If Jesus of Nazareth was God incarnate, died and was resurrected, and his death and resurrection have directly impactful consequences on the world and myself, I want to know about that. I would want some way of confirming some parts of each of these claims:
- Finding a way to observe or interact with God thereby confirming God's existence.
- Finding a way to know that Jesus of Nazareth is/was God incarnate and/or a divinely appointed/inspired person.
- Having reasonable evidence that Jesus of Nazareth was resurrected from the dead and that resurrection was supernatural and intentional.
- Finding a way to know that Jesus's resurrection had important metaphysical consequences.
The existence and the goodness of God is the most fundamental truth and I do not think we can deduce such truth from some other truth, because this would mean that we believe more in the other truth than in God. I believe in God because the certainty of His existence is in me and I feel His Presence, expecially during prayer.
Nevertheless, I think there are solid rational arguments which confirms my beliefs; I begin with the existence of God.
Since I am a physicist, I would like to explain a couple of arguments based on a rational analysis of our scientific knowledges. The extraordinary success of the laws of physics in predicting sistematically with great accuracy natural phenomena, reveals a fundamental property of the universe, which is its close correspondence with abstract mathematical structures, to the point that abstract mathematical structures are the only means to identify general principles able to account coherently for the variety of natural phenomena. The physical reality manifests itself as a realization of some specific abstract mathematical structures (what we call “the laws of physics”); in fact, according to modern science, the building blocks of the universe are not particles, but quantum fields, which are abstract mathematical structures which prperties are abstract mathematical properties. This close correspondence with abstract mathematical structures represents the most fundamental and relevant information that science provides about the nature of the universe and the physical reality.
On the other hand, mathematical structures are only constructions of the rational thought and a mathematical structure can exist only as a thought in a thinking mind conceiving it; this implies that matter (and the physical reality) is not the foundation of reality, but its existence depends on a more fundamental reality i.e. consciousness: contrary to the basic hypothesis of materialism, consciousness is a more fundamental reality than matter.
Therefore the existence of this mathematically structured universe implies the existence of a conscious and intelligent God, conceiving it as a mathematical model. In other words, the universe can be only the manifestation of a mathematical theory existing in the mind of a personal God. Atheism does not account for the most important and fundamental infirmation that science provides about the physical reality (i.e. its mathematical modellability) and denies, without any rational arguments, the only rational explanation.
There is another argument from physics that I find strongly convincing; according to our scientific knowledges, all chemical and biological processes (including cerebral processes) are caused by the electromagnetic interaction between subatomic particles such as electrons and protons. Quantum mechanics accounts for such interactions, as well as for the properties of subatomic particles. The point is that there is no trace of consciousness, sensations, emotions, etc. in the laws of quantum mechanics (as well as in all the laws of physcis). Consciousness is irreducible to the laws of physics, while all cerebral processes are, which is sufficient to prove that consciousness is irreducible to cerebral processes and that cerebral processes cannot be identified as the cause of consciousness. The basic assumption of materialism (which identifies cerebral processes as the origin of consciousness) is then contradicted by this fundamental scientific result, i.e. the irreducibility of consciousness to cerebral processes. This result represents the most strong argument in favour of the existence of the soul, as the unphysical and trascendent principle necessary for the existence of our consciousness. Since our soul cannot have a physical origin, it can only be created directly by God. The existence of God is a necessary condition for the existence of our soul, as well as for the existence of us as conscious beings.
Once you come to understand that God exists, how can we understand that the true God is the God of Jesus Christ?
I think that the strongest argument supporting the divine nature of Christ is that the christian concept of God and of divine love is the highest possible concept. I find that the idea itself that God loves us so much that He chose to assume the human nature and accepted to suffer crucifission in order to save us, expresses such a high concept of God and of divine love that it can comes only from God and it is certainly a truth. This concept is fully convincing for me, it proves itself by itself and makes superfluous any other arguments . I believe that Chirst suffered His Passion to help us to have faith in Him and trust Him, to make us understand that God loves us infinitely, that God is good and merciful, that God is near to us and that we are so precious for Him so that we may totally trust Him, open our heart to Him and let Him change our existence in true life and true love.
The christian faith is unique because it gives a very concrete and unique meaning to the concept of divine love: in fact God’s love actualizes in the acceptance of a terrible physical suffering; the God of the christian faith loves us so much that He is willing to suffer a painful death in order to save us from a sinful existence. In the christian faith, love is not only a theoretical and vague concept; Christ’s Passion is a clear and concrete realization of the concept of divine love which teaches us what the true meaning of love is.