Reference from Josh McDowell of “The Resurrection Factor”
1. Occupied Tomb Theories
| Theory | Refutation |
| Unknown Tomb The body of Jesus was buried in a common pit grave unknown to his disciples, thus the resurrection story arose out of the ignorance as to the whereabouts of the body | 1. Not all criminals were buried in a common pit. 2. The NT gives Joseph of Arimathea as a witness for the burial in a specific family tomb. 3. The women saw the body being prepared for burial and knew the tomb’s location. 4. The Romans knew where the tomb was as they stationed a guard there. |
| Wrong Tomb The women came to the wrong tomb as there were many similar tombs in Jerusalem. They found an open tomb and a young man who denied that this was Jesus’ tomb. The frightened women mistakenly identified the man as an angel and fled | 1. The women did not come looking for an open tomb but a sealed one. They would surely bypass the open tomb as they were unsure of the exact location of the correct tomb. 2. The man at the tomb not only said, “He is not here” but also “He is risen”. 3. The women had noted the tomb’s location 72 hours earlier. 4. The Jews, Romans and Joseph of Arimathea knew the location of the tomb and could have easily have identified it as proof against any resurrection. |
| Legend The resurrection was a fabrication to meet the church’s need that evolved over lengthy period to vindicate a leader long since dead | 1. Historical criticism shows the resurrection is of mid 1st century origin and not later during the expansion of the early Church. 2. In 1 Corinthians (55AD), Paul spoke of the resurrection as a fact and pointed to 500 eyes witnesses, many of whom were still alive for anyone to question. |
| Spiritual Resurrection Jesus’ spirit was resurrected but his body remained dead | 1. But the Jewish understanding of resurrection is bodily, not spiritually. 2. Christ ate and was touched by people. 3. The Jews could have shown the occupied tomb to others to deny the belief of Jesus’ resurrection. |
| Hallucination The disciples and followers of Jesus were so emotionally involved with Jesus’ messianic expectation that their minds projected hallucinations of the risen Lord | 1. It was very highly unlikely than more than 500 people,in different situations, with different degrees of commitment to Jesus, all have hallucination. 2. Many appearances occurred to more othan one person thus making such simultaneous illusions unlikely. 3. The Jews could have pointed to the occupied tomb to prove them false. 4. The disciples were not expecting Christ’s resurrection as they viewed his death as final thus unlikely to think of Him to have risen. |
