Why an Atheist Thinks the Shroud of Turin is the Real Deal

Was the Body Stolen?

One possibility, the oldest one, is that the body was stolen. If the Shroud is genuine that seems unlikely. Would Jesus' followers have taken the naked body covered in blood without also taking the cloth that wrapped it? We must consider the Jewish beliefs of ritual impurity from contact with corpses. Blood shed in death was considered sacrosanct. If Jesus' very Jewish disciples had stolen the body, they almost certainly would have taken the bloody shroud along for internment. This would be so even if it was for burial in a charnel pit, the common grave of non-wealthy Jews in ancient Jerusalem. We must consider, as well, that observationally (forensically) the bloodstains appear unmolested.  Dried blood should have cracked and broken apart if the body was removed. And any blood that was still moist should have smeared if the body was unwrapped.