I work in two worlds. On the one hand, I am a Mathematics, Physics, and Theory of Knowledge teacher within the IB Diploma Programme. This is a secular world in which religious faith has no place. On the other hand, I am a Christian pastor, leading bible studies, preaching sermons, performing baptisms and officiating communion. This is a world in which science is rarely mentioned.

Ever since the conflict between the Roman Catholic church and Galileo Galilei, it has become almost fashionable to assert that religion and science are at odds with each other. This is a long period for any fad and this one should be laid to rest. For the unscientific dogma of one branch of Christianity during one era should not be allowed to make a definitive statement concerning the relationship between these two all-important areas of our lives.

I say this because the Christian faith, when properly understood, is not at odds with scientific investigation, but in harmony with it. I am not saying that religious faith and science are the same. That would be ridiculous! Rather, I am claiming that the Christian faith is the only one that openly invites scientific investigation. And a classic example of this is the doctrine of the resurrection.

During one episode of healing, Jesus asked his interlocutors, “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” It is obviously easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven” because this is something that is intangible and invisible. No one could disprove the claim. However, to say, “Get up and walk” is much more difficult because it could be verified or falsified right then and there. Jesus is pointing us to a simple truth – events that have visible markers are more difficult to assert.

Yet, this is precisely what Jesus does with respect to his resurrection. He makes it clear that, after his death and burial, he would appear in physical form to his disciples. He never says that he would return as a spirit. This is something that was verifiable. The first disciples could simply ask themselves, “Does Jesus now have a physical form or is this a spirit or apparition?” The Gospels go to great length to tell us that Jesus was capable of eating food and that he could be touched. In other words, the Gospels are telling us that this was not a spirit they interacted with post Easter, but Jesus himself in bodily form.

But what if this was made up? What if, over the years, early church leaders simply added these stories? What if the doctrine of the resurrection were simply propaganda that slowly became accepted as truth?

The Apostle Paul’s writings are among the earliest in the New Testament. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, while teaching about the resurrection, he writes,

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried,that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.”

The little clause in the middle, that I have highlighted in boldface, is crucial. What did Paul mean when he wrote, “most of whom are still living”? The denial of the resurrection is not something new. From the middle of the first century itself, barely two decades after Jesus’ death, people were calling into question the historicity of Jesus’ bodily resurrection and trying to spiritualize it. In response, Paul listed the names of those who had seen Jesus. And he tags on the words, “most of whom are still living.” In other words, he was inviting the Corinthian Christians to check for themselves by going to the eyewitnesses themselves “most of whom [were] still living” to verify that the Jesus they had encountered was not some spirit but a man with flesh and bones.

Jesus himself has told his unbelieving disciples, “Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” He opened himself up to the most scientific of experiments, “touch me and see!” This was readily verifiable or falsifiable, just as is any well designed scientific experiment. And two decades later, Paul would direct the Corinthian Christians to conduct their own experiment by checking with the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ bodily resurrection, “most of whom [were] still living.”