Marcus McElhany posted Rob Liefeld Fills Biblical Plot Hole with “Zombie Jesus” – ComicsAlliance in which he, in part noted:
…an upcoming project Rob Liefield is working on centering on the 48 hours between Jesus’ crucifixion and Resurrection. He imagines that the people who rise from the dead after Jesus dies are zombies who attack Jerusalem, under satanic influence, to destroy Jesus’ body before He can rise Easter morning. There are several problems with this story from a Biblical stand point. But before I go into that I want to quote Liefield in his own words and the article:
However, Zombie Jesus may seem somewhat blasphemous given Liefeld’s background. He is a Christian and works with his pastor, Phil Hotsenpiller, on the Armageddon Now series of graphic novels, based on biblical prophecy. But as Liefeld told ComicsAlliance, it can’t be heresy if it’s right there in black and white. “I don’t consider this in any way blasphemous or contradicting my faith,” said Liefeld, who describes Zombie Jesus as “300 meets Dawn of the Dead with the clock from 24 running.”
He continued, “The fact of the matter is that the passage in ‘Matthew’ 27 EXISTS! It’s a freaky, crazy, creepy passage. Zombies came out of the ground right after Christ’s death and it’s kind of glossed over like it’s no big deal. I wanted to move on it a year ago when I read it, but I needed time to flesh it out. There are so many mysterious passages in the Bible, and this one may be the biggest mystery of all.”…
Marcus comments:
My main problem with the story is that it doesn’t really accurately tell the story given in the Bible. Matthew 27:51-52 does not say that people crawled out of the ground and started eating people. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. Many atheists use this passage to try to discount the whole resurrection because Zombies do not exist. I agree. The Bible does not say anything about zombies. Here are a couple of facts to keep in mind that in the first century, people were not buried in tombs indefinitely. After several years, tombs were recycled and the bones of relative were put into ossuaries… during the days Jesus was buried his disciples were not fighting zombies…they were hiding from the authorities. It is important to remember that Jesus won the battle of good versus evil when He died. It was finished…perfectly and completely….
These are important points of the events surrounding the parts that Liefield calls himself “filling in”. It really irks me that people think Matthew had zombies in mind like those from our movies. He didn’t. These people who were raised would have been known to the inhabitants of Jerusalem at that time.
Along these lines, also see Bill Maher the Jewish Zombie.
Overall, regardless of Rob Liefeld personal faith; the fact is that he and the ComicsAlliance are complimenting Christianity, how?
I have a running series going titled Unbelievers Compliment Christianity based on such occurrences.
By playing off of, or manipulating, or besmirching, or making fun of, etc. Christianity; they compliments it, knowing that, at most, Christians will say, “Oh, well, whatever,” or, “I will not read it, watch it or listen to it,” or, “I will pray for them.”
Will, ComicsAlliance do a likewise comic playing off of, in whatever way, the Qur′an, for example? Or, anything of the likes? Not bloody likely.
Christianity is besmirched and played off of due to a general knowledge that a true Christian will respond in love. As Richard Dawkins stated it:
There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings. I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death. I have mixed feelings about the decline of Christianity, in so far as Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse.
—“ Scandal and schism leave Christians praying for a ‘new Reformation’,” Times Online, April 2, 2010 AD