Show me the body

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Recently I was asked this question by a reader, and it’s a good one: What would cause me to abandon Christianity?

What many people forget about Christianity is it’s not based on experiences or feelings. This is, of course, due to the fact that we’ve elevated experience to a place it doesn’t belong, and talk about “just believing” and all sorts of other nonsense.

But Christianity is based upon facts. And in reality, Christianity is the most falsifiable religion to ever exist, because all you have to do is two thing, both of which are accomplished in one act: Prove that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, and prove the New Testament is false. How do you do that? With one piece of evidence: the body of Jesus Christ.

After the apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians of what is first importance in 1 Corinthians 15:3-11, he explained that:

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:12-19)

Paul is very clear here: if the body of Jesus could be produced, it would mean that He was never raised from the dead. And because He was never raised from the dead, the gospel would then be false. And if the gospel were proven false, Christians are “of all people most to be pitied” for they’ve put their hope in something meaningless.

He is confirming what we should all know: Christianity is easily falsifiable. You can easily disprove it. To do that, one only had to produce a body—and this is something that would have been easy, particularly in the earliest days. And yet none was then, and one still hasn’t been produced in the nearly 2000 years since Jesus was crucified. It wasn’t because the original followers of Jesus were super-creative guys, nor were they apparently the sharpest knives in the drawer. They were often rebuked by Jesus for not picking up most of what He was putting down. The makers of a conspiracy to deceive the masses these were not.

And then there’s the hundreds of witnesses to the resurrected Christ. “He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time,” Paul wrote, most of whom were, again, alive at the time. (1 Corinthians 15:6). Paul was writing, give or take, about 20 years after the crucifixion of Jesus. If he and the other apostles had made the whole thing up, they could easily have been found out. And yet, here we are.

Because Christianity is so easily falsifiable, arguments of experience, feelings or “Jesus being resurrected in our hearts” just won’t do. It doesn’t allow for that. Christianity is based on historical facts, not on feelings. And if you could produce the body of Jesus today, you’d knock the foundation out of it. You’d not only prove that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, you’d prove that the entire New Testament is false. And if the New Testament is false and Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, Christianity’s no good to anyone.

Posted by Aaron Armstrong

Aaron is the author of several books for adults and children, as well as multiple documentaries and Bible studies. His latest book, I'm a Christian—Now What?: A Guide to Your New Life with Christ is available now.

Reader interactions

3 Replies to “Show me the body”

  1. Michelle Dacus Lesley August 28, 2014 at 10:10 am

    There was a great Christian novel that came out several years ago called “A Skeleton in God’s Closet” by Paul Maier. The premise was that a scientist found Jesus’ remains and it created havoc in Christianity and in the world. A fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable book, but, praise God that will never happen! :0)

    1. Intriguing. Although I rarely (that is, never) read Christian fiction, that one’s got my attention.

      1. Michelle Dacus Lesley August 29, 2014 at 1:49 am

        I don’t remember much about the author, but if I recall correctly, he is something of a Bible scholar besides writing fiction. Doctrinally sound, as well.

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