Question:

Is there any credible evidence for the supernatural (miracles, immaterial conscience, life after death, demon possession, etc.) ?

Answer:

Yes, there is.  Quite a bit, actually.  The evidence for Jesus of Nazareth’s resurrection is very strong. There is the fact of his execution by crucifixion, the fact of his empty tomb and the fact of his resurrection being preached in Jerusalem immediately afterward.  All of this begs for an explanation, and the only reasonable explanation (rejecting the obviously wrong explanations that his body was stolen or he never actually died) is that he was miraculously raise from the dead.  The evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is quite strong, and this would a supernatural miracle.

In fact, the miraculous ministry of Jesus in general is evidence for the supernatural.  Even his enemies the Jews acknowledged that he worked miracles, although they claimed it was by Satanic power, not by the power of God.  In Acts 2:22 Peter told the crowd of many thousands gathered at the temple precinct that Jesus worked many signs, wonders and miracles “as you yourselves know.”  That Jesus was a worker of amazing miracles was common knowledge in Palestine at that time.  This evidence is indirect, but it is really strong evidence, otherwise we cannot explain the explosive growth of the church.

The fulfilled prophecies in the Bible are further evidence.  There are too many to list here, so I am attaching a document listing just a small fraction of the prophecies of the ministry of Jesus which were fulfilled, hundreds of years after the predictions.  messianic prophecies  Messianic Prophecies PPT  Jesus Miracles PPT   Prophecies include the exact price of his betrayal, the means of his execution, the place of his birth, the place of his youth, the timing and location of his death and much more.  To know the future is supernatural.

Then there is the fact that life exists.  This requires a miraculous creator of that life.  There is no “natural” process by which life can be produced from non-life.  Therefore, the existence of life itself is indirect evidence for a miraculous intervention. Also, there is the fact of the existence of the universe, which also requires a supernatural creator.  Many more examples can be given.

I believe that the evidence for demon possession is less convincing.  Whether we can count the existence of “immaterial conscience” a supernatural thing is debatable. Besides, proving the existence of an immaterial thing will be problematic at best.  So, there is good evidence for some aspects of the supernatural, and less reliable evidence for others.  We put on an entire conference a few years ago on this topic.  “Christianity and the Paranormal.”  It is available at www.ipibooks.com

John Oakes