WHERE WE ARE

For a brief summary of what has been covered in Part 3 through Part 15 of this series, see the “WHERE WE ARE” section at the beginning of Part 16 of this series.

In Part 16 of this series, I argued that Kreeft and Tacelli’s first argument against Jesus being a lunatic FAILED because both premises of the argument are too UNCLEAR to be rationally evaluated and because they offer ZERO factual evidence in support of the SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS and HISTORICAL CLAIMS that are asserted in those premises.

In Part 17 of this series, I argued that there was another serious problem with the first argument against Jesus being a lunatic: the available historical evidence is insufficient to draw any firm conclusions about Jesus having a high degree of practical wisdom. Then I moved on to analyze and clarify Kreeft and Tacelli’s second point against Jesus being a lunatic. Their second point actually includes two very similar arguments against Jesus being a lunatic.

THE SECOND POINT AGAINST JESUS BEING A LUNATIC

Here are my clarified versions of the two arguments included in Kreeft and Tacelli’s second point against Jesus being a lunatic:

21. When a mentally healthy person meets an insane person (a lunatic), they feel uncomfortable, and they feel that way because they feel superior to the insane person.

24. When mentally healthy persons met Jesus, they felt uncomfortable and this was NOT because they felt superior to Jesus.

THEREFORE:

5B. Jesus was not a lunatic.

=======================

23. When mentally healthy persons met Jesus, they felt uncomfortable because they felt personally challenged by Jesus.

22. When a mentally healthy person meets an insane person (a lunatic), they feel uncomfortable, and this is NOT because they feel personally challenged by the insane person.

THEREFORE:

5B. Jesus was not a lunatic.

EVALUATION OF PREMISE (21) OF THE FEELING-SUPERIOR ARGUMENT FOR (5B)

Let’s examine the first premise of the Feeling-Superior Argument for premise (5B):

21. When a mentally healthy person meets an insane person (a lunatic), they feel uncomfortable, and they feel that way because they feel superior to the insane person.

This is a SCIENTIFIC CLAIM in the area of psychology or sociology. Kreeft and Tacelli are philosophers, not psychologists, and not sociologists. They have no expertise concerning insanity or how mentally healthy people feel when they meet insane people. They provide no facts or evidence in support of this broad generalization. So, this claim appears to be nothing but a wild guess by Kreeft and Tacelli, without any scientific or factual basis.

As is often the case with generalizations by Kreeft and Tacelli, there is VAGUENESS of QUANTIFICATION in this claim:

When a mentally healthy person meets an insane person (a lunatic), they:

• ALWAYS feel uncomfortable…
• ALMOST ALWAYS feel uncomfortable…
• feel uncomfortable a VERY HIGH PERCENT of the time…
• USUALLY feel uncomfortable…

The same VAGUNESS of QUANTIFICATION occurs in the second part of this premise as well:

They feel that way…

• ALWAYS because…
• ALMOST ALWAYS because…
• a VERY HIGH PERCENTAGE of the time because…
• USUALLY because…

…they feel superior to the insane person.

There are at least four different QUANTIFICATIONS for the first part of this premise, and at least four different QUANTIFICATIONS for the second part of this premise, so there are at least sixteen different possible interpretations of premise (21), just in terms of different possible combinations of QUANTIFICATION.

This VAGUENESS of QUANTIFICATION also makes it more obvious that Kreeft and Tacelli have absolutely no facts or evidence to back up their claims here. There is not even a hint of a psychology study or a sociology study to back up any of their generalizations about how people feel in particular circumstances. If they had some actual facts or data, then they would be able to QUANTIFY these generalizations. They simply make wild GUESSES and then put their guesses forward as FACTS. For critical thinkers, there is a big difference between a GUESS and a FACT. You cannot prove anything on the basis of GUESSES.

If Kreeft and Tacelli had made CLEAR generalizations, providing QUANTIFICATION for the first and second parts of premise (21), then we might have been able to determine that (21) was FALSE or DUBIOUS. If they had, for example, made the following claim, we could have rejected the claim as obviously FALSE:

21A. When a mentally healthy person meets an insane person (a lunatic), they ALWAYS feel uncomfortable, and they feel that way ALWAYS because they feel superior to the insane person.

Mentally healthy people have a wide variety of personalities, attitudes, psychological traits and tendencies, and mentally healthy people feel different on different days, and at different times of the day. A mentally healthy person can be sad or happy, angry or calm, afraid or confident, anxious or optimistic, irritable or jolly, frustrated or satisfied, etc. How a person is feeling, and the attitude a person’s has at the time, plays a big role in how he or she will react in a given situation.

