain activity or something). So it's an unfalsifiable claim at present. It's far more reasonable and likely to assume it was a hallucination, something we're very familiar with.
As with all unfalsifiable claims, it could be true. But as usual, no reason to think it's actually true.
I think you're right for the most part.
At best, we would have to consider the character of the person, his family, etc. If he's an Eagle Scout, straight-A student who volunteers on the weekend at a retirement home, that might lend some credibility but we'd need more.
So, we might watch for evidence of a changed personality or lifestyle. If he gave up drinking, drugs and sustained those changes, that too, might give us cause to think that SOMETHING happened to him.
We might also compare his account with others that have been given in the past...just to see if there are any obvious deviations from what we "know" of Jesus. Further, we might monitor his story over time to see if it changed. Lies are hard to maintain since there is no real mental image to refer to for something that never actually happened.
In the end, it's going to be a matter of weighing probabilities as to whether he really saw Jesus or not.
Some folks will be too quick to believe he did, while others will be to quick to say that he didn't.
(May 17, 2015 at 3:06 am)Nestor Wrote:(May 16, 2015 at 6:43 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: I'm just as skeptical about this story as anyone here, but just out of curiosity, all of you (presumably) rely on science to provide all the answers, so how is it that you are able to rush to judgment concerning this claim without the benefit of actually researching it carefully?
What facts do you have that enable you to reach your conclusion?
In which case, that's how dreams usually work---you see things that are familiar in the everyday world---like images of Jesus.
Btw, didn't Paul and the apostles see Jesus post-crucifixion? Looks like that isn't so uncommon---or miraculous---after all.
Why yes...Peter and many other followers of Jesus did see Him after the crucifixion.
Of course, they weren't dead at the time, but then neither was He.
