Well, I have just finished what is quite definitely the largest paper I have ever written. She said it needs some minor tweaking, but overall it's an A paper.:D
At the request, I will post some of it. This is NOT the whole thing; GameSpot won't let me post all of that. I will start with my first paragraph, minus the thesis statement. The paper is about whether or not Jesus' Resurrection can be appropriately explained by naturalistic means. Enjoy!
The first of these scenarios is the story scenario: The proposal that Jesus simply did not come back from the dead; that the Resurrection is a myth the Church came up with centuries later in order to add divinity to an enthusiastic man named Jesus. While this seems to make the most sense, it leaves several questions unanswered. If Jesus never came back, why did the Apostles all make up such an astounding story? And why did anybody believe them? After all, all anybody ever had to do was go to the tomb, find Jesus' body, and the Resurrection would be disproven. If the Resurrection was a myth that was invented by the Church long after the Apostles died, then the Apostles saw something that wasn't there.
The next scenario is the hallucination scenario: The Apostles thought they saw Jesus but it was actually a hallucination generated by their grieving minds. But if this is true, then that means eleven people with no history of mental illness all suddenly saw (and heard) the exact same illusions. In addition, if it was a hallucination, why did Thomas, one of the Apostles, refuse to believe it until he, too, saw Jesus for himself? You cannot choose when and where to see a hallucination. Also, according to the Bible, there were many witnesses to Jesus after His Resurrection:
1. Appearance to Mary Magdalene. (Matt 28:9-10, Mark 16:9, John 20:14-17)
2. Appearance to Peter. (Luke 24:34, 1 Corinthians 15:5)
3. Appearance to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. (Mark 16:12, Luke 24:15-31)
4. Appearance to the eleven disciples. (Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:36-49, John 20:19-23)
5. Appearance to the eleven disciples on a mountain. (Matt 28:16-20)
6. Appearance to the eleven disciples before ascension (Mark 16:14-18, Luke 24:36-49, Acts 1:6-9)
7. Appearance to Thomas and the disciples (John 20:26-29)
8. Appearance to Peter, Thomas and two other disciples at Sea of Tiberius. (John 21:1-23)
9. Appearances over the course of 40 days. (Acts 1:3)
10. Appearance to "more than 500". (1 Corinthians 15:16)
Even if some of these are fake stories made up by the Church, that doesn't change the Apostles' accounts, since they actually existed and died for their beliefs. Finally, as I said above, all any of them had to do was go to the tomb, find Jesus' body, and see that they were simply delusional. It is quite obvious that the Apostles were not insane.
The next scenario is the liar scenario: The Apostles took Jesus' body from the tomb, and lied about His Resurrection in order to promote an unknown agenda. This scenario explains why nobody found Jesus' dead body when they looked in the tomb, and why so many people then believed the Apostles' testimony that Jesus had risen from the dead. However, we must ask the question: How in the world did the Apostles sneak Jesus past the Roman guard who was put in place to prevent exactly that? There are a few explanations:
1. Perhaps the guard fell asleep. But then, how was he not woken by the sound of the boulder being rolled away by the Apostles? Why would he fall asleep on the job when doing so meant he would be executed? Execution would be a bit of an incentive to stay awake, no matter the situation.
2. Perhaps he was bribed, and then fled the wrath of the Romans. But if this is true, why did the Apostles, who knew that it was all a lie, not recant their belief in the Resurrection when they were captured and tortured by the Romans? Every single Apostle was tortured, and offered freedom, if they merely said it was all a lie. Not a single one of them ever did, and for it they all died by crucifixion, one of the worst deaths imaginable. Even on their crosses, the Apostles never recanted their solid belief in the Resurrection.
The next scenario is the survival scenario: Jesus in fact did not die on the Cross, but survived in a comatose state inside the tomb for three days, woke up, rolled away the stone, and appeared before the Apostles, who mistakenly thought He had risen from the dead. By now you should realize how ludicrous this scenario is. If true, then this means that the Roman guard who speared Jesus to make sure He died was wrong, that Jesus survived the massive blood loss from the holes in His hands, feet, and side, that He survived the cold of the tomb for three days (in His sleep) without food or water, that He rolled away the stone (by Himself!) despite His broken shoulders (from hanging on the Cross for three hours), and still looked presentable enough for the Apostles to believe He had risen from the dead. Along with all of this, Jesus survived for forty days with the Apostles before passing away. This scenario is absolutely impossible.
And that's all I can post. Here are some of my resources:
And, used even more than the above, a skeptic's article.
You can also read this debate between them for a much more compehensive rundown of what is in my essay.