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James Fodor released a new video on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ saying that the disciple hallucinated and the hallucinations were part of a shared social process that has been shown among faith and non-faith contexts. From a Christian perspective how would you rebut his claims?

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    Please summarize the claims here. We don't want to have to go watch a video in order to understand your Question. Commented 14 hours ago
  • Paul answered this in 1 Cor. 15:14, 17 "14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain... 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins." Commented 14 hours ago
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  • 2 possible resources for you, in a general way. Simon Greenleaf was a brilliant legal mind who set out to disprove the resurrection. Instead, he was convinced of it. Plenty of excellent resources about him online. The same thing was true of the journalist Lee Strobel who wrote The Case for Christ. Commented 8 hours ago
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    @NicktheGreek I agree with Matthew, because I’m also curious about the specific historical analogues that Fodor claims; my fear is that because the video’s so long, answers to this question might end up being generic rather than specific to the video. Commented 6 hours ago

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Hallucinations??
One would have to really stretch it to say that the appearances of the Resurrected Christ were just hallucinations! Such a supposition does not lineup with the facts of the historical accounts. And those declared "spottings" by the Christians do not fit the definition of hallucination.

Notice !

  • The sightings were not just one occurrence, but many. Jesus spent 40 days roaming up and down the country teaching about the Kingdom of God.
  • The sightings happened at different locations throughout the country.
  • The sightings were not just "sightings", but occasions of personal interaction! The conduct of Thomas touching and talking to Jesus empirically has special impact!
  • The interaction with Jesus happened at different times of the day---not just some cloudy daytime where a cloud resembled the face of Jesus! Morning, noon, and night.
  • The interaction occurred repeatedly among many people---and was just the testimony of one person.
  • Jesus didn't just talk to people (in a hallucinagenic state), but even cooked breakfast for a group of men. The food was real, the event was real, and Jesus was real.
  • Jesus prophecies given after the Resurrection came to pass, esp. the Baptism of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Hallucinations of a dead man don't have that power!
  • Roman historical accounts, Jewish histories (Josephus), as well as several "Gospels" accounts by different authors attest to the Rising of Christ.
  • Several skeptics unfriendly to Christ talk, were thoroughly convinced by this Resurrection. A hallucination would garner no such convincing.

Conclusion
It would not be too unkind to conclude that those denying the Resurrection with its historical---and empirical---verifications are themselves hallucinating and are in a logical brain fog.

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  • You didn't even mention one of the most obvious - if the resurrection was a hallucination then there'd still be a body in the tomb. (Maybe the video accounted for that too? I can't be bothered watching such elementary level arguments though.) Commented 9 hours ago
  • @curiousdannii "I can't be bothered watching such elementary level arguments though". Could you give an example of an elementary level argument of his (I'm a Christian btw, sorry if I'm coming off as an atheist) Commented 9 hours ago
  • @NicktheGreek The resurrection of Jesus being a hallucination is the most elementary of arguments! That's like baby's first argument against Christians. It's almost embarrassing someone would put out a video about it now. Commented 8 hours ago
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    @curiousdannii How would you respond to his claim that "these thing happen in other faith and non-faith cases and be hallucinations" Commented 8 hours ago
  • @NicktheGreek There are lots of other questions already evaluating and defending against these arguments. The comments of someone else's answer is not the place to get into it. Commented 5 hours ago

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