What makes Christianity different from other religions? Part 3 Opposing Theories – Following the Evidence Wherever It Leads
In Part 2, I mentioned that in addition to these facts being sufficient to make a case for Jesus’ physical resurrection, these facts are also sufficient to refute opposing theories. Some Christians might be nervous about even considering opposing theories, for fear that they might raise doubt, but if your beliefs are reasonable, there is nothing to fear from considering other perspectives. In fact, I believe that the more we look at other proposed explanations, the more confidence we can have in Jesus’ resurrection, and thereby, Christianity.
Naturalistic Explanations – Surely Not a Miracle?
One proposed explanation of Jesus’ resurrection is that it was legendary, a story that was embellished over time to become more miraculous. This fails to explain the preaching of the disciples, which very early on proclaimed the amazing miracle of the resurrection, so it wasn’t just an ordinary story that got miraculous over time. It was miraculous from the beginning, because Jesus was really raised from the dead.
Another set of explanations tries to explain why the tomb was empty. One suggestion is that the disciples stole the body of Jesus and lied about His resurrection. The problem with this is that liars make poor martyrs. Why would the disciples suffer and die for a belief they knew to be false? They wouldn’t, so they wouldn’t have stolen the body. This explanation is made even more unlikely by the fact that Jews didn’t expect an individual, even the Messiah, to be resurrected in history before the general resurrection at the end of time. The testimony of the Gospels confirms this, as Jesus’ resurrection came as a surprise (Luke 24:17-24). A couple of variations on this view are that someone else stole the body of Jesus or that the witnesses went to the wrong tomb, leading to the false belief that Jesus was raised. In addition to having no evidence for these alternate explanations, they don’t actually explain the belief of Jesus’ disciples. It was the resurrection appearances that convinced the disciples (not to mention Paul and James), not the emptiness of the tomb. These explanations don’t actually do much explaining, but if Jesus was raised, it fits the evidence perfectly.
Seeing the need to explain the resurrection appearances, another explanation that has been offered is that the disciples experienced hallucinations of Jesus. The theory goes that their intense longing to have their Teacher back caused them to hallucinate His appearances. A big problem with this explanation is that hallucinations are like dreams, in that they occur in the mind of one person and are not a shared experience. In addition, though the disciples (and likely James) might be in the frame of mind to want Jesus back, Paul would certainly not. Furthermore, even if there were a bunch of corresponding hallucinations among various people at various times, which is highly unlikely, it still doesn’t explain the empty tomb. Jesus’ disciples saw Him and the tomb was empty, because He had risen from the dead.
The fact that all the naturalistic explanations that have been proposed have failed to explain the minimal facts puts atheism in a difficult position. Atheism believes that there is nothing beyond the natural world, and yet, in the minimal facts approach, we have evidence of the supernatural; the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection.
Other Worldviews – How Has God Revealed Himself?
There are other worldviews that do recognize the supernatural or spiritual nature of reality, but disagree with Christianity on what that reality is. In addition to challenging atheism, though, I believe Jesus’ resurrection challenges these other worldviews. Most major worldviews have their own perspectives on what their God or gods are like, but here in Jesus’ resurrection, we see how God has revealed Himself in history. Jesus claimed that to see Him was to see God (John 14:6-11) and His claim was vindicated by the resurrection. Most major worldviews have their own perspectives on heaven or paradise, promising life after death in some form or another. Jesus not only promised life (John 10:10), but He conquered death to show that He could really give it (Romans 8:11; Philippians 3:20-21). The Christian faith is not just wishful thinking or one opinion among many. God has revealed Himself in Jesus, especially through His death and resurrection, and we can have great confidence that the promises of God in Christ will be fulfilled for all those who trust in Him.
