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Part 7 Was it a hallucination of the disciples? There are people who still think they see a fat, gray-haired Elvis playing darts in the cafe next door. And then there are those who think they spent the previous night with extraterrestrials, on the mothership, at the mercy of indescribable tests. Sometimes, some people are able to "see" things the way they want them to be, things that are not even there. That is why some claim that the disciples would be so out of it and dismayed after the crucifixion that the desire to see Jesus alive caused a large-scale hallucination, a massive effect. Plausible? Psychologist Gary Collins, former president of the American Association of Christian Counselors, was asked the question of whether hallucinations are behind the disciples' radical change in behavior. Collins commented: “Hallucinations are individualized occurrences. By its very nature, a hallucination can only be observed by one person at a time. It is certainly not something to be seen by groups of people. ” Hallucination is not even a remote possibility, according to psychologist Thomas J. Thorburn. “It is absolutely inconceivable that… five hundred people, in full power of their mental capacities… could experience all kinds of sensory impressions — visual, auditory and tactile — and that all these… experiences were entirely due to… a hallucination.” Furthermore, in the psychology of hallucinations, a person would need to be in a state of mind in which he wanted to see the other in such a way that his mind projected him. Two of the leading leaders of the early Church, James and Paul, both met a resurrected Jesus, with no expectation or hope of satisfaction. On the contrary, the apostle Paul led the first persecutions of Christians, and his conversion remains inexplicable, except for his testimony that Jesus appeared to him, raised the dead.
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