Resurrection: Coming from a Different Universe
Is the natural universe the only possible reality?
Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, is the day when cynics often either poke fun or shake their heads at the foolishness of believing in the supernatural. Of course, coming back from the dead is against nature as we understand it, defying all logic as we understand logic.
I’m a believer, but despite the temptation to immediately spout off all the reasons people should believe, I want to express some very sincere empathy. I have been there, in total unbelief, when I absolutely could not believe in God or the supernatural in any aspect. This time of disbelief actually occurred after years of being a strong young Christian (at least strong compared to other young people). Without going into detail of how or why I experienced that time of total doubt or even of how God led me back to faith, I simply want to say, I’ve been there and can identify with the lack of belief in the supernatural. It is not something one can easily just decide, “Oh, I changed my mind today. Now I believe.”
My response to unbelief today (besides an expression of empathy) is to ask a simple question. Are you absolutely positive that you know everything about reality? And another question: Are you willing to be open minded enough to say, “I cannot positively know that there is no way for there to be a supernatural being, like God, outside of our normal natural universe.” To say you are absolutely positive there cannot be a different spiritual universe besides the natural one seems a bit arrogant to me. Maybe I’m wrong, but how can anyone declare they know everything about reality? So, hopefully if you currently consider yourself an atheist, will you try bending a little and instead call yourself an agnostic? To me that is a much more humble stance, because it says, “I don’t know if there is or is not a supernatural being that is outside of this world.”
My understanding of reality is that there is a natural universe with natural laws that work with consistency. When things do not seem consistent, usually there is some bit of natural information that we do not know yet. However, I also believe there is a spiritual universe which has its own laws that are completely different from natural laws, but under special circumstances, sometimes the two universes meet. In real life, there are many “miracles” happening all the time, doctors shaking their heads at X-rays showing what rationally they should not possibly be seeing, or an unbelievable rescue from someone appearing from nowhere, who then disappears when they turn around. From my experience of living a long life, this happens more than cynics like to admit. We don’t always hear about these occurrences because physicians who experience these miracles don’t want to be seen as gullible, so they seldom write an article and say, “Hey, world, I think I just witnessed a miracle!” Doctors are trained to live by logic and evidence and to be seen as a wacky believer in miracles is not always the reputation they want. Magazines exist such as “Mysterious Ways” published by Guidepost, put out by normal, intelligent, educated people that report unusual happenings such as angels appearing, people having dreams that come true in amazing ways, life after death experiences and so forth, but most people scoff and decline to read them.
One possible law of the supernatural could be that when a person makes a sacrifice for love, especially a sacrifice of one’s life (but not willful suicide), great power is unleashed in the natural world such as when Jesus died an excruciating death as a completely innocent man, because of love for God and for humanity. This was a death that he possibly could have avoided, except he knew that this was his mission from God. He obeyed out of love for God and love for humanity, trusting God and the prophecies that he would be raised to life. Then an amazing resurrection did take place with many other miracles following. I believe there were possibly other supernatural laws also operating in the Resurrection, such as the many voices of righteous men speaking prophecy, over many years in the history of the Hebrew people, regarding the coming of the Messiah, speaking visions of faith into actual reality.
Other possible spiritual laws include the power from spirit led intercession and power in intentional praise for God’s perfect will being done. Years ago, I read a book, called “Power in Praise,” which was full of examples of amazing events taking place when people facing difficult circumstances chose to enter into a time of intense praise and thanksgiving instead of activities leading to worry. I have seen it happen in my own life more than once, when purposefully spending time praising God that He was at work and knew the situation better than I did, brought answers that often had not even occurred to me.
There are Biblical examples of the power of praise, one being when the Kingdom of Judah was being threatened by a horde of three enemy groups which were heading their way, but still a distance off. The king desperately petitioned God for help and subsequently a prophet prophesied, “Do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” As all the people began to praise God, the king put the singers in front of the army. Here’s the set up: singers actually marching along, up front, unarmed, in the direction that the enemy would be coming, singing praises to God. In the meantime, before the enemies actually got close they began fighting each other, killing each other off, thus saving the people of Judah from what seemed like certain defeat.*
Another example is in the New Testament, when Paul and Silas had been sorely beaten and put in jail for speaking the Word of God. Despite their bleeding wounds, at midnight they were praying and singing praises to God, when an earthquake shook the jail, all the prisoners’ chains were loosened and the doors opened. In this case the jailer ended up believing the Gospel message and was baptized with along with his family.**
When miracles happen and answers to prayer are reported some people say, “How could God do a miracle for one person and not do one in another similar situation? Why would a loving God choose to heal this person and not that?” Again, we don’t know everything about what goes on in the world of the spirit. Do we need to know why, when a miracle happens? Is it not prideful to think we must understand everything for it to be true?
Of course, there is the very difficult issue of evil. Is evil a spiritual entity or just the result of a natural tendency of people toward self preservation or survival of the fittest? That is a complicated element far beyond the scope of this article, to be dealt with another day.
Besides unbelief about the possibility of miracles happening, there are cynics who look for ways to debunk the New Testament writings, stating that the writings cannot be trusted. I am currently researching some of their material and will write about that at a later date. I have already read enough to perceive that many authors are writing from a definite preconceived bias. Yes, there were writings that were obviously disingenuous, but there were enough good manuscripts of the early writers of the early church, that show widespread agreement on the history of Jesus’ life and the reliability of the New Testament authors. So, more to come!
*2 Chronicles 20: 13 – 23
**Acts 16: 25 – 34