Eyewitness Testimony in the Bible in worth as much as the $500 bill below. Read on for more details...

 

Table of Contents

Eyewitness Testimony Invalidated

The Road to Emmaus Story  (complete text from the Bible)

Greek Lexicon and Commentary Data

Responses to Eyewitness Testimony  (separate web page)

 

 

Eyewitness Testimony Invalidated

Dr. William Lane Craig*  in his debates against Atheists likes to use his trademark  "...five good reasons to believe..."  routine. One of his main reasons is the eyewitness testimony to the resurrection of Jesus, as claimed within the New Testament. But Craig will be coming up one reason short from now on, and following is the reason why...     *[see also  http://www.jcnot4me.com/Items/contra_craig/contra_craig.htm ]

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Police Lineup        In a police lineup, eyewitnesses are called in to identify "who done it" from a lineup of several individuals. At the crime scene prior to this, as the crime itself took place, these eyewitnesses may have caught just a fleeting sideways glance at the robber or murderer as he or she sped by. The purpose of the lineup is to try and joggle their memory, for to the eyewitnesses in a police lineup, the suspect was, and still is, a total stranger. Contrary to that, in a crime situation where everyone knows each other, there'd be little point in conducting a police lineup afterwards. For example, in a domestic murder that takes place around the family dinner table, let's say the husband shoots the wife; they're not going to call in the children who were present at the table to a police lineup to try and pick out their dad- there'd be no point in that. But imagine if they did, and further imagine if the children were honestly unable to pick out their dad from the crowd as being the suspect! Hard to imagine? Suspicious? Yet this is the exact same problem one finds within the New Testament regarding the so-called eyewitnesses to the alleged resurrection of Jesus Christ.        

Mr. X        There are several instances within the gospel stories where men and women who had known Jesus intimately during his life- his best friends and associates- these people were unable to pick him out of  the "police lineup" after his alleged resurrection. These people were presented with a "Mr. X" who himself or by others had claimed to be Jesus resurrected from the dead, yet these eyewitnesses failed to pick him out of the "police lineup". A situation such as this should immediately set off warning bells in the minds of thinking Christians that maybe that really wasn't Jesus after all- that maybe the corpse of the real Jesus was decomposing somewhere even as some imposter was prancing about pretending to be him, able to fool some , but not all, of Jesus' best friends. For to some, when they looked at him, they saw Jesus; to others, they saw a "Mr. X" who though claiming to be Jesus; didn't look, act, sound, move, or converse like Jesus at all. How can this be? How can there be such a problem with the eyewitnesses and why hasn't this been stressed before??? Let's examine some of these incidents in more detail.

 

 

That's Not Him!

The Witnesses:     Several of Jesus' Apostles

The Text:     Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him--but some of them still doubted!  (Matthew 28: 16,17  NLT)

My Comments:     These men who doubted were Jesus' APOSTLES- the men who had been with him 24/7 for the past three years, and the men who would have known him best. Yet among this group there were several to whom the man speaking to them did not look, act, or even sound like Jesus. Out of a police lineup, they would in no way have picked Mr. X to be Jesus, yet people like Craig seem to ignore this fact when pushing his "eyewitnesses" on people. How could this be, though? How could Mr. X to some look like Jesus, but not to others? What was going on here?

That's Not Him, Officer!

The Witnesses:     Cleopas & Friend

The Text:     Afterward he appeared to two who were walking from Jerusalem into the country, but they didn't recognize him at first because he had changed his appearance.   ( Mark 16:12  NLT)

My Comments:     Bingo! At last we have a possible explanation for what was going on here. They didn't recognize Mr. X for  Mr. X was able to CHANGE HIS APPEARANCE, much like the ShapeShifters of  television's Star Trek's Deep Space Nine show. I'll come back to this idea later.

That's Still Not Him Officer!

The Witnesses:     Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples.

