DID THE DISCIPLES HALLUCINATE THE RESURRECTION ?

According to the Bible and historical articles, Jesus was alive on this earth for thirty-eight days after His resurrection and during that time, it is reported that hundreds of people saw Him. Were these people delusional ?

People often think of the Resurrection theory as one-on-one appearances.

Mary Magdelene is the first person to have seen Jesus and she is described as being alone. Is it possible that she could have hallucinated this ? After all, she loved Jesus, she badly wanted to see Him alive, so maybe she imagined the whole thing…

In Luke 24 and 1 Corinthians 15, Peter also is reported to have seen Jesus, in a one-on-one encounter. He could also have imagined that Jesus was alive. Furthermore, it is written that James, Jesus’s brother, who was a doubter, had a one-on-one encounter with Him which transformed him,  and he became a believer ! But maybe he was just feeling guilty of his past negative attitude toward Jesus…

What about the apostle Paul who had an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus? (Acts 9.3-6 ; 1 Cor 15.8). On his account, he said that the people who were with him did not even see what he saw, so maybe for some unexplained reason, he had this vision…

So the whole « hallucination theory » appealed to people over the years because of these one-on-one encounters.

But let’s not forget all the other Resurrection appearances, some of them being listed below :

* Three women saw Jesus in Matthew 28, then two disciples on the road to Emmaüs in Luke 24. Now we have several people who would have experienced the same exact « hallucination » !

* He also appeared to the disciples, except for Thomas (John 20:19-25) and then to the disciples with Thomas (John 20:26-29) :  at least 10 people having the same « hallucination » !!

* He appeared to seven of His disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee (John 21:1-25), as well on a mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:15-18) and there were at least 11 people at the Ascension (Luke 24).

Is it reasonable that all these people would have had the exact same « hallucination » ?

What do you do with that account in 1Corinthians15.6, where Paul said that at one time Jesus appeared to over 500 brethren, adding that most of them were still alive and could witness the appearance !

This is why Peter said in 2 Peter 1:16: For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.  They always claimed that they were eyewitnesses.

It is theorically possible that they hallucinated, but it is not reasonable as it does not adequately explain the evidence : There were multiple eyewitnesses and the tomb was empty, and no one ever produced His body.