The character and personality, the pscyhological traits and psychological tendencies of a mentally healthy person also play a big role in how he or she will react in a given situation. So, how a person will feel in a particular situation depends on much more than just the specific event that he or she experiences. Therefore, the idea that a mentally healthy person will ALWAYS feel uncomfortable when they meet an insane person is absurd. Furthermore, the idea that a mentally healthy person who does feel uncomfortable when they meet an insane person will ALWAYS feel that way because they feel superior to the insane person is even more ridiculous. This might happen sometimes when a mentally healty person meets an insane person, but it obviously doesn’t ALWAYS happen that way. Human behavior is just not that consistent and not that predictable.

If we modify the QUANTIFICATION to “almost always”, the claim still seems highly implausible:

21B. When a mentally healthy person meets an insane person (a lunatic), they ALMOST ALWAYS feel uncomfortable, and they feel that way ALMOST ALWAYS because they feel superior to the insane person.

This is a very strong generalization that flies in the face of the obvious facts that I just pointed out: how a mentally healthy person reacts to a particular situation depends on many factors that have nothing to do with the details of the event that he or she experiences. The personality, character, attitudes, psychological traits, psychological tendencies, the mood, the experiences had by the person earlier that day, or earlier that week all contribute to how a mentally healthy person will react to a particular event or situation. It doesn’t require a PhD in psychology to know these obvious facts about human behavior.

If we weaken the QUANTIFICATION down to a level where the claim becomes at least somewhat plausible, then the force of the argument is also seriously weakened:

21C. When a mentally healthy person meets an insane person (a lunatic), they USUALLY feel uncomfortable, and they feel that way USUALLY because they feel superior to the insane person.

The term “usually” would be appropriate if, for example, the actual QUANTIFICATION was 60% of the time:

21D. When a mentally healthy person meets an insane person (a lunatic), they feel uncomfortable ABOUT 60% OF THE TIME, and when they feel that way ABOUT 60% OF THE TIME that is because they feel superior to the insane person.

This means that out of 100 instances where a mentally healthy person meets an insane person, the mentally healthy person feels uncomfortable in only about 60 of those instances, and that of those 60 instances where the mentally healthy person feels uncomfortable, only about 36 of those instances (60% of the 60 instances) are ones where this feeling of being uncomfortable is the result of the mentally healthy person feeling superior to the insane person. Now we are only talking about a little more than 1/3 of the 100 instances where a mentally healthy person meets an insane person. A generalization this weak is not going to be sufficient to prove what Kreeft and Tacelli want to prove.

Another problem with premise (21) is that a person with a very serious mental illness can sometimes think and behave in a fairly normal way. People who are insane can have good days and bad days. They are not necessarily hallucinating and delusional every hour of every day. So, it is possible to meet an insane person on a day or at a particular hour of a day, when that person is thinking and behaving in a fairly normal way, and thus the insane person does NOT appear to be insane at that particular time.

But in that case, a mentally healthy person can meet an insane person without knowing that the other person is insane. In such cases, it seems unlikely that the mentally healthy person will feel uncomfortable, and very unlikely that they would feel uncomfortable as a result of feeling superior to the insane person. Depending on how frequently mentally healthy people meet insane people when the insane person happens to be having a good day (or a good hour), that could significantly reduce the percentage of time that Kreeft and Tacelli’s generalization holds true.

The phrase “they feel uncomfortable” is rather VAGUE and BROAD in meaning. Presumably, they have in mind feeling mentally or psychologically “uncomfortable” as opposed to feeling physically “uncomfortable”. However, consider for a moment the various kinds of physical discomfort that occur. Pain is one way of being uncomfortable, but there are other ways as well. An itch or itchiness can make one feel physically uncomfortable. Being dizzy or nauseated is another way of feeling physically uncomfortable. One can be uncomfortable because of feeling too warm or too cold. Light can be too bright, making one feel physically uncomfortable. Sound can be too loud, making one physically uncomfortable. Smells can be too strong or stinky, making one feel physically uncomfortable. There is a wide range of different physical sensations that can make one feel physically uncomfortable.

Mental or psychological discomfort also comes in a wide variety of different kinds. Worry and anxiety is one kind of psychological discomfort. Sorrow and sadness are a different kind of psychological uncomfortableness. Guilt and shame and embarrassment are other forms of psychological discomfort. Anger and frustration are yet another form of feeling psychologically uncomfortable. Boredom and loneliness are other forms of feeling psychologically uncomfortable. Fear and anxiety are another kind of psychological uncomfortableness. Confusion and fuzzy-headedness are forms of feeling mentally uncomfortable. Clearly, “feeling uncomfortable” in terms of mental or psychological discomfort encompasses a wide range of different kinds of feelings.