The Text:     When the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples [in the boat] did not know that it was Jesus [on the shore]...Jesus said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?"... so when they got out upon the land... none of the disciples ventured to question him "Who are you?" knowing that it was the Lord.  (John 21:4-12  NASB)

My Comments:     The boat being "not far from the land...about 300 feet away" and close enough for Peter to swim to shore, was obviously close enough for them to get a good look at the man on shore- and the man they saw did NOT look like Jesus to them. Then they had a conversation with the man on shore talking (not shouting) to them, as the boat was that close. But the voice they heard apparently didn't sound like Jesus to them either, and experience teaches us that we would all recognize the voice of our best friend- but this voice they did not recognize. After maybe 10 or 15 minutes had gone by, long enough for them to prepare the net, cast the net, wait, and try to pull it back in, one of them finally came up with the idea that "Hey! I bet that's Jesus!"  But even after landing, even after clearly seeing the man on shore and getting face to face- the wording suggests they still had doubts as to who this man was. The text, as Shakespeare may have put it, protests too much.

Officer, Aren't You Listening? I Don't Know This Man!

The Witness:     Mary Magdalene

The Text:     When she had said this, she turned around, and beheld Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabboni", which means teacher. Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to me..."   (John 20: 14-17 NASB)

My Comments:     Mary, another of Jesus' traveling companions, whom some have said may have warmed his bed on cold nights, this same Mary, even when face to face and carrying on a conversation with Mr. X, did not think for one second that Mr. X was Jesus! She was obviously within arm's reach of him, as he had to tell her to stop hanging on him, and she obviously got a very good look at him, as she looked at his face long enough to identify him and decided that he was the gardener. Having seen and talked with this man up close, she would not have picked him out of a police lineup as being Jesus- the gardener, yes. Jesus, no. My question to Christians is, of what good then is eyewitness testimony that clearly identifies the "culprit" as being someone else??? Rather than being eyewitnesses for some supposed resurrection of Jesus, all of the above actually turn out to be the opposite!

 

 

 

But the best witnesses I have saved for last...

 

The Road to Emmaus Story
Luke 24: 13-34

According to the New Testament, a mystery man spent several hours hanging out with two of Jesus' best friends. These two were men with whom Jesus had spent almost every day and night of the past three years with, a part of his "gang". These three chit-chatted as they walked along a country road from Jerusalem, heading for the town of Emmaus, seven miles away. For three or four hours, side by side, they were talking about this and talking about that, passing the time of day.

 

One of the things they talked about was the recent death of Jesus. The mystery man deceived them, feigning ignorance of the whole affair, so Cleopus and the other man filled him in. The mystery man deceived them yet again, when he lead them to believe he was going to continue the walk after the others stopped to eat supper.

And it appears, if the story is accurate, that this mystery man, Mr. X, deceived them (i.e. LIED) more than  just the two times above, for it turns out (according to the story) that this mystery man was none other than Jesus who had "magically" made himself look, sound, and act like somebody else the whole day! These two men had spent several hours up close and personal with their best friend, yet had no clue who the hell he really was, he was such a good liar and deceiver. It wasn't until the end of the day during supper that, according to the text, 

Then their eyes were opened
and they recognized him,
and he disappeared
from their sight.  (Luke 24:31)

 

But how can this be, the mystery man disappearing right before their eyes in a vanishing act when finally his secret identity became known. "Then their eyes were opened..." presto chango, very supernatural. And supernatural (which the Christians believe in) is the only explanation of how such a successful deceit could have been carried out without the use of wigs, makeup and voice coaches. Building on this, and operating within a Christian worldview, the only "rational" explanation is that there are beings within this universe who can change their appearance and voice to look and sound like anyone. This is much like the extinct TV show Star Trek- Deep Space Nine, where in episode #12 it explores the topic of "Shapeshifters", beings that can make themselves look like others. Once again, like C.S. Lewis and L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction and Christianity find themselves intermixed.

Various theories have been put forth trying to explain the reason these two were unable to recognize Jesus during the several hours they were all walking and conversing together. Some Christians aren't happy with the Bible implying "shapeshifting" or even "hypnotism".  It seems that some Christians just aren't happy with what their own book says is the reason, which is "they were KEPT FROM recognizing him" (Lk 24:16), and have instead tried to come up with less supernatural explanations.

