In order to avoid the evidence for the resurrection and its implications, skeptics have come up with several alternative hypotheses and theories to explain away the data that supports Jesus being bodily raised from the dead. Because virtually all scholars, Christian and non-Christian, believe that the disciples really saw the risen Jesus[1], skeptics must come up with a good reason to explain why this happened.
Another theory they raise suggests that the disciples and others who witnessed Jesus alive again were merely hallucinating. Skeptics claim that Jesus wasn’t really alive again, rather, those who “saw” him merely had a personal experience in their brains. They say that the disciples missed Jesus so much that they hallucinated his presence; hence, Jesus was only “risen in their hearts” and nothing more.
Could this be true? Did everyone who witnessed the risen Jesus really see him in their own minds? How plausible is this alternative hypothesis? First, let’s quickly examine what hallucinations are.
What Are Hallucinations?
When you hallucinate something, your mind is projecting an image of something that isn’t really there. There have been many hallucinations documented over the years. Someone stays up for several days with no sleep or takes certain kinds of drugs, and suddenly they start seeing things that don’t actually exist in reality. Meth addicts are notorious for believing that bugs are crawling all over their skin as they violently scratch themselves in trying to get rid of the imaginary critters.
Another common hallucination experience involves the death of a loved one. It’s not entirely rare for a widow to see her deceased husband, or a parent to see their child during the bereavement stage as they grieve the loss of their beloved.
We may also note that hallucinations are different from illusions. Illusions are false perceptions of what exits, while hallucinations are false perceptions of what does not exist. For example, if I saw what looked to be water in the middle of a hot and dry Arizona highway, I am obviously having a distorted perception of what is actually there–the highway. Or think of a magician who cleverly distorts your perception by making it seem that he just sawed someone in two, causing you to believe something that is not real.
Skeptics Blame the Brain
Because of our experiences with hallucinations, many skeptics have claimed that the appearances of the risen Jesus were just that. But wait a second, as you may recall, virtually all historians, including atheists and non-Christians, have confirmed that Jesus appeared to the disciples. Although they attribute these sightings to hallucinations, they need to be fair in recognizing that hallucinations do not happen in the same manner as reported in the resurrection of Jesus.
Hallucinations are caused by the brain and are merely subjective/personal experiences inside the mind. These false perceptions have no connection to anything outside of the mind. So, the bugs on the skin of the meth addict can literally do nothing to their bodies because the bugs aren’t really there.
And although in rare circumstances hallucinations have involved auditory and visual components, these experiences cannot be the same as someone else hallucinating, because hallucinations are not shared experiences. As historian Michael Licona notes,
“Since hallucinations are mental events with no external referent, one cannot share in the hallucination of another.”[2]
Think about it in terms of a dream. You cannot share a dream with somebody else because your brains are having separate neurological experiences. Likewise, if the disciples were hallucinating that Jesus was alive, then how could there be multiple disciples sharing the same experience? They couldn’t. That would be comparable to multiple people sharing the same dream.
Disciples Were Certain
Furthermore, do we really think Jesus’ disciples were so devastated that they could have grieved to the point of hallucinating? We don’t see any indications in the Gospels in which the disciples were in utter mental anguish over the death of Jesus. In fact, if anything, many of them probably started to feel some resentment and anger. Remember, some of these guys left their families and livelihoods to follow this Messiah who ended up “failing them” by his death on the cross.
They abandoned Jesus at his arrest, and after his crucifixion, started to go back to their former occupations, probably thinking they had just wasted valuable years while making fools of themselves. What would their family and friends say when they returned home after being misled by a man pretending to be the Messiah? How infuriating. No, these disciples were certainly not grieving to the point of hallucinating.
What about after the disciples saw the risen Jesus? Remember how they drastically changed from cowards to courageous men, willing to suffer extreme persecution with several being killed for their faith? Ya, these guys were obviously sincere in their belief that they saw Jesus, and there is no way they would endure that kind of agony for a hallucination.
You better believe that they made darn sure that who they saw was the real deal. And don’t forget, upon first seeing the risen Jesus, they were reluctant and doubted that it was truly him. They had to become convinced that he was truly alive again. Hallucinations could never be convincing enough to produce the early Christian movement.
