Defending the Hallucination Theory - Part 38: The Second Empty-Tomb Objection (Objection #12)

 WHERE WE ARE

In Part 37, I argued that Peter Kreeft's Objection #11 was not actually an objection to the Hallucination Theory, and that even if Objection #11 was correct, it would NOT show that the Hallucination Theory is FALSE.  

The point of Objection #11 is to show that the Hallucination Theory implies "the empty tomb", so Objection #11 provides some support to Objection #13, which is based upon the assumption that the tomb of Jesus was empty when the eleven disciples began to believe that Jesus had physically risen from the dead.  Thus, Objection #11 is actually just a part of Objection #13, and does not constitute a separate objection against the Hallucination Theory. Therefore, Objection #11 FAILS to show that the Hallucination Theory is FALSE, just like all of the previous ten objections.

It is now time to examine Objection #12.

OBJECTION #12: THE DISCIPLES COULD NOT PERSUADE OTHERS (OF JESUS' RESURRECTION) IF THE TOMB WAS NOT EMPTY.

Kreeft states Objection #12 in just one sentence:

12. If the apostles had hallucinated and then spread their hallucinogenic story, the Jews would have stopped it by producing the body—unless the disciples had stolen it, in which case we are back with the conspiracy theory and all its difficulties.       (HCA, p.188)

As usual, Kreeft does not bother to state the conclusion of his argument, but we can provide the conclusion ourselves:

A. The Hallucination Theory is FALSE.

The phrase "the apostles" needs clarification, as does the phrase "their hallucinogenic story":

1. IF some or all of the eleven disciples had dreamed or hallucinated about the risen Jesus and then began to preach that Jesus had physically risen from the dead, THEN the Jews would have stopped it by producing the body, UNLESS the disciples had stolen it.

The phrase "the Jews" is a bit anti-Semitic in this context and is also VAGUE, so that phrase needs to be revised and clarified.  The phrase "stopped it" is a bit UNCLEAR and thus needs to be revised, and the phrase "the body" is also a bit UNCLEAR.  Thus, further clarifications of this statement are needed in order to make it possible to rationally evaluate this statement and the argument Kreeft is presenting:

1A. IF some or all of the eleven disciples had dreamed or hallucinated about the risen Jesus and then began to preach that Jesus had physically risen from the dead, THEN the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem would have stopped the spread of the belief that Jesus had physically risen from the dead by publically producing the dead body of Jesus, UNLESS the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb where Jesus' body had been placed after his crucifixion.

The final phrase in Kreeft's original sentence is this:

...in which case we are back with the conspiracy theory and all its difficulties.

This phrase suggests a couple more claims and an inference:

B. Serious problems with the Conspiracy Theory show that this theory is false.

C. IF the Conspiracy Theory is false, THEN it is NOT the case that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb where Jesus' body had been placed after his crucifixion.

Thus:

D. It is NOT the case that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb where Jesus' body had been placed after his crucifixion.

The combination of the UNSTATED premise (D) with premise (1A), implies a simpler conditional claim than (1A):

1A. IF some or all of the eleven disciples had dreamed or hallucinated about the risen Jesus and then began to preach that Jesus had physically risen from the dead, THEN the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem would have stopped the spread of the belief that Jesus had physically risen from the dead by publically producing the dead body of Jesus, UNLESS the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb where Jesus' body had been placed after his crucifixion.

D. It is NOT the case that the disciples had stolen the body of Jesus from the tomb where Jesus' body had been placed after his crucifixion.

Thus: 

E. IF some or all of the eleven disciples had dreamed or hallucinated about the risen Jesus and then began to preach that Jesus had physically risen from the dead, THEN the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem would have stopped the spread of the belief that Jesus had physically risen from the dead by publically producing the dead body of Jesus.

It appears that I was previously mistaken in thinking that Objection #12 was not an objection to the Hallucination Theory and that the point of Objection #12 was, like Objection #11, to show that the Hallucination Theory implies "the empty tomb".  Now that I have clarified Objection #12, it looks like this is in fact an objection against the Hallucination Theory and not just support for "the empty tomb" assumption. 

Premise (E) is a key premise in the core argument for Objection #12, but we also need to make explicit an UNSTATED premise that links the Hallucination Theory to elements in premise (E):

E. IF some or all of the eleven disciples had dreamed or hallucinated about the risen Jesus and then began to preach that Jesus had physically risen from the dead, THEN the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem would have stopped the spread of the belief that Jesus had physically risen from the dead by publically producing the dead body of Jesus.

 F. IF the Hallucination Theory were true, THEN some or all of the eleven disciples had dreamed or hallucinated about the risen Jesus and then began to preach that Jesus had physically risen from the dead AND the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem did NOT stop the spread of the belief that Jesus had physically risen from the dead.

Therefore:

 A. The Hallucination Theory is FALSE. 

Now we can diagram the structure of the argument constituting Objection #12: 

In the next Part of this series, I will evaluate the argument for Objection #12.