The Hallucination Theory

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, , that he was buried that he was raised on the third day.  In accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then in the twelve.  Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen sleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles"  I Corinthians 15:3-7

Following the mini-series on evidence for the resurrection, one of the theories that has been examined is a theory that asserts that people just hallucinated about seeing the risen Jesus.  However, this theory is preposterous just based on the above Scripture.


Webster's Dictionary defines hallucination as an "unfounded or mistaken impression or nation--a delusion."  There is no way that five hundred people could have the same delusion.  It would be impossible for several different people to have the exact same delusion, but it would be totally impossible for over five hundred people to have the same hallucination.


Also, if the disciples were hallucinating about seeing the risen Christ, then that would still leave the problem of the empty tomb.  There would have to be some kind of explanation for Jesus' body not being in the tomb. All anyone would have to do would be to produce his body to disprove the resurrection. 


Clearly, we serve a risen  Savior!