Because the phrase “feel uncomfortable” can apply to a wide variety of psychological feelings that increases the likelihood that when a mentally healthy person meets an insane person, they will “feel uncomfortable” in one way or another. However, this also decreases the likelihood that such feelings will ALWAYS or ALMOST ALWAYS be the result of feeling superior to the other person. It is very implausible that a feeling of fear in one instance, and a feeling of anger in another instance, and a feeling of saddness in a different instance, and a feeling of loneliness in yet another instance, and a feeling of embarrassment in a different instance will all happen to result from the same psychological cause: feeling superior to another person.

Also, the feeling of being uncomfortable comes in various degrees:

When a mentally healthy person meets an insane person (a lunatic), they:

• feel EXTREMELY uncomfortable
• feel VERY uncomfortable
• feel MODERATELY uncomfortable
• feel A LITTLE uncomfortable

Given the previous VAGUENESS of QUANTIFICTION in premise (21) this additional VAGUENESS of QUANTIFICATION makes premise (21) highly ambiguous:

4 x 4 x 4 = 16 x 4 = 64 different possible interpretations

If there were actual facts and evidence backing up this SCIENTIFIC CLAIM, then Kreeft and Tacelli would be able to provide QUANTIFICATIONS in this generalization. But they have no facts, so they cannot QUANTIFY this claim, at least not without raising suspicions that they are just making wild GUESSES here.

Therefore, premise (21) is too UNCLEAR to be rationally evaluated. Furthermore, Kreeft and Tacelli have offered ZERO facts or evidence to support the SCIENTIFIC GENERALIZATION that they are asserting in premise (21). This premise appears to be either FALSE or DUBIOUS, depending on the strength of the QUANTIFICATIONS that were intended.

EVALUATION OF PREMISE (24) OF THE FEELING-SUPERIOR ARGUMENT FOR (5B)

Let’s now examine the second premise of the Feeling-Superior Argument for premise (5B):

24. When mentally healthy persons met Jesus, they felt uncomfortable and this was NOT because they felt superior to Jesus.

This is primarily a HISTORICAL CLAIM. Kreeft and Tacelli are philosophers, not historians, not experts on the historical Jesus. They provide ZERO historical facts or evidence to support this claim about Jesus. So, premise (24), like premise (21) appears to be nothing more than a wild GUESS by Kreeft and Tacelli. A critical thinker, however, believes that there is a big difference between a GUESS and a FACT. Guesses are not an adequate basis upon which to prove a claim.

Like premise (21), premise (24) also has some VAGUENESS of QUANTIFICATION:

• When mentally healthy persons met Jesus, they ALWAYS felt uncomfortable…
• When mentally healthy persons met Jesus, they ALMOST ALWAYS felt uncomfortable…
• When mentally healthy persons met Jesus, A VERY HIGH PERCENT OF THE TIME they felt uncomfortable …
• When mentally healthy persons met Jesus, they USUALLY felt uncomfortable…

===========================

• and this was NEVER because they felt superior to Jesus.
• and this was ALMOST NEVER because they felt superior to Jesus.
• and this was A VERY HIGH PERCENT OF THE TIME NOT because they felt superior to Jesus.
• and this was USUALLY NOT because they felt superior to Jesus.

How many people did Jesus meet? Jesus met hundreds of people, maybe thousands of people. Do we know the emotional responses of ALL of the hundreds or thousands of people who met Jesus? Obviously not. Do we know the emotional responses of one hundred people who met Jesus? Nope. Do we know the emotional responses of fifty people who met Jesus? I don’t think so.

Do we know the emotional responses of twenty people who met Jesus? There might be stories about twenty or thirty different people meeting Jesus in the Gospels; that would require some reviewing of the Gospels to determine. But I’m quite certain that people who met Jesus did not in general describe their feelings about meeting Jesus. So, the available evidence is rather meager, at best. We only have a small sample of the people who met Jesus (maybe 30 out of 3,000, about 1%), and we have very little in the way of people describing their feelings about meeting Jesus.

What information do we have in the Gospels about people who met Jesus? How many people who met Jesus made the comment “Jesus made me feel uncomfortable.”? ZERO. The word “uncomfortable” does not appear in any of the Gospels (nor do the words “uneasy”, “awkward”, or “nervous”).

