Pastor Melissa Scott on the Resurrection - Part 4

1)Here are some theories about the empty tomb:

1) THE DISCIPLES STOLE THE BODY.
I don't want to come off sounding disrespectful, nor blasphemous, but if the disciples stole the body, they'd have to take it somewhere and bury it so no one could find it. Do you remember back in the 80's there was a movie called, Weekend at Bernie's. Did you ever see that movie? The guy died and the characters in the movie didn't want to let anybody know so they carried him around. They'd prop the body up, "Hi, Bernie!" Again I don't mean this in a blasphemous way, but if they stole the body, they would have to drag Jesus around and prop him up like He was doing things. I'm sorry, that is the way my brain works when I consider this "stole the body" theory. The other option would be to bury the body, but if it was discovered, their story of the Jesus' Resurrection would unravel and they would be proven to be liars. So that's my take on the theory that the disciples stole the body.

2) THE JEWISH LEADERS STOLE THE BODY.
Why would the Jewish leaders steal the body since they were the ones that wanted the whole mess to be done away with? Remember, Jesus was disturbing the peace and creating all these crazy ideas. So would it be plausible to say the Jewish leaders stole the body? Well if they did, I believe that there would have been a parade showing off their prize. Those Pharisees would have canvassed the streets parading the corpse of Jesus, saying, "Here's your messiah. Here's your messiah." If they stole the body, it would have been displayed for purposes of ridicule to the disciples' claims.

3) THE ROMAN LEADERS STOLE THE BODY.
This theory is even more ridiculous, because as you, know the Roman leaders didn't even want anything to do with Jesus. The choice was put out there and they wanted to crucify the other guy. They didn't want Jesus. The Romans would have been disinterested in being tangled up in this issue any longer.

4) JESUS REVIVED.
Three years ago I did this study looking at what happens when people are crucified. And because the Sabbath was approaching, they would break the bones of those that were still hanging to make sure they were certifiably dead. That would make the chances of somebody reviving from a Roman crucifixion somewhere between slim and none. Not only because of the natural reasons, like the collapse of oxygen. But there's also the supernatural things to take into account, like when Jesus said, "No man taketh my life, I lay it down." That's why He said, "Into thy hands, Father, I commit my spirit," It had to be this way. He had to die.

5) THE WITNESSES WENT TO THE WRONG TOMB.
This is my favorite theory because we get to blame the women. These silly women were crying and distraught and they just went to the wrong tomb. How could they know where they were going in their emotional state? This theory doesn't fly, because if they weren't sure about where the tomb was, all they had to do was go and ask Joseph of Arimathaea. The tomb Jesus was buried in belonged to him. The wrong tomb? I love that one.

Okay that only leaves these possibilities:

6) HALLUCINATIONS.
"Bethlehem news reports today another appearance of Jesus Christ, He was reportedly seen walking into the 7-11 convenience store. Basically this theory speculates that the poor disciples were so overcome with grief, and they hoped so much in their hearts, that began to hallucinate and hence saw Jesus everywhere.

7) LIARS OR HONEST REPORTERS
Look, the story of Jesus' Resurrection boils down to two things: The disciples were either LYING about it or they were telling the TRUTH. As far as the world is concerned, they probably believe the disciples lied because they loved Jesus so much. But I'm going to add a part B theory to the lies. It's called the ‘campfire theory.

All the disciples gathered around a campfire and said, "Okay, look, this is a terrible mess, so let's plan this out. I'll write something and then you're going to write something. Let's all write the story of what happened, okay." Now if these men lied and schemed, we have to admit they weren't very good liars, because if they're going to keep their story straight, every single person penning their account of these recollections would have to have crystallized their thoughts into one accord: "Okay, John you're at the tomb and we'll say you saw Jesus first. You're the man, you saw the tomb. No one's going to believe the account of some silly, hysterical women, so Let's use John." Then another would argue, "No, let's put Peter as the one who saw Him, because he's always in the wrong place at the wrong time." And they'd probably squabble, but they'd decide on the one account of the story and they would all agree.

Yet if we examine he testimony of the witnesses, these eyewitnesses, their character and motives... I mean there is a law of evidence that if we were to go into a courtroom, certain things would be demanded of these witnesses when giving their account of what happened.

How many of you have seen a car accident occur? And when the police come and a take report, the details of the report may differ to various degrees, but one thing will be certain: There will be constants reappearing in each testimony that gives credence to the witnesses' account.

I SAY THE DISCIPLES WERE TRUE REPORTERS BECAUSE OF THE CATACLYSMIC CHANGES THAT OCCURRED IN EACH OF THEM.

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Pastor Melissa Scott
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