Saturday, August 09, 2014

Hallucinations


One stock objection to the Resurrection appearances is the claim that these were hallucinatory. Mass hallucinations. 

One observation I'd like to make is that we live in a day and age when many people have experienced hallucinations by taking psychedelic drugs. Even when you're hallucinating, it's possible to know that you're hallucinating. You keep telling yourself that this doesn't make sense. It can't be real. In that respect it's like a lucid dream. So even when you're hallucinating, you can retain enough objectivity to realize this isn't for real.

And after you sober up, you can compare your hallucinatory state of mind with your normal state of mind. The things you saw and heard in your hallucination don't exist. 

So the hallucinatory theory fails to explain the Resurrection appearances. People who experience hallucinations can still distinguish between appearance and reality, even during their altered state of consciousness, not to mention after the fact. 

1 comment:

  1. This theory is particularly foolish given the Scriptural testimony that Christ's inner circle, including both men and women weren't expecting a resurrection, and were initially perplexed and unbelieving about reports thereof.

    ReplyDelete