This chapter opens with a somewhat confusing anecdote, that Strobel tries to tie in by saying this “[Strobel:] …naturally raises the issue of whether Jesus was crazy when he made those assertions.” (Strobel, CFC, P. 158). Overall, this chapter appears to be as unnecessary as the previous one and has just as much credibility as the rest of the book.
Because I’ve been calling Strobel out for several chapters now, it’s extremely obvious at this point that he is writing with an agenda in mind. At no point does he strongly challenge Dr. Collins on matters of textual accuracy, demonic possession, the practicality of exorcism in helping mental health patients, or how justifying insane beliefs because you think others believe things that are crazier is a valid viewpoint.
The Seventh Interview
Strobel interviews Dr. Gary R. Collins in this chapter to analyze whether Jesus may have been insane. Dr. Collins insists that Jesus is not. Whether or not Strobel or Dr. Collins wants to admit it, this is all text analysis and not an analysis of the person himself. There is no way to adequately perform a psychoanalysis based off of propaganda about a person. Despite this problem, Strobel pushes Dr. Collins into doing an analysis.
Dr. Collins mentions that people with mental problems can “[Dr. Collins] …show inappropriate depression, or they might be vehemently angry….. …But look at Jesus: he never demonstrated inappropriate emotions.” (Strobel, CFC, P. 159-160). Despite this claim, there are clearly times when Jesus DID demonstrate inappropriate emotions. For example, in Mark 11:12-25 and Matthew 21:18-22, Jesus curses a fig tree for not having fruit on it despite frigs being completely out of season.
Strobel has abandoned any pretense that the gospels must have some evidence to be true. The only way that any textual analysis is going to yield any results that might have some use is if the gospels are accurate, which is debatable.
Raving Mad
Strobel opens this section by saying “[Strobel:] …as we look back through history, we don’t see obvious signs of delusion in Jesus.” (Strobel, CFC, P. 161). This is Strobel making this assertion, not Dr. Collins, and I’d like some evidence to back this assertion up. If we read through the gospels and the claims therein, Jesus is suffering from a great delusion of believing himself to be the son of god. This sounds very much like something a heavily Schitzotypal person with delusions of grandeur might say and believe.
Dr. Collins argues that the claims of Jesus being ‘demon-possessed and raving mad’ (Strobel, CFC, P. 161) were because other people were “[Dr. Collins:] …reacting because his assertions about himself were so far beyond their understanding of the norm…” (Strobel, CFC, P. 161). Just like I’d call anyone who claimed to be the son of god and capable of doing great miracles mad without some evidence, I’d expect the people of the time to do the same. If Jesus was truly backing up what he said with healing, changing water to wine, and other miracles, especially if he was not raving, it would lend some credibility to what he was saying (even if a very little bit).
Dr. Collins also makes a circular argument that Jesus couldn’t be mad because the claims he made about himself were true. He argues for this saying “[Dr. Collins:] …if I claimed to be the president of the United States, that would be crazy. You’d look at me and see none of the trappings of the office of president… …But if the real president claimed to be president, that wouldn’t be crazy, because he is president and there would be plenty of confirming evidence of that.” (Strobel, CFC, P. 161). The supporting evidence that Dr. Collins refers to in regards to Jesus are the gospels. And how do we know the gospels are true? We don’t.
Jesus the Hypnotist
Rather than talk to someone who is an expert on hypnotism, Strobel asks Dr. Collins whether hypnotism could play a role in explaining how Jesus performed some of his miracles. Strobel argues that “Largely responsible for any hypnotist’s success rate are the awe and mystery with which he surrounds himself, and these essential factors would have been entirely lacking in Jesus’ home town.” (Strobel, CFC, P. 164).
Strobel does not take into account the gospels could have very easily been mythologized and have had “alternative truths” added in by others who DID view him as a miracle worker. Just because someone would fail at hypnotism in their home town due to a lack of “awe and mystery” doesn’t mean writings about that person would only come from there. Without giving any evidence that the gospels were written by someone close to Jesus, such as his father, brother, or mother, then this is a moot point.
