Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: EFL0@ns.cc.lehigh.edu (Ed Lamb) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The missing body/empty tomb Message-ID: Date: 23 Apr 91 07:41:14 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 46 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Jennifer, You've raised some very good questions. I hope I can be of some help. First, about the stone. I do not know if this is the case, but if the stone were brought down from a higher place, it could have been moved easily, while being hard to move again. Second, about stealing the body. This could not have been the case for a number of reasons. If we say the soldiers took it, we must then say that later, when the empire tried to crush christianoty, they conveniently forgot the very thing which would silence Christians, namely, that Jesus did not rise from the dead. If we say that the disciples took it, we will have a battle from our psychologists. Why? Because while you can get people to die for something they believe in, you cannot get twelve guys to die for a known lie. Every disciple died for what they claimed to have seen. In contrast, look at watergate. There a few men, with "everything according to plan" could not keep up their cover when faced with just a few years of prison. How do you expect the disciples to give up their lives for a "known lie?" Third, in John 20:2, the "they" may refer to the guards. One must remember that she was in a state of grief, and didn't take in that the guards would lose their lives if they stole the body. Fourth, Jesus appeared to 500 people at once, not spread out. And he was only seen for fourty days. Elvis is never seen by a large (500) group, and it has been 14 years since he died. Why did people stop seeing Jesus after that? Fifth, you are absolutely right when you say that Christianity is founded on the resurrection. If it didn't happen Christianity is useless. If it did, it is the only way. Ed ________________________________________________________________________ Ed Lamb .387 average Catcher 53 home runs Philadelphia Phillies 157 runs batted in National League MVP 67 stolen bases World Series MVP ________________________________________________________________________ --Hey, I can dream, can't I ??????