It never fails. Every year around Easter time the cable channels blow the dust off some pathetic programming about Jesus. I mean this stuff reeks to high heaven. I was just surfing the channels the other day and saw about 30 seconds of a program before the appearance of the resurrected Lord was called an hallucination. That is a bold statement coming from people on the other side of the globe, 2,000 years removed from the events in question. I was immediately infuriated and gave them no more of my viewing time. Such lunacy does not deserve anyone's ratings. Those who watch such drivel are probably already in the same camp with its creators.
You see, it strikes me as odd that these programs will completely ignore the obvious evidence and they focus on some abstract nonsense like psychology to explain the physical appearances of the God-Man Jesus Christ after His very public death. If the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus were done in secret, to, say, 3 people, and the appearance was only once or twice during a few days following the death of our Lord you may be able to excuse this nonsensical conjecture. However, the historical record is clear: Jesus appeared to multiple people on various occasions over a period of 40 days. Some of these people were friends and relatives I suppose, but not all of them had the opportunity to compare notes and share their experiences with one another. They were people from various walks of life, in different environments under different circumstances. This was no trick of lighting, no imagined voice in the wind. Jesus made physical contact. He ate with His followers on more than one occasion in His resurrected state. Even the skeptic Thomas was overwhelmed by the evidence of a living Christ.
And let us not forget the testimony of Paul. As many scholars agree that Paul himself was merely reciting an early creed of the church when he tells that Jesus appears to more than 500 people at one time. Imagine that. Over 500 eye witnesses. If this appearance was an illusion, then something potent must have been in the drinking water of the day. There is no way to explain away the physical, bodily appearances of Christ that the apostles confirmed again and again.
One way to understand the idiotic ramblings of modern day skeptics is to understand the arrogant attitude they have toward people in the ancient world. They discount every testimony of the ancients that does not agree with their world view, believing that everyone that existing over 200 years ago must have been delusional and uneducated. After all, we know that miracles cannot take place, that there is no god and no one can be raised from the dead. With that supposition firmly in place, there is no reasoning with these people.
If they discover many more ancient manuscripts further confirming the testimony of the apostles. If someone uncovers Noah's ark. If miracles happen right in front of their eyes, they will not believe. This faith is a product of the Holy Spirit and not the reason of man. Apart from the Holy Spirit no one will believe and no one can believe. All the testimony of the ancient world will merely fall on deaf ears unless a person has an encounter with God in the person of the Holy Spirit.
God can use evidence or He can draw people to Himself without any evidence. People like Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel came to Christ and they may think that it was the evidence that persuaded them. They are dead wrong. We all are faced with the same evidence. Some pay more attention to it, some study it, some avoid it. But the bottom line is that God draws people to Himself. Everyone knows enough to be without excuse but no one knows enough from the evidence to choose Christ. Those who choose Christ are those who have had their eyes opened. Eye witness testimony can't do that. This faith is a gift from God and it comes to the scholar and the illiterate, the priest and the heathen, the one who thinks he is searching for the truth and the one who is running from the truth.
I want to be so angry at the fools who produce documentaries dismissing the Christ and His power. In the end, however, I feel pity. They have eyes to see but they cannot see. They have ears to hear but they do not hear. They will pay dearly for those they have misled through their endless documentaries that deny the obvious. But it is only obvious to those who have the Holy Spirit.
Evidence or no evidence—what makes the difference is the work of God in the heart of man.
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Actually, the only eyewitness testimony we have is Paul's. He is the only writer who claims to personally have witnessed an appearance of the risen Jesus and he tells us very little about the experience.
Every other account in New Testmant is a second hand account of what happened to someone other than the writer. Moreover, the writers never identify the people who told them what happened so that it does not even qualify as hearsay evidence.
What about the Apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John, three letters and the Revelation?
He was an eye witness of the risen Christ, the empty tomb, and had personal knowledge of other eye witnesses. He also was convinced that Jesus was eternally God and suffered for his beliefs.
Notice also that James, the Lord's half brother, became convinced that Jesus was raised from the dead and was exactly who He claimed to be. This happened after he either witnessed or was well aware of his half-brother's public execution. What caused him to devote his life to proclaiming Jesus?
Also, the Lord's own mother became a devoted follower and hung out with His disciples long after the Lord was raised from the dead. She witnessed His brutal death as close as anyone and yet she became convinced that He was no longer dead.
Just as Mark, Luke, and Matthew, the Gospel of John is written as an anonymous third person account. The author does not identify himself and does not place himself at the scene of the events. The writer of the epistles does identify himself but he does not describe any appearances and he does not claim to be the author of a gospel.
In the epistle attributed to James, he barely even mentions Jesus and does not say anything about seeing him after the resurrection or about how he came to believe in him. We don't even have any writings attributed to Mary.
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