Objection · Case 02 · Resurrection of Christ
Maybe someone other than the disciples took the body: grave robbers, Joseph of Arimathea relocating it, or the authorities.
One objection from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Response
Grave robbers took valuables, not corpses, and would not have left the linen behind. Joseph moving the body is possible, but it would have been easily corrected once the disciples began preaching in Jerusalem a few weeks later. The authorities had the strongest motive of anyone to produce the body and never did; the earliest Jewish response instead accused the disciples of stealing it, which admits the tomb was empty. And none of these theories touches the appearances or the conversions of Paul and James.
About this exhibit
This objection is to Theft or fraud by the followers.
The claim here is that the disciples stole the body and then preached a story they knew was false. The strongest form of this view is that the followers had a motive to keep the movement alive.…
Under Claim 05: A real resurrection is the best explanation of the facts.