Can 500 People Hallucinate Same Thing at Same Time?

Dear friends:

I totally agree with the writer of following article that the resurrection of Jesus is the most important truth and a historical event that has established "Jesus is God Himself" and He is not a man made god. How can Jesus convince any Jews to believe He is also God( Trinity God, God the Son) when the Jews firmly believe there is only One God,YHWH, )(Jehovah God) even today? How can anyone convince one's own half brothers to believe that He is God? How can more than 500 people see the resurrected Jesus at the same time? Last but not least, how can Jesus' archenemy, Paul , burnt his bridges to the Jewish community without assurance of acceptance by the Christian community. The only explanation is that he encountered real Jesus on the road to Damascus to put Christians to jails and death. Because to Paul that is a blasphemy to the only God therefore those early Jewish Christians deserved being put to death. In 1 Corinthians 15:3-9, Paul was quoting the earliest Christian creed around 35-40 AD, that was immediately after Jesus' crucifixion. No legend is able to be developed and to be embellished in such a short time. (In 40 days, the resurrected Jesus has appeared to Peter, to His disciples, many Jews...etc. to various people in various places. the resurrection appearances are not just a couple of days!)

Now examine the Bible passage 1 Corinthians 15:3-9 for yourself and read a few explanations below. Read the whole article in the following link, if you are interested.

http://www.stephenjbedard.com/the-most-important-passage-for-doing-apologetics/

... I firmly believe that the most important truth that we can express is the resurrection of Jesus and this is the best passage for defending the resurrection of Jesus.

1. The passage from 1 Corinthians 15:3-9 (except for the last part) was not written by Paul. For critical scholars, that usually means that it is later. In this case, it means that it is earlier. This is an early church tradition that Paul is quoting. First Corinthians is already an early letter (around 55 AD) and so that would put this tradition 35-55 AD, probably on the earlier side. This would be our earliest tradition of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

2. Jesus died for our sins. Everyone other than Muslims would agree that Jesus died. But this passage shows us that the atoning nature of Jesus’ death was in the earliest tradition. It was not just a tragic or unjust death, it was a death that made a difference in our relationship with God.
Jesus appeared to more than five hundred. I once heard Gerd Ludemann present a reasonable case of how Peter could have hallucinated the appearance of Jesus based on the regret of his denial. That is fine but it does not explain the appearances to the five hundred. How do five hundred people hallucinate the same thing? Paul seems to suggest that people who doubt the resurrection of Jesus could go to Jerusalem and talk to these people....

6. Jesus appeared to James. In the Gospels we find James and the rest of Jesus’ family refusing to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. In Acts we have James as the leader of the Jerusalem church. How did this happen? The key is the special appearance of Jesus to James.

7. Jesus appeared to Paul. This is the part that Paul added to the earlier tradition. Why is this appearance to Paul important? In becoming a Christian, Paul burnt his bridges to the Jewish community without assurance of acceptance by the Christian community. The only explanation is that he experienced something real on the road to Damascus.

1 Corinthians 15:3-9English Standard Version (ESV)

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, thento all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.