Incredible Events of the Past

In an old book, I ran across an account of the Chase Vault in the cemetery of Christ Church, on the island of Barbados. It seems that, beginning in 1807, recently deceased people began to be interred in that vault. At first nothing unusual happened. But then a young woman committed suicide, and her remains were interred in the vault. The next time the vault was opened, all the coffins had been thrown around as if by an incredible force, even though the island had experienced no earthquakes and there was no sign of damage on the inner walls, the outer walls, or the surrounding part of the cemetery. The cemetery workers put the coffins back in their places, and interred the next coffin. The next time the vault was opened, the coffins were again found strewn about. This time, after the coffins were rearranged and the new coffin interred, the workers placed sand and ashes carefully and smoothly on the floor. The next time the vault was opened, and the coffins were again strewn about, there was no disturbance in the ashes. Superstitious people believed that ghosts, who leave no footprints, had thrown the coffins around, perhaps the uneasy ghost of the woman who took her own life. The church ordered the coffins to be buried elsewhere and the crypt left open.

The evidence for the ghost tantrum seemed good. The ashes on the floor would have revealed the activity of marauding humans or animals. This was, in fact, the same trick that Daniel used in the apocryphal book Bel and the Dragon to prove that the pagan priests had used a secret trap door to sneak into the altar and eat the food, pretending that the god Bel had eaten it. Daniel threw some flour on the floor, and the priests left footprints in the flour, which they could not see in the dark.

But there is one flaw to the story of the tantrum ghosts of Barbados. There is no primary documentation of it. The vault began to be used in 1807, and has been empty for over a century. The priest supposedly wrote a record of the events, but this putative record burned in a church fire. The Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society carried an account of the marauding ghost in May, 1945, over a century after the supposed events. Quite simply, today, nobody can be sure if the stories were real. No other accounts of the marauding ghost have survived, if they ever existed.

The reason I am writing this essay is to draw a comparison with the gospel accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus. The evidence for the Resurrection seemed pretty good. A stone was rolled over the opening of Jesus’ tomb, and Roman guards kept watch over it. Supposedly angels made the guards faint and then rolled the stone away, and Jesus came walking out. The stone and the guards gave considerable credibility to the account.

The problem is that the Resurrection account seems to have first been written down long after the supposed event. It is not found in the earliest Christian writings. For example, the earliest version of the earliest gospel (Mark) did not contain it. Mark 16: 9-20 were added later, at a time when any eyewitnesses would have been dead. Quite simply, as with the marauding ghosts, nobody today can be sure if the stories were real. No other accounts of the resurrection have survived, if they ever existed. One might have expected a Roman military record of it, since it would have been a major breach of military control if it happened.

It is clear that the earliest Christians believed that Jesus was alive. They said so. But that does not mean that his body actually came forth from the tomb. They may have believed Jesus’ continued existence to be a spiritual one. Disciples walked on the Emmaus Road with a man whom they did not recognize until after he had left, and then they decided it must have been Jesus. Jesus appeared inside a locked room. None of these sound like a physical resurrection, but may have been visions or delusions that reflected a deeper faith rather than evidence that would convince a skeptic.

You can believe Jesus is alive if you want to, but do not call me a liar for disbelieving the supposed evidence of the resurrection just as I disbelieve the evidence for the tantrum ghost of Barbados. Whether Jesus is alive or not is, to me, a spiritual question.