Jesus' tomb

Two Sides to the Story

No matter where your religious ideas lie, no one can argue that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was one of the most influential figures of all time. The places where he lived and preached during his lifetime are sites of pilgrimage for followers of both Christianity and Islam. One of the sites to be visited on the list of any good pilgrim, would of course, be the Jesus' tomb. Therein lies the question: Is the body of Jesus Christ still lying in a tomb somewhere in Jerusalem, or did he transcend, both body and soul, into heaven. The answer to this question lies in faith. Those attached to any of the world's major religions already have an opinion on this matter based upon their faith's stance on the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christians believe the body of Jesus is still inhabited by his spirit as he reigns from Heaven above. Muslims believe he was a holy prophet, but short of being a deity; as such, it would be possible to visit and pray at his occupied grave. So where is the tomb of Jesus?

Jesus' Tomb

Visitors to Jerusalem will be told of the two sites claiming to be the official resting tomb of Jesus: the Garden Tomb, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

• The Garden Tomb: When British theologist, Otto Thenius, began his investigation and subsequent presentation of this area of Jerusalem as being the Golgotha mentioned in the Bible, the idea that Christ's tomb would lie near began to take hold. Biblical passages detail the place of his tomb as having been in a garden, this area is in a garden. Upon investigation, a tomb was discovered in this garden. The Bible says the tomb was carved out of rock, and this tomb is. The similarities continue (there are weeping and burial chambers, it was sealed with a large round stone, and has a low doorway) between the Garden Tomb, and the tomb described in the Old Testament. Critics will say similarities do not qualify it as the Jesus' tomb, and that there is no substantial evidence to tie the Garden Tomb to Jesus Christ.
 
• The Church of the Holy Sepulcher: As far back as the first century, it has been reported that Christ's burial place lie in Jerusalem's Old City at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It was the Emperor Constantine, who in the 4th century, discovered the tomb lying beneath layers of over-construction. To protect and honor the site, he built a church over it. The largest evidence in favor of this being Christ's tomb is tradition: the church has been maintained for hundreds of years by a diverse people as Jesus' tomb.

  Also, within Jerusalem, it is possible to find a pair of graves side by side, from the time Jesus, marked as belonging to Jesus and James (the name of Jesus' brother). Some argue that one of these graves belongs to the Christian messiah. As there are no verifiable descendants of Jesus Christ (though the ancestors of the French monarchy would not agree), even if a tomb, very similar to the tomb described in the Bible were located with a body inside, it would not be possible to prove one way or the other that this body belonged to the Jesus Christ. For Christians worldwide, the empty tomb is the most significant aspect of their faith.