re did he really rise in article apr athos rutgers edu oser fermi wustl edu scott oser writes and the two simplest refutations are these what impact the only record of impact comes from the new testament i have no guarantee that its books are in the least accurate and that the recorded impact actually happened i find it interesting that no other contemporary source records an eclipse an earthquake a temple curtain being torn etc the earliest written claim we have of jesus resurrection is from the pauline epistles none of which were written sooner than years after the supposed event first off i d say that the impact if right before your eyes that we are even discussing this is a major impact in and of itself further the early church bears testimony to the impact it seems probable that no one displayed the body of jesus because no one knew where it was i personally believe that the most likely explanation was that the body was stolen by disciples or by graverobbers don t bother with the point about the guards it only appears in one gospel and seems like exactly the sort of thing early christians might make up in order to counter the grave robbing charge the new testament does record that jews believed the body had been stolen if there were really guards they could not have effectively made this claim as they did of course they knew where it was don t forget that jesus was seen by both the jews and the romans as a troublemaker pilate was no fool and didn t need the additional headaches of some fishermen stealing jesus body to make it appear he had arisen since jesus was buried in the grave of a man well know to the sanhedrin to say that they didn t know where he was buried begs the question now you say that you think that the disciples stole the body but think on this a moment would you die to maintain something you knew to be a deliberate lie if not then why do you think the disciples would now i m not talking about dying for something you firmly believe to be the truth but unbeknown to you it is a lie many have done this no i m talking about dying by beheading stoning crucifixion etc for something you know to be a lie thus you position with regards to the disciples stealing the body seems rather lightweight to me as for graverobbers why risk the severe penalties for grave robbing over the body of jesus he wasn t buried with great riches so again this is an argument that can be discounted that leaves you back on square one what happened to the body ihl gene the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the university of north carolina at chapel hill the campus office for information technology or the experimental bulletin board service internet launchpad unc edu or again let me comment that the most plausible non christian scenario and the one typically suggested by sceptics who are knowledgeable about the nt is that the resurrection was a subjective event and the empty tomb stories are a result of accounts growing in the telling clh
