The Cruci-Fiction

Let's FACE it...
People DON'T Rise From the DEAD.

So... IF Jesus (OR ANYONE ELSE for that Matter!) WAS seen to be "Executed", WAS ACTUALLY "Interred" and THEN... people claimed that they SAW him Walking around (All Fine and Dandy... with the "execption" of a few "minor" wounds from the "execution" procedure), for a period of FORTY DAYS AFTER the BURIAL?? Well... OBVIOUSLY... ALL of the "witnesses" were lying OR... they were Halucinating OR... SOMETHING Else Happened.

Since it is doubtful that the whole story was nothing more than mere "fabrication" and, it is equally dubious that the stories of the "many appearances" over that Forty Day period were due to "mass halucination" then... we must ask the question... WHAT Happened?

Was Jesus Christ miraculously Resurrected from the dead...
Or...IS THERE a Valid Alternative to this "hocus-pocus" Impossiblilty of "Pious" Propaganda which has been Perpetrated upon the Public for the Past 2000 YEARS?

The answer to that question is... Yes, there is an alternative.
And, that alternative is... quite simply... Jesus Survived.

Jesus, the son of Joseph and Mary, Heir to the Royal Throne of David, was arrested, tried, convicted and Crucified. Which, in those days, was the commonly accepted procedure for the Political Enemies of Rome.

According to Mark, he had Been Hanging since the "Third Hour"...

MK 15:25, "And it was the third hour, and they crucified him."

According to Matthew, He "gave up the ghost" at about the "ninth hour"...

MT 27:46-50, "46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47 And some of them stood there, when they heard it, said, This man calleth Elijah. 48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49 And the rest said, Let be; let us see whether Elijah cometh to save him. 50 And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit"

A total of SIX hours.

Crucifixion was NOT an "easy" way to die, victims were known to survive on a cross for days (sometimes, a week or more!) Precisely the reason why the Romans chose this method. BUT, Jesus, "the Son of God", succumbed in Six Short Hours.

Pilate thought it was "odd". He even sent a Centurion to poke Jesus with a spear... Just to make sure.

Josephus, writing in his autobiography, tells us:

"I saw many captives crucified, and remembered three of them as my former acquaintance. I was very sorry at this in my mind, and went with tears in my eyes to Titus, and told him of them; so he immediately commanded them to be taken down, and to have the greatest care taken of them, in order to their recovery; yet two of them died under the physician's hands, while the third recovered." - Life IV, 75.

These three acquaintances had already been hanging on their crosses... for DAYS.
All three were still alive and, after having been taken down and given medical attention, one of them still managed to... survive.

So, according to Josephus, under certain circumstances, it was possible to survive the ordeals of crucifixion, even after an extended period of time.
But, WHAT were the circumstances surrounding the "death" of this... Christ?

Well, let's see what the Bible has to say...

Mark 15:23, "And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received [it] not." - KJS

This phrase, "mingled with myrrh"... has been translated as, "medicated with myrrh" in BOTH the "Darby's Literal Translation" AND the "Greek to English Interlinear".

This scene is also described by Matthew..

MT 27:33-34, "33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, 34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted [thereof], he would not drink."

This "medicated" mixture of "wine and myrrh" or "vinegar and gall" is the same stuff he eventually DID take a sip of just before he collapsed. See MT 27:48-50 cited above and...

John 19:30, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit."

Wine/Sour-Wine/Vinegar, Mingled/Mixed/Medicated with Myrrh/Gall... served on a sponge and followed, almost immediately, by collapse. This sounds VERY Much as though the man was... "drugged". BUT... What do we know about these two substances, "Myrrh" and... "Gall"?

The curative and pain-killing properties of Myrrh is common knowlege among Naturopaths (You can ask about it in any "essential oils" shop.) But, "Gall" This is the word we REALLY want to focus on... What IS It??

Let's have a look at the Strong's Concordance and find out...

The Greek word from the NT:

5521. chole, khol-ay; fem. of an equiv. perh. akin to the same as 5514 (from the greenish hue); "gall" or bile, i.e. (by anal.) poison or an anodyne (wormwood, poppy, etc.):-- gall.

An "anodyne" from the "poppy"?

Well, WhatEVER this mysterious "gall" stuff is, although it might not be familiar to US... it WAS known to the Jews as far back as the time of Moses...

DEUT 29:18, "... lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood"

So, let's have a look at Strong's again and, this time... we'll check out the Hebrew meaning of the word:

7219. ro'sh, roshe; or rowsh, (Deut. 32:32), roshe; appar. the same as 7218; a poisonous plant, probably the poppy (from its conspicuous head); gen. poison (even of serpents):-- gall, hemlock, poison, venom.

7218 is explained as being, "from an unused root appar. mean. to shake; the head (as most easily shaken)"

And... according to the World Book Dictionary... we find...

anodyne n. anything that lessens pain, as a drug

So, according to the Biblical Text, Strong's Concordance and The World Book Dictionary...
The "Gall" that was used to "medicate" the wine that Jesus drank before he succumbed was...
An "anodyne" (a Powerful Painkiller) from the "head" of the "poppy"!

Of course, Poppies produce... Opium.
Opium is then refined to produce... Morphine.
And...
Morphine is... A Very Powerful Painkiller... Indeed.

Therefore, Yes...
It is safe to say that, in his final moments of consiousness on the cross,
Jesus was administered a Very Powerful, Pain-Relieving Drug...
That rendered him unconscious almost immediately.

And, in conclusion we find that...
Contrary to the Popular Interpretation of Traditional Christianity...
As he Hung On the Cross...
Jesus was drugged...
And fell, almost immediately...
Into... A State of Unconsciousness.
However...
He Was, most assuredly... NOT Dead.

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