Evil Milkman

All right, it's late here and I'm tired, so this thread may not make much sense. Also, my apologies to everyone who may have seen a thread about this hypothetical question here before...

Say archaeologists somehow found the corpse of the Jesus H. Christ in a grave in northern Africa or some place. Let's also say that they also somehow concluded that the said corpse of Jesus is definitely not a hoax, without a doubt.

In this scenario, what do you think would happen to Christianity as a whole? Would most of the followers deny this claim and fight it, or do you think a massive worldwide deconversion would take place over a period of time?

I think Christians everywhere would just deny it in one way or the other.

What do you think?

Asha'man

No question about it: massive denial.

However, around the edges, for those who already have doubts, we might just pick up a few more atheist converts.

The Admiral

No evidence, no matter how graphic, would have any effect on Christian believers unless it's in their favor.

Look at the massive evidence against Mormonism, but it is, or was, the fastest growing religion on the planet.

The Admiral

Thieving Magpie

Yep, just plain rationalization. Nothing spectacular.

beyelzu

you evil atheists, plotting to disprove christianity. i just cant wait to watch you all burning in hell. you would just find a corpse and then some atheist scientist would just fake some of those radiocarbon dating thingies i heard about

i will stop you

using my mighty angelic powers

David Bowden

I read a decently-written Christian novel (most Christian-oriented fiction really sucks) back when I was still a believer, which sort of discussed this. The title was A Skeleton in God's Closet and ultimately it turned out to be an extremely elaborate hoax done up by a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing archaeologist who secretly wanted to discredit Christianity. Of course there was a flurry of controversy in the world of the novel, but in the end everything turned out okay for the faithful, once the hoax was exposed. (Hope I didn't spoil anybody's reading plans.)

In real life, it would be next to impossible to prove that a discovered body was really that of a particular historical figure. I don't even think that all atheists would agree that a skeleton with Jesus' name on it is really Jesus' body without a lot of corroborating evidence. And believers would latch onto any reason to reject the skeleton as legitimate.

I can't conceive of an airtight case for proving that that Jesus' body had been recovered. There were a lot of Jesuses back then, and a lot of crucifixions in that area as well. Even if we found a crucified man's body with "Jesus" on the tomb/coffin, I think there'd be reasonable doubt as to whether the Jesus therein was the same one featured in the New Testament. (It would be different if we had a DNA sample from Jesus Christ to compare with the discovered corpse.)

If, amazingly, we found Joseph of Arimathea's property, and a tomb with a stone door with a Roman seal intact, and a crucified man inside, with "Jesus" inscribed in the stone somewhere, all dated to the exact period in question, then... Wow. Such corroborating details from the gospels would come in handy in verifying the identity. While it wouldn't necessarily prove it, it would go a long way towards calling the resurrection accounts into question. People would scrutinize their faith, certainly.

As a result, some Christians would no doubt call it all a fraud and perhaps try to destroy the find, or attribute it to ancient Roman or Jewish or modern atheist fraud. Others would re-interpret their Christianity - liberalism would have a big revival. And some might leave the fold altogether, disillusioned by the unmistakeable gulf between scripture and reality.

But yes, in order to remain Christians people would have to deny the obvious significance of such a find: Jesus was not bodily resurrected as the gospels and the church have always taught, and therefore neither church nor scripture is as trustworthy as they had been led to believe.

Even if such a find occured, we would all be entitled to ask why, if all this evidence of Jesus's mortality had always existed, why would the gospels have included such details as a re-opened, empty tomb, etc. I don't think the gospels would include details that could be easily proved factually wrong. Ultimately there would continue to be reasonable doubt as to the man's identity, no matter how much corroborating evidence was found.

So I don't think there's a body to be found - not because Jesus was resurrected, but because either he never existed as such, or he was buried anonymously after a humiliating criminal execution, or perhaps his body really was stolen by his followers and re-buried in a secret place, or burned, or (*gack*) turned into a communion supper.

-David

Proctors_Gambit

Look at the reaction to evidence of an old earth or evolution.
They would say that the body was a hoax / lie put there by someone inspired by Satan.
Then they would say that most scientists agree that the body is a hoax, like they say most scientists agree the world is young.
What scientists?
No one knows but the good people at answers in genesis.

No amount of evidence can convince someone that refuses to be convinced.

-Gambit