 

Explanation	Why It Won't Fly
Sun in Eyes:   They were walking west at sundown, the sun was in their eyes, and that's why they couldn't see it was Jesus.	The direct light on the face of Mr. X  would have illuminated him even more, making it easier to see who it was. They started their walk at least three or four hours BEFORE sundown- therefore the sun would not have been in their eyes. This excuse never works in baseball and it sure as hell won't work here either.
Tears in Eyes:   They were so upset about Jesus dying three days before the tears blocked their vision; they were blinded by sorrow.	For them to keep up a crying like that for four hours, they would need an I.V. line direct from a bucket of tears to their tear ducts. IF they really were THAT upset, THEN they would not have been able to converse for four hours. They should have been HAPPY, not sad and crying, for just that morning their women reported that Jesus was actually alive- not dead- and had spoken to the women.
Preoccupied:   They were so preoccupied with sorrow they never even looked at Mr X's face.	IF they really were THAT upset, THEN they would not have been able to converse for four hours If they were THAT preoccupied, they would have been unable to walk without tripping over rocks and bashing their brains in. IF their best friend Jesus had just been killed, then their preoccupation would have had Jesus on their mind, and YES, they would have recognized Jesus in the flesh. They were not preoccupied to the extent that they forgot about their supper!
Glasses:   Back then there were no glasses. So maybe with their naked eyes they were not able to recognize Jesus' face.	Their lack of glasses didn't prevent them from recognizing Jesus' face three days earlier, nor for the three years prior. Even without glasses, a person can still identify their BEST friends easily. If they were THAT blind, Jesus would have healed them of it years earlier.
Out of Context:   They weren't expecting to ever see Jesus again - they had gotten used to the idea of him being dead, so it took a while for recognition to start functioning, for it to sink in, that Mr. X was Jesus.	No, very much IN context, for their context would have been one of expecting to meet Jesus, as just that morning their women had met and talked with Jesus in the flesh. Jesus was alive and well!!! It takes ALOT longer than a mere three days to purge the memory of a loved one from one's brain. If anything, the opposite to this theory would have been true- they'd still be in thought patterns where Jesus was still alive. They WERE expecting Jesus to come back, as he had made numerous promises to do just that- see Matthew 24 etc.

 

The fact is, even if Jesus had worn a bag over his head like the "Unknown Prophet" or a Halloween mask to completely hide his face, his best friends would have certainly figured out who this guy was after several hours of listening to him- his voice, mannerisms, and manner of speech would have given him away. And even if Jesus had the mask on AND kept his mouth shut the whole time,  Jesus' gait- the way he walked and carried himself- would have betrayed him. Each person has their own gait, which is why you can pick your friends out from the back even when they're a half a block ahead of you. As for recognizing your BEST friend, walking right next to you for hours- there's no question- you'd know who it is, with or without the science of Gait Recognition.

 

 So why didn't these two recognize Mr. X? If you're a Christian, the answer is obvious, as these Christians point out:

They were miraculously prevented from seeing who Jesus was.¹ (David Guzik)

Jesus joins them. Initially, "their eyes are restrained" so that it appears to them that Jesus is "in another form" (Luke 24:16; Mark 16:12).² (Gary Zeolla)

And from Walter Martin, in JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST,  we find this regarding what happened:

Again, Jehovah's Witnesses' idea that because Mary Magdalene and the disciples could not recognize Christ on three occasions "proves" that He had assumed "different bodies" other than the one in which He died upon the cross, is disposed of by Luke 24:16. Luke there tells us that when the disciples encountered Jesus their eyes were kept from recognizing Him as a direct act of Christ's will. When He finished His conversation, He allowed their sense of vision to perceive who He really was; thus "their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight" (verse 31).³

Shapeshifters do NOT "assume different bodies", but rather rework the one they already have, so please- no Christian quibbling over what Martin is saying here. The important thing is that the men going to Emmaus were deceived in what they saw, not how the deception took place. And any god that can divinely block what you see, can also insert stuff to see that isn't even there- making eyewitness testimony even more moot. Whether thru shapeshifting or hypnotism, the end result is the same: what is seen is not what's really there, and therefore eyewitness testimony becomes useless and untrustworthy. 

