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Cruci-fiction and Resuscitation, the Greatest Hoax in the History of Humanity
The last week was the “Resurrection Week” here on the campus,
and I was appalled by the insensitivity and intrusiveness with which
those calling themselves Christians behaved, particularly toward all
people of the truly monotheistic religions as Judaism and Islam. Even
though I have known the real secular origins of Christianity (in fact
Paulianity, because Christianity is not based on Christ’s teaching but
on Paul's theology), I never spoke up even to my Christian friends out
of respect for their feelings and I was afraid of hurting them, however
misleading and contradictory to Christ’s teachings their Paulian dog
mas were. Now, seeing that a similar respect for other faiths is quite
unknown to many “Christians” on campus, I feel it is time to speak up
in defense of truth, and of those, who being bombarded by all the
relentless Paulian propaganda quietly bore it.
Have you ever wondered why so many biblical experts are so
skeptical about Jesus’ “resurrection” and why even a growing number
of Christian scholars and theologians are heard saying that his resur
rection is no so central to Christianity as Jesus’ sermons and all that
he taught? Interestingly, most (not all) pastors who should be a bridge
between the scholars and the lay people have denounced any
research which would cast even a shadow of doubt on their flocks, and
for a very good reason. Miracles attract superstitious folk like sugar
water attracts bees, and popularity, as well as preachers’ salaries are
directly proportional to the sizes of their flocks. Not surprisingly, min
istries as TBN, Benny Hinn and others belong to the most prospering
businesses in the country. Apparently, those people in charge of
today’s Christianity have never opened up their Bibles where it reads:
“No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the
other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve
God and money.” Those involved in biblical research, however, sel
dom have such a conflict of interest as they are interested in facts and
reality rather than in politics. And knowledge of reality does not con
tradict God, but ignorance does. Since preachers have often failed to
inform the people of what really happened in events surrounding the
so called “resurrection,” I will make an attempt to give the most possi
bly accurate picture. Our information source will be the four surviving
gospels even though they have been carefully selected by the Church
from a pool of “a multitude of gospels” (according to Irenaeus) tens,
possibly hundreds. The rest of them have been systematically burned
over the centuries, often along with their owners called the heretics,
because they did not fit the official state-required dogmas. The four
surviving gospels were edited and corrected over time to best fit the
doctrines worked out earlier by Paul. But for any knowledgeable and
truth-loving person, it is still relatively easy to see what actually hap
pened those 2000 years ago.
First of all, the popular myth that Jesus was attempted to be cru
cified because he made himself the Son of God is not true. That was
just an excuse. Other men were called by this title, among them Adam
(Lk 3, 38), Israel (Exod. 4, 22), Solomon (1 Chron. 22, 10), and there
was nothing blasphemous about someone using it. The true reason
why Jesus had to “go” is found in Mt 23, 1-36. It is the same reason
why Giordano Bruno, John Hus, or Joan of Arc had to burn, namely
neither got along with the ruling elite of their day. Jesus called the
scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, blind guides and whitewashed
tombs, and even worse, people listened to him.
The real trouble for the Pharisees came when they led Jesus to
Pontius Pilate. According to the Roman law, Pilate saw in Jesus an
innocent man, he refused to support their political vengeance, and he
tried to free him. Moreover, his wife sent a message to him not to exe
cute this “righteous man,” because she “suffered much in a dream
today because of him.” (Mt 27, 19) Superstitious as all Romans were,
Pilate was afraid of this bad omen, and he kept refusing to execute
him. But the tables turned when the Pharisees shouted: “If you release
him, you are not a friend of Caesar." (Jn 19,12) In other words, “If you
do not do what we want, we will badmouth you before Caesar.”
Blackmail, simple and outrageous, yet very effective, as Pilate knew
well that such an accusation, however untrue, could jeopardize his
career, so he reluctantly gave him up to be crucified. After which Jesus
was led up to Golgotha, crucified at noon (Lk 23, 44) or shortly after
noon (Jn 19, 14) and is said to have expired at three o’clock in the
afternoon. (Lk 23, 46)
When Joseph of Arimathea asked for Jesus’ body, Pilate was
amazed that Jesus had already died, and for a very good reason.
