WHERE WE ARE

In Chapter 8 of the Handbook of Christian Apologetics (hereafter: HCA) Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli attempt to prove that God raised Jesus from the dead. A key premise in their case for the resurrection is their claim to have refuted the Swoon Theory.

Through a series of blog posts here at The Secular Frontier, I will carefully evaluate each of their nine objections against the Swoon Theory to show that they have FAILED to refute the Swoon Theory and thus FAILED to prove that God raised Jesus from the dead. For clarification about what the Swoon Theory implies, see my post “Careful Argument Analysis of Objections to the Swoon Theory“.

In Part 2 of this series, I presented a clarified version of Objection #2 by Kreeft and Tacelli.

In Part 3 of this series, I argued that premise (C) in the core argument for Objection #2 is FALSE, and thus that the argument was UNSOUND and thus that Objection #2 against the Swoon Theory FAILS.

In Part 4 of this series, I completed my careful evaluation of the argument constituting Objection #2 against the Swoon Theory. My conclusion is that the core argument contained a false premise (C) and also a dubious premise (5a), so the argument should be rejected, and thus Objection #2 against the Swoon Theory FAILS.

In this post, I will present my analysis of Objection #3 (Blood and Water).

OBJECTION #3: BLOOD AND WATER

Here is the third objection by Kreeft and Tacelli against the Swoon Theory:

John, an eyewitness, certified that he saw blood and water come from Jesus’ pierced heart (Jn 19:34-35). This shows that Jesus’ lungs had collapsed and he had died of asphyxiation. Any medical expert can vouch for this.

(HCA, p.183)

After following my own process of careful argument analysis, I produced an argument diagram of this objection that includes seven explicit claims, and seven assumed or unstated claims, arranged in seven inferences or sub-arguments.

SEVEN STATED CLAIMS IN OBJECTION #3

1a. John the son of Zebedee (one of Jesus’ twelve disciples) was an eyewitness to the crucifixion of Jesus.

2a. John the son of Zebedee (one of Jesus’ twelve disciples) certified that he saw blood and water come from Jesus’ pierced side immediately after one of the Roman soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear while Jesus was still on the cross.

3a. According to the Gospel of John (19:34-35), John the son of Zebedee (one of Jesus’ twelve disciples) was an eyewitness to the crucifixion of Jesus.

4a. According to the Gospel of John (19:34-35), John the son of Zebedee (one of Jesus’ twelve disciples) certified that he saw blood and water come from Jesus’ pierced side immediately after one of the Roman soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear while Jesus was still on the cross.

5a. Jesus’ lungs had collapsed before his side was pierced with a spear, while Jesus was still on the cross.

6a. Jesus had died of asphyxiation before his side was pierced with a spear, while Jesus was still on the cross.

7a. Any medical expert can vouch for the claim that: IF a Roman soldier pierced Jesus’ side with a spear while Jesus was still on the cross, and blood and water immediately came from the spear wound in Jesus’ side, THEN Jesus’ lungs had collapsed and Jesus had died before his side was pierced with a spear, while Jesus was still on the cross.

SEVEN UNSTATED CLAIMS IN OBJECTION #3

A. The Swoon Theory is FALSE.

B. The Gospel of John provides a historically reliable and accurate account of the life of Jesus, including his crucifixion.

C. Blood and water came from Jesus’ pierced side immediately after one of the Roman soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear while Jesus was still on the cross.

D. IF a Roman soldier pierced Jesus’ side with a spear while Jesus was still on the cross, and blood and water immediately came from the spear wound in Jesus’ side, THEN Jesus’ lungs had collapsed and Jesus had died before his side was pierced with a spear, while Jesus was still on the cross.

E. IF Jesus’ lungs had collapsed while Jesus was still on the cross and Jesus had died of asphyxiation while Jesus was still on the cross, then Jesus died while he was still on the cross.

F. Jesus died while he was still on the cross.

G. IF Jesus died while he was still on the cross, THEN the Swoon Theory is FALSE.