|
The Christians were mistaken about Jesus' resurrection
Sometimes critics of Christianity say that Jesus' disciples were
mistaken about His resurrection. They say that because no one
can rise from the dead, then the disciples were wrong when they
said that Jesus rose from the dead. First of all, they are
assuming something that may not be true. After all, if there is
a God, then why can't a resurrection happen? But, when I ask
them to explain how it was possible to be mistaken about something
like a person rising from the dead according to the gospel accounts, I
don't get any answers except, "Well, they were wrong."
It is true that the disciples made
mistakes. After all, they were only human. But, how could
they be mistaken about something as serious and as monumental as Jesus
rising from the dead? Is it likely that they simply goofed, that
somehow after seeing Jesus die on the cross, and after fleeing and
going into hiding, that the figure that appeared before them in the
closed room that looked like Jesus and sounded like Jesus and had
holes in His hands and feet really wasn't Jesus? Were the women
who saw the empty tomb also mistaken when they looked into it and saw
that the body wasn't there? Was the apostle John mistaken when
he said that Jesus appeared before Thomas and said, "Reach
here your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand, and put
it into My side; and be not unbelieving, but believing," (John 20:27). Was it Jesus or not?
If not, then who was it? Did the disciples make up the
story? Did the apostle John lie when he wrote the account?
If so, where are the records refuting this preposterous notion?
There aren't any.
Is it possible that all the disciples
were mistaken about the same thing at the same time especially when
they were believing that Jesus had died and was still dead? What
would cause them all to switch from believing that when you're dead
you're
dead to believing that Jesus died and rose from the dead? Was
Paul the apostle also mistaken when he was riding along the road to Damascus
and claims to have encountered Jesus? Remember, Paul was a
persecutor the Christians. He had authority to arrest the
Christians and imprison them. He was a devout Jew and quite
powerful in the Jewish religious system. How is it that he
changed his mind so drastically and claims to have seen the risen
Jesus (1 Cor. 9:1)? Was he also simply mistaken? If so,
how? What did he see on the road to Damascas that changed his
life if not something incredible?
Is all of Christianity a big "oops"?
Might we meet the disciples in the afterlife and have them say to us,
"Uh, remember that resurrection thing about Jesus we wrote
about? Well, we goofed. It really didn't happen. We
mistook the empty tomb -- never did find His body -- the prophecies of
the Old Testament about Him rising (Psalm 16:10), the prophecy of Jesus saying
He'd rise (John 2:19-21), the accounts of the women saying that they
had seen Him risen, the appearances of a man who looked like Jesus and
who had holes in his hands and feet and appeared to us in closed
rooms, the conversion of Paul -- that was weird -- oh, and all those
miracles He did and those that we then did afterwards, too, well, that
was all a big mistake. Also, it was a big mistake going
around Israel and all of the Mediterranean proclaiming Jesus had risen
from the dead while we suffered persecution and death...yeah, it was
all a big mistake. Hope there are no hard feelings."
Is it rational to think that the disciples were
simply mistaken about something as serious as stating that Jesus had
risen from the dead? How do you mistake someone rising from the
dead? What would have to happen for numerous people to change
their minds about someone coming back to life? Or is it more
rational to simply conclude that the disciples weren't mistaken and
that Jesus actually did rise from the dead?
Return to Evidence and Answers
|