The Pursuit of Truth and the Question of God

The Truth of Reality and the Resurrection of Jesus

The primary duty one ought to endeavor is to discover the truth of reality to the best of our abilities. Among the countless questions confronting humanity, the most pertinent may be: does a being like God exist? A frequent "new atheist" argument contends, “There are something like 3000 gods; I just believe in one less than you,” suggesting that the reasons for dismissing 2999 gods equally apply to the Christian God. This reasoning is fallacious as it assumes all god-claims are interchangeable, which they are not. Rather than exhaustively debating every religion, I will focus on a critical point: if God exists, He must transcend and cause the universe. This directs us to Christianity’s unique claim about Jesus—his death and resurrection. If true, our stance on who Jesus was and is becomes the most vital question we must answer.

Transcendence: Refining the Inquiry

If God exists, He cannot merely be part of the universe, like a powerful entity within it. He must transcend it as its uncaused cause. Why? A dependent being would be contingent requiring something else for its existence and thus unnecessary. Such a being could not initiate the universe; to assert otherwise is as absurd as claiming you created yourself. This disqualifies polytheistic gods—like those of Hinduism, Buddhism, or Greco-Roman mythology which are depicted as arising within or governing aspects of the cosmos. These gods lack the transcendence required to account for reality itself.

This leaves Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Each posits a single, transcendent God, but Christianity distinguishes itself through its portrayal of divine love. The Quran states, “Allah loveth not those who reject Faith” (3:32), suggesting conditional affection, while the Bible declares, “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever” (Psalm 136:26, ESV) and “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, ESV). This universal love, enacted through Jesus, sets Christianity apart, though a full comparison is beyond my scope here.

Jesus: The Promised Messiah

Christianity asserts Jesus as the Messiah awaited by Old Testament believers—a superior path to salvation. Even those unaware of him could attain salvation through faith, as Abraham did by trusting God’s promise. What makes Jesus this anticipated figure? Ancient Jewish rabbis linked specific scriptures to the Messiah: he would hail from Judah’s tribe (Genesis 49:10), descend from David (2 Samuel 7:12-16), be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), appear before the Second Temple’s destruction in 70 AD (Daniel 9:24-27), ride a donkey into Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9), suffer and die (Psalm 22:1-31), and fulfill a life of anguish, silence at trial, burial in a rich man’s tomb, and resurrection (Isaiah 52:13-53:12).[1] Jesus’ life aligns with these: born in Bethlehem to David’s line, crucified before the Temple fell, buried by a wealthy follower, and reportedly risen.

Jesus claimed this role, stating, “I am he” (John 4:25-26). Some dispute the Gospels as eyewitness accounts, but their early composition—within decades of the events and corroboration by Paul’s letters suggest reliability.[2][3][4][5] Paul’s creed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, written around 55 AD, relays that Jesus “died for our sins… was buried… was raised on the third day… and appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve,” then to over 500 witnesses, reflecting testimony from within years of the crucifixion.[6][7][8][9][10] Such claims were radical—first-century Jews expected a triumphant Messiah, not a crucified one. Yet Christianity thrived in Jerusalem, where the tomb and witnesses were accessible, unlike failed messianic movements that faded after their leaders’ deaths.[11][12]

The Resurrection: Inference to the Best Explanation

The best explanation for this rapid rise is that the disciples witnessed something extraordinary. What was it? Jesus’ death by crucifixion is uncontested; his resurrection is the crux. His tomb was found empty, his followers shifted from despair to boldness, and a movement erupted amid skepticism. Skeptics often propose hallucinations, suggesting the disciples imagined Jesus alive, perhaps in group visions.[13][14][15] Bart Ehrman concedes they experienced something, though he argues historians cannot affirm miracles, as these lie beyond empirical methods: “…the historian, as a historian, cannot make any statements about what God has done - since those are statements that require faith, but history does not require faith.”[13] Tom Holland insists the Christian faith hinges on their conviction of Jesus’ appearances: it “doesn’t make any sense if they didn’t think Jesus appeared to them.”[16]

