jesus

WAS JESUS REALLY DIED?
WHAT WAS THE SIGN OF JONAH?

Over a thousand million Christians today blindly accept
That Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. They produce
"a thousand and one" prophecies from the Jewish Bible
(The Old Testament) to prove their claim that Jesus was the
Messiah promised to the Jews. Let us hold the thousand"
Prophecies in abeyance for a moment and examine the only
Unequivocal claim made by Jesus in the Gospels and
Examine whether he fulfilled his promise to the Jews.
We must admit that the word CHRIST is not a name.
It is a title. It is a translation of the Hebrew word Messiah,
Meaning "anointed." The Greek word for "anointed" is Christos
From which we get the word Christ.
Priests and kings were "anointed" when being consecrated
To their office.
The Holy Bible confers this title even on a heathen king CYRUS (Isaiah 45:1).

We are reminded in the Gospel of St.Luke that
"WHEN EIGHT DAYS WERE ACCOMPLISHED FOR THE
CIRCUMCISING OF THE CHILD, HIS NAME WAS CALLED JESUS
,WHICH WAS SO NAMED OF THE ANGEL BEFORE HE
WAS CONCEIVED IN THE WOMB." [Luke 2:21].
Jews want proof;
The name that was given to Mary for her yet unborn son
was JESUS and NOT Christ. It was only after his baptism
at the hands of John the Baptist that he, Jesus, claimed to
be the Christ. The Jews were not the ones to accept his
claim on its face value.

They wanted proof!
MIRACLE AS PROOF
Matthew records that the learned men among the Jews
- the Scribes and Pharisees - came to Jesus and asked,
"MASTER, WE WOULD SEE A SIGN FROM THEE".
[Matthew 12:38].
What they really wanted was some "magic trick,"
some "sleight of hand"like producing a rabbit
out of a hat or walking on the water or flying in the air or trodding on burning coal.
This is the type of "sign" or MIRACLE they were looking for.
The Jews mistook him for a sorcerer, a wizard, a charlatan.

NO "SIGN" BUT ONE
With righteous indignation Jesus replies:
"AN EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION
SEEKETH AFTER A SIGN; AND THERE SHALL
NO SIGN (no miracle) BE GIVEN TO IT, BUT
THE SIGN (miracle) OF THE PROPHET JONAS:
FOR AS JONAS WAS THREE DAYS AND
THREE NIGHTS IN THE WHALE'S BELLY;
SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND
THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH."
Matthew [12:39-40].

Jesus says, "NO SIGN." He does not refer the Jews to blind
Bartimeus whose sight he had restored. He does not speak
about the "woman with issues" who was healed by merely
touching him; or about the 2000 pigs he had destroyed to
heal "a man possessed;" or the 5000 and the 3000 people
he had fed and satiated with a few pieces of fish and a few
pieces of bread. "No sign," says Jesus, BUT ONE! –
"THE SIGN OF THE PROPHET JONAS!"
He is putting all his "eggs" in one basket. His claim to being
the Messiah (Christ) stands or falls the ONLY "sign" he was
prepared to give.
Did Jesus fulfill the only sign he gave?
Christendom answers with a unanimous Y-E-S!without
heeding the Biblical advice - 'not to take things for granted.' - but
"PROVE ALL THINGS!"
[1 Thessalonians 5:21]

2)

JONAH FLEES HIS CALL
What was the "sign" (miracle) of Jonah?
We have to go to the "Book of Jonah" in the Old Testament
to find out. God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and
warn theNinevites to repent from their
"evil ways, and from the violence that is in their hands."
[Jonah Ch 3:Verse 8]
But Jonah was loath to go as a warner unto the Ninevites,
so he goes to Joppa instead of Nineveh, and takes a boat
to run away from the Lord's command.
While at sea, there was a terrible tempest.
According to the superstition of the mariners,
a person fleeing from his Master's command creates such a turmoil at sea.
They began to enquire among themselves and said,
"COME, AND LET US CAST LOTS,
(like the tossing of a coin, "head" or "tail")
THAT WE MAY KNOW FOR WHOSE CAUSE THIS
EVIL IS UPON US. SO THEY CAST LOTS, AND THE
LOT FELL UPON JONAH."
[Jonah 1:7].
Though here was a temporary lapse on the part of
Jonah in fulfilling his mission, he manfully and most
outrageously volunteers:
"AND HE SAID UNTO THEM TAKE ME UP,
AND CAST ME FORTH INTO THE SEA; SO
SHALL THE SEA BE CALM UNTO YOU: FOR I
KNOW THAT FOR MY SAKE THIS GREAT TEMPEST
IS UPON YOU."
[Jonah 1:12]

DEAD OR ALIVE?
Since Jonah was selflessly offering himself as a "vicarious"
sacrifice there was no need for strangling him before throwing
him into the sea, no need to spear him or break his arm or limb.
In his own words: "TAKE ME UP AND CAST ME FORTH."
The question now arises, that when the shipmaster and the
crew threw him overboard, was Jonah dead or alive?
Any Christian child who has attended Sunday School will
give an immediate reply: "ALIVE!"
The storm subsides. Was this perhaps a coincidence?
A fish swallows Jonah. Was he dead or alive when swallowed?
The answer again is "ALIVE" Was he dead or alive when
"JONAH PRAYED UNTO THE LORD HIS
GOD OUT OF THE FISH'S BELLY?"
[Jonah 2:1]
Surely dead men don't cry and don't pray!
The answer again is "ALIVE" For three days
and three nights the fish takes him around
the ocean: dead or alive? "ALIVE!" is the
answer. On the third day it vomits him on
the seashore: dead or alive? A-L-I-V-E, of course!
What had Jesus prophesied about himself?
He said: "AS JONAH WAS ..... SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE"
LIKE JONAH. And how was Jonah? Was he dead or alive
for three days and three nights? Alive! ALIVE! ALIVE!
is the unanimous answer from the Jew, the Christian and the Muslim!

