An Unusual Case for the Resurrection

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Is the Resurrection really a matter of blind belief, or can we know what happened that first Easter Sunday? According to Biola professor and theologian Thaddeus Williams, yes, we can. It all involves four facts from seven non-Christian scholars and six Hollywood movies. Here is Thaddeus Williams:

First, the facts.

Fact one—Jesus died by crucifixion. Outspoken critic of Christianity Bart Ehrman argued, “Since no one would have made up the idea of a crucified messiah, Jesus . . . must really have been crucified.” Gerd Ludemann called it “indisputable,” while Pinchas Lapine considered it “historically certain.”

Fact two—The disciples had experiences from which they concluded that Jesus rose bodily from the dead. Again, Bart Ehrman declared “We can say with complete certainty that some of [Jesus’] disciples at some later time insisted that . . . he soon appeared to them, convincing them that he had been raised from the dead.” Marcus Borg concurred, “For the early Christians, the living Christ was not an object of belief, but an element of experience. Some ‘saw’ him.”

Fact three—Paul, an anti-Christian, became a willing-to-die Christian because he thought he encountered a risen Jesus. Famed critic of Christianity John Shelby Spong argued, “There is no question that Paul was a learned Jew. . .. Yet his conversion was total, dramatic, and complete.” Ludemann concluded that “a particular event made the persecutor a proclaimer, the enemy of Christ a disciple of Christ.”

Fact four—The tomb of Jesus was empty. Atheist James Tabor placed it beyond doubt that Jesus’ “temporary place of burial was discovered empty shortly thereafter [his death].” Geza Vermes cited what he calls “one disconcerting fact: Namely that the women who set out to pay their last respects to Jesus found to their consternation, not a body, but an empty tomb.”

Now, which hypothesis best explains these facts? Here are six that have been proposed, using the plots of some movies you probably know:

The Loki Hypothesis (or Muslim Theory)

Loki, the shapeshifting god of Norse and Marvel mythology, captures the essence of Islamic perspectives on Jesus. Loki appears to die on no less than three occasions in the Marvel Universe, but never truly dies. Speaking of Jesus, the Qur’an states that “they neither killed nor crucified him—it was only made to appear so.” (Surah 4:157)

The Harry Hypothesis (or Mystery Religions Theory)

Over a hundred years ago, German scholars uncovered mystery religions that seemed to feature mythological dying and rising gods. In the same way, we might find parallels between Harry Potter and the Christ-story—King’s Cross, the willful acceptance of the Killing Curse, the smiting of a snake, the resurrection stone, and so on. German scholars concluded that the New Testament Jesus was a copycat, plagiarized from the stories of Mithra, Osiris, and other mythical characters.

The Oceans 11 Hypothesis (or Stolen Body Theory)

Our third hypothesis resembles the 2001 box office hit, Oceans 11, in which con man Daniel Ocean recruits his dream team of skilled criminals to pull off an epic heist. Perhaps after Jesus was executed, the remaining disciples hatched a plan to retrieve the body. With the corpse secretly discarded, the disciples could dupe the world into believing that their messiah triumphed over the grave—the most successful heist in history.

The Sixth Sense Hypothesis (or Hallucination Theory)

In the 1999 thriller The Sixth Sense, we hear one of the most chilling lines ever—“I see dead people,” an apropos line for the hallucination theory. Jesus died on Good Friday, and his followers “saw” him afterward, though not because he was physically resurrected. Perhaps they consumed psychedelics or had a grief-induced hallucination.

The Princess Bride Hypothesis (or Swoon Theory)

Westley, of 1987’s Princess Bride, endures unspeakable torture. Miracle Max, a wise-cracking Dwarf, examines Wesley’s body and declares, “There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. . .. Now mostly dead is slightly alive.” In 1828, a German atheist named Heinrich Paulus argued that Jesus was “mostly dead” after the crucifixion, therefore, “slightly alive.”

The Three Amigos Hypothesis (or Wrong Tomb Theory).

In 1986’s The Three Amigos, three failed Hollywood actors are beckoned to the remote Mexican village of Santa Poco to liberate the townsfolk from the ruthless bandit, El Guapo. Mistaking the telegram as an invitation to star in a new movie, the amigos make their way to Santo Poco, thinking it is a movie set. It is not. It is an exploited Mexican village. What if the disciples’ proclamation that Jesus rose from the dead was a similar case of mistaken destination?

Now, let’s test our hypotheses against the facts. The Harry Hypothesis that Christianity was borrowed from ancient myths cannot account for any of the four facts as historical facts.

The Princess Bride Hypothesis and Loki Hypotheses fail to account for Fact 1, that Jesus died by crucifixion (much less the other three facts).

The Oceans 11 and Three Amigos Hypotheses falter at facts two and three, the disciples’ and Paul’s sincerity and willingness to face death for their convictions that Jesus met them after the crucifixion. And, of course, the most obvious obstacle for the Sixth Sense Hypothesis is the empty tomb.

This brings us to “the Resurrection Hypothesis.” Jesus’ body was not heisted, imagined, impersonated, or misplaced. It was resurrected. This is the only hypothesis that accounts for the known facts of history, and is the hope celebrated by over two billion people every Easter.

The resurrected Christ is no myth, lost corpse, or trick of the brain. He is risen. He is risen indeed!

For a fuller treatment of the resurrection, see Thaddeus’ video, “What Really Happened that First Easter Sunday?”, or pre-order his book Reflecting the Son.

Related Article

8 Reasons We Believe Jesus Really Rose From The Dead

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/kckate16

John Stonestreet is President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program providing thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

BreakPoint is a program of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. BreakPoint commentaries offer incisive content people can't find anywhere else; content that cuts through the fog of relativism and the news cycle with truth and compassion. Founded by Chuck Colson (1931 – 2012) in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today's news and trends. Today, you can get it in written and a variety of audio formats: on the web, the radio, or your favorite podcast app on the go.