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Have people in history been raised from the dead?

“Yes, after all…

  • People testify to modern miraculous resurrections

    There is actually some dispute about whether all dead humans have stayed dead. An attempt to document modern-day resurrections has been conducted recently by a skeptical Christian scholar, professor Craig Keener. (Miracles vol. 1 (Baker Academic, 2011), 543-579.) Keener is a well-published historical Jesus scholar and highly respected academic. His 2-volume book covers resurrections in volume 1, discussing accounts in Africa (including the author's own sister), Asia, the Philippines, Latin America, and the West.

    But plausibly,...

    • These are all false.1
    1. Whether it's likely that these are all false requires an in depth investigation (see Keener's book). What gets pointed out by Keener et. al. is that no matter how many resurrection accounts are accumulated, and how reliable they seem to be, one can always object, “God has never raised anyone in the past, so this new purported instance also ought to be rejected.” As long as God only rarely raises persons from the dead, only rarely having sufficient reason to do so, skeptics will always (understandably) look for any natural explanation or assume data tampering. The point is not to judge the rationality of this, but simply to note that it cannot be taken for granted that God has not raised anyone from the dead. Reports abound.

  • Biblically, God has raised several people from death

    In the Bible several figures are purportedly raised from the dead, miraculously, by God's power

    Consider 10 examples in the Bible...

    [Old Testament resurrections]

    • God raises a Zarepheth's son (1 Kings 17:21-22).
    • God raises a Shunamite's son (2 Kings 4:35).
    • God raises a man touching Elisha’s bones (2 Kings 12:31).
      [New Testament Resurrections]
    • God raises Jarius’s daughter (Luke 8:54-55).
    • God raises Lazarus (John 11:43-44).
    • God raises Tabitha (Acts 9:40-41).
    • God raises Eutychus (Acts 20:9-12).
    • God raises saints at Jesus’s crucifixion (Matt. 27:50-53
    • God raises Jesus from the dead (Matthew 28:5-8).
    • God raises the son of a widow (Luke 7:11-15).