Death by crucifixion came very slowly, typically in two days. Strong
individuals lasted for three days, whereas the physically weak expired
in about one day. Pilate knew well that after three hours on the cross,
Jesus could not have been dead. However, feeling bad about con
demning an innocent man by being blackmailed and still fearing his
wife’s bad dream, he conceived a brilliant idea. In order to speed up
death of the crucified, he ordered the soldiers to break the legs of both
criminals (upon which death by suffocation came within an hour), but
not those of Jesus, instead, we are told in Jn 19, 33 that “when they
(soldiers) came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did
not break his legs, but one soldier thrust a lance into his side...” How
can one see that a person is dead without a careful close inspection
of signs of life as heartbeat and breathing? How many times are peo
ple pulled from water, fires, car wrecks who appear to be dead, but
then are “resurrected?” And if the soldier saw that Jesus was dead,
why the lancing? No reason for it. Moreover, Romans never lanced the
crucified. If the soldier did not get special orders from Pilate and if he
was only a bit suspicious that Jesus was alive (as he had all reasons
to be), he would have broken Jesus’ legs like anyone else’s, no pref
erential treatment. It seems that the lancing observed only by a mys
terious anonymous witness (Jn 19, 35) which appears only in John’s
gospel was the author’s initiative to correct the previously written three
gospels which did not document any such lancing. Those earlier
gospels were most likely attacked by the contemporary skeptics
requiring a proof of Jesus’ death who knew well that a crucified man
could not die in such a short time. Similarly, when Matthew and Luke
were independently editing the earlier Mark’s gospel, they knew that
its contemporary critics pointed out that the Messiah must come from
David’s line, and Mark did not mention Jesus' genealogy. So each
made up his own list of names. In Matthew, there are 25 names
between David and Joseph, Mary’s husband, starting with Solomon,
whereas in Luke there is a completely different list of Jesus’ ancestors
containing 40 names and starting with a different David’s son Nathan.
Thus, Jesus was taken off the cross after approximately three
hours by Joseph of Arimathea and was buried on his property “in his
new tomb that he (Joseph) had hewn in the rock” (Mt 27, 60) Why
there? Why didn’t Joseph bury Jesus into the ground as most people
were buried, but instead he put him into his own tomb? Because in the
ground Jesus would have certainly suffocated. Moreover, Joseph
knew that he would be able to reuse the tomb in the future. Then he
(Joseph) “rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the tomb and
departed.” What happened next? Nothing? No. What would you do in
Joseph’s place knowing Jesus had only been on the cross for three
hours and had not his legs broken? Exactly what Joseph did. Once
dark settled, he took several of his servants and unrolled the stone to
get Jesus out. According to all expectations, Jesus was alive, so
Joseph got him out and rolled the stone back. Only the next day did
the Pharisees realize their mistake and asked Pilate to guard the tomb
(Mt 27, 62-66), by which time Jesus, was safely resting in Joseph’s
house.
Next, we are told that after Sabbath was over (on Sunday morn
ing) women came to the tomb. Why? To anoint the body with spices
as Mk 16, 1 says? No!! It is not a Jewish custom to open graves and
anoint corpses which have already been buried and which have been
fermenting for two days!! Moreover, such practices, known from the
pagan Egyptians were abominable to Jews. Instead, the women, who
were also present at the crucifixion scene knew how shortly Jesus had
been on the cross and that his legs were not broken, and they were
curious to see what happened to him. They found the stone rolled
away and burial clothes inside. Even though the gospels slightly differ
in what happened next, Mark and John agree that Jesus first appeared
to Mary and that she thought him to be a gardener. Now, do resur
rected bodies look like gardeners? No!! But Jesus was disguised as a
gardener so well that it even took Mary a while to recognize him, even
though she knew him well. On another occasion, he even walked with
his disciples (Lk 24, 13-31) to none of whom he looked like a resur
rected person, but as a perfectly normal stranger. Now why in the
world would Jesus walk around so well disguised if he really was res
urrected?? He would not have to be afraid of the Jewish authorities,
because a resurrected person cannot be killed again. However, he
would have to be afraid and he would have to be disguised if he was
merely resuscitated and the Pharisees found out.
