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Does Anyone Really Care About the Alleged
Resurrection?
December 2003
One of the core ideas of the Jesus in India theory is Jesus Christ's survival from the crucifixion. This idea is not only important with regards to historical accuracy but, more importantly, as part of the wider picture of religion and science.
For Christians the resurrection is one of the biggest proofs of the god-man nature of their saviour, Jesus Christ, and through his death on the cross their sins are removed and they find salvation. Only through unravelling the mysteries of the crucifixion, and exploring evidence that Jesus may well have survived, do we begin to start to think of Jesus Christ as a mortal human being. Once the issue of mortality of Jesus is established, then one is forced to look for his final resting place.
To
question the historical accuracy of the resurrection, however, would at
one time be seen as a great heresy. It was an unquestionable fact, for
if he had not died on the cross and come back to life then what would
be left of the Christian doctrine. In the recent BBC4 documentary, "Did
Jesus Die?", Peter Standford, a religous historian states:
"If
you take away the resurrection what you are saying is that Jesus was a
Messiah who said some really interesting things, and some things that
we might all want to copy, and then he died and so therefore he has no
greater significance than that."
In the same
video Friar Jerome Murphy O'Connor states:
"The
resurrection of Jesus as far as all the Christian churches are concerned
is absolutely fundamental to the faith. There is no question, in my mind,
that it's ever going to be changed."
According to the orthodox Christian viewpoint it is fair to call the belief in the resurrection as one of the corner stones of the Christian faith. Indeed St Paul in one of his letters to be found in the New Testament writes:
This bold declaration of St Paul strongly affirms the Christian dependence on the 'Risen Christ'.
Is the modern day church faithful to these words of St Paul ? Does it continue to hold the events of the resurrection in such reverence?
The answer to this according to the survey carried out by Christian Research in Summer 2002, must be a resounding "no". The survey showed that 1/3 of the clergy interviewed [which covered 2000 of the 10000 clergy in the UK] did not believe in the physical resurrection.1
In
late November this year i had the fortune of travelling up to Cambridge
University. This famous institution is regarded by many to be one of the
greatest universities in the world. The intellectual elite gathered here
for the pursuit of academic excellence. Amongst these inspiring surroundings
I came to know of a talk by the Cambridge Inter-College Christian Union
(CICCU) entitled: "Resurrection: A Historical Fact?". 2
Was this an acknowledgement by the intelligentsia at the University that their Christian beliefs in a physical resurrection were no longer tenable? An appreciation that belief in a god-man coming to this earth, dying, and being raised from the dead, had no place at Cambridge University? A calling for a return to a more rational and logical explanation of the events of 2000 years ago? I journeyed to the event full of hopeful optimism.
As the talk progressed it became clear it was no more than a sermon. A re-affirmation of the likelihood and need to accept the resurrection and all that it entails. Great emphasis was laid on sightings of Jesus after the crucifixion and the theological consequences of the events for the Christians. Once the 20 minute talk was complete, however, my cross-examination was allowed to begin.
After a few of my questions, raising the issue of survival from the crucifixion, the time for the talk came to an end, but the minister agreed to talk to me afterwards. My main priority, however, was leaving the building as soon as possible, owing to certain security threats that had been reported at that time in the vicinity. Before leaving I was able to present the case for survival of Jesus Christ to the minister.
I outlined the evidence well known to regular visitors to this website, which is covered here . By the end of my explanation the minister had literally changed colour, and was not only bright red, but totally speechless. He merely smiled and moved on. There were 10 or so Christians around us at this time, and one among them raised the comment "To that i would say 3 things".
Thus the discussions continued. By the end the people i talked to were greatly intrigued and were of course given the URL www.tombofjesus.com to further their research.
The talk showed that firstly there is still a great interest in the subject. This is not a dead subject that no one cares about. Secondly, there is still a great lack of education about the events of the crucifixion. People were fascinated to learn about the medicinal properties of Aloe and Myrrh and the fact that Jewish burial customs had no mention of applying any form of herbs or spices.
The issue is one that does draw interest, and for a long time these Christian affirmations about the resurrection have gone unchallenged. This website, and the supporters of the theory should take this chance to spread this information to the rest of the world. I talked extensively to a boy and girl after the talk whilst leaving the building. Having accepted many of my views regard the crucifixion the girl innocently asked the question:
"So if he did survive - where did he go next?"
Once the myth of crucifixion is removed then this question will follow . As this happens, and more people search for an answer to this question, the profile and message of this site will rise in importance.
For me this was talk was a victory of sorts. After my question to the speaker regards the possibility of survival from the cross the speaker had no choice but to concede "that is certainly a possibility". Once their minds are opened up to this stage, and they start listening to the evidence that follows, it can be seen that if not a certainty, then survival from the crucifixion was probable, rather than merely possible.
References
1. Article by the UK Daily Telegraph can be viewer here
2. For more information on the CICCU you may click here. Tapes of their talks are available from their website