Sometimes it's Biblegod playing tricks with people's perception, but other times it's Biblesatan, so the poor Christian who believes in all these spooks and spirits really is caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Paul writes in 2nd Corinthians 4:3,4

Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds... that they might not see.  (NASB)

If Christians REALLY believe "The Road to Emmaus" story and such, there is no way they can ever trust eyewitness testimony again. Maybe the eyewitness saw it, maybe they didn't. Maybe Biblegod messed up their mind, or maybe it was Biblesatan- who knows anymore! All the eyewitnesses to the resurrected Christ- did they REALLY see Christ? Christians can't be so sure anymore... doubts are starting to form... must... fall down... and... grovel to Biblegod. But grovel all you want, that doesn't change the text, and the text clearly teaches that there are Shapeshifters in our universe who can change their appearance to look like anyone they want to. In the light of this development, eyewitness testimony can never again be trusted by any Bible believing Christian. What people think they are seeing may not be what is really there.

 

Luke 24:16   The Road to Emmaus Story
Version	Translation
New International Version	They were kept from recognizing him.
New American Standard Bible	Their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him.
Amplified	But their eyes were held, so that they did not recognize Him.
New Living Translation	But they didn't know who he was, because God kept them from recognizing him.
New Life Version	Something kept their eyes from seeing Who He was.
English Standard Version	But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
Contemporary English Version	But they did not know who he was.
New King James Version	But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

 

In the Christian worldview such things as Shapeshifters are possible (per the "Road to Emmaus" story currently under discussion). Beings exist (according to the Christians) who are able to change their shape, voice, and mannerisms to look and act and sound like anyone they want to- EVEN JESUS. In the "road trip" to Emmaus, who's to say for sure the Shapeshifter really was Jesus to start with? Fact is, nobody can safely say WHO the hell he really was before the day began. He may have been some guy named Fred, who made himself look like Joe for the walk, then changed into Jesus (in which form he departed from the two), and then when by himself reverted back to being Fred. 

Examples of ShapeShifting
	In the 1977 movie "Oh, God!" Joe Hovah shapeshifts into the form of George Burns to appear to John Denver.
	In Exodus 3: 1-5 of the Jewish Bible, Joe Hovah shapeshifts into the form of a burning bush to impress Moses.
	In the third chapter of Genesis of the Jewish Bible, BibleSatan shapeshifts into the form of a talking snake. Details are available from The Landover  Baptist Church. http://www.landoverbaptist.org/talkingsnake.html
	In Jesus' hometown of Nazareth, they gave him a real big welcome home party- they tried to kill him! The mob from the synagogue drug him up a mountain, and were going to force him off the cliff, when Jesus apparently shapeshifted and just walked out from their midst!  (Luke 4: 30,31)
	In the 2003 movie "Bruce Almighty" Biblegod lets Jim Carrey take over the helm for a while.

 

So if one of the Shapeshifters, after the death of Jesus, wanted to make himself look like Jesus, and then appear to the Apostles, appear to the women at the tomb, appear to the two walking to Emmaus, even appear to 500 at one time, there is no way in hell any Christians would have known the difference. Remember- once the door to the supernatural has been opened, anything is possible.

These "eyewitnesses" then, who saw Jesus, would have boldly marched off into the world, claiming to have seen the "resurrected" Christ, maybe even dying for their (false) belief. And 2000 years later, people such as Dr. William Lane Craig would be standing in front of audiences nationwide extolling his "five good reasons" why the resurrection was true- eyewitness testimony being the main reason.

But the damage doesn't stop with wrecking one of Craig's "five good reasons".  The concept of Shapeshifters destroys the value of eyewitness testimony for every single major player in the Bible. Was that really Moses coming down from the mountain? Was that really the Apostle Paul meeting with Peter in Jerusalem? Was that even really Peter??? WHO THE HELL KNOWS ANYMORE!!!! Nobody knows for sure who was who, who was where, or who said what. The end result is that the entire Bible deserves to be tossed in the trash as a totally unreliable document.

Even if shapeshifting was not the method- let's say it was hypnotism- the end result is the same. It doesn't matter whether the deception was internal to their brain or external in the Shapeshifter; the bottom line is they were made to see something that wasn't there, the end result being: all eyewitness testimony within the New Testament must now be discounted.  It also presents a problem for miracles, such as walking on water or bringing people back to life- if it was supernatural hypnotism being used on a massive scale, maybe these feats had no reality at all. Maybe all the miracles in the New Testament only took place within the minds of the beholders. In fact, these same problems would apply to the Old Testament just as well, for how can one can trust anything that anyone said or did in the Bible- for who knows who really said it or did it anymore? It could just have well been the devil hypnotizing people into thinking they were listening to Moses, Joshua or whoever.

