THEORIES THAT DENY THE RESURRECTION

 

The Stolen Body Theory; Matthew recorded this theory. Justin Martyr, a second century church father, wrote that this idea was still in circulation in his day. Most historians see several problems with this theory.

 

1) Soldiers who sleep on guard duty customarily lose their lives for such neglect of duty.

 

2) The astonishing change in the disciples - from cowards to courageous men - cannot be explained by this theory.

 

3) Producing the body by the religious leaders would have destroyed the claims of the disciples.

 

4) ls it possible that the soldiers could have slept through all the commotion that stealing the body would have    required, like moving a three-ton rock, and so forth?

 

5) To have rewound and restored the linen wrappings to their original configuration would have been impossible.

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The Swoon Theory; This is the argument that Jesus did not die on the cross but only lapsed into a coma. The theory is rather recent, having been proposed in 1828 by H. E. G. Paulus, a German theologian and critic of the Bible. Paulus suggested that Jesus did not die, but that He merely fainted on the cross, from pain, shock, and loss of blood, that Jesus was then mistakenly buried alive. The problems with this theory are pretty obvious:

 

1) The flogging that Jesus endured at the hands of the Romans was so vicious that it alone often caused the death of the prisoner.

 

2) The Roman soldiers, familiar with death, acknowledged that Jesus was dead.

 

3) The "blood and water" that came from the spear wound in Jesus' side gave evidence of a ruptured heart.

 

4) There is no evidence that the enemies of Jesus doubted that He was dead. Their only concern was fear of fraud on the part of His disciples.

 

5) This suggestion was not proposed by any source in the early Christian centuries.

 

6) To suppose that a person so weakened and so near death could escape the linen wrappings and the 100 pounds of gummy spices used to prepare the body, walk over to a 3-ton stone, shove it aside, walk out, and convince the disciples that He was alive from the dead, takes an amazing amount of credulity.

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The Hallucination Theory; This theory suggests that all those who are recorded as having seen the resurrected Jesus were hallucinating. Was this what happened?

 

1) Modern psychology would respond that people may hallucinate, but groups of people do not experience the same hallucination

 

2) The followers of Jesus were not expecting His resurrection.

 

3) Some of the post-resurrection appearances were not fleeting glimpses but rather prolonged conversations.

 

4) The variety of places, circumstances, and details negates this theory.

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The Wrong Tomb Theory; The ladies will especially enjoy this theory.  It goes something like this: "When the women went to the tomb early that morning it was dark, and you know how women get things mixed up! They went to the wrong tomb, and a young man who was nearby simply tried to direct them to the proper one."

 

1) If the women went to the wrong tomb, the enemies of Jesus could have quite easily stopped the stories of a resurrection by simply going to the right tomb and producing the body.

 

2) Mary Magdalene and the other women had watched the burial (Matthew 27:55-56), with Mary Magdalene "and the other Mary" very near the site (Matthew 27:61).

 

3) Those who suggest this theory cite part of the statement of the "young man" – the angel – but they ignore the He has risen declaration (Mark 16:5-6).

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