On Historically Accurate Jesus

 

Religious people believe that Jesus was son of God, messiah, prophet or other such things. Christianity and Islam disagree on who he was and why. Certain Christian denominations too have different opinions from the rest. 

Atheists in contrast do not believe in anything special or supernatural about Jesus. Some might even say he did not exist. However, that is not true. While there is not any prove of any miracles Bible attributes him, his divinity or resurrection, there is enough proof that Jesus did exist and lived 2000 years ago in what is now modern Israel and Palestine. Because of that I decided to write about it from a secular point of view.

The biggest scientific and historical proof of Jesus existence were Roman execution records. Among numerous criminals they administered capital punishment there was certain Jesus from Nazareth, the same Jesus as from Bible. Records also show that two other criminals were executed with him on the same day, that much is also repeated in Bible.

As to what Jesus did to end up on Roman death row, then this is also a story from Bible. Of course, Bible frames it as Jesus was doing the good thing and people who were after him were bad guys, however if you think critically, it becomes clear why he ended up sentenced to death.

In Bible there was a scene where Jesus and his apostles go to the temple and start 'fixing' it. Jesus overturns table of the guy who lends money and says that usury will not be allowed in the temple of my father. Bible frames is as Jesus being moral vigilante thing here. Sure, landing money in a temple is a bad thing and Jesus set it straight.

However, if you think about it that can amount to several crimes such as assault, property damage, civil disorder. The temple Jesus was doing it all was the famous Second Temple that holds special significance for Judaism. Money landing was likely authorized by Judaist priests. 

Thus, while you may agree or disagree with Jesus on moral grounds, on legal one he clearly harasses a guy who is just doing his job in the temple. Because of that Judaist priests did complain about it to Roman authorities, asking to punish him. 

In addition to above they likely added further charges of blasphemy. Sure, nowadays Christianity is a big religion and in certain penal codes there are still statutes against saying anything that "offends religion". However back in the days it was Judaism that was big and established religion in Judea Province at the very least. Blasphemy laws protected it against any offences from anyone, including guy who claimed to be son of God and his twelve followers. 

Jews like Christians do believe in One God, so claiming there are other gods is offence enough for them. Claiming to be son of said God is the same. Polytheist Romans were much more OK with many gods, so they likely were included to show some leniency there. However, Romans governed provinces in accordance with local laws and traditions so, in the interest of public peace they likely did still condemned Jesus to death. Records of Jesus trial and execution by Roman Procurator of Judea is what gives us a secular and unbiased proof of his existence. 

Because of that Jesus was executed on Friday together with two other guys, who were sentenced to death for much more common offences, murder and robbery. Execution was by crucifying, as that was the common method of execution for Romans. Nowadays it holds special religious significance, but back then it was as common as guillotine in revolutionary France.

How Jesus "Resurrected"

Now for the most interesting part. How did Jesus resurrect. If Romans did execute him, they would sure notice something if he suddenly came back to live after that.

Truth is much more trivial. Crucifixion per se does not inflict any mortal wounds. That is partly because Romans thought that seeing pain and agony of crucified people would deter crime. People would see just how painful the punishment is and would not kill or steal. Thus, crucified were simply nailed to the cross and then left do die from natural causes such as starvation and dehydration. 

That of course would allow a person to survive and recover in certain circumstances if removed from the cross soon enough.

To guarantee eventual death, Romans would often also pierce liver. That was the case with Jesus as well. Damage to liver will not cause immediate death and a person would be able to stay alive for several days before succumbing to wounds. 

That is why in Prometheus myth eagle pecks at Prometheus liver. It's a synonymous with a painful and punishing death, that does not kill until it inflicts enough pain and suffering.

In Jesus's case, soldiers allowed his followers (12 apostles) to take his body off the cross once he looked dead enough. It was unlikely that a person with enough medical knowledge was there to ascertain death. For soldiers pierced liver was a guarantee enough, so they let apostles have him. Apostles then duly buried it in accordance with then Judaist practice, by placing body in the cave rather than burying or cremating them. 

However, it was likely that Jesus was not dead, but simply lost consciousness due to pain, heat and dehydration. Removed from the cross, he was able to recover somewhat and regained consciousness one last time. He exited the cave and greeted his followers who still mourned him near his grave. 

Person with medical knowledge would be able to tell that Jesus first lost and then regained consciousness, but for his uneducated followers Jesus rising from the grave was nothing less of a miracle. A proof that God himself have interfered and used his supernatural powers to resurrect Jesus. Jesus probably said so as well as he talked to his apostles one last time.

After seeing that, apostles spread across the Roman world, telling other such uneducated people how they saw Jesus's resurrection with their own eyes. That eventually convinced enough people to believe and convert to Christianity. The longer it went, the more and more believers they amassed.

At first Roman officials were dismissive of this new faith. After all they understood there was nothing extraordinary in what happened to Jesus. However eventually they too converted for pragmatic reasons.

That is how a misunderstanding by uneducated people can sometimes spring faith that would eventually become a global phenomenon.