ApostateAbe

There is an argument in favor of the empty tomb of Jesus floating around that goes like this:

• According to the Gospels, two women were the first witnesses of the empty tomb.
• Women were not trusted in that time and region. They were the despised underclass, and they weren't allowed to give testimony in a trial.
• A fictional story would have no reason to make two women instead of two men be the first witnesses.
• Therefore, that is a point in favor of the Gospel accounts' honesty.

What do you think?

post tenebras lux

The early promoters of christianity found women to be an easier (gullible?) audience than the men; plus wives often brought their kids up as christian and even converted their husbands.

However, women don't get given that big a role in the life of Jesus, so one early promoter decided to add women to his story about the empty tomb, placing them in the role of the first messengers of the good news of Jesus defeating death, whilst hoping that their female target audience would seek the same role (go out and spread the good news to their families).

More plausible than the story being true, no?

Steven Carr

John 4: 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did."

I guess the testimony of a woman was considered quite credible by some people.

Codec

One interesting view is in Asimovs guide to the bible is that the first one to see the risen Jesus was Mary Magdalene. Mary had been "cured" of madness not too long ago, which might well be some sort of delusional mental issue. So her being outside the empty tomb alone and in despair might well have triggered some sort of reoccurrance, and she saw what she wanted to see. Thus from that kernel onwards, a legend spreads.

There is of course about as much evidence for this as any of the other theorys, but its another take on the whole thing.

pharoah

Actually the exact opposite is true. Mark is using the women as scapegoats to explain why the disciples never saw a resurrected Jesus. The "young man" at the tomb instructed them to tell the disciples that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. According to Mark, the women didn't tell anyone because they were afraid. The later evangelists found this unacceptable and significantly modified the story. However, to maintain any semblance of credibility they had to retain the women. Note that Paul does not mention any women in his appearances narrative in I Cor 15.

jjramsey

At best, Mark is "using the women as scapegoats to explain why the disciples never saw" an empty tomb. The implication of the account is that Jesus was already heading out ahead of them to Galilee, so they'd meet him anyway, women or no women. The only difference there is that they wouldn't be expecting to meet him if the women hadn't told him. Indeed, Paul's reference to the appearances in 1 Cor. 15 points to there being tradition that that the disciples did see a resurrected Jesus.