Do you believe in the supernatural?

I took a course called Christianity and Evidence this semester. We studied the resurrection of Christ and the evidence surrounding it. We explored whether or not we can accept the bodily resurrection of Jesus as a sound philosophical argument.

Abduction, or Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE) ,was our guiding principle. IBE is a two step process: (1) review all available evidence for a given claim, and (2) choose the simplest hypothesis to explain the evidence.

So let’s talk about Jesus. We talked about many pieces of evidence regarding the empty tomb, that people saw Jesus walk around after he died, and the beliefs of early Christians. To spare summarizing the entire semester in one post, we came to the conclusion that the best hypothesis that fits the IBE is that Jesus rose from the dead bodily.

That sounds silly without giving any context, but I’m summarizing. Anyways, here’s the point. The reality of the resurrection basically comes down to one thing: whether or not you believe supernatural events can occur on earth.

If you believe in the supernatural, then the resurrection really isn’t too far fetched. If you think nothing supernatural could happen, then you would favor even the most complicated hypothesis over resurrection.

It’s a lot to chew on for the end of the semester. But think about it. Do you believe in the supernatural? Or would you rather be comfortable only with what can be explained by natural law and science?

Don’t Forget to Love Yourself

Imagine how different the world would be if Jesus said “Love your neighbor AND yourself” instead of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus never told us to love ourselves, so many people don’t. Actually, most people hate themselves because of this omission—they are their own worst enemy, greatest adversary, and staunchest critic. They will never be good enough for themselves. They are hard on themselves to the point of self-destruction, and their inner world is full of hateful, degrading comments. And then those who say they love themselves are the most nihilistic of them all, refusing to believe any ideology but their own. They confuse self-love with a shadowing of their own reality; they cover up failures with narcissistic claims of blind acceptance and self-infatuation. They don’t really love themselves because they don’t really know themselves. All they know is a lie, and all they love is their ego’s status in the world.

To love yourself means to love yourself. Truly and deeply. To look yourself in the mirror and see your flaws, to stare into the depth of your soul and recognize your shortcomings and then to love yourself anyways. If you don’t learn how to love yourself, how on earth can you love another with the proper attention they deserve? How could you possibly share love with another if you haven’t planted and harvested any love of your own? Why did Jesus miss this?

Or maybe he didn’t. Maybe we have to read in between the lines. Perhaps, even, between two perpendicular lines. Lines with love between them.

Maybe.

Improvise

Tonight in my Perspectives in Leadership class the Improv Team came and lead us through some improv games. We learned how to think differently, how to set people up for success, and how to understand that others probably don’t see situations the way we do. It was an interesting and meaningful tie-in with leadership.

One perspective shared was “life is improv.” This means two things: that we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously and that we should allow ourselves to fail. I like this perspective. Being serious is a trap. It sucks the joy out of life. Instead, we should play more and be grateful for our falls, scraped knees, and dirty hands. This world is our playground and we should treat it as such (so long as we clean up after ourselves).

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus says: “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” And in Luke 17:21, Jesus says: “…nor will they say ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of heaven is in your midst.”

So the kingdom of heaven is in my midst. That means it’s here. And I can’t enter the kingdom unless I become like a child—more open, not so serious, and innocent. This means if I become like a child and play more, I can experience the kingdom of heaven here, now.

Time to stop being so serious.