Reading Time: < 1 minute What if Paul changed his mind out of sympathy? We can imagine a Nazi soldier feeling remorse for the Holocaust victim and perhaps converting to Judaism out of admiration? Just perhaps as Paul might feel remorse for his actions against Stephen. There are several problems with this theory 1. There’s Read more…
Reading Time: 4 minutes This is a psychological problem in which a person experiences symptoms or deficits to one’s senses that are not intentionally produced and may have neurological origins. Typical symptoms: Blindness, paralysis, loss of voice, pain, uncontrolled vomiting, tics and seizures. Was Paul’s conversion from Judaism to Christianity a result of some Read more…
Reading Time: 5 minutes To avoid the huge pitfalls of hallucination theory it is common for critics to claim the appearances were a type of vision. They claim these visions are no more credible than visions in other writings. What does the term vision mean? Firstly, get the critic to define what they mean Read more…
Reading Time: 3 minutes Sometimes groups embrace false beliefs. E.g. Marshall Applewhite of the Church of Venus who committed suicide with 38 followers in 1997 was believing that a spaceship hiding behind the Hale-Bopp comet would pick them up after the event. Cult leaders like Jim Jones (Peoples Temple, 1978) and David Korea’s (Branch Read more…
Reading Time: 7 minutes It is common for a person to experience grief hallucinations following the death of a loved one. This theory enjoyed popularity over 100 years ago, very few still try it today as the theory suffers from a number of problems 1a. We know hallucinations are private occurrences, not collective Clinical Read more…
Reading Time: 2 minutes Introduction Being honest, which dot do you believe is larger? If you said the dot on the right, you’d be wrong Now, if you said the dot on the left, you’d also be wrong—Both central dots are the same size. If you get 100 people, will they all say they’re Read more…
Reading Time: 7 minutes The one thing history guarantees us, especially secular history regarding the historical Jesus, is that he really was crucified, but let’s unpack that. Some people pronounced dead are seen to be alive a few hours later, could Jesus be the same? Did the soldiers mistake Jesus for being dead and Read more…
Reading Time: 3 minutes This theory expresses the women and the disciples went to the wrong tomb. The Wrong Tomb Theory was originally proposed in the early 1900’s, it’s also rejected by virtually every scholar. So how can we reach the same conclusion? 1. But even if it were the wrong tomb, this does Read more…
Reading Time: 2 minutes This theory cannot account for the majority of the known facts, virtually all critics recognise this. 1. Paul would not be convinced An empty tomb by itself would not have convinced Paul, he would have suspected foul play. Paul converted because he believed he had seen the risen Jesus. 2. Read more…
Reading Time: 3 minutes This appears to be the first opposing theory employed by Jesus’ critics. Justin Martyr in a dialogue with Trypho talks about the Jewish leadership still spreading these theories even in his time. “ You have sent chosen and ordained men throughout all the world to proclaim” Trypho stated “that a Read more…