Do hallucinations explain this? No. Hallucinations are individual perceptions “where you hear, see, smell, taste or feel things that appear to be real but only exist in your mind,” per the NHS.[17] Michael Licona elaborates, “Since hallucinations are mental events with no external referent, one cannot share in the hallucination of another. In this sense, hallucinations are similar to dreams. Accordingly I could not awaken my wife in the middle of the night and tell her I am having a dream that I am in Hawaii and then have her return to sleep and join in my dream… It is highly unlikely that we will dream the same dream and have the same conversations in both dreams.”[18] The Gospels and Paul report Jesus appearing to groups—over 500 at once—over 40 days, with details like eating and speaking, involving sight, sound, and touch.[19] Licona further notes, “Hallucinations generally occur in a single mode… multimode hallucinations such as one involving both visual and auditory components… are rare by comparison,” typically tied to schizophrenia, dementia, or drug use like LSD, not ordinary fishermen or tax collectors.[19][22][23] Only 5-15% of people hallucinate in a lifetime, often seniors grieving a loss (50% of whom may see a loved one, but only 7% visually), and females are more prone than males—yet the disciples were mostly young men, not fitting this profile.[19][20] In Galilee’s estimated 200,000-700,000 population, this yields 10,000-105,000 potential hallucinators, half seniors, leaving few plausible candidates among Jesus’ followers.[21]

Even if one or two hallucinated, it’s infeasible they all saw identical visions, crafting a coherent story that persuaded tens of thousands of Jews and others worldwide.[19] The 40-day duration and empty tomb align too precisely for coincidence hallucinations don’t empty graves.[19] Nor do they account for Paul’s conversion from persecutor to apostle after encountering the risen Jesus, or James, Jesus’ skeptical brother, becoming a believer both shifts requiring more than imagination.[19] Jewish theology compounds the issue: resurrection was an end-times event, not mid-history. William Lane Craig explains, “The Hallucination Hypothesis has weak explanatory power… Subjective visions… would have envisioned [Jesus] in Paradise, where the righteous dead awaited the eschatological resurrection… The inference ‘He is risen from the dead’… would have been wholly unnatural to a first century Jew,” who expected the righteous in Abraham’s bosom (Luke 16:19-31), not bodily return.[24][25][26][27] The New Testament accounts remain the best explanation.

To test the hallucination hypothesis, I calculated the probability of 11 disciples simultaneously hallucinating the same events seeing, hearing, and touching a risen Jesus over 40 days, while maintaining a coherent narrative. Using a 5-15% lifetime hallucination rate [20], adjusting for multimodal rarity (10% of cases [19]) and the disciples’ profiles (young males, half as likely), and assuming a modest 1 million possible hallucination scenarios, the probability for one event is 2.47×10^(−95). Over 10 events, with a 1% chance of narrative coherence per event, and factoring in the empty tomb, Paul’s and James’s conversions, and the cultural mismatch (Jews expected the dead in Abraham’s bosom [24][26][27]), the final probability is 9.47×10^(−1155) equivalent to a 1 in 1.06  times 10^(1154) or roughly a 1 in 106 followed by 1151 zeros chance (see Appendix) this is indistinguishable from zero in any practical way, making the hallucination hypothesis impractical as a plausible explanation for the belief in Christianity. 

Atonement: The Better Way

If Jesus rose, he fulfills God’s promise as the ultimate reconciliation for sin. Hebrews 11:39 notes Old Testament saints “did not receive what was promised”; Jesus delivers it (Psalms 39:12, 119:19; 1 Chronicles 29:14-15; Hebrews 11:13-14). Paul writes in Romans 3:21-25, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe… justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus,” with his death as a hilastérion a sin offering echoing the Day of Atonement.[28] Scholars suggest this predates Paul, possibly fueling his early opposition before conversion.[28][29][30][31][32] Abraham’s faith earned righteousness; Jesus’ sacrifice extends it universally.

Closing Remarks

I have offered substantial reasons to trust the eyewitnesses they saw the risen Christ. No cultural precedent supported a dying and rising Messiah; Jews anticipated a triumphant leader and end-times resurrection. Hallucinations fail they are solitary, rare in multiple senses, and don’t fit the disciples’ profiles, nor explain the empty tomb, Paul’s, or James’s conversions. The New Testament, rooted in early testimony, provides the most coherent account.

The Greatest Question

Thus, we face the pivotal question: who is this Jesus? He asked, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:27). Peter answered, “The Christ.” What do you say? This is too profound for agnosticism, it demands a clear response. If God exists, it is humanity’s paramount inquiry. The evidence provided points to Jesus as God’s Son, risen and the only way to salvation. If true, this isn’t just history it’s your answer too.

