Did the Apostles of Jesus Steal His Body?
Did Jesus die on the cross, be buried in the tomb, but his disciples steal his body? Is this explanation plausible? This brief video is part of the grad class I teach at Talbot School of Theology (Biola University): “In Defense of the Resurrection.” To hear an in-depth case for the Resurrection, which includes responses to leading naturalistic objections, consider joining me at Talbot!
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Simple question: If a Body went missing from a grave yard at what point do you decide the most logical and reasonable explanation is "the body came back to life and walked away?"
In the late 60's and early 70's a young hip evangelist appearing as a long haired Jesus Freak, came to this university town and spoke on this very topic in a rented warehouse near campus. I remember the flyer for the event showed the speaker sneaking off with the body of Jesus under his arm with the question "Did they steal Jesus' body?" I wonder if this might have been Sean McDowell's father. He would have been in his very early 30's.
I can't believe that no one has thought about that, but the disciples stole the body so they would be witnesses to Jesus's ressurection! They've heard Jesus talking about his ressurection, and maybe Jesus himself believed he was gonna be ressurected. My estimation is that he was a very good man who wanted to make the world a better place, very smart and wise, knowledgable on the scriptures etc, but also very religious (in the bad sense) and a bit deluted. He either thought he was gonna be raised from the dead, like scriptures predicted or that he was gonna go to heaven and be with God, as a reward for his sacrifice. The word messiah for the ancient jews didn't mean God. It meant "the chosen one of God". So his disciples remembered that Jesus had told them that he was gonna rise again and they weren't crushed by his death! Don't be fooled by the texts that claim that the disciples were frightened and confused. They were probably very well aware of how it was gonna go! The simplest and most likely explanation for a missing body is that it was moved by the disciples themselves, because they wanted Jesus to be with them so they would witness his ressurection! You gotta think smart here. These guys were NOT afraid, they were convinced that their master was gonna rise again, like he said! They trusted in him fully. Remember, they thought he was the chosen one of God! Paul later changed the story to make it seem like they underwent this huge personality shift.😒 Anyway, at the night after his crucifixion or the night after that, while they were all waiting and talking, someone said "hey guys! I have an amazing idea! Why don't we take the body of the lord to a private place, so we can be witnesses of His glory at the moment of the resurrection??" Of course some disagreed but most of them agreed because they probably believed that this would make them even more favourable to the eyes of God (something like "whoever sees him first gets the most points"). Plus, it was pretty easy to steal the body because there were no guards (contrary to the popular narrative, the romans had no reason to put a guard at the tomb, plus if they did they put it the NEXT day -so the body was still left unguarded the first night!). Anyways, they snicked out of the city to get the body and they put it to a different place, probably somebody's house where they would all gather the third night to witness his ressurection. Obviously, when the hours passed and the body stayed dead, they started panicking. In fear that thay would discover them and kill them, they burried the body or kept it somewhere safe until the opportunity arose that they could put it back im the tomb and acted as if nothing had happened. But the next day the women came running to tell them that the body was missing, and of course they acted as unbelieving as possible. Something in the lines of "get outta here you crazy women. Dead people don't rise from the dead you probably went to the wrong tomb" whisle side eye glance droplet of sweat on the forehead
You get the idea. The only reason we're given that that the disciples didn't steal the body was that they were afraid, panicking, hiding and their spirits were crushed. They were in no condition to pull such a plan. But how do we know that?!? THE BIBLE SAID IT, right. A guy after 50 years or so claimed that he knew in what mental and psychological condition the disciples were in and you somehow believed him without a question!!! The gospels and anything in the bible IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED or at least not to be taken at face value! We know for example that the ending of Mark is fake, we know that the parable of Jesus and the prostitute that was gonna get stoned was added later (these are facts) so why do we trust the bible as the "infallible word of God"?!?? Come one people, you're better than that.
The case of Jesus’s missing body is a model example of Occam’s razor. The principle of Occam’s razor states that where there is more than one explanation for an occurrence, the simpler one is usually the right one. The more assumptions needed to justify an explanation, the more unlikely it is. Supernatural forces are clearly a HUGE assumption when there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this.
PS: there is no credible evidence that all or most of the disciples were martyred for their faith, and even if some of them did, it wouldn't prove anything. I can't believe you people are so gullible. Some were probably percecuted like most early christians, for refusing to worship other gods, but most fled away. They were just paying the price for the religion THEY started, out of poor judgement and a bit of bad luck. No God, no risen Christ, no nothin'. Just a bunch of guys doing stupid things without thinking about them. Welcome to reality.
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” -Galatians 5:19-21. Even committing one sin makes you deserving of hell. Even if was just a little lie or something small you stole like a pencil. Sin is that serious because sin is was causes death, pain, sadness, and suffering. But, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”-John 3:16–17. If you believe Jesus is God, that He died on the cross for all our sins, rose from the dead three days later, acknowledged and repent of your sins to God (don’t just say, I’m sorry that I’m a sinner and then continue to lie, steal, cuss, commit adultery, etc. Have a godly repentance, which means your are truly sorry and your want to change your wicked ways), and trust and love in the Lord our God alone, then you will be saved! “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” -Jesus!!! But don’t wait to give your life to the Lord because once you die, it will be too late to repent and trust in Jesus our Lord! Think about this, you have NO CLUE when you will die! You could die tonight in your sleep, or even in the next few minutes and you would even know! That’s why you have to give your life to the Lord now! The Bible says in James 4:14, “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” And in Ephesians 2:8 it says “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that you can do to get saved, EXCEPT for repenting of your wicked ways, believing that Jesus is God and believing in what He did for us (died on the cross for all our sins and rose three days later), and transferring the trust you have in yourself and giving it all to GOD! COMPLETELY and ONLY trust in our GOD (don’t trust anyone or anything else)!!! GOD LOVES YOU SOOOOO much, that it is incomprehensible!!! God DOES NOT woant you going to hell and HE is trying To SAVE YOU!!! GOD is calling you RIGHT NOW!!
Do we know how many guards there would have been and is it true that if the body was stolen the guards would have been killed. I have looked and cannot find a source for this. Anyone?
Praise CHRIST
Sean, can you tell me if you and your father are now aware that neither of Voltaire’s houses were ever used to publish Bibles! Is that anecdote still included in the latest edition of Evidence that Demands a Verdict? Sincere question.
Hey Sean, I had a follow up question. Why would the Jews or the Romans place a guard at the tomb if even the apostles themselves were not expecting a resurrection. I think Matthews quotes the religious leaders saying that they should protect to the tomb because He said He would raise Himself up after 3 days. How did they catch that but the apostles did not? I’ve always wrestled with this.
no magical messiah, no cruxifiction so no body.
Did Jesus use hair product?