Zombies in the new testament???

Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
-Matthew 27:51-53

Ok. So we have the dead lying in their graves for ages rise up and go out into the city. This account appears only once in the bible... and is not referred to anywhere else in the bible.

Now the dead coming back to life is indeed a spectacular event that would have amazed people in any part of the world. It would have been recorded by people other than the writers of the the bible, especially by the Romans governing that region. But we see no such records of the dead rising from the grave in Roman records.

Questions to be raised are many....

1. Where did the resurrected dead go after this?
2. Were they in a state of decomposition or were they restored fully as normal living human beings before walking out of their graves?
3. Did they return to their families and live among people once again?
4. Did they die again?
5. Why is it that they were not spoken of again in the bible?
6. Was this story a hoax inserted into the bible years later?

Curios to know how christians explain this.

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


Wow, all great questions & none that I've seen posed before. Have you put these questions to your clergyman? I'm interested in seein what others come up with!

a book of short stories, most likely fiction.
if these guys were around today they would have written star wars.

Originally posted by sk0rpi0n
Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
-Matthew 27:51-53

Ok. So we have the dead lying in their graves for ages rise up and go out into the city. This account appears only once in the bible... and is not referred to anywhere else in the bible.

Now the dead coming back to life is indeed a spectacular event that would have amazed people in any part of the world. It would have been recorded by people other than the writers of the the bible, especially by the Romans governing that region. But we see no such records of the dead rising from the grave in Roman records.

Questions to be raised are many....

1. Where did the resurrected dead go after this?
2. Were they in a state of decomposition or were they restored fully as normal living human beings before walking out of their graves?
3. Did they return to their families and live among people once again?
4. Did they die again?
5. Why is it that they were not spoken of again in the bible?
6. Was this story a hoax inserted into the bible years later?

Curios to know how christians explain this.

edit on 5-11-2011 by sk0rpi0n because: (no reason given)

Well, the resurrection of the dead in Christ means that they will be resurrected into incorrupted flesh, which means no, they will not be decomposed, but actually made whole again. I know that this is a very hard thing to understand, as I don't understand all the complexities involved, but I do believe it will happen. On another note, however, there is another verse in the bible that perhaps alludes to zombies found in zechariah 14:12-19
12 This is the plague with which the LORD will strike all the nations that fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 On that day people will be stricken by the LORD with great panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another. 14 Judah too will fight at Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be collected—great quantities of gold and silver and clothing. 15 A similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and all the animals in those camps.

16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

In my opinion, however, this probably applies to leprosy, which was common, I believe at that time, but there is a creepiness factor in there that will allude to the zombie apocalypse, I suppose, if thats what you believe in. Its all a matter of perspective.

The bible doesn't say, but it is assumed they ascended into heaven at the same time, or thereabouts, that Jesus did. This was supposed to be a "sign" that Jesus was who he said he was, and that man was again reconciled to God through Christ. (The temple veil being torn was a symbol of this reconciliation).

But here's another question. Since no one alive at the time had ever seen many of these people. How did they know who they were? Did they tell them? "Hi, how ya doin. I'm Jeremiah, pleased to make your aquaintance." Or was it revelation?

reply to post by sk0rpi0n



You forgot the OG of all zombies.. Lazarus.


Here are all of your biblically recorded zombies.
www.believers.org...

reply to post by listerofsmeg


Or the theory of evolution, or that life came from non-life through random acts.

There are two real and simple answers to how we came about.

1. Nothing--zip--zero--nada created everything. That is to say nothing with out intelligence or any material to work with created everything. Through billions of years (When this theory started it was only hundreds of thousands and as they continued to find flaws they just kept adding years to their design to allow happenstance the ability to create.) random acts created space, time, energy, stars, planets, order, even life , all by not following the laws of physics we observe and are constrained to.
Oh yeah none of this type of creating is observable to us now.

Or

2. There has always been a supernatural force which many call God whose name is Jesus has always been around and always will be, who is not constrained by time. able to create and destroy by his voice, did it all as stated in the bible.

Oh and he did some creating in front of Adam who told it to Lamech who told it to Noah who told it to Shem to told it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Noah lived long Enough to also tell it to Abraham This is why when Jacob meet the Pharaoh at the age of a 130, and the Pharaoh was impressed by his old age, Jacob stated that he was not as old as his ancestors.
So Jacob had 3rd hand account of the creation and 1st hand account of the flood. When Moses wrote the 1st books he was doing so from accounts that were very close to the original creation.

Those really are good questions. And, as Christians, we have to realize there are some mysteries but fortunately we're given enough other proofs.

Having said that, I think we have to consider that this was a singular moment in the history and future of mankind.

The amount of spiritual power--both joy & anguish, heavenly bodies & fallen ones--released in one moment is probably without compare.

On the one hand the heavenly host had watched their precious Jesus suffer, but also realize with shouts of joy, I imagine, that His suffering is now over and Light has prevailed against the darkness.

On the other hand the fallen creatures, now come face to face with the certainty of living in the darkness their own hearts created. There, I'm sure, in the spiritual world, they sighed and moaned and hissed and screamed.

Yeah, there was, I think we can see, an outpouring roar of tremendous spiritual power and released energy and the uncorruptible bodies of the 'sleeping' saints went forth from the grave to spread the good news!

As that roar dwindled, I believe the ressurected saints returned to spiritual sleep for just a little longer.

I bet they went back to sleep shouting, "Glory!"

Thanks, OP, for making me think this morning.

reply to post by sk0rpi0n


I don't think this is an example of "zombies" in the bible actually...

Look at the verse you quoted...

53And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

So you either have the walking dead, roaming through town... which would probably have been recorded as such because it would terrify everyone that saw them...

Or you have the spirits of the saints that "appeared" to many...

Somehow i don't think the "walking dead" would have the ability to appear out of nowhere...

Of course the rules might have changed recently, i haven't checked the theatres lately... Is there any new indications that zombies can disapear and reapear?

What a poetic way to describe what would happen to the followers of a martyr. It happens even today. You kill the leader, the followers rise up.

Sounds to me that there may have been a bit of a revolution after Christ's death.

Imagine killing him off, you think you won the fight. Then the next day, 1000's pour into the street proclaiming "I am Christ!".

#, now you have to kill a whole bunch more.

Isn't that what happened to the early "Christians"?

Just sayin.

With Love,

Your Brother