The first century Christian church was very small and uninfluential. In 'The Rise of Christianity,' Rodney Stark estimates that there were only 7,530 Christians in the entire world in 100 A.D. In Christian apologist James Holding's article 'The Impossible Faith,' Holding quotes well-known conservative Christian Bible scholar N.T. Wright as saying "This subversive belief in Jesus' Lordship, over against that of Caesar, was held in the teeth of the fact that Caesar had demonstrated his superior power in the obvious way, by having Jesus crucified. But the truly extraordinary thing is that this belief was held by a tiny group who, for the first two or three generations at least, could hardly have mounted a riot in a village, let alone a revolution in an empire."
Logically, the smaller and less influential a group is, the less that people pay attention to them. Not only that, but the notion that a person would rise from the dead was considered to be an absurd proposal even by Jesus' closest followers.
If guards had not been posted at the tomb, and it had been found empty, what would the vast majority of people have concluded? Probably not that Jesus had physically risen from the dead. The texts say that even the empty tomb did not convince Peter and Mary Magdalene that Jesus had risen from the dead.
Consider the following:
Wikipedia said:
Christian apologetics (from
Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is a field of
Christian theology that aims to present a
rational basis for the
Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other
world views. Christian
apologetics has taken many forms over the centuries, starting with
Paul the Apostle, including writers such as
Origen and
Augustine of Hippo, and continuing currently with the modern Christian community through the efforts of many authors in various Christian traditions such as
G.K.Chesterton and
C. S. Lewis. Apologists have based their defense of Christianity on historical
evidence, philosophical
arguments, scientific investigation, and arguments from other disciplines. Christian
polemic is a term used for apologetics which primarily criticizes or attacks other belief systems.
A major purpose of Christian apologetics is to try to defend the Bible with evidence other than just faith. Christians who use Christian apologetics know that a large percentage of non-Christians are not going to pay any attention to just "the Bible says so." So, for purposes of this thread, I request that Christians provide historical evidence other than just faith that reasonably proves that guards were posted at the tomb.
Proponents of the story of the guards need to provide historical, common sense arguments that show that Pontius Pilate, the chief priests, and the pharisees, were concerned that an empty tomb would cause the beginning of a dangerous new religious movement.
One Gospel, I forget which one, says the women at the tomb forgot that Jesus said that he would rise from the dead until the angel reminded them about it. Forgot? Not likely if Jesus had already raised Lazarus from the dead, thereby setting a precedent for raising people from the dead. That is the same group of women who supposedly forgot that a large, heavy stone was placed at the entrance of the tomb, and did not wonder how they would be able to get into the tomb until they were almost there.
Jesus' post-resurrection appearances do not depend entirely upon the story of the guards, but the appearances do not have substantial support from the story of the guards.