But getting back to shapeshifting, who can even say for sure that it was really Jesus on the cross? People claimed to have SEEN Jesus on the cross, but with our new knowledge of shapeshifters, it could have been anyone- or even no one, up on the cross.  For all the Christians really know, the REAL Jesus (if there even WAS a "real" Jesus) could have gone into hiding a week prior, skipping off to India (as some believed back then), letting the shapeshifter take his place. The shapeshifter on the cross could have made his body look bloody and wounded, without really being in pain at all. Even the story of "Doubting Thomas" gets tossed in the trash- Thomas THOUGHT he saw Jesus, but who knows??? It might have been Fred having made himself look like Jesus, side wound  and all. But does the Bible REALLY teach Shapeshifting? And DID shapeshifting take place in the Bible? That is certainly what the "Road to Emmaus Story" hints at. But one doesn't have to stop at mere hints- in the Gospel known as Mark, chapter 16 verse 12, the text shouts loud and clear at full volume of shapeshifting, shapeshifting, and nothing else BUT shapeshifting!

 

Mark 16:12  & ShapeShifting
Translation	Text
New International Version	Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country.
New American Standard Version	After that, He appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking along on their way to the country.
Amplified Version	He appeared in a different form...
King James Version	He appeared in another form...
English Standard Version	He appeared in another form...
Contemporary English Version	Jesus appeared in another form to two disciples
Young's Literal Translation	He was manifested in another form...
Darby Translation	He was manifested in another form...
Wycliffe New Testament	He was manifested in another form...
American Standard Version	He was manifested in another form...
Worldwide English Version	After this, Jesus came to two disciples. He looked like a different person. They were walking out in the country.
New Living Translation	Afterward he appeared to two who were walking from Jerusalem into the country, but they didn't recognize him at first because he had changed his appearance.

In light of this, all of the eyewitness testimony that Christians use to prove Jesus rose from the dead needs to be thrown into the trash. The Christians have to believe in ShapeShifting (because their own Bible clearly teaches it), and until they can come up with a foolproof method of proving the "Jesus" these witnesses claimed to have seen really WAS Jesus, and not a mere ShapeShifter, we can not trust these witnesses.

This all may sound new and crazy to modern Christians, but to one group of early Christians it would have made perfect sense. These were the Gnostics,  who rejected the notion that Jesus ever had a physical body. They taught that the body of Jesus that people thought they saw was just an illusion, real in appearance, but not in substance. If the Road to Emmaus story is true, the Gnostics may not have been that far off after all.

Of course, all of these problems (and more!) are yours IF "the price is right", and the price is this: living within a Fundy worldview, and taking every burp and fart of the Bible as gospel truth. For IF you really believe "The Road to Emmaus Story" and Mark 16:12 then you'll have to believe that there were beings back then who could either change their shape to look like someone else, or could hypnotize masses of people into seeing what wasn't really there. Either way, people were made to see things that weren't there. And all of this leaves the Fundy Christian between a rock and a hard place. IF they keep the Emmaus story and Mark 16:12 in the Bible as gospel truth, THEN they must toss out just about every thing else. However, if they opt for editing out the Emmaus story as being fictional in order to save the resurrection story and such, then they've just destroyed their theory of Biblical Inerrancy, which will eventually call into doubt the very resurrection stories they were trying to save in the first place.  Given these options, what's a good Fundy to do???

So whether it's via Shapeshifting or Hypnotism, in future debates that Craig enters into, the so-called "eyewitness testimony" Craig brags about so much-  this can now be tossed into the nearest trash can. Craig just got the main pillar of his "five good reasons to believe"  knocked out from under him, and I hope the Atheist has the sense to use this knock-out punch for all it's worth.

So seeing how eyewitness testimony within the New Testament has now been discredited, that leaves only the question: In the light of Shapeshifters, what shape should Christianity shift to now?

 

 

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The Road to Emmaus Story
Luke 24: 13-35 NIV

 

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

 
He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?" "What things?" he asked.

"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see."

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

 

 

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1)   http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/david_guzik/sg/Luk_24.html

3)   http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/apl/jw/jw-050.txt

 

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