HILLFAITH STUDIES: Here’s Why the Three Best-Known Alternative Explanations for the Empty Tomb Make No Sense At All

Skeptics have proposed over the years three basic alternative explanations for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, including the Swoon Theory, the Hallucination Theory and the Wrong-Tomb Theory.

Here’s the basic issue underlying the debate about the Resurrection: If Jesus was resurrected on the third day following His crucifixion and burial in the rich man’s tomb, then He is alive today and all of His claims about Himself — such as  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6) — must be taken seriously.

Much of the following analysis is based on the work of Josh and Sean McDowell’s “Evidence That Demands A Verdict,” one of the most comprehensive and credible collections of the evidence for the Christian faith. I highly recommend this invaluable research resource for anybody, believer or skeptic, who is interested in doing an in-depth study of the issues involved.

If Jesus was not resurrected as claimed by the disciples, then they were, as Paul said (I Corinthians 15:18-20), the most foolish of men. And if that is true, then, like the gladiators, we all might as well eat, drink and party tonight because tomorrow we die and there is nothing thereafter.

The basic problem for skeptics is that none of these proposed alternatives is remotely as credible an explanation as the literal Resurrection that is the cornerstone of the Christian faith.

• Swoon Theory:

When Jesus was taken down from the cross, He only appeared to be dead. In fact, He was still alive but was in an unconscious state and barely breathing. But after several hours in the coolness and quiet of the enclosed tomb, He somehow revived and escaped, fleeing from the Middle East entirely and ending his life happily married in India or Japan … or somewhere. Meanwhile, back in the Roman world, Christians were telling everybody He had died and been resurrected.

This theory is so full of holes that it is just this side of ludicrous. Consider, first, that surviving crucifixion was an all-but-absolute impossibility, due to heavy blood loss, horrendous pain and exhaustion, and eventual suffocation. And if you didn’t die soon enough to suit the Romans, they broke your legs, which hastened suffocation.

But what if Jesus was somehow buried while still alive? It is inconceivable that He would somehow regain consciousness, cast off the estimated 80 pounds of burial spices and clothes, feel His way in the pitch dark to the closed entrance, overcome the seal on the outside of the tomb, force the large boulder far enough to the side to allow an exit, overcome a crack unit of the Roman Legion that was guarding the place, and escape into the night (while walking on feet pierced by a nine-inch nail and ankles that were quite possibly broken).

Even some skeptics who reject Jesus’ claim to divinity can see through the theory, such as David Friedrich Strauss who wrote: “It is impossible that a being who had stolen half-dead out of the sepulchre, who crept about weak and ill, wanting medical treatment, who required bandaging, strengthening and indulgence, and who still at last yielded to his sufferings, could have given to the disciples the impression that he was a conqueror over death and the grave, the Prince of Life, an impression which lay at the bottom of their future ministry.”

• It Was Mass Hallucination:

Under this theory, the disciples and other followers of Jesus were all emotionally overwhelmed by the events that led to the horrendous death of their leader and they so yearned for Him to be resurrected, as He had repeatedly told them He would be, that they all imagined seeing, talking, touching and hearing Him for days after His death.

There are multiple problems for advocates of this alternative theory, beginning with the fact there were 15 discrete appearances by the risen Jesus to the disciples and others in varying locales, times of day, lengths of visitations, and other circumstances.

There were the initial appearances, for example, at the empty tomb to Mary Magdalene, the other women returning to the tomb, and to Peter and John (John 20:14; Mark 16:9), followed a few days later by the two unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-33), to the disciples assembled without Thomas (John 20:19-24), to the disciples assembled with Thomas (John 20:26-29), by Lake Tiberias (John 21:1-23), to a multitude of 500 in Galilee (I Corinthians 15:6), to James, the half-brother of Jesus (I Corinthians 15:7), to the disciples assembled (Matthew 28:16-20), at the Ascension (Acts 1:3-12), to Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6), to Stephen (Acts 7:55), to Paul in the Temple (Acts 22:17-21 and to John on the Isle of Patmos (Revelation 1:10-19).

Note that multiple years passed between these alleged hallucinations and they all reported the same basic facts about seeing and hearing Jesus speak. That so many individuals would have identical hallucinations stretching over long periods of time and in differing locales is an impossible stretch.

• Wrong Tomb:

Think about it – If Mary Magdalene and the other women who were with her and were the first to see the empty tomb and the risen Jesus had gone to the wrong location, then the minute the disciples began telling everybody who would listen that Jesus was alive, the Romans and the Sanhedrin leaders of the Jews would have gone to the right grave, dug up the decaying body and rolled it down Main Street in downtown Jerusalem.

And that would have been the end of Christianity!

But they didn’t. So the question facing every person since then is this: What will you do with the risen Jesus?

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