The ancient Greeks said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. They were never more right than today. This morning's New York Times tells us that two "important paintings" by Picasso were stolen Wednesday from the home of his granddaughter. "Maya With Doll" (1938) and "Portrait of Jacqueline" (1961) are estimated by police to be worth a total of about $66 million. Not to me, they're not. I've seen pictures of them, and am willing to buy them for about $66. I know that's heresy to art critics, but see the first sentence in this paragraph.

The veracity of the Christian faith is not so subjective. As we saw yesterday, James Cameron (of Titanic and The Terminator fame) claims that a stone burial box unearthed in 1980 contained the remains of Jesus. If he can prove that claim, he would disprove Christianity. Paul was blunt: "if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith" (1 Corinthians 15:14). But Paul wasn't worried, and neither am I. Why?

Because the eyewitnesses to the risen Christ were so transformed, and their testimony is so compelling. Consider the criteria suggested by David Hume, an 18th century Scottish philosopher known today as the "Father of Skepticism." He made it his life's work to debunk assumptions which he considered to be unprovable, among them the veracity of miracles. He argued for six criteria by which we should judge those who claim to have witnessed a miracle: they should be numerous, intelligent, educated, of unquestioned integrity, willing to undergo severe loss if proven wrong, and their claims should be capable of easy validation. Each is appropriate for determining the truthfulness of a witness. How do the eyewitnesses of the risen Christ fare by such standards?

They were numerous: over 500 saw the risen Lord (1 Corinthians 15:6). They were intelligent and well-educated, as seen by their writings (the Acts 4:13 claim that they were "unschooled, ordinary men" meant only that they had not attended rabbinic schools). Paul was in fact trained by Gamaliel, the finest scholar in Judaism (Acts 22:3). They were men and women of unquestioned integrity, clearly willing to undergo severe loss as proven by their martyrdoms. And their claims were easily validated, as witnessed by the empty tomb (cf. Acts 26:26, "this thing was not done in a corner").

So the witnesses were credible. What of the objective evidence for their claims? It is a fact of history that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified and buried, and that on the third day his tomb was found empty. Skeptics have struggled to explain the empty tomb ever since. We'll look at their attempts and the facts of the resurrection, tomorrow.

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