UNLIKE JONAH
If Jonah was alive for three days and three nights,
then Jesus also ought to have been alive in the tomb
as he himself had foretold! But Christianity hangs on the
flimsy thread of the death" of Jesus for its salvation.
So it has to answer that Jesus was DEAD for three days
and three nights. The contradiction between his utterance
and its fulfillment is obvious. Jonah ALIVE, Jesus DEAD!



Very UNLIKE Jonah! Jesus had said "LIKE Jonah" not UNLIKE Jonah.
If this is true then according to his own test Jesus
is not the TRUE Messiah of the Jews.
If the Gospel record is genuine then how can we
blame the Jews for rejecting "CHRIST".

TIME FACTOR?
THREE AND THREE = 72 HOURS?
The Doctor of Divinity and the Professor of Theology
replies that in Matthew 12:40 under discussion, the emphasis is on the
TIME factor –
"as Jonas was THREE days and THREE
nights in the belly of the whale, so shall
the son of man be THREE days and THREE
nights in the heart of the earth."
"Please note," says the learned theologian,
"that the word "THREE" is repeated F-O-U-R times
in this verse to prove that Jesus was going to fulfil
the prophecy as regards the length of time he was
going to remain in the tomb, and NOT 'As Jonas was'
in relation to his being alive or dead. If it is the time
factor that Jesus was stressing then let us ask whether he
fulfilled that aspect of his promise to the Jews as well.
The Christian dogmatist answers: "OF COURSE!"

PUBLIC HOLIDAY
The question arises: when was Christ crucified?
The whole Christian world answers: "FRIDAY!"
Is this the reason we celebrate "Good Friday" –
as a Public Holiday in every Christian nation from
America to Zambia, from Abyssinia to Zaire at Easter?
What makes Good Friday" so good? "it is the death of
Christ on the Cross on this day to wash off our sins," says the Christians.
So he was killed on the cross on a Friday, 19xx years ago?
"YES!" says the Christians. From the Gospel records we gather
that the Jews were in a hurry to eliminate Jesus.
Hence the midnight trial, and then dispatching him off to Pilate in the morning;
from Pilate to Herod and then back again to Pilate.
The vested interests were afraid of the general public.
Jesus was their hero. He had been their benefactor.
His enemies had to do away with him quickly, and
succeeded in doing so. However, as much as they were
in a hurry to hang him on the cross, they were in equal
hurry to bring him down from the cross before sunset on
Friday because of the Sabbath.
The Sabbath starts at about 6 p.m. on Friday
and the Jews were warned in [Deuteronomy 21:23]
that the victim of crucifixion was an "accursed of God"
and was not to be permitted to remain hanging on the Sabbath day,
"that thy land be not defiled which the Lord
thy God giveth thee for an inheritance."
To satisfy the religious scruples of the Scribes and
Pharisees the "secret disciples" of Jesus took down
the body from the cross. They gave the body the Jewish burial-bath,
plastered it with
"one hundred pounds weight of aaloes and myrrh"
[John 19:39]
then placed the shrouded body into the sepulcher before night-fall.

WHY "SUPPOSED"?
There are numerous differences between the
various sects and denominations of Christianity,
but on the above they are unanimous.
Jesus is ‘SUPPOSED’ to be in the tomb on the night of Friday.
He is still ‘SUPPOSED’ to be in the tomb on the day of Saturday.
He is still ‘SUPPOSED’ to be in the tomb on the night of Saturday.
Christians agree whole-heartedly with this.
It will be noted that I have repeated the word 'SUPPOSED' three times.
The reason is that the Gospels are silent as to when
exactly Jesus came out of the tomb. He could have
been taken away on Friday night by his "secret disciples"
to a more congenial and restful place, but I have no right
to assume about what the Gospel writers are silent. I have,
therefore, repeated the word 'SUPPOSED' three times.


4)
In the final analysis, let us see whether Jesus was THREE days and THREE nights in the tomb:-


EASTER WEEK

FRIDAY - [ - nil - One night]
SATURDAY [-One day One night]
SUNDAY - [- nil - - nil - ]
TOTA {One Day Two Nights}





You will no doubt note that the GRAND TOTAL
isONE day and TWO nights, and NOT three days and three nights.
According to the Christian Scriptures Jesus had failed a SECOND time.
FIRST he was unlike Jonah, who was ALIVE in the belly of the fish,
which is the exact opposite of what the Christians claim had
happened to their master Jesus, who was DEAD for the same
period of time as Jonah was - ALIVE.
SECONDLY, we discover that he also failed to
fulfill the TIME FACTOR as well. The greatest mathematician even ‘ALBERT EINSTEIN,
And whole Christendom will fail to obtain the desired result –
THREE days and THREE nights. We must not forget that the
Gospels are explicit in telling us that it was "before sunrise"
on Sunday morning (the FIRST day of the week),
that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus and found it empty.



GOD OR THE DEVIL?

The question arises, who deceived the millions of
Christians for the past more than TWO THOUSAND
years. GOD or the DEVIL?
If this is the belief of the Christian Faith in the world today,
may we not then ask: is this not the mightiest hoax in history?