Biblical quotes from New Revised Standard Version Bible 1990
Christ struggled under the burden of his cross on the way to Golgotha.
According to 3 out of 4 of the gospels, it was carried for him.
Matthew 27.32 "As they went out they came upon a man from Cyrene named
Simon."
Mark 15.21. "They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to
carry his cross. It was Simon of Cyrene."
Luke 23.26."As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who
was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry
it behind Jesus. "
John 19.17. Only John disagrees and says "and carrying the cross by
himself..."
Jesus Barrabas, who was saved instead of Jesus Christ, was a thief.
Matthew 27.15. "At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus
Barabbas"
Mark 15.7. "Now a prisoner called Barrabas was in prison with the rebels who had
committed murder during the insurrection" Against the ROMAN rulers. He was a
freedom fighter.
Luke 23.18. Barrabas had been put in prison for an insurrection that had
taken place in the city, and for murder.
John 18.40. Barrabas was a bandit.
Christ was nailed to the cross.
This does not appear in any of the 4 gospels. People were sometimes nailed and sometimes tied.
Christ came back to life and pushed away the stone closing his tomb.
Matthew 28.2. It was an earthquake.
Matthew 27.51. A similar earthquake had rocked city the day of the crucifixion and many
saints came back to life and walked in the city.
Mark 16.4.
No earthquake in Mark's version and no resuscitated saints either. The
stone had been rolled back and a young man dressed in a white robe was sitting
inside.
Luke 24.2. No earthquake in Luke's version. But the stone had been rolled
away, this time there are TWO men in dazzling clothes.
John 20.12. No earthquake either. Guess he slept through it. And the men
have been upgraded to angels. "and she saw two angels in white, sitting where
the body of Jesus had been lying."
Did he really die on the cross.
Mark 15.44. Pilate seemed surprised that Jesus was already dead, from just 9 in the morning to about noon. The reason that crucifixion was so cruel is that it took days for someone to die on the cross.
Crucifixion is in fact death from forcible maintained vasodepressor syncope.
It is this pooling of blood in the legs that causes Guardsmen to faint if they remain totally still for a long period. The medical term is "syncope". People revive quickly when placed in a horizontal position, especially somewhere nice and cool, like in a large tomb.
So maybe Jesus just passed out from the effects of being forced to remain upright and still in the heat and from the blood pooling in his legs. This IS after all how crucifixion works.
Pre-mature burial was extremely common even 100 years ago.
Many old coffins have been opened and found to have scratch marks on the inside. It was SO common that there was a practice of tying a rope to the wrist of a buried person, the rope being attached to a bell outside the coffin. If the person was indeed buried alive, the bell could be used to signal for help. (If you want to learn more about this, read Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear, by Dr. Jan Bondeson.)
The fact is, with the primitive medicine about 2,000 years ago, it would be very hard to determine if someone was completely dead from crucifixion or merely in a dead faint.
A Roman had thrown a spear into his side on the cross.
This does not appear at all in Matthew, Mark, Luke.
In John it was done after breaking the legs of the other two prisoners to speed
up their death. But Jesus did not have his legs broken as "he was already dead".
John 19.34. "Instead one of the
soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out."
(From a DEAD man?)
Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.
She is nowhere described as a prostitute in any of the 4 gospels. In Mark 16.9 It says that he had "cast out seven demons from her".
Demonic possession was a pretty standard way to describe a mental condition. In Mark 9.17 to 28 he cast an evil spirit out of a young man whose condition we would now call epilepsy.
See also Mark 5.2 and 7.25 for more illness described as demons and unclean spirits.
So maybe Mary Magdalene was just suffering from depression.
Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem
Matthew 2.7-11. Visited by 3 wise men in Bethlehem. "On entering the
house, they saw the child with Mary his mother." The family then fled to Egypt
till Herod was dead. Matthew 2.19-23. Then Joseph took the family to
Nazareth.
Mark. No mention of his early life.
Luke. 1.5-39. Mary, mother of Jesus, is the cousin of Elizabeth, aged
mother of John the Baptist. Elizabeth's husband, Zechariah, was a priest.
Luke 2.3-7. No wise men, just shepherds. Jesus was born in a manger. "no
place for them at the inn."
Luke 2.39. "..thy returned to Galilee, to their town of Nazareth."
John. No mention of his early life.
Of the two gospels that describe his early life, there is no agreement about
where he was born, who visited him and where the child Jesus grew up.
There are only 4 Gospels
Actually there are many more. But only four were chosen for the official
version of the first New Testament put together about 500 AD., to remove
conflict and unite the people.
There are also the Gnostic Gospels, found on ancient parchment. Including a
gospel of
Thomas and even of
Mary Magdalene.
Jesus was a carpenter
No mention of his prior career in Matthew or John. Luke 3.23 says he started preaching at 30 but also no mention of his prior career.
Mark 6.3 says, "Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and
the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters here with
us?" And they took offense at him." NOTE, Jesus had 4 brothers plus sisters.
Whatever his earlier career, up to the age of 30, he certainly was the cousin of
John the Baptist, son of a priest. He certainly was literate and knowledgeable
about the old testament. He was even often called, "Rabbi". Which means teacher.