How many people made the comment “Jesus made me feel personally challenged.”? ZERO. The word “challenged” does not appear in any of the Gospels (nor do the words “confronted”, or “threatened”, or “impugned” or “self-conscious”). The word “questioned” appears once in Luke (23:9) and once in John (18:19), but it is used literally to say that Herod questioned Jesus and that the High Priest questioned Jesus, meaning they asked Jesus some questions. The word “questioned” is never used by someone to describe their feelings in any Gospel.

NOBODY in any of the Gospels ever explicitly states that they felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus, and NOBODY in any of the Gospels ever explicitly states that they felt personally challenged upon meeting Jesus. So, any claim that some specific person who met Jesus “felt uncomfortable” or “felt personally challenged” can only be an indirect inference based upon what people allegedly said or did upon meeting Jesus, as described in the Gospels.

We can toss aside the Gospel of John to start because it is historically UNRELIABLE. And the events and details in Matthew and Luke that go beyond the events and details found in Mark are also DUBIOUS. The Q material in Matthew and Luke consists of alleged sayings of Jesus, so that material is unlikely to contain accounts of people talking about the feelings they experienced when they met Jesus or accounts of what people said or did upon meeting Jesus. That leaves us with the Gospel of Mark.

PEOPLE WHO MEET JESUS IN CHAPTER 1 OF MARK

How many times does Mark describe someone meeting Jesus? Kreeft and Tacelli don’t have a clue about the answer this question. How many times does Mark describe the reactions of people who met Jesus? How many times do the descriptions of the reactions of people who met Jesus clearly indicate that they felt uncomfortable around Jesus? In those cases where it seems like someone felt uncomfortable when they met Jesus, how many of those cases are ones in which the person gives a clear indication that they do NOT feel superior to Jesus? Kreeft and Tacelli don’t have a clue about the answers to these questions.

Ten different people or groups of people meet Jesus in Chapter 1 of Mark, so let’s do a bit of investigation into these questions and find out some answers for ourselves.

John the Baptist

7 He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.
8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Mark 1:7-9, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition

John the Baptist does NOT say that he felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. He does indicate that he sees the coming messiah as being superior to himself. However, these words appear to be a prophecy about the future, probably made before John the Baptist met Jesus. So, we cannot reasonably infer that John the Baptist felt uncomfortable when he met Jesus, nor can we reasonably infer that John did NOT feel superior to Jesus when he met Jesus, because John might not have recognized Jesus as being the coming messiah when he first met Jesus. This passage does not indicate how John the Baptist felt when he first met Jesus.

Simon and his brother Andrew

16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.
17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.”
18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Mark 1:16-18, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition

Simon and Andrew do NOT say they felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. They do appear to have no hesitancy in leaving their work as fishermen to go follow Jesus, so one could infer that they did NOT feel superior to Jesus. But they might well have been happy or even delighted to be invited to become disciples of Jesus, in which case it is unlikely that they felt uncomfortable when Jesus invited them to become his disciples. So, it might well be the case that Simon and Andrew did NOT feel uncomfortable when they met Jesus.

James and his brother John, the Sons of Zebedee

19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.
20 Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Mark 1:19-20, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition

James and John do NOT say they felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. They do appear to have no hesitancy in leaving their work as fishermen to go follow Jesus, so one could infer that they did NOT feel superior to Jesus. But they might well have been happy or even delighted to be invited to become disciples of Jesus, in which case it is unlikely that they felt uncomfortable when Jesus invited them to become his disciples. So, it might well be the case that James and John did NOT feel uncomfortable when they met Jesus.

People at the Synagogue in Capernaum

21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.
22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.

Mark 1:21-22, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition

The people at the synagogue in Capernaum do NOT say that they felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. The author of Mark says they were “astounded at his teaching”. I suppose that one could infer from this that they did NOT feel superior to Jesus. However, it is not clear that they felt uncomfortable when they met Jesus. Being “astounded” suggests a degree of admiration for Jesus, and that attitude would be more in keeping with having positive feelings about Jesus. This appears to NOT be an instance where people felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus.

A Man with an Unclean Spirit

23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit,
24 and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”
25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!”
26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.

Mark 1:23-26, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition

Because this man and other people in the synagogue believed that he was possessed by a demonic spirit, the man presumably behaved in a strange and erratic way, which is an indication that he had some sort of serious mental illness. But if this man had a serious mental illness, then his meeting Jesus would not count as an example of a mentally healthy person meeting Jesus, so this example is of no relevance to evaluating premise (24), which is about how mentally healthy people reacted to meeting Jesus.