Additionally, hallucinations do not interact with normal persons for the extended period of time that we read about concerning the disciples’ experience of Jesus. Renowned historian Dale Allison points out major differences between hallucinations and the encounters that people had with the risen Jesus, saying,
“Typical encounters with the recently deceased do not issue in claims about an empty tomb, nor do they lead to the founding of a new religion. And they certainly cannot explain the specific content of the words attributed to the risen Jesus. Apparitions do not, furthermore, typically eat or drink, and they are not seen by crowds of up to five hundred people.”[3]
This brings us to our next point in which hallucinations cannot adequately account Jesus’ empty tomb.
Empty Tomb
A significant majority of contemporary critical scholars, Christian and non-Christian, agree that Jesus’ empty tomb is a historical fact.[4] Why is this important? Because if everyone was hallucinating that Jesus was alive again, when he really wasn’t, then his corpse would still be decomposing in the tomb.
If the Jewish leaders wanted to stop the Jesus movement from ever starting, all they would have to do is grab Jesus’ dead body and put it on display for everyone to see. But they couldn’t because it wasn’t there. Historian Gary Habermas, along with other scholars, rightly point out that
“It would have been impossible for Christianity to get off the ground in Jerusalem if the body had still been in the tomb.”[5]
Jerusalem would be the last place in a million years for Christianity to successfully develop since that was the place where everyone knew Jesus had been killed.
Why try to start saying that he was alive again?? This is why the Jewish leaders had to invent the rumor that Jesus’ body had been stolen by his disciples in order to explain why the tomb was empty. If you read this article, you’ll see why scholars totally reject the idea that Jesus’ body was stolen.
Church Persecutor Paul
What about Paul? Paul would have been the last guy in the world to ever convert to Christianity. The idea that Paul would hallucinate the risen Jesus is utterly bizarre, and just goes to show how far the skeptics have to reach trying to explain away the evidence. Think about it…Paul hated Christians and was on his way to imprison and kill more of them. Why would he join them? Notable historian Luke Timothy Johnson says,
“Paul’s encounter with the risen Lord did not affect only a momentary change; it completely restructured his existence. From a zealot filled with rage at those following the way of Jesus Christ, he became, paradoxically, the most passionate advocate for the crucified Messiah.”[6]
So why would Paul ever be in a state of mind to hallucinate that Jesus was alive again? He wasn’t grieving over Jesus’ death, rather, it’s quite the opposite–he was pleased that this messianic pretender had been killed.
Furthermore, people who experience hallucinations of deceased loved ones know that those people are dead. They do not experience a dramatic life-changing event that makes them truly believe that their loved one is somehow alive again. Paul hated Jesus and Christians, so he wouldn’t be hallucinating anything.
But let’s suppose for some crazy, wild and unknown reason that Paul really did hallucinate. If this is the case, then why would he ever believe it was a real experience outside of his own mind? Why throw away his entire life of comfort and prominent religious status as a devout Pharisee to endure intense persecution and ultimately death?
Paul died while proclaiming that Jesus was not only risen, but that Jesus was the Messiah and the very God of Paul’s Jewish people. This is absolutely fascinating, and it demands a better explanation than a mere handwaving from skeptics regarding their hallucination theory.
Jews and Bodily Resurrection
Something else to consider is that one of the prerequisites for being an apostle was that you had to have seen the risen Jesus, and not have a mere subjective vision of him in your mind. Paul makes it clear in 1 Cor. 9:1 that he saw the body of the risen Jesus, which was a material object occupying time and space. Historian N. T. Wright holds this position, stating,
“The word heoraka, ‘I have seen’ is a normal word for ordinary sight. It does not imply that this was a subjective ‘vision’ or a private revelation.”[7]
Licona says,
“Having observed other passages in Paul related to the resurrection of Jesus, it is clear to me that he thought of the resurrection of Jesus in terms of an event that revivified his corpse and transformed it into a new and immortal body.”[8]
Context is crucial. We need to remember that the Jewish people always believed that the resurrection would occur as a bodily event, not a spiritual one. Scholars Paul Rhodes Eddy and Greg Boyd state,
“When Jews thought of resurrection, they thought of a bodily resurrection in history, not a mystical vision.”[9]
Renowned scholar Gerald O’Collins also adds that “the first Christians must be interpreted primarily against a Jewish and not a Hellenistic background.”[10]
In other words, modern scholarship has shown that the Greek world of mythology and spiritual afterlife, which the first-century Jews were surrounded by, had no influence on the core teachings of Judaism and their sacred practices.
