Jesus is Not Coming Back. He Was Not Here to begin with.
Here comes Easter again. And here comes the Christian story of a savior, Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christ, who was crucified and comes back to life.
The Apostle Paul stated, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.” (1 Corinthians 15).
I have news for you, Paul: Faith is in vain. A few simple questions make this fact easy to discern.
For instance, where was Nazareth? According to Nazarethgate, scholars have been unable to find a place by this name in the part of the world that Jesus allegedly lived during that period of time. But scholars do agree that some people were then known as Nazarene.
And the editions of the Bible reflect this consensus on the issue of Nazareth. The King James edition of the Bible, published in 1611, mentions “Jesus of Nazareth,” whereas the New International Version of the Bible, published in 1978, speaks of “Jesus the Nazarene.”
All four Gospels, Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, describe Jesus carrying or receiving help carrying his cross to its destination. But the Romans, who governed the area in question, did not have many trees from which to make crosses. According to Crucifixion’s a Doddle, “Trees were, clearly, a scarce and valuable commodity in Jerusalem at the time.”
As for the cross, the Christian religion did not widely use it as a symbol of the religion until the fourth century, according to Creating Christ. Prior to then, the church used the anchor and the dolphin.
There are no eyewitnesses to the resurrection mentioned in the Bible. And according to the Gospel of Mark, of which the other three gospels are based, no one could have reported the empty tomb or the resurrection. Mark 16 states that a young man dressed in a white robe who tells three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome, that Jesus had risen and that they should go to Galilee to see him.
But in the last verse in the original manuscript, verse 8, the women became scared and said nothing to anyone. One must wonder how this story was ever told.
Why should we believe that Jesus will return? Here are his words according the Gospel of Matthew: “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.“ (Matthew 16: 27, 28)
Two thousand years have gone by since Jesus supposedly uttered these words. The people who lived during that time are long gone. I hope that faith will some day be buried as well.
Here comes Easter again. And here comes the Christian story of a savior, Jesus of Nazareth, or Jesus Christ, who was crucified and comes back to life.
The Apostle Paul stated, “But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.” (1 Corinthians 15).
I have news for you, Paul: Faith is in vain. A few simple questions make this fact easy to discern.
For instance, where was Nazareth? According to Nazarethgate, scholars have been unable to find a place by this name in the part of the world that Jesus allegedly lived during that period of time. But scholars do agree that some people were then known as Nazarene.
And the editions of the Bible reflect this consensus on the issue of Nazareth. The King James edition of the Bible, published in 1611, mentions “Jesus of Nazareth,” whereas the New International Version of the Bible, published in 1978, speaks of “Jesus the Nazarene.”
All four Gospels, Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, describe Jesus carrying or receiving help carrying his cross to its destination. But the Romans, who governed the area in question, did not have many trees from which to make crosses. According to Crucifixion’s a Doddle, “Trees were, clearly, a scarce and valuable commodity in Jerusalem at the time.”
As for the cross, the Christian religion did not widely use it as a symbol of the religion until the fourth century, according to Creating Christ. Prior to then, the church used the anchor and the dolphin.
There are no eyewitnesses to the resurrection mentioned in the Bible. And according to the Gospel of Mark, of which the other three gospels are based, no one could have reported the empty tomb or the resurrection. Mark 16 states that a young man dressed in a white robe who tells three women, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome, that Jesus had risen and that they should go to Galilee to see him.
But in the last verse in the original manuscript, verse 8, the women became scared and said nothing to anyone. One must wonder how this story was ever told.
Why should we believe that Jesus will return? Here are his words according the Gospel of Matthew: “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.“ (Matthew 16: 27, 28)
Two thousand years have gone by since Jesus supposedly uttered these words. The people who lived during that time are long gone. I hope that faith will some day be buried as well.
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