Monday, November 22, 2010
Did the Disciples Hallucinate?
According to Christian apologists, it is unreasonable to think that the post resurrections appearances of Christ to the disciples were hallucinations because the relevant scientific literature contains no examples of shared hallucinations. Of course the relevant scientific literature also contains no examples of people rising from the dead, but if the skeptic points this out he is accused of anti-supernatural bias.
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According to Christian apologists, it is unreasonable to think that the post resurrections appearances of Christ to the disciples were hallucinations because the relevant scientific literature contains no examples of shared hallucinations.
ReplyDeleteActually, it does; it's called mass hysteria.
That's a good point, too, although I am sure that the apologist can find some detail in the gospel accounts that is inconsistent with a clinical finding of mass hysteria. Of course, if they are going to accept every detail of the gospels as written, I don't know why they bother arguing against alternative theories like hallucination in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI generally cringe a bit when I hear the skeptic bring up the mass hallucination argument, because it sounds highly unlikely to me, and also because I know it sounds like pretzel logic to Christians. Even if it is a logical possibility, it is unlikely to persuade anyone.
ReplyDeleteBut you make an excellent point in comparing it to the likely hood of resurrection from the dead. Honestly, I think the skeptic will be accused of anti-supernatural bias no matter what naturalistic explanation is postulated over a literalistic biblical account.
My guess is that one member of the group had some sort of vision, a couple of others convinced themselves they had seen something, and the rest of them went along with it. Naturally, the story got retold as the entire group sharing an identical experience.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, you cannot reject the joint hallucination hypothesis unless you recognize the power of empirically based reasoning to tell us what kind of stories are likely to be true and which ones aren't.
All I have to do is turn on the TV and most days of the week there will be a programme where a group of people visit a 'haunted' house and they experience something.
ReplyDelete'Britain's Most Haunted' for example.
Do Christians watch TV?
Do apologists ever produce any evidence that , say, Thomas, existed, other than that he is mentioned in some of the New Testament documents?
That makes him as historical as the Angel Moroni...
Fatima
ReplyDelete