I have run out of things to say about intelligent design so I am going to change subjects and talk about another technique that complements intelligent design.

Once one infers design, logically one then must make another choice - which religion. There are certainly plenty of choices. Is the church of the flying spaghetti monster (or moster for those who cannot spell) really the right one? I don’t think so. There is historical evidence that suggests that Christianity is the right choice.

There are many techniques used by scholars and editors to evaluate the authenticity, accuracy, and reliability of any written document that decribes an event that supposedly happened. These include but are not limited to things like: 1) did the author actually observe the event 2) if not, how does the author know about the event 3) did the author stand to gain (financially or otherwise) from his writtings. If so, what was his motivation. 4) if the author quotes information from another earlier source, does the style of the quoted text differ from that of the authors. 5) Do documents written by other authors also exist. If so, is their description of the event consistent? 6) Most importantly, did the author or authors write their description of the event down in a timely fashion. For historical documents written by authors who lived hundreds or thousands of years agos, this last point is extremely important, because stories that are passed on verbally by oral tradition for many years tend to become exagerated and eventually become nothing more than legends. 7) Once the document is written, is it faithfully reproduced accurately?

The New Testament was not written in a timely fashion ( Paul’s letters were written ~25 years after the ressurection, and the Gospels even later). This has led many critics to suggest that the miracles performed by Jesus were simply a legend. The same people claim that the ressurection did not happen or was somehow faked by His followers.

25 years is a long time. But one thing we do have are the very early creeds, short statements of faith that outline important facts and are composed in such a way so that they are easy to remember. Paul relates such a creed in Corinthians 15:3ff.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to five hundered brothers and sisters all at one time……. - NRSV

The statement: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received” identifies this as a creed. Paul is passing on knowledge that others passed on to him. Historically this is perhaps the most important part of the Bible because this creed does so well when it is analyzed using the criteria outlined above.

That this confession is an early Christian, pre-Pauline creed is recognized by virtually all critical scholars across a very wide theological spectrum. - The Historical Jesus, Habermas

In other words, the creed dates back to a time before Paul’s conversion to christianity a couple of years after the ressurection. It is so short that it would have been preserved by oral tradition fairly easily - even I can remember it.

Ideally, we would like to have first hand witnesses. This creed does not meet this criteria. Nevertheless, this creed is so historically compelling because Paul learned about it within a few years of the resurrection and he likely received it directly from first hand witnesses - Peter (Cephas) and James ( Gal. 1:18-1:19). As mentioned earlier, 1 Corrinthians was probably written 25 years after the resurection, so Paul’s letters were not written in a timely fashion. Nevertheless, the early Christian church formulated this creed soon after the resurrection. Because it is short, easy to remember and so central to Christian beliefs, it is had to see how oral tradition would not preserve it for 25 years, and once Paul recorded it in his letter, its preservation into modern times would be all but assured.

As Habermas puts it:

The importance of the creed in 1 corinthians 15:3ff. can hardly be overestimated. No longer can it be charged that there is no demonstratable early, eyewitness testimony for the resurrection or for the other most important tenets of Christianity, for this creed provides just such evidential data concerning the facts of the gospel, which are the very center of Christian faith. It links the events themselves with those who actually participated in time and space. As such the creed yields strong factual basis for Christianity through the early and eyewitness reports of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, …

-The Historical Jesus

Given the above, the only way out for non-belivers is to suggest that the disciples stole Jesus’ body from his tomb and then made up the ressurection story. And as to this criticism one must ask what would they gain by doing this other than persecution and certain death. Even if they could not predict the hostility, once they experienced it, they did not change their story. Paul was thrown into prison and eventually executed. Paul certainly must have believed in what he wrote.

So no matter what members of the church of the flying spaghetti monster may claim, they are just simply wrong. While they claim to be mocking intelligent design, they are really making fun of Christianity. Their open letter reveals their intent when they claim to have many ancient texts that support their beliefs. While it is true that the ressurections happened a long time ago, Paul’s letter acurrately reflects his and the disciples’ beliefs. They were there, we were not. So while the letter is ancient, there is no reason to questions its content.

In closing, life can not be explained by a flying being made out of pasta anymore than global warming can be explained by the alarming decrease in pirates over the last two centuries.

church of the flying spaghetti monster