Despite some Jews deviating from their heritage and orthodoxy as we see people do in every religion, the majority of the Jews in first-century Palestine (Roman province) still held to their strict monotheistic Jewish roots, adhered to the Mosaic Law, practiced their sacred traditions of animal sacrifices for sin offerings, and strongly believed in a bodily resurrection of all people at the end of the world. Contemporary scholars have confirmed this through archaeology and ancient biblical and non-biblical sources.
Additionally, Scholar Stephen Davis points out that Paul’s description of a resurrected or glorified body in 1 Cor. 15, is referring to a physical body that can be seen and touched; Davis says that
“A glorified body (soma) is still a body—that is, still a material object that can be seen.”[11]
And let’s not forget that the empty tomb is still relevant to Paul’s situation. As distinguished historian Craig Evans remarks,
“I find it difficult to explain Paul’s proclamation of Jesus as resurrected, had the followers of Jesus spoken only of a spiritual resurrection and had the body of Jesus remained dead and decomposing in a tomb.”[12]
If it was only Paul’s brain playing tricks on him, then Jesus’ body would still be lying there.
Paul would eventually be killed for his new faith and public preaching of the risen Jesus. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, a leading authority and scholar on Paul, says that Paul was beheaded under Nero sometime around 67-68 AD.[13]
Skeptic James
What about Jesus’ brother, James? James was a devout Jew who held dearly to his sacred Jewish traditions and teachings. He knew very well that the real Messiah was supposed to triumph over the oppressive Roman government, not be executed in the worst and shameful of ways via crucifixion.
James, as did all the Jews, knew that anyone who died on a tree was cursed by God (Deut. 21:23), and the idea that the long-awaited, mighty Messiah could be cursed was simply nonsensical and unfathomable.
Similar to Paul, James had a comfortable life, so why would he forsake all of it to join a new movement that would ensure intense persecution and death? There is not a shred of evidence that money, power or sexual favors would be granted in exchange for conversion to this new faith; rather, it’s quite the opposite. We see that converts to Christianity would often be ostracized in society and this would negatively impact their livelihood; they were beaten, persecuted and killed.
In fact, the great Roman historian Tacitus writing around AD 118, tells us that the great fire of Rome that broke out in AD 64, ordered by Emperor Nero himself, was unjustly attributed to Christians by Nero. Tacitus says,
“Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices, whom the crowd styled Christians…. They were covered with wild beasts’ skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on crosses, and, when daylight failed were burned to serve as lamps by night” (Tacitus, Annals 15.44).[14]
As you can see, Christians already had a long-standing reputation for being despised and hated among society. History has confirmed that Jesus’ followers were willing to endure suffering and death, many of whom died, and that the early Church would experience persecution for the first three centuries of its inception.
James had absolutely no reason to hallucinate Jesus being alive again. In addition to the skeptic’s challenge of trying to psychoanalyze someone from 2,000 years ago, there is also no evidence that James was grieving over Jesus’ death, and therefore we shouldn’t expect James to hallucinate. We should base our understanding on the evidence that we do have, not what we don’t have.
Even the prominent atheist historian Gerd Lüdemann believed that James did not have a close relationship with Jesus, and that James had an encounter (hallucination) with whom he thought to be the risen Jesus, noting, “James even received an individual vision— that James who had not thought much of his brother during Jesus’ lifetime (Mark 3:21; John 7:5).”[15]
James was skeptical towards Jesus and had to be convinced that Jesus was the true Messiah. The only way James would ever convert to this new faith is if something like an overwhelming miracle/sign from God occurred, and the risen Jesus appearing to him was exactly that.
