Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? INDEX
In the series of posts titled “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?” I have argued in defense of the Hallucination Theory, the view that one or more of Jesus’ disciples believed that Jesus rose from the dead because of a dream or hallucination (or some other form of distorted or mistaken perceptual experience) in which it seemed that a living and physical Jesus was seen and/or heard by the disciple(s) at some point after Jesus was crucified, and presumably died.
I do NOT confidently believe that the Hallucination Theory is TRUE, but I do think it is a plausible theory that should be taken seriously, and I firmly and confidently believe that the attempts of Christian apologists to refute or disprove this skeptical theory have (so far) COMPLETELY FAILED.
(I also confidently believe that the attempts of Christian apologists to refute or disprove the Apparent Death Theory have COMPLETELY FAILED; see my series of posts defending this theory against several objections raised by Peter Kreeft. I also confidently believe that the attempts of Christian apologists to refute or disprove the Conspiracy Theory have COMPLETELY FAILED; see my series of posts defending this theory against several objections raised by Peter Kreeft.)
In the series of posts “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?” I argue that each one of the SEVEN objections raised by Josh McDowell in his book The Resurrection Factor FAILS, and that his case against the Hallucination Theory FAILS to refute or disprove that skeptical theory.
There is one primary problem, and two main subsidiary problems with McDowell’s case against the Hallucination Theory. The primary problem is that McDowell shoots himself in both feet by attempting to refute the Hallucination Theory in less than five full pages of text (TRF, p.91-96. There is only about a third of a page on this subject on p.91 and only about a quarter of a page on p.96). It was IDIOTIC for him to attempt to do this in just a few pages, and this doomed his effort to COMPLETE FAILURE from the very start.
Attempting to lay out a refutation of the Hallucination Theory in just a few pages resulted in two major problems: (1) McDowell presents ZERO evidence in support of the key psychological “principles” about hallucinations that his case is based upon, and (2) McDowell does a horrible job of providing evidence and reasoning in support of the various historical claims and assumptions upon which his case is based. The result is that McDowell’s case against the Hallucination Theory in TRF is a complete and utter FAILURE.