Dr. Collin’s arguments against hypnotism being a good explanation do make sense, but they also fall into the same trap as Strobel’s. The gospels are not a reliable source, contain claims that are more akin to religious fiction than fact, and simply can’t be trusted due to the propaganda they contain. As always, read through the problems with chapters 2 and 3 for a more in depth explanation to why this is so.
Dr. Collins finishes this section by saying “[Dr. Collins:] It’s just amazing to me… …how people will grasp at anything to try to disprove Jesus’ miracles.” (Strobel, CFC, P. 165). In doing so, he attempts to shift the burden of proof from those who make a supernatural claim (turning water to wine) to those who would say it didn’t happen. To me, what is more amazing, is how people will grasp at anything to try prove that Jesus’s miracles happened. They tie their own view of the world into knots to make it comply with the bible while telling people that their view is correct.
Rather than having the burden of proof rest with the ones making naturalistic claims, we should pressing those making supernatural claims for proof, such as Dr. Blomberg, Dr. Metzger, Dr. Yamauchi, Dr. McRay, Dr. Boyd, Dr. Witherington, Dr. Collins, and presumably every other person Strobel interviews in this book.
Jesus the Exorcist
Dr. Collins starts off with an assertion that, once again, is a statement of faith over evidence. He says “[Dr. Collins:] From my theological beliefs, I accept that demons exist…” (Strobel, CFC, P. 165). He continues a little later to say that “[Dr. Collins:] …you find what you set out to find…” (Strobel, CFC, P. 166). In a nutshell, Dr. Collins has just provided the basis for events such as the Spanish Inquisition (which nobody every suspects) and the Salem witch trials.
There is one key difference between supernatural and naturalistic beliefs though. Belief in the supernatural will usually lead one to a supernatural explanation where nothing supernatural exists. Belief in a naturalistic explanation will lead to an attempt to find a naturalistic explanation and an admission of inadequate knowledge if no suitable explanation can be found. That is to say, belief in the supernatural causes one to forgo inquiry into naturalistic explanations, but naturalistic beliefs will not cause a lack of inquiry into supernatural ones.
Dr. Collins continues with his belief in exorcisms by bringing up cases of mental illnesses that are not helped by medicine to further “proof” of demonic possessions (Strobel, CFC, P. 166). All this tells us is that we do not currently know how to treat people suffering from those particular mental illnesses. What about other illnesses that used to be considered demonic possessions? For example, the cause of Epilepsy was commonly believed (and, unfortunately, still believed by some people today) to be caused by demonic possession.[1] Are we to believe that other cases are demonic then?
Dr. Collins closes this section saying “[Dr. Collins:] Our society today is caught up in ‘spirituality.’ That’s a term that can mean almost anything, but it does recognize the supernatural. It’s very interesting what psychologists are believing in these days.” (Strobel, CFC, P. 167). Does this mean that Dr. Collins is justifying a belief in exorcisms by claiming “Look at what these other people are believing, is exorcism really that far fetched?”.
If so, then why stop at exorcism when it comes to believing ludicrous claims? Why not believe the bible is literally true and tie yourself in knots to rationalize contradictions? Why not believe the world is flat as the bible teaches and that colloidal silver is the cure all for all diseases? There’s a whole host of other ludicrous beliefs you can get behind if all it takes is saying “It’s very interesting what psychologists are believing in these days.” (Strobel, CFC, P. ). Comparing one insane and crazy belief to another in order to justify your belief in another insane and crazy belief is just as crazy as the original insane and crazy belief.
Preposterous Imagination
Based on the incredibly biased and unchallenged interviews that Strobel has conducted, he concludes “[Strobel:] Jesus claimed to be God. Nobody is suggesting he was intentionally deceptive.” (Strobel, CFC, P. 167) and that, upon rereading the “discourses of Jesus”, he could “[Strobel:] …detect no sign of dementia, delusions, or paranoia…” (Strobel, CFC, P. 167).
In short, this is someone who has convinced himself that Christianity is correct and will not be dissuaded even if evidence to the contrary would pop up. It’s impossible to convince a religious zealot that any problems exist within their religion. As soon as they are confronted by such evidence, they usually reinterpret the evidence to mean something entirely different. As Dr. Collins said, “[Dr. Collins:] …you find what you set out to find…” (Strobel, CFC, P. 166). Strobel has done just that.