Now the most important problem: If Jesus came “as a sacrifice for
the sins of humanity,” he certainly would have wanted his own nation
to know the “good news,” because in Mt 15, 24 he says: “I was sent
only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Would not showing him
self to everyone be the best way to make his compatriots believe in his
“resurrection” instead of hiding himself in disguise? However, Jesus
never came to be “sacrificed for the sins of mankind,” and those who
call themselves Christians would have never come up with such a
monstrosity if they knew the meaning of the verse: “It is mercy that I
desire and not sacrifice." Moreover, according to Jesus, forgiveness
comes from being merciful to others (Mt 6, 12-15) and salvation from
doing God’s will (Mt 7, 21-23 and Mk 10, 17-22), not from a sacrifice,
least of all of an innocent man.
What is left? Perhaps quoting Paul, the thirteenth self-appointed
apostle and the real founder of Christian theology with which he
replaced Christ’s teaching: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is
vain...” Indeed, for a person with a sensation-thirsty faith relying only
on spectacular tabloid-style miracles, such a faith may now be over. To
a person who is interested in worshipping the Only Undivided God, for
which Jesus set an excellent example, this may only be the beginning.
Daniel Grohol
Patt
Thursday 1
Sonics on verge
of going boom
Bl
SEATTLE (AP) — The coach is
fuming. The players are embar
rassed and puzzled.
“Our beginnings have stunk the
last three or four games,” Seattle
coach George Karl said. “Why our
minds are de-energized at this time
is a concern.”
The SuperSonics thought they
would be tuning up for the playoffs
about now. Instead, they are search
ing for answers.
“It’s embarrassing to
play like this in our
biggest game of the
year to date,” Hersey
Hawkins said “We’re
so-called pros but we
didn’t come out like it.”
“Our chemistry is
off,” Nate McMillan said. “We’re not
playing as a team.”
The Sonics’ latest round of trou
ble cameTliesday night, a 99-97 loss
to the ailing Lakers. Seattle has
dropped three of four games to the
Lakers this season, meaning Los
Angeles holds the tiebreaker if the
teams end the regular season tied.
The Sonics’ lead in the Pacific Di
vision has fallen to a half-game over
the Lakers. The Houston Rockets,
meanwhile, have tightened die West
ern Conference standings and now
own the same record as the Lakers.
Utah has the conference’s best mark.
Seattle’s recent slump recalls the
streak in which it lost four of six
games before the All-Star break.
Karl, clearly upset with his team’s
failings of late, held a closed-door
meeting with point guard Gary Pay-
ton after Tuesday night’s loss.
“I still think we’re the best team
in the West, and I think
that we’ll prove that in
the next nine games,”
Karl said.
One sign all is not
well is Seattle’s play at
home. During the past
three seasons, the Sonics
lost just 16 games at
home, including a franchise-best 38-
3 last year.They are 27-10 at home this
season and both the Jazz and lakers
have swept the Sonics at Key Arena.
On Tuesday night, Nick Van Exel
scorched the Sonics for 30 points.
"They didn’t look like they were
together out there,” the Lakers
guard said. “They weren’t the Son
ics team we’re used to playing.”
Said Karl: “Teams have learned
to play small against us and we have
to respond but we haven't yet.”
A&M tennis
advances to se
Rafael de Mesa.afutur
of Texas A&M’s Men’s Tennis
could join Jim Courier ant
Chang as a winner of the
Bowl Tournament, the ns
championship forjuniortenr
United States.
Rafael de Mesa, who is
tion's sixth-ranked tennis pb
vanced to the semifinals byi
Andrew Park, 7-5,64.
The Key Biscayne, Ra.n;
be joined by Cody Hubbellof
Station, Shoun Madden of Mi
Andrew Spiegel, who make
Coach Tim Cass' recruitin
ranked first in the nation l>
Tennis Weekly.
if
ndl
iall|
Key makes big debut
BALTIMORE (AP) — Jimmy Key
pitched six strong innings in his Bal
timore debut, and Cal Ripken had
three hits, including a homer, as the
Orioles defeated the Kansas City
Royals 4-2 Wednesday in their
weather-delayed opener.
