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Truth behind resurrection of Jesus Christ

Poll - Total Votes: 20

Yes, Jesus rose from dead on the third day. There are people who witnessed this.

No, Jesus was crucified but not resurrected

Both crucifixion and resurrection never happened.

Not sure

Show Results

You can only vote on one answer.

1. Yes, Jesus rose from dead on the third day. There are people who witnessed this.

2. No, Jesus was crucified but not resurrected.

3. Both crucifixion and resurrection never happened.

Exploring the truth behind the resurrection of Jesus via a discussion. Please share your thoughts. Informative comments will be summarised and updated under the above three categories.

Arguments for ressurection claim :

Many people died to witness what they saw. Steven was stoned to death preaching about Jesus, and Paul witnessed that. He also start preaching about Jesus. The 4 major gospel accounts differ in the way they describe the same events. This is because God is very cleaver to give us many views of the same story, so we get a very detailed good picture of who God is; like being a detective asking what happened at a party. Luke foreinstance will tell what happened in great detail focusing on what was said, Mathew tells major events and who was related to who, Mark shares what the host did, and John tells how amazing the host is, and why he is worth knowing. ( Source:@Carazaa comments)
It is a common belief among Christians that resurrection happened and as it is hard to prove that resurrection happened it is also hard to prove that resurrection never happened. All proofs are hard to be bound under the realms of physics. But organised Christianity has shat on Jesus' messages in the millennia since. [ Sources : longpatrol and feetarefantastic]

Arguments against resurrection claims :

There are four major gospels, and four versions of the resurrection.

The earliest Gospel was written by Mark. Matthew and Luke based their stories on Mark, editing according to their own purposes. All scholars agree that the last 12 verses of Mark, in modern translations, are highly dubious. Most agree that they do not belong in the bible. The earliest ancient documents of Mark end right after the women find the empty tomb. This means that in the first biography, on which the others based their reports, there is no post-resurrection appearance or ascension of Jesus. Noticing the problem, a Christian scribe at a much later time inserted verses 9-20. The Gospel accounts cannot be considered historical, but even if they were, they tell us that the earliest biography of Jesus contains no resurrection! They tell us that the Gospels were edited, adapted, altered and appended at later times to make them fit the particular sectarian theology of the writers. (Source : @BlueSkyKing)
Later authors copied from previous authors and make the miracles and works of Jesus more grandiose (Source : [@pickachu])
There are no first hand account of Jesus ever being on the cross - all the apostles fled when he was arrested.( Source : @jshm2)

Christianity and Jesus seem to have been copied from Mithra.
Mithra was a virgin-born Persian god. In 307 C.E. (just before Constantine institutionalized Christianity), the Roman emperor officially designated that Mithra was to be the “Protector of the Empire.” Historian Barbara Walker have recorded about Mithra's birth.

The sayings of Jesus can be attributed to Egyptian, Buddhist, and Hindu texts that were hundreds to thousands of years older than Bible( Source comment : @Tastyfrzz)

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BlueSkyKing · M Best Comment

Four gospels, four versions of the resurrection.

The earliest Gospel written was Mark. Matthew and Luke based their stories on Mark, editing according to their own purposes. All scholars agree that the last 12 verses of Mark, in modern translations, are highly dubious. Most agree that they do not belong in the bible. The earliest ancient documents of Mark end right after the women find the empty tomb. This means that in the first biography, on which the others based their reports, there is no post-resurrection appearance or ascension of Jesus. Noticing the problem, a Christian scribe at a much later time inserted verses 9-20. The Gospel accounts cannot be considered historical, but even if they were, they tell us that the earliest biography of Jesus contains no resurrection! They tell us that the Gospels were edited, adapted, altered and appended at later times to make them fit the particular sectarian theology of the writers.

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Amish · 22-25, M

@BlueSkyKing Only the case of Christianity, I believe.

BlueSkyKing · M

@Amish Mithra was a virgin-born Persian god. In 307 C.E. (just before Constantine institutionalized Christianity), the Roman emperor officially designated that Mithra was to be the “Protector of the Empire.” Historian Barbara Walker records this about Mithra:

“Mithra was born on the 25th of December...which was finally taken over by Christians in the 4th century as the birthday of Christ. Some say Mithra sprang from an incestuous union between the sun god and his own mother... Some claimed Mithra’s mother was a mortal virgin. Others said Mithra had no mother, but was miraculously born of a female Rock, the petra genetrix, fertilized by the Heavenly Father’s phallic lightning.

“Mithra’s birth was witnessed by shepherds and by Magi who brought gifts to his sacred birth-cave of the Rock. Mithra performed the usual assortment of miracles: raising the dead, healing the sick, making the blind see and the lame walk, casting out devils. As a Peter, son of the petra, he carried the keys of the kingdom of heaven... His triumph and ascension to heaven were celebrated at the spring equinox (Easter)...

“Before returning to heaven, Mithra celebrated a Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac. In memory of this, his worshippers partook of a sacramental meal of bread marked with a cross. This was one of seven Mithraic sacraments, the models for the Christians’ seven sacraments. It was called mizd, Latin missa, English mass. Mithra’s image was buried in a rock tomb... He was withdrawn from it and said to live again.

“Like early Christianity, Mithraism was an ascetic, anti-female religion. Its priesthood consisted of celibate men only...

“What began in water would end in fire, according to Mithraic eschatology. The great battle between the forces of light and darkness in the Last Days would destroy the earth with its upheavals and burnings. Virtuous ones...would be saved. Sinful ones...would be cast into hell... The Christian notion of salvation was almost wholly a product of this Persian eschatology, adopted by Semitic eremites and sun-cultists like the Essenes, and by Roman military men who thought the rigid discipline and vivid battle-imagery of Mithraism appropriate for warriors.

