THE RESURRECTED ONE HIMSELF DENIED HE WOULD RISE!

If Jesus himself said that he would not rise from the dead that would be damning for Christianity.

 

Some feel that when Jesus told a thief on the day they were dying that they would be in Paradise that day and how he said he would not drink wine again in this world and even refused bad wine on the cross to make the point that he was clearly thinking he was going out of this world for good. The resurrection appearances could actually have been holograms or images rather than real appearances of Jesus.

The sign of Jonah can be read as a hint. There Jesus says like Jonah who was three days and nights in a fish so he will be in the earth. But the story does not say Jonah died.

 

There is actually a clue in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus never intended to be crucified or rise from the dead at all. He left a simple test for working out who was a false prophet. He said false prophets act like sheep but are wolves in disguise and he said you can tell that they are fakes by their bad works, their bad fruits. So basically if they do or say anything that cannot be provably excused they are fakes. This is a very simple test and that was what Jesus intended it to be – so yarns about the prophet only seeming to be evil for there is a higher purpose for what he does which only he can fathom are out for they make the criterion useless. Jesus did a lot of terrible things like dragging around apostles after him while he put their lives at risk and his by claiming to be the Messiah.

 

He insulted a demonised girl to her mother. He failed his own test. But his ideal was to look good and his ideal proves that he never intended to be crucified and rise again for if he did then he would have blatantly failed his test.

He said that heaven and earth would pass away and his word would not. Christians say he meant the sky not God’s abode which is a lie for in those days the sky was thought to be just that, God’s abode.

Jesus here denied that he would ascend to Heaven to live forever or rise in an immortal body for where is he going to go when Heaven is destroyed? His word would last beyond these meaning that his message that they would pass away would still be true then. Even if he meant the New Testament scriptures by his word, who needs them in Heaven? What would be the point of rising from the dead and going to Heaven if he still had a mortal body?

 

He also stated that the Devil is a burglar and ties up the strong man before raiding his house meaning that the Devil only does things that look good. He never gave any philosophical proof that his resurrection could not be the work of the Devil and it is worthless without that philosophical exploration. Evil is unreasonable so it follows that this lack proves that the resurrection was satanically powered and engineered.

Jesus’ disciples did not fast and John’s did. Jesus explained that he would not let his own do that for they had him with them meaning that it was a time for rejoicing (Mark 2). He remarked that you do not put patches from new things unto old. And he said that his own disciples should wait until he was out of the world before fasting. Fasting was done to discipline the body. Jesus is forbidding his apostles to do that. Perhaps he thought that fasting was not about discipline but about pain for the sake of pain. If it was party-time, as he said, then after his death should be a bigger party for he is now with God and better at helping us than ever. When Jesus said that now was the time for celebrating he had no intention of surviving death or rising from the dead at that time. He did not even believe in life after death.

In John 2, Jesus causes trouble in the Temple and claims authority to put the buyers and sellers and their animals and stock out. The Jews asked him where he got this authority and what evidence he had to show he had it. He replied that they should destroy this Temple and in three days he will raise it up. He didn't say what he meant by that. John says he meant the temple of his body which would die and be raised up again three days later. The Jews assumed he meant he would demolish the Temple and rebuild it in three days. From this they concluded that he was mad. Jesus is declaring that the resurrection is his big proof that he is the Messiah, Son of God and whatever else he claims to be. Would Jesus have misled them that way and made them think he wished to demolish the Temple? What other interpretation could they take of him? Maybe that is what he meant. Especially when he was attacking the Temple physically. It is tempting to think that the resurrection story could have started with a missing tomb. Then the apostles remembering the prophecy about the Temple decided it was his body he meant not the real Temple and decided they had enough to go on to proclaim a resurrection. In any case, Jesus was claiming the right to meddle even violently in Temple affairs without giving any evidence that he had authority to do so. He needed that evidence before he could act. But he didn't let that stop him. John puts this episode at the start of Jesus' ministry when he hadn't even started his ministry with its alleged miracles which worsens it all. He was not to be trusted.

Jesus said in Mark's Gospel that false Christs would appear before the destruction of the Temple. He warned his own apostles to be very careful that these Christs would not lead them astray. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. The gospel was written about that time. But where were the Christs who were so plausible that even the apostles had to watch out in case they were taken in? Mark's gospel ends with angels saying that Jesus rose from the dead and was going to meet his apostles in Galilee. Then it stops. The rest of the chapter is a forgery. Putting two and two together, Jesus possibly was only seen during one apparition in Galilee. But was he a ghost or a vision caused by remote viewing? Whatever. If we are right then the other appearances of the risen Christ were either the work of demons or men pretending to be Jesus. The false Christs were all the appearances of somebody pretending to be Jesus. Is that why Mark stopped the gospel there? Was it because though it was thought Jesus rose, that only one of the appearances could be trusted?

The resurrection failed to be his big proof for nobody saw him rising. That can be taken as support for a literal interpretation of his Temple prophecy.

 

WORKS CONSULTED

 

Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible, John W Haley, Whitaker House, Pennsylvania, undated

Conspiracies and the Cross, Timothy Paul Jones, Front Line, A Strang Company, Florida, 2008

Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Vol 1, Josh McDowell, Alpha Scripture Press Foundation, Bucks, 1995

Handbook of Christian Apologetics, Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli, Monarch, East Sussex, 1995

In Defence of the Faith, Dave Hunt, Harvest House, Eugene, Oregon, 1996

In Search of Certainty, John Guest Regal Books, Ventura, California, 1983

Jesus and the Four Gospels, John Drane,ion Books, Herts, 1984

Jesus Lived in India, Holger Kersten, Element, Dorset, 1994

Jesus the Evidence, Ian Wilson Pan, London 1985

Mind Out of Time, Ian Wilson, Gollanez, London, 1981

Mother of Nations, Joan Ashton, Veritas, Dublin, 1988

The Bible Fact or Fantasy? John Drane, Lion Books, Oxford, 1989

The Encyclopaedia of Bible Difficulties, Gleason W Archer, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1982

The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln, Corgi, London, 1982

The Jesus Conspiracy, Holger Kersten and Elmar R Gruber, Element, Dorset, 1995

The Messianic Legacy, Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh & Henry Lincoln, Corgi, London, 1987

The Metaphor of God Incarnate, John Hick, SCM Press Ltd, London, 1993

The Passover Plot, Hugh Schonfield, Element Books, Dorset, 1996

The Resurrection Factor, Josh McDowell, Alpha Scripture Press Foundation, Bucks, 1993

The Resurrection of Jesus, Pinchas Lapide, SPCK, London, 1984

The Truth of Christianity, WH Turton, Wells Gardner, Darton & Co Ltd, London, 1905

The Turin Shroud is Genuine, Rodney Hoare, Souvenir Press, London, 1998HoarHo

The Unauthorised Version, Robin Lane Fox, Penguin, Middlesex, 1992

The Vatican Papers, Nino Lo Bello, New English Library, Sevenoaks, Kent, 1982

The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus Raymond E Brown Paulist Press, New York, 1973

The Womb and the Tomb, Hugh Montefiore, Fount – HarperCollins, London, 1992

Verdict on the Empty Tomb, Val Grieve, Falcon, London, 1976

Who Moved the Stone? Frank Morison, OM Publishing Cumbria, 1997

Why People believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer, Freeman, New York, 1997