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Some Background:

Old folks are famous for “finding religion” late in life. It’s often the result of near encounters with death due to age-related infirmities. Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City, recently reported having a ”religious experience” while in a coma during a severe case of pneumonia. Sometimes, such events are experienced on the operating table and may involve a variety of anesthetics and other pharmaceuticals. 

Yes, I’m old and have had several life-saving surgeries in recent years. Other than an awareness of impending mortality (who in their late seventies wouldn’t sense that?), I don’t recall ever seeing angels or a bright tunnel leading to pearly gates. 

Two People Who Survived Near-Death Experiences

Some readers may know of my father’s unusual episode in 1944, described in my book Parallels. He was among several men pulled from their houses in Brezno, Slovakia at gunpoint one night for political reasons. They were then herded by their guards into two open-bed trucks and driven to a cemetery, where they were all shot and left for dead. Of the six men, my Dad was the sole survivor, remaining conscious and feigning death through the ordeal.  

Similarly, my friend “Abel” was severely wounded by automatic gunfire during a peaceful protest in his native country. Like my immediate family, his wife and children have joined him in the US, but not before all experienced statelessness—loss of citizenship in their own countries—and began life here as jobless immigrants.

Religious Considerations

Depending on your own theistic beliefs or lack thereof, you could call such experiences either religiously significant, purely coincidental, or simply “lucky.” You could also call some of the incidents undeservedly lucky. A friend, more intelligent than I am, told me he gave up motorcycling after his first bad accident. I at least had the good sense to wear a helmet whenever riding, but I’ve owned five motorcycles at different times and gave up riding only when neurological problems made it impossible even to ride a bicycle.

Years ago, a female in-law, either an atheist or agnostic, went so far as to deny the historicity of Jesus, citing the first-century chronicler Josephus, who she said referred to the crucifixion as follows: “They executed three Jews today.” In her opinion, that’s all there was to the story. 

Looking into the citation to see if my in-law described it accurately, I find a reference to Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews, which includes the following statement: 

“When Pilate, upon hearing [Jesus] accused by men of the highest standing among us, had condemned him to be crucified, those who in the first place [came] to love him did not give up their affection for him.” [1]

That goes further than claiming that three unidentified men were simultaneously executed. Artificial Intelligence offers this additional thought, attributing it to the North American Mission Board plus other sources:

“Because Josephus was an orthodox Jew, scholars agree that later Christian scribes edited the passage to include highly reverential titles like ‘He was the Messiah‘ and ‘for he appeared to them alive again on the third day’. However, historians overwhelmingly agree that Josephus’s original, authentic core explicitly affirmed the historicity of Jesus and his crucifixion under Pilate.”

So, I think my in-law’s version of Josephus’ original reference was intentionally anti-historical due to her atheism.

Compelling Evidence

The New Testament seems to support the fact that Jesus existed and impressed thousands of listeners without using WiFi, television, radio, newspapers (including his own writings, if any ever existed), loudspeakers, bull-horns, etc. His remarkable success in promoting his message seems against all odds, but we may live in a time when communication is too easy, burying us in so much information (and misinformation) that no solitary voice has much chance of being heard or even remembered.

In London, there’s a place called “Speaker’s Corner” in Hyde Park, where anyone can appear unannounced at any time and deliver a speech on any subject, although I presume that inciting violence isn’t allowed. Since the site was established in 1872, famous people who took that opportunity include Karl Marx and George Orwell, but untold thousands of speakers have gained little or no recognition for their effort. Early in our marriage, my wife and I visited the spot and saw two people do little else than vent their anger and cause listeners to shy away.

According to the Gospels, Jesus’ public addresses were mainly peaceful and drew large crowds. However, he did cause at least one public disturbance by ejecting the money-changers from the temple in Jerusalem. That incident plus his obviously growing influence and popularity attracted the attention of local religious leaders to the extent that they reported him to the Roman authorities, demanding that he be arrested and executed for resisting Caesar’s authority.

An Answer to the Objections 

After a brief trial, he was indeed executed. An atheist once told me he couldn’t see that the crucifixion was a big deal. Sure, you were nailed to a cross and suffered briefly, but then it was all over and you went to heaven. 

I suggested he read The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis, a novel that not only describes the conscious experience of the crucifixion but also expands the unconscious or comatose part into a dream brought on by pain, delirium and blood loss. 

Some people avoid reading descriptions of suffering, while others feel brave because they can read without emotion or sympathy. Still others enjoy perverse pleasure in such descriptions. In reality, all are missing the point.

In the novel, the lapse of consciousness, which lasted at most a few seconds before Jesus’ physical death, is expanded into a long, nightmarish experience: a dwarfish goblin (Satan) tempts Jesus to end the suffering by pledging fealty to him, the demon, rather than to God. In the dream, Jesus lives an imagined happy life that lasts decades and includes marriage and parenthood. However, he realizes that his teachings are forgotten. He then renounces the temptation and accepts his death.

The Ultraconservative View

That portion of the book goes beyond the historical record and is realistically expanded to remind us that time is indeed relative. The book was banned by some Christian groups, who insist that it was a heretical depiction of Christ as a mere mortal. 

The conservative critics say Jesus was divine and, therefore, not vulnerable to earthly temptations, but others say he was both human and divine. The critics accuse Kazantzakis of injecting modern psychology into his portrayal of a brief moment expanded into a whole human lifetime. The novel explains the true nature and purpose of the sacrifice—lost, if we imagine that Christ wasn’t capable of suffering or yearning for human comforts.  

The accusation that the novel is based partly on modern psychology is correct. Einstein humorously speculated that if he spent several hours talking to a pretty girl, it would feel like a minute, while a minute spent sitting on a hot stove would feel like several hours. That’s the meaning of relativity as it applies to human temporal experience. I don’t fully understand why energy equals mass times speed squared, but anyone can agree with Einstein’s down-to-earth example.

Other Counter-Arguments to the Atheist’s Viewpoint

An atheist once said that Jesus was one of millions of mentally unstable people walking the earth during the first century, just as they do now. In fact, we have lots of people today who think they’re Jesus, Napoleon, or any of a multitude of famous characters, so what’s different about the historical Jesus? 

To that we can reply that, according to the statements and behavior of Jesus in the New Testament, he was more than reasonable, had uncommon intelligence, could out-argue the top religious scholars, and dispensed remarkably sound advice. For example, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s” puts many of today’s “evangelical Christians,” into perspective. They acquire huge fortunes and live luxuriously while inserting themselves into modern politics where one hand financially washes the other. 

It seems unlikely, therefore, that Jesus could have had only one immense and psychotic flaw in his thinking—a false belief that he was divine.

In addition, his whole adult life clearly indicated that he anticipated his own future perfectly, including the time and manner of his death. Instead of fleeing arrest and execution, he foresaw them, cooperating with the pre-ordained processes until his last moment on earth.

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