“After extensive contact with Mithraism, Christians also began to describe themselves as soldiers for Christ;... to celebrate their feasts on Sun-day rather than the Jewish sabbath... Like Mithraists, Christians practiced baptism to ascend after death through the planetary spheres to the highest heaven, while the wicked (unbaptized) would be dragged down to darkness.” (The Woman’s Encyclopedia Of Myths And Secrets, pages 663-665)

Amish · 22-25, M

@BlueSkyKing I never knew about the Mithra story. Thank you for sharing. I just did a brief search and yes Christianity has lots in common with Mithrians. Infact it looksalmost the same.

SW-User

I believe a guy named Jesus was crucified but the rest is a fairytale. Someone realized that people are susceptible for stories and easy answers and so Churches were born.

Amish · 22-25, M

@SW-User That's an interesting view point.

Diotrephes · 70-79, M

@SW-User

I believe a guy named Jesus was crucified but the rest is a fairytale. Someone realized that people are susceptible for stories and easy answers and so Churches were born.

You must remember that the name "Jesus" did not exist until about 1630 A.D.

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Amish · 22-25, M

@jshm2 That's an interesting view point. So if at all Jesus was on the cross, the apostles didn't witness it. Is that stated in any of the documents?

BackyardShaman · 61-69, M

Crucifixion was a common form of execution, so someone with the name Jesus was possibly crucified. However, I don’t personally believe that person appeared in flesh form after death. I believe this was made up, or, is an exaggerated accounting of the spirit leaving the body, the aura. I’ve seen this personally with people that have died so I could understand it happening in front of people at the time that like me can see Auras.

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BackyardShaman · 61-69, M

Certainly, I’ve witnessed a number of people die, and usually I can see an aura leave the entire body, often in an upward and angular direction. Sometimes it’s more pronounced than other times, and it gradually dissipates and is unseen. A key to this is the aura is not lit up, but is energy, but not light. @Amish

Amish · 22-25, M

@BackyardShaman That's very interesting. I have never witnessed this.

Diotrephes · 70-79, M

@BackyardShaman

The story tellers did a clever thing. They gave Joseph and Jesus the occupation of carpenters. In the Old Testament carpenters made wooden idols. So, in the New Testament they had him die as an idol on a wooden cross, showing him as just an idol. Some people and churches display the idol all the time, signifying that they are just idol worshippers.

Carazaa · F

Jesus rose from the dead, absolutely. We can be sure of this. Many people died to witness what they saw. Jesus saves people today, and hearts and families are changed forever.

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Amish · 22-25, M

@Carazaa I didn't know much about Steven. Thanks for the information. Do you mean the four gospel authors deliberately incorporated difference in their narration of the same events to give us many views ?

Carazaa · F

@Amish
No, I think they witnessed something different about Jesus and told their story, obviously they were genuine since they died for witnessing. Jesus picked them out and their different personalities added to their witness.

Amish · 22-25, M

@Carazaa When you say they witnessed something different about Jesus, is it that their perceptions influenced what they witnessed?

Longpatrol · 31-35, M

I'd say number one happened, but organised Christianity has shat on Jesus' messages in the millennia since.

While I call myself Catholic, I'm not into the institutional Church.

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Amish · 22-25, M

@Longpatrol Yes I do agree that many unpleasant events have been linked to church. Can we attribute these to the teachings of mainstream Christianity?

Longpatrol · 31-35, M

@Amish Hmm not the teachings themselves but what they've chosen to do with them. The bible is an ancient document, much edited in the centuries with as many interpretations. But , in the end , some of them choose to cherry pick what supports their narrow view, or worse yet ignore it entirely. Thou shall love another as I have loved you...etc

Am I a perfect Christian able to cast the first stone, no. Of course not. But, I feel, we should try our best to live as Jesus did and not follow whole sale the OLD Testament, in most of it's harsh interpretations of right and wrong.

Amish · 22-25, M

@Longpatrol I very much agree with your opinion here.

FeetAreFantastic · 41-45, M

There is no empirical evidence that Jesus actually existed. But there's nothing to rule that out either. I personally think it is likely that he existed.
There is, however, absolutely nothing within the realm of physics that would make resurrection possible and we don't have any hard evidence that anyone ever witnessed such an event.

Amish · 22-25, M

@FeetAreFantastic That's quite interesting. True, the aforementioned claims is not yet proven. And the realms of physics has not yet expanded to bridge the gap between belief and a true event. Can research make more inroads is yet to be seen.

Tastyfrzz · 61-69, M

@FeetAreFantastic there are so many parallels to older religions that much of the gospels is obviously a meld of them. Even the sayings of Jesus can be attributed to Egyptian, Buddhist, and Hindu texts that were hundreds to thousands of years older. Then there is the destruction of the Jewish temple in 65AD which is about the same time that the gospels appeared making it look like there was an attempt to create a new power structure over the ashes of the old, no doubt with the help of the Romans.

Amish · 22-25, M

@Tastyfrzz Thats a very interesting observation. Yes the older religions have many important concepts to teach and many of Jesus's sayings have close similarity with the concepts taught by those religions.

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Amish · 22-25, M

@NortiusMaximus Thats a good question. I have asked another user who firmly believes in the gospels this question.

Pikachu

@Amish

Mark is generally considered to be the first gospel

Amish · 22-25, M

@Pikachu I have to start with Mark then. Hope Mark's gospel is not edited over years.

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