The Christian argument for the bodily resurrection of Jesus would be a little stronger if the majority of NT scholars believed that the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, but they do not. Only a small minority of mostly evangelical Christian NT scholars (with an agenda—biblical inerrancy—) hold this view.
But even if the Gospels were written by eyewitnesses, or even if we could be certain that the four resurrection stories in the Gospels were originally told by eyewitnesses, who today would believe the eyewitness testimony of a bunch of uneducated, rural peasants claiming that they had just eaten a broiled-fish lunch with their recently executed former fishing buddy???
It is a silly story, folks. Modern, educated people should not fall for it.
Eyewitness testimony may be sufficient evidence for car accidents and murder trials, but it is not sufficient evidence to believe claims of sea monsters in Scottish lochs, alien abductions, or zombie sightings. If twelve guys told you that they had all eaten lunch with Big Foot on a recent hunting trip would you believe them? No. So why believe a second hand report that eleven fishermen (and one tax collector), two thousand years ago, ate a broiled fish lunch with a walking/talking dead guy (zombie)?
Escaping Christian Fundamentalism 
According to this site:
“Eyewitness misidentification is the greatest contributing factor to wrongful convictions proven by DNA testing, playing a role in more than 70% of convictions overturned through DNA testing nationwide.”
So, it’s insufficient even for the car accidents and murder trials.
Empirical evidence: there is no substitute.
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Amen, Ron! Amen.
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And yet similar methodology (eyewitness reliability) is put forward as ”evidence” by that homicide cop turned evangelical bumpkin, Wallace as ”case closed ” for his book Cold Case Christianity about the authenticity of the gospels.
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I have resisted reading Wallace’s book because he is not a scholar. However, since his book is quoted so often by amateur Christian apologists, I suppose I should read it to properly debate them. Maybe after I finish Brown’s book.
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There are plenty of You tubby vids. Imagine Strobel, Craig, and Licona all rolled into one with a sprinkling of Geisler for comedic effect.
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