3. Body Snatchers? Swoon?

 

Last time, we looked at some of the evidences for Jesus' resurrection from the dead. His tomb was empty. Did Jesus' friends steal his body and create a hoax?

That theory hardly seems plausible. The guard was too powerful, the stone too heavy and the disciples too spineless to attempt such a feat.

Did Christ's enemies steal the body? If Romans or Jewish religious leaders had the body, surely they would have exposed it publicly and Christianity would have died out. They didn't, and it didn't.

The "Swoon Theory" supposes that Jesus didn't really die but was only unconscious. The expert Roman executioners merely thought he was dead. After a few days in the tomb without food or medicine, the cool air revived him.

He burst from the 100 pounds of graveclothes, rolled away the stone with his nail-pierced hands, scared the daylights out of the Roman soldiers, walked miles on wounded feet and convinced his disciples he'd been raised from the dead. This one is harder to believe than the resurrection itself.

Evidence number 1: The Christian movement grew explosively. Evidence number 2: The disciples' lives were changed. Evidence number 3: The tomb was empty. Next time, evidence number 4.