Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: tblake@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas Blake) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The missing body/Empty tomb Message-ID: Date: 25 Apr 91 02:55:21 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: State University of New York at Binghamton Lines: 74 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article irani@brahms.udel.edu (Jennifer Irani) writes: > > Now that the celebrations of Easter and Lent are officially over, >could someone please answer a question that I hear quite frequently. In >the Gospels we are told that Jesus' body was missing from the tomb. He had >risen. However, many poeple seem to ask, how can Christians assume that >He rose and that someone just didn't steal the body? I have always heard >the most common answer that the stone was too heavy for the disciples to move, >however, in Matthew 27:60, it says that Joseph rolled the stone in front of >the tomb after placing Jesus' body in there. So it wouldn't be that hard >for others to move it away then. Even if the stone was extremely heavy, Jesus had a number of disciples. If men could put the stone in place, men could move it. > And there is also the suggestion that the guards were standing near >the tomb. Obviously, these guards had there life on the line if the body was >to be found missing. So who is Mary referring to then when she says in >John 20:2--"They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where >they have put him!" Mary still did not believe that Jesus had risen, she only knew that the body was missing. Her "logical" conclusion was that someone had taken the body. She didn't know who, she just knew it was gone! Later in the same chapter, Jesus appeared to Mary and she understood. > And yes, Jesus appeared to people after His death, but then, so is >Elvis. Could anyone please give some logical answers. It does matter, this >is what the Christian faith is founded on--that Christ didn't just die, but >rose! I can't show you the empty grave Jennifer even if I could it wouldn't prove anything. You already accept that the grave was empty. I won't tell you that the disciples *couldn't* have stolen the body. I can't prove that. I can ask you a question. Why would they? "Well, to prove that Jesus was the Messiah!" The Gospel accounts have the eleven running for their lives! By the accounts, when ever Jesus talked about his death and resurection they didn't understand what he was talking about! When Jesus asked them "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said that he was the Messiah, and Jesus treated his statement as remarkable. (Apparantly the others weren't so foresightful.) And yet, even Peter denied knowing Jesus. Can you see this bunch of guys getting together *the day after the crucifixion* and saying "Hey! I know, we'll steal the body, and say he rose from the dead!" When Jesus appeared to them they were in hiding! Okay, so let's assume that the whole thing was a practical joke. The disciples stole the body, then the Gospel writers went back and put words in Jesus' mouth predicting that he would rise again after three days. Wouldn't they have been a little more straight-forward? Wouldn't they have portrayed the disciples just a little better? (Like as wise saints, rather than bickering fisherman who had to have everything explained to them.) Indeed, while one Gospel records two of the disciples asking for the choice spots in Heaven, another one has their mother asking on their behalf. (Apparantly an attempt to portray these disciples in a little better light.) You see, I just can't make the conspiracy theory work. Mind you, I still haven't proved that Jesus rose from the dead. Instead, a snatch from an old hymn. You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart. None of us on this list will be able to *prove* to you that Jesus rose from the dead, or that the body was stolen. You'll have to find that *proof* for yourself. Tom Blake SUNY-Binghamton