Post by Josh on Feb 4, 2007 21:06:12 GMT -8
Originally posted 11/25/06:
A friend of mine once suggested that perhaps Jesus didn't actually die on the cross, that somehow he only appeared to. If the cross wasn't fatal, that would explain how he was able to 'rise from his tomb' and 'appear to the disciples'.
Here was my response:
You have stumbled on your own onto the SWOON THEORY. This theory,
though currently in disrepute, has popped up from time to time among critics
of the Resurrection Story. Swoon theory has several different versions, but
the main gist is the idea that Jesus didn't actually die on the cross.
Perhaps the disciples thought he was dead, but he wasn't, and he recovered
in the tomb, and then came out and appeared to them, causing them to think
he had risen from the dead.
Or, even further, maybe he planned it that way. Perhaps there was someone
in league with his deception (perhaps Joseph of Arimathea, the owner of
Jesus' tomb) who secretly nursed him back to health so that he could make
"appearances" to found a new religion.
The reason this theory has never really held water (and most skeptics have
abandoned it) is that it is very problematic for the following reasons:
1. the thoroughness of the Roman soldiers in finishing off their victims (they would routinely either break the legs of their victims or stab them- as John
tells us- to finish them off),
2. if Jesus fainted (only appearing to die), he would have suffocated on the
cross, because crucifixion victims had to hold themselves up to breath
3. the blood and water recorded by John refers to the sac of water surrounding the heart (pericardium), having been pierced, there would be no survival,
4. the sealing of the tomb ( a weakened Jesus couldn't have left the tomb on his own),
5. either Joseph of Arimathea was in on it, or he was the key witness
accounting for what happened to Jesus body after he was taken off the cross
right up to the moment he entered the tomb. There is no record that
Christians ever doubted Joseph's testimony. Joseph, by the way, was one of
the Pharisees sitting on the Sanhedrin (the ruling body that made the
decision to ask the Romans to crucify Jesus). He most likely was either
left out of the deliberations (which were illegally held at night) or he was
outvoted. -just thought you might like to know-
6. the time span (3 days would not be enough to nurse an almost crucified
and flogged victim back to enough health for them to walk),
7. the appearances: the risen Christ does appear in the flesh in the
resurrection accounts (thus mitigating against a theory that the disciples
had visionary experiences) so that he can be touched and he also eats. But,
Jesus also disappears and reappears at will, walks thru walls, etc..,
arguing against him surviving the cross and making appearances
8. what next? then, of course, if he did somehow survive and made deceiving
appearances, where did he go from there? Did he just disappear, content
with his little trick, leaving the disciples to risk their lives and
eventually give their lives for his trick. This is contrary to everything
we know about his character, not to mention contrary to the kind of intimacy
Jesus and the disciples shared during his 3 and 1/2 years ministry.
A friend of mine once suggested that perhaps Jesus didn't actually die on the cross, that somehow he only appeared to. If the cross wasn't fatal, that would explain how he was able to 'rise from his tomb' and 'appear to the disciples'.
Here was my response:
You have stumbled on your own onto the SWOON THEORY. This theory,
though currently in disrepute, has popped up from time to time among critics
of the Resurrection Story. Swoon theory has several different versions, but
the main gist is the idea that Jesus didn't actually die on the cross.
Perhaps the disciples thought he was dead, but he wasn't, and he recovered
in the tomb, and then came out and appeared to them, causing them to think
he had risen from the dead.
Or, even further, maybe he planned it that way. Perhaps there was someone
in league with his deception (perhaps Joseph of Arimathea, the owner of
Jesus' tomb) who secretly nursed him back to health so that he could make
"appearances" to found a new religion.
The reason this theory has never really held water (and most skeptics have
abandoned it) is that it is very problematic for the following reasons:
1. the thoroughness of the Roman soldiers in finishing off their victims (they would routinely either break the legs of their victims or stab them- as John
tells us- to finish them off),
2. if Jesus fainted (only appearing to die), he would have suffocated on the
cross, because crucifixion victims had to hold themselves up to breath
3. the blood and water recorded by John refers to the sac of water surrounding the heart (pericardium), having been pierced, there would be no survival,
4. the sealing of the tomb ( a weakened Jesus couldn't have left the tomb on his own),
5. either Joseph of Arimathea was in on it, or he was the key witness
accounting for what happened to Jesus body after he was taken off the cross
right up to the moment he entered the tomb. There is no record that
Christians ever doubted Joseph's testimony. Joseph, by the way, was one of
the Pharisees sitting on the Sanhedrin (the ruling body that made the
decision to ask the Romans to crucify Jesus). He most likely was either
left out of the deliberations (which were illegally held at night) or he was
outvoted. -just thought you might like to know-
6. the time span (3 days would not be enough to nurse an almost crucified
and flogged victim back to enough health for them to walk),
7. the appearances: the risen Christ does appear in the flesh in the
resurrection accounts (thus mitigating against a theory that the disciples
had visionary experiences) so that he can be touched and he also eats. But,
Jesus also disappears and reappears at will, walks thru walls, etc..,
arguing against him surviving the cross and making appearances
8. what next? then, of course, if he did somehow survive and made deceiving
appearances, where did he go from there? Did he just disappear, content
with his little trick, leaving the disciples to risk their lives and
eventually give their lives for his trick. This is contrary to everything
we know about his character, not to mention contrary to the kind of intimacy
Jesus and the disciples shared during his 3 and 1/2 years ministry.