Key allowed no earned runs, four
hits and a walk to improve to 7-0 in
eight career opening-day starts.
He struck out four and improved
his record against the Royals to 13-
6 — including 3-0 on Opening Day.
Randy Myers, the fifth Baltimore
pitcher, struck out the side in the
ninth for the save.
Ripken, playing at third base
in an opener for the first time
since 1982, saved a run with a
sparkling play, doubled twice,
homered and walked.
Brady Anderson’s RBI single in
the seventh made it 4-2.
The Orioles stranded 10 runners
against Kevin Appier in the first five
innings. He allowed two runs and
six hits in five innings, walked five
and struck out six.
TCA Cable to ain
Rangers gamC,)
TCA Cable Television fis
nounced it will carry Texas
games this season on Cha r- -® 1 '
According to General I
Randy Rogers, a total of 68® I
will be televised, beginningSa®]
April 5, when the Rangers!®^
Baltimore Orioles. 00t
lat\|
Texas Luthernh^ j
new football coa
SEGUIN, Texas (AP) - •’ll
Marmiori has been Viued&Mal
coach for Texas Lutheran’! eD 1
football program, the univeisvftp-
ident announced Wednesdaj |ri(l
“Although Texas Lutherantolay
had an intercollegiate footbsliei
gram since 1987, ithasa;ps
football tradition." MarmiornewJ
I'm looking forward to estabi&ei':
a new generation of excelle®D|
Bulldog football.’' ®
The school decided last fall
sume its football program,wlrM
begin competition in the non Jjpi
arship NCAA Division III in 19Si str y
lize
McCray
Continued from Page 7
He was a member of a national championship relay
team and three conference championship relay teams.
“He’s what I call the guy that you like to have on the
end ofyour relay,” Head Coach Ted Nelson said. “Ifyour
teammates can put you in shape to win, he’s a guy that
can win for you — but those three guys have to get you
there. He’s a runner that can run with anybody if we can
put him in a position to do that.”
McCray has rewritten the A&M record books with his
individual feats as well. Last season, he broke the 400-
meter record — a mark which had stood since the ear
ly 1980s. McCray was in position to challenge for a na
tional title in the 400 last season before he was
disqualified for an illegal lane change.
“When he got disqualified, he was running really
well,” Nelson said. “Two weeks before that heaTTAA
school record in the 400, which was 40.81. Itv woi;
one pfour oldest records that Leslie Kerr set in Uftthir
was running really well at dial time and I felt like /zeftarl
a chance to win the championship. bind
“Maybe that’s made him a littlebithungrier.Hfl
supposed to do well at the NC’s [national dial
onships] and didn’t, so down the road, maybe that
help him.”
For McCray, winning is the only thing he wi
worry about.
“The only thing I can do to ensure that I keep#
ning is to run fast,” McCray said. “Someone ont^
me that if you just wony about winning, thent®
thing else will just take care of itself.
“Don’t run for money and don’t run for anything!
because that only leads to downfalls. 1 run to win
run to be happy. Running is something that I enjoy
long as I enjoy it, everything else will take careofits
It s sort of a 1 9th-centiiry
Friends
(witk a muck Letter soundtrack).
If you like Ross, Rachel, Phoebe and Chandler, you’ll love Mimi, Rodolfo, Musetta and Marcel
lo, four starving Parisian artists and the main characters in Puccini's beloved opera, “La Boheme."
Performed by the highly acclaimed New York City Opera National Company, “La Boheme’’
features lavish sets, beautiful costumes, sumptuous music and English supertitles above the stage.
Grab your friends and go see this opera treasure.
LaBoheme
Saturday, April 12, 8pm & Sunday, April 13, 2pm
Rudder Auditorium For tickets call 845-1234
(sc
)PAS
Opera &Performinjj Arts Society
http://opas.tamu.edu
Rated
(I
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