Osama bin Laden's Dead- Do We Need a Photo?

Nearly 10 years after the 9-11 attacks on the US, Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind this horrendous terrorist attack, is DEAD. Navy Seals were responsible for this incredible feat, and Americans wasted no time celebrating…only minutes after Obama’s announcement, citizens were found outside the White House celebrating while others chose to virtually celebrate, posting Facebook status messages such as “Ding-dong the witch is dead” , “Bin Laden is dead….SUCKA” and perhaps my favorite “ F-Yea America!” . Since the release of this “good” news, Americans have been debating whether or not the government should release photographs of bin Laden’s dead body. Today, however, President Obama affirmatively decided to NOT release the photos, stating that people who don’t believe Osama is dead wouldn’t be convinced by gruesome photos either, and besides there is no need to gloat over this victory.

At this point, unless Osama’s body shows up on national television with him holding a Wall Street Journal and rebuking America for their hasty conclusions, I think it’s safe to say he’s a goner. For once, I tend to agree with Obama. There comes a point when you just have to except that there will always be skeptics who refuse to believe the truth and there is no level of evidence that will ever satisfy them. Heck this was even the case 2,000 years ago when Jesus resurrected from the dead. This time, we didn’t have the president of the U.S. telling us the news, we had GOD telling us the "good news" via the Bible.

Unless Jesus’s dead body was discovered, no one could say with any level of certainty that the resurrection didn’t happen. Because of this, skeptics instead suggest that Jesus’s body was not found because His disciples stole and hid the body. Now to me, this is perhaps more ridiculous than the theory that Osama bin Laden isn’t in fact dead. Why might you ask? Whelp, several reasons. First, and perhaps most important, it’s highly likely that the disciples were completely confused and had no idea that Jesus was going to rise from the dead three days later. I mean sure, Jesus told them at least THREE times that he would die and then resurrect, but based on their reactions , it seems like they never really understood what was going on. Let’s take a peak at their reactions below:




Based on their reactions, do YOU think the disciples had a full understanding of what was going to happen to Jesus? Clearly they didn’t! Take for instance the third time Jesus is like 'um hey guys just wanted to let you know I have to suffer greatly and die', the disciples decide to change the subject and ask who will have what royal positions when Jesus enters His earthly kingdom… really??? If the disciples really knew what was going on they would be filled with sorrow and weeping, but alas they had misconstrued Jesus, his teachings, and Old Testament prophecy; they believed that Jesus was going to be a military leader/ king who would reign over the nations and they wanted to position themselves so that they would receive a sweet position when this all came to fruition.

So yea, given that the disciples were clueless, the chance that the disciples on Saturday were like “hey man whatchu got going on, ahh nothing bro, sweet well uh you wanna go try and steal Jesus out of the tomb to keep this whole hoax going on, count me in bro.” is close to ZERO. Also keep in mind many years later each one of the disciples died TERRIBLE deaths because of their passion for Christianity… it’s one thing to be willing to die for what you believe in, but to be willing to be beaten, whipped, and become a martyr for something you KNOW to be an absolute lie is very unlikely.

What’s more, there was an entire GUARD of Roman soldiers guarding the tomb, and there is no way a couple of fisherman and tax collectors could overpower them. I think Stan Campbell explained it best in his book Jesus The Empty Tomb: Inside the Mysteries of the Bible: New Perspectives on Ancient Truths:

“Could Christ's followers have taken the body? It would have been difficult. Roman soldiers found guilty of leaving their posts were generally put to death. And it was common knowledge that the penalty for breaking a Roman seal was execution. Disciples bent on body-snatching would have first have had to overpower the battle-tested Roman soldiers, then break the Roman seal. Yet even if they succeeded they would face a final challenge: moving aside the two-ton stone door that covered the entrance to the rock tomb." (pg. 64)

So what do YOU think? What kind of proof do you require to believe that Osama is in fact dead and Jesus did in fact rise from the dead?