Simon’s Mother-in-Law

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

Mark 1:29-31, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition

Simon’s mother-in-law does NOT say that she felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. When Jesus allegedly heals her, she begins to serve Jesus and others in the house. This is an indication of gratefulness towards Jesus. Although it is possible to feel both grateful and uncomfortable towards the same person at the same time, if this woman was expressing her gratitude, it seems unlikely that she felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. So, this example provides some evidence against premise (24), at least against the view that mentally healthy people ALWAYS or ALMOST ALWAYS felt uncomfortable when they meet Jesus.

The Whole Town of Capernaum

32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons.
33 And the whole city was gathered around the door.
34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Mark 1:32-34, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition

The people of Capernaum do NOT say that they felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. They don’t say anything at all, in this account. But they clearly are impressed with Jesus’ alleged ability to heal people of diseases. One might reasonably infer that they did NOT feel superior to Jesus. However, there is no indication that they felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. Their being impressed with Jesus’ alleged power to heal is a kind of admiration, and such admiration is more naturally associated with positive feelings, rather than with anger, fear, anxiety, or sorrow. It seems unlikely that most of these people felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus.

A Man with Leprosy

40 A man with a skin disease came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
41 Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I am willing. Be made clean!”
42 Immediately the skin disease left him, and he was made clean.
43 After sternly warning him he sent him away at once,
44 saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.”
45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the word…

Mark 1:40-45, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition

The man with leprosy does NOT say that he felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. According to Mark, after allegedly being healed by Jesus, the man “went out and began to proclaim it freely”. This implies that the man felt grateful to Jesus, and that he was confident that Jesus had the power to heal people of diseases. If this man was grateful to Jesus and confident that Jesus had the power to heal people of diseases, then it seems unlikely that this man felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus. In any case, there is no clear indication that this man felt uncomfortable when he met Jesus.

Let’s summarize the results from reviewing these ten examples of individuals or groups meeting Jesus, according to Chapter 1 of the Gospel of Mark:

• 0 examples provide a clear indication that people felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus.
• 1 example is irrelevant to premise (24): the man with an unclean spirit.
• 3 examples provided no indication that the person (or group) felt uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus: John the Baptist, the town of Capernaum, and the man with leprosy.
• 6 examples provided some indication that the person (or group) did NOT feel uncomfortable upon meeting Jesus: Simon, Andrew, James, John, the people at the synagogue in Capernaum, and Simon’s mother-in-law.

Four examples out of the ten provide no support for premise (24), and six examples out of the ten provide some evidence against premise (24). This does not prove that (24) is FALSE, but it does imply that the evidence for (24) is weak, at best.

I don’t have the time right now to examine every chapter of the Gospel of Mark and evaluate each example of a person meeting Jesus. However, I can randomly select a few chapters as a sample of this Gospel, and review those chapters for examples of persons (or groups) meeting Jesus.

I suspect that as the Gospel continues, the number of people who meet Jesus will diminish. So, in order for my sample to be more likely to be representative of this Gospel, I will randomly select one chapter from the early part of Mark (Chapters 1 through 5), one chapter from the middle of Mark (Chapters 6 through 10), and one chapter from towards the end of Mark (Chapters 11 through 14). I’m going to skip Chapter 15, because there are only 8 verses in that chapter, and because it is about the historically dubious events around Jesus’ alleged resurrection.

I’m going to use dice roll outcomes from a random dice roll generator to pick the Chapters. The first dice roll(s) will determine which of the chapters I will review from the early part of Mark:

1->Chapter 1
2->Chapter 2
3->Chapter 3
4->Chapter 4
5->Chapter 5
6->ROLL AGAIN

After I have randomly selected one of the chapters from the early part of Mark, I will use the next dice roll(s) to select one of the Chapters from the middle section of Mark:

1->Chapter 6
2->Chapter 7
3->Chapter 8
4->Chapter 9
5->Chapter 10
6->ROLL AGAIN

After I have randomly selected one of the chapters from the middle section of Mark, I will use the next dice roll(s) to select one of the Chapters from the end section of Mark:

1->Chapter 11
2->Chapter 12
3->Chapter 13
4->Chapter 14
5->ROLL AGAIN
6->ROLL AGAIN

Here are six random dice roll results:

• The first roll was a 5. That means I will review Chapter 5 from the earlier chapters of Mark.
• The second roll was also a 5. That means I will review Chapter 10 from the middle chapters of Mark.
• The third roll was a 2. That means I will review Chapter 12 from the ending chapters of Mark.

In the next post of this series, I will discuss the results from my review of these randomly selected three Chapters of Mark, where I will be looking for examples where a person or group of people meet with Jesus, in order to evaluate premise (24) of Kreeft and Tacelli’s Feeling-Superior Argument for premise (5B).