Besides, James had a Jewish understanding of bodily resurrections. If he had any doubts, he could have just gone and looked at the decomposing body of Jesus still lying in the tomb
Eventually, James would go from being an unbelieving skeptic to one of the primary figures of the first Church in Jerusalem! Maybe he received some incentives for taking on the job? Nope. Ancient non-biblical historical sources tell us what happened to James. The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that in AD 62, the high priest Ananus wrongfully killed James and other Christians by having them stoned (Josephus, Antiquities, XX.9).[16]
Hallucinations Cannot Explain the Data
Jesus appeared to different people, at different places, and at different times. He appeared to individual persons, small groups, large groups, friends and enemies. To claim that these appearances could somehow be hallucinations does nothing to account for all of the data that needs to be addressed. Notable historian E. P. Sanders says,
“Paul’s tradition that 500 people saw Jesus at the same time has led some people to suggest that Jesus’ followers suffered mass hysteria. But mass hysteria does not explain the other traditions.”[17]
In other words, there’s simply too much going on for this hallucination idea be a realistic option. Nobody was popping magic mushrooms or having psychedelic experiences either, although ironically enough, I have heard historian Paul Maier say that one skeptical scholar postulated this silly idea to avoid the evidence of the resurrection.[18]
Therefore, this skeptical alternative theory for the resurrection appearances of Jesus has failed. The skeptic must go to great lengths and use ad hoc explanations to avoid some of the basic evidence and the most likely conclusion, which is that Jesus really was resurrected, and that he really is who he claimed to be—the Messiah and God himself. Thanks for reading!
Blessings,
Andrew Drinkard
[1] In my previous articles for the evidence of Jesus’ resurrection, you will see several cited sources from various critical scholars who concede this point. Here’s a couple for a quick reference: Prominent Jewish (non-Christian) historian Paula Fredricksen said this about the disciples believing they saw the risen Jesus: “I know in their own terms what they saw was the raised Jesus. That’s what they say, and then all the historic evidence we have afterwards attest to their conviction that that’s what they saw. I’m not saying that they really did see the raised Jesus. I wasn’t there. I don’t know what they saw. But I do know that as a historian that they must have seen something.” Atheist New Testament scholar Gerd Lüdemann, says “It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ.” E. P. Sanders says, “That Jesus’ followers (and later Paul) had resurrection experiences is, in my judgement, a fact. What the reality was that gave rise to the experiences I do not know.” See Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, 305. Princeton New Testament scholar Dale Allison says, “I am sure that the disciples saw Jesus after his death.” See Allison, Resurrecting Jesus (2005), 346.
[2] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2010), 484.
[3] Dale C. Allison, Jr., Resurrecting Jesus: The Earliest Christian Tradition and Its Interpreters (New York: Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2005), 283.
[4] Just under 75% of critical scholars (Christian and non-Christian) believe the tomb was empty; therefore, as historian Michael Licona says, this narrative is “granted by a significant majority of scholars.” See Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus, 461-462.
[5] Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2004), 70.
[6] Luke Timothy Johnson, Constructing Paul: The Canonical Paul, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2020), 4g.
[7] N. T. Wright, Resurrection Son of God V3: Christian Origins and the Question of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 382.
[8] Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus, 378.
[9] Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd, The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 145.
[10] Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall, and Gerald O’Collins, Editors, The Resurrection (Oxford: Oxford University, 1997), 18.
[11] Davis, Kendall, and O’Collins, The Resurrection,139.
[12] Michael F. Bird, Craig A. Evans, Simon Gathercole, Charles E. Hill and Chris Tilling, How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus’ Divine Nature—A Response to Bart Ehrman (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2014), 92.
[13] Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, Paul: A Critical Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press USA – OSO, 1998), 370-371.
[14] Tacitus, Annals, 15.44. Accessed May 2, 2021. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/15B*.html.
[15] Gerd Lüdemann, “The Earliest Christian Belief in the Resurrection,” Historical Jesus in Recent Research, ed. James D. G. Dunn and McKnight, Scot McKnight (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2005), 415.
[16] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XX.9. Accessed February 15, 2021. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-20.html.
[17] E. P. Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus (New York: Penguin Books), 305. Kindle.
[18] Paul Maier, “The Real Jesus: Paul Maier Presents New Evidence from History and Archaeology at Iowa State,” The Veritas Forum, May 11, 2013, accessed May 2, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAN3kQHTKWI.