References

[1] What Proof Do You Have That Jesus is the Messiah? - Jews for Jesus
[2] www.mainstreamapologetics.org/evidences/HIS-EV25.html (Matthew) 
[3] www.mainstreamapologetics.org/evidences/HIS-EV26.html (Mark)
[4] www.mainstreamapologetics.org/evidences/HIS-EV27.html (Luke)
[5] www.mainstreamapologetics.org/evidences/BIB-EV75.html (John)
[6] The Evidence for Jesus Christ | Micah Ministries 
[7] Gary R. Habermas, The risen Jesus & future hope, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc. 2003. P17-18.
[8] Gary R. Habermas, Evidence for the Historical Jesus: Is the Jesus of History the Christ of Faith?, 2015. www.garyhabermas.com/evidence
[9] Michael R. Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach, InterVarsity Press. 2010. P223-235
[10] Gary R. Habermas, The Historical Jesus – Ancient Evidence for The Life of Jesus, College Press Publishing Company. 1996. P152-162
[11] Roots of the Rebellion: False Messiahs - Reading Acts
[12] https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12416-pseudo-messiahs
[13] Why I (Actually) Discuss Hallucinations - The Bart Ehrman Blog
[14] Were Group Hallucinations Been Behind Visions of Mary (ehrmanblog.org)
[15] Group Hallucinations How Can They Possibly Happen (ehrmanblog.org)
[16] Unbelievable? NT Wright and Tom Holland: How St Paul changed the world | Shows | Unbelievable (premierunbelievable.com)
[17] Hallucinations and hearing voices - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
[18] Michael R. Licona, “The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach”, pp. 484
[19] Michael R. Licona, “The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach”, pp. 483-484
[20] https://www.livescience.com/50999-hallucinations-delusions-common.html
[21] How many people were in Galilee in Jesus time? – TeachersCollegesj
[22] https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa101 Why Do Hallucinations Occur in Dementia? | Psychology Today
[23] https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/scholarly-writings/historical-jesus/visions-of-jesus-a-critical-assessment-of-gerd-ludemanns-hallucination-hypo
[24] https://youtu.be/WsUwyC2cwNg - Alex O’Connor & William Lane Craig discuss the resurrection and rival hypotheses.
[25] https://ntwrightpage.com/2016/04/05/the-resurrection-of-resurrection/
[26] https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-resurrection-of-the-dead/
[27] https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/abrahams-bosom.html
[28] Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament, I, p. 46.
[29] Ernst Kasemann, “Zum Verstandnis von RThroughm. 3:24-26,” ZNW, 43 (1950-51), pp. 150-54.
[30] A. M. Hunter, Paul and His Predecessors, pp. 120-22.
[31] Talbert, Charles H. “A Non-Pauline Fragment at Romans 3:24-26?” Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 85, no. 3, 1966, pp. 287–96. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3264242. Accessed 21 May 2023.
[32] J.D.G Dunn, “Word Biblical Commentary – Vol 38a, Romans 1-8” 1988, Thomas Nelson, pp 164.

Appendix: Calculation of the Probability of 11 People Simultaneously Hallucinating the Same Events Over 40 Days

Step 1: Baseline Probability of a Multimodal Hallucination

Lifetime Hallucination Rate: Studies suggest 5-15% of people hallucinate in their lifetime [20]. We’ll use the midpoint:

P(hallucination in lifetime)=0.10P(\text{hallucination in lifetime}) = 0.10P(\text{hallucination in lifetime}) = 0.10

Annual Probability: Assuming a lifetime of 80 years:

P(hallucination per year)=0.10÷80=0.00125P(\text{hallucination per year}) = 0.10 \div 80 = 0.00125P(\text{hallucination per year}) = 0.10 \div 80 = 0.00125

Daily Probability: Over 365 days:

P(hallucination per day)=0.00125÷365≈0.000003424P(\text{hallucination per day}) = 0.00125 \div 365 \approx 0.000003424P(\text{hallucination per day}) = 0.00125 \div 365 \approx 0.000003424

Probability Over 40 Days: Probability of at least one hallucination in 40 days:

P(no hallucination in 40 days)=(1−0.000003424)40≈0.999863P(\text{no hallucination in 40 days}) = (1 - 0.000003424)^{40} \approx 0.999863P(\text{no hallucination in 40 days}) = (1 - 0.000003424)^{40} \approx 0.999863

P(at least one hallucination in 40 days)=1−0.999863≈0.000137P(\text{at least one hallucination in 40 days}) = 1 - 0.999863 \approx 0.000137P(\text{at least one hallucination in 40 days}) = 1 - 0.999863 \approx 0.000137

Multimodal Adjustment: Multimodal hallucinations (visual, auditory, tactile) are rare, estimated at 10% of hallucinations [19]:

P(multimodal in 40 days)=0.000137×0.10≈0.0000137P(\text{multimodal in 40 days}) = 0.000137 \times 0.10 \approx 0.0000137P(\text{multimodal in 40 days}) = 0.000137 \times 0.10 \approx 0.0000137

