Eyewitness Testimony Still Validated

This only took me about three minutes to refute:

Where Smith is way off is in that 1) despite the early lack of recognition, they DID recognize Jesus later; 2) there were several instances later where they did recognize him at once; 3) to appear in a guise was considered a "normal" thing for a deity to do, even in the OT (the way Joshua did not recognize the angel of the Lord, for example). The reason is most likely to get people to be "on spot" and paying attention and not falling all over themselves because a deity is manifested.


From Norman L. Geisler and Ron Rhodes:

A number of reasons can account for why he (Jesus) was not immediately recognized by his disciples:

1. Dullness - Luke 24:25-26
2. Disbelief - John 20:24-25
3. Disappointment - John 20:11-15
4. Dread - Luke 24:36-37
5. Dimness of light at daybreak - John 20: 1, 14-15
6. Distance - John 21:4
7. Different clothes - John 19:23-24; cf. 20:6-8

Notice, however, that the problem was only temporary, and before the appearance was over they were absolutely convinced that it was the same Jesus in the same physical body of flesh, bones, and scars he had before the resurrection. And they went out of his presence to turn the world upside down, fearlessly facing death, because they had not the slightest doubt that he had conquered death in the same physical body in which he had expereienced it. [Norman L. Gesiler and Ron Rhodes, Correcting the Cults, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005), 155]