The Missing Body

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Part 9 The Missing Body
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I believe Christians need to recover a sense of
the shocking absurdity of the very idea of the
resurrection. Steven Davis, Theologian
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When you have eliminated the impossible,
whatever remains, however improbable, must be the
truth. Sherlock Holmes
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Messiahship in Judaism never envisaged someone
doing the sort of things Jesus had done, let
alone suffering the fate he suffered. The
historian must therefore ask why the early
Christians made this claim about Jesus, and why
they reordered their lives accordingly. N. T.
Wright, Historian Theologian
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If the thing happened, it was the central
event in the history of the earth. C.S.
Lewis, Philosopher
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Our old history ends with the cross our new
history begins with the resurrection.
Watchman Nee
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When every argument has been considered and
weighed, the only conclusion acceptable to the
historian must be that there is one disconcerting
fact namely that the women who went out to pay
their last respects to Jesus found to their
consternation, not a body, but an empty tomb.
Geza Vermes, First Century Historian
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The fact that dead people do not ordinarily rise
is itself part of the early Christian belief, not
an objection to it. The early Christians
insisted that what had happened to Jesus was
precisely something new was, indeed, the start
of a whole new mode of existence, a new creation.
The fact that Jesus resurrection was, and
remains, without parallel is not an objection to
the early Christian claim. It is part of the
claim itself. N. T. Wright, Historian
Theologian
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If all the evidence is weighed carefully and
fairly, it is indeed justifiable, according to
the canons of historical research, to conclude
that the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, in which
Jesus was buried, was actually empty on the
morning of the first Easter. Dr. Paul Maier,
First Century Historian
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The Gospel without the Resurrection is not
merely a Gospel without its final chapter it is
not a gospel at all. Michael Ramsey, former
Archbishop of Canterbury
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Even today, a dead Christ is easier to come to
terms with than a living Lord. The former offers
stability of a kind, the latter never ceases to
surprise. Derek Tidball, New Testament
Scholar
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"The Son of Man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the
teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on
the third day be raised to life." Jesus, Luke
922 (TNIV)
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The Motive
The Conspiracy Theory
The Unusual Suspects
The Missing Body
The Death Wish
The Murder
The Set Up
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"The Son of Man must suffer many things and be
rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the
teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on
the third day be raised to life." Jesus, Luke
922 (TNIV)
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One day some teachers of religious law and
Pharisees came to Jesus and said, "Teacher, we
want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove
that you are from God. 39 But Jesus replied,
"Only an evil, faithless generation would ask for
a miraculous sign but the only sign I will give
them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For
as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for
three days and three nights, so I, the Son of
Man, will be in the heart of the earth for three
days and three nights. Matthew 1238-40 (NLT)
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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, there is a
new creation The old has gone, the new has
come! 2 Corinthians 517 (TNIV)
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Ordinance of Caesar. It is my pleasure that
graves and tombs, which have been erected as
solemn memorials of ancestors or children or
relatives, shall remain undisturbed in
perpetuity. If it be shown that anyone has
either destroyed them, or has in any other way
extracted the bodies buried there, or has
maliciously transferred them to other places thus
committing a crime against those buried there, or
has displaced the sealing or other stones,
against such a one I order that a trial be
instituted. Let it be absolutely forbidden for
anyone to disturb them. Otherwise it is my will
that capital sentence be passed upon such person
for the crime of desecration. The Nazareth
Inscription
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Christs Kingdom IS NOT Spiritual
Invisible Physical Political Personal P
rivate Relational Religious
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Part 9 The Missing Body
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