Profile Adjustment: The disciples are young males, not fitting the typical profile (seniors, females, mentally ill) [19]. Assume they’re half as likely:

P(multimodal, adjusted)=0.0000137×0.5≈0.00000685P(\text{multimodal, adjusted}) = 0.0000137 \times 0.5 \approx 0.00000685P(\text{multimodal, adjusted}) = 0.0000137 \times 0.5 \approx 0.00000685

Step 2: Probability of Identical Hallucinations with a More Modest Scenario Count

Number of Possible Scenarios: To steelman the hallucination hypothesis, let’s assume a more modest 1 million possible hallucination scenarios (e.g., 100 figures × 100 settings × 100 actions), rather than 10 billion:

P(specific hallucination)=1/1,000,000=10−6P(\text{specific hallucination}) = 1 / 1,000,000 = 10^{-6}P(\text{specific hallucination}) = 1 / 1,000,000 = 10^{-6}

Probability of One Person Hallucinating This Specific Event:

P(same multimodal hallucination)=0.00000685×10−6=6.85×10−9P(\text{same multimodal hallucination}) = 0.00000685 \times 10^{-6} = 6.85 \times 10^{-9}P(\text{same multimodal hallucination}) = 0.00000685 \times 10^{-6} = 6.85 \times 10^{-9}

Probability for 11 People: Assuming independence [18]:

P(all 11 hallucinate same event)=(6.85×10−9)11≈2.47×10−95P(\text{all 11 hallucinate same event}) = (6.85 \times 10^{-9})^{11} \approx 2.47 \times 10^{-95}P(\text{all 11 hallucinate same event}) = (6.85 \times 10^{-9})^{11} \approx 2.47 \times 10^{-95}

Step 3: Narrative Coherence Over 40 Days

Number of Events: Assume 10 distinct group events over 40 days (e.g., upper room, Galilee appearances).

Probability of Identical Hallucinations for 10 Events:

P(10 events)=(2.47×10−95)10≈9.47×10−947P(\text{10 events}) = (2.47 \times 10^{-95})^{10} \approx 9.47 \times 10^{-947}P(\text{10 events}) = (2.47 \times 10^{-95})^{10} \approx 9.47 \times 10^{-947}

Narrative Coherence: Hallucinations are individual, and maintaining a consistent narrative across 11 people is unlikely [18]. Assume a 1% chance (0.01) of alignment per event:

P(coherence for 1 event)=0.0110=10−20P(\text{coherence for 1 event}) = 0.01^{10} = 10^{-20}P(\text{coherence for 1 event}) = 0.01^{10} = 10^{-20}

For 10 events:

P(coherence over 10 events)=(10−20)10=10−200P(\text{coherence over 10 events}) = (10^{-20})^{10} = 10^{-200}P(\text{coherence over 10 events}) = (10^{-20})^{10} = 10^{-200}

Combined Probability:

P(10 events with coherence)=9.47×10−947×10−200≈9.47×10−1147P(\text{10 events with coherence}) = 9.47 \times 10^{-947} \times 10^{-200} \approx 9.47 \times 10^{-1147}P(\text{10 events with coherence}) = 9.47 \times 10^{-947} \times 10^{-200} \approx 9.47 \times 10^{-1147}

Step 4: Additional Constraints

Empty Tomb, Paul, and James: Hallucinations don’t explain the empty tomb, Paul’s conversion, or James’s transformation [19]. Assume a 1% chance (0.01) for each to align coincidentally:

P(tomb, Paul, James)=0.013=10−6P(\text{tomb, Paul, James}) = 0.01^3 = 10^{-6}P(\text{tomb, Paul, James}) = 0.01^3 = 10^{-6}

9.47×10−1147×10−6≈9.47×10−11539.47 \times 10^{-1147} \times 10^{-6} \approx 9.47 \times 10^{-1153}9.47 \times 10^{-1147} \times 10^{-6} \approx 9.47 \times 10^{-1153}

Cultural Context: Jews expected the dead in Abraham’s bosom, not bodily resurrection [24][26][27]. Probability of hallucinating a culturally incongruent event: 1% (0.01):

P(final adjusted)=9.47×10−1153×0.01≈9.47×10−1155P(\text{final adjusted}) = 9.47 \times 10^{-1153} \times 0.01 \approx 9.47 \times 10^{-1155}P(\text{final adjusted}) = 9.47 \times 10^{-1153} \times 0.01 \approx 9.47 \times 10^{-1155} 

Calculations done by Grok, created by xAI