Do any popular alternative theories of the resurrection seem reasonable?
Let's analyze some major ones.
Now that I think it's reasonable to conclude Jesus really did die on the cross, is it also reasonable to think he was resurrected? This week we'll examine alternatives to the Biblical resurrection story. Next week we'll look at evidence for the resurrection.
Would Jesus have been buried in a tomb?
The creators of this 17-minute video concluded after digging into ancient sources that the Bible’s accounts of Jesus being buried in a tomb are more reasonable than the argument Jesus would have hung on the cross for days.
Was his body stolen?
There are lots of reasons to doubt that Jesus’s body was stolen. Dr. Sean McDowell lists several here.
2:20 - Guards protected the tomb. There’s no way a bunch of fisherman would have gotten by them.
5:24 - Why would the apostles willingly suffer and die if they has stolen the body? Even if they got away with it, they would know they are lying. Who spends their lives willingly trying to share a lie when there's no practical benefit for them financially or otherwise? In fact, sharing the story means they have to live like fugitives. Some ended up martyred.
6:03 - Why would the apostles unwrap the body if they were stealing it?
6:16 - The apostles were not expecting a resurrection of Jesus. What therefore accounted for why they believed he was resurrected?
Would you really recover that fast from being on the brink of death?
Let’s pretend Jesus did just faint on the cross (commonly called the swoon theory) and then was rushed to a modern hospital for medical care.
Even then, if his disciples saw him a few days later and could see the marks of the wounds, he’d be bed-ridden, unable to move due to the many injuries. But that’s not at all how he’s described.
Hundreds of people also saw Jesus at different times and places, eliminating the likelihood of an hallucination, according to this blog post with an estimated six-minute read time.
If it was a hallucination or a conspiracy, simply producing the body of Jesus or forcing one of the disciples to recant what they said under the threat of death should have easily ended the story of the resurrection.
Could it be miscommunication?
This video debunks in greater depth some of the theories mentioned above.
00:50 - The conspiracy theory, that the apostles made it up.
2:11 - The apparent death theory.
3:12 - The displaced body theory, that Joseph of Arimathea simply moved the body to his own tomb out of convenience. He never told the disciples, and later moved the body into a common graveyard for criminals. The disciples mistakenly thought he was resurrected.
4:13 - The hallucination theory, which requires hundreds of people to have just imagined Jesus appeared before them. Even if this were true, this would have bolstered that the person was dead and in heaven, not alive.
5:41 - Perhaps the original reason given by the eyewitnesses was actually true?