Did the Resurrection Actually Happen? Questioning My Religion [Part 3]

After 40 years of being a devout Catholic, I began having questions - questions which nobody seemed to be able to answer, so I wrote Part 1 of this series Questioning My Religion, it was surprisingly well received. Part 1 ended with me deciding I wanted to learn about my religion, specifically, where did it come from? I am not referring to what the Bible says, I mean where did it actually come from? I wanted the who, what, where, when, why and how.

By this point in my life, I was Awake to a great many of the lies and PSYOPS which surround us; viruses, vitamins, space, satellites, dinosaurs, Isis and Al-Qaeda, 9/11, Uvalde, Pulse, to name a few (check out my archive). I learned these things were not what I was taught they were because I researched them. This led me to pondering what evidence exists to show what the Bible says is true? I figured confirming the Bible would begin to alleviate some of the questions floating around in my head. As someone who is pretty decent at deep dive investigations, this seemed like information which would be readily available.

Since the foundation of Christianity is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that seemed like the perfect starting point for research - simply prove this happened and case closed! But that didn’t go as I hoped. I learned there are great conflicts between what the Bible teaches and true history. These aren’t little conflicts, these are major issues - such big issues that biblical scholars now avoid them or take it upon themselves to edit them. The end result is content which is labeled biblical history but actually isn’t and isn’t even based on what the Bible says - that’s kind of ridiculous if you think about it, we shouldn’t be rewriting the Bible to fit history then calling it history. My findings were outlined in Part 2 of this series, Was the Crucifixion a Hoax? As you can guess, based on the title alone, this wasn’t as well received (having questions is ok but showing evidence of research crosses the line, I suppose?). I chose not to read comments but I can summarize the emails I received so you know where other people stand:

• “You need to get answers to the questions you seek not through research but by reading the Bible / talking to Jesus / God or going to church more” (this mirrors what I was taught from age 5-45, as outlined in Part 1. I respect this opinion as it is what I was raised with, but that is not the purpose of this specific research)

• Your problem is your parents raised you in the wrong religion. The correct religion is ____. The only true Bible is ____.

• I’m ashamed of you. I thought you were better than this!

• And lastly, there were people who said they too just want answers and they have asked the same questions as I outlined in Part 1. They were interested in reading the series and seeing what I find regardless of what it is because they also just want to know whatever the truth is so they can make informed decisions. They realize that knowing the truth doesn’t mean you have to change what you believe. ← These are the people I am writing this series for, the people who want to learn alongside me.

With that being said, let’s continue on with the research. If you just landed on this article, you really should start at Questioning My Religion and Was the Crucifixion a Hoax? so you can follow along. It would be silly to open a book to the third chapter and start reading there instead of at the beginning, you know?

Let’s run through this as I was taught it as a Catholic: God is the creator of all, he is all powerful, all knowing and is everywhere at once. Because he is the creator, he made man. In fact, we are his finest work, but God’s finest work would be subjected to sin. Simultaneously, God made Hell, which is a place where he chooses to send sinners who have not repented to him as well as all of the nonbelievers which includes those who believe in the wrong god, such as the Hindu gods that the 1.4 billion people in India believe in - they are all going to burn in Hell forever unless they find Jesus, which is going to be difficult based on their geographics and demographics, but nonetheless, they have the internet and if that doesn’t help them, they could travel to a Christian area and start learning before it’s too late.

In the early years, around 4 to 6 BC, God developed a plan to forgive us for our sins. Prior to this, it is unknown how God dealt with sinners. This new plan involved impregnating a virgin who gave birth to God’s son, Jesus. Jesus, because he was the son of God, was without sin. This was necessary for what would happen next.

God has always been fond of blood and sacrifices (Leviticus, Deuteronomy 12; 1 Kings 8, especially verses 62–64; Ezekiel 40–46, Genesis, to name a few) so when Jesus became an adult, he had to make the ultimate sacrifice for His Father - he had to be killed. Jesus submitted to horrific torture and crucifixion. When his blood spilled, it made God happy and God accepted the murder of his son as repayment for our sins.

God then raised Jesus from the dead and brought him to Heaven where he shall remain until Judgement Day when he will return to earth and destroy everything God once created. In the meantime, we have to follow the teachings of the Bible, accept Jesus as our savior and try not to sin. If we do sin we need to ask for forgiveness because only Our Father can grant us salvation. If we don’t seek forgiveness, when we reach the end of our lives, or if Judgement Day arrives (whichever comes first), we could end up in Hell, burning forever, right next to the trillions of people from India who died before us. - That was how it had been taught to me over my four decades of being a Catholic. Why Catholic? Because, like the people of India, it was what I was raised in. Just like those people, I knew no other religion and my religion is the true religion because Jesus is the true savior.

RESEARCH

(There are far too many links to insert in this article so check out the Sources section at the bottom of the page for tons of info on this topic). Crucifixion was indeed a punishment and it was indeed a Roman punishment, but keep in mind, this process was labor intensive and time consuming so it wasn’t an every day punishment and it wasn’t even a common method of execution. It was reserved for slaves who attempted to escape and enemies of the State (insurrectionists and those captured during war). Crucifixion was used “to set an example”, per say. As we discussed in Part 2, there are many issues surrounding Pilate, the governor of Judea, sentencing Jesus to death via crucifixion, but let’s say he was indeed sentenced to die and forced to endure the torture leading up to it.

THE CRUCIFIXION

After being sentenced to death, Pilate sentenced Jesus to be beaten (scourged):

• …after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified. (Matthew 27:26)

• …after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified. (Mark 15:15)

• Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. Pilate came out again and *said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate *said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate *said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” (John 19:1-6)

Other than the Bible telling us about the suffering of Jesus, additional information came from a mystic who had mystical visions and informed us “the Roman soldiers first whipped Jesus’ back and then turned Him around. They proceeded to whip the front of Him. The physical effects of the beating went far beyond the considerable pain it inflicted—with His flesh torn into on either side...”.

A second mystic confirmed the first mystic’s visions and was able to add to the story. When speaking of the scourging Jesus endured, she added “as each [stroke] cut across the Master’s torn shoulders, small particles of His Sacred Flesh fell from the knotted leather whip-knots to the pavement, which was now covered with His Precious Blood”.

Christ was given his cross and ordered to carry it to a hill outside Jerusalem where he was to be crucified. (In my church we would perform the ‘Stations of the Cross’ ritual every year to remember what Jesus went through for us).

As far as what the Bible says, it was a long, painful journey. In some of the Gospels, a stranger named Simon helped carry the cross (Matthew 27:31–44, Mark 15:21–32, Luke 23:26–38) but in John 19:16–22 there is no mention of Simon.

Other than the Bible and the mystics, there is surprisingly very little information about this part of the event. This made me realize what I had believed to be true history came from sermons at church, church tradition and Hollywood movies like The Passion of the Christ - and those sources were all pulling their information from the Bible then filling in the blanks. Back to the story:

Jesus was hung and left to die. After six hours of tortured breathing, the end was near. As Jesus took his final breaths, he looked up to Heaven and said one of the three following statements:

1. Eloi! Eloi! Lama sabachthani” which means, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).

2. “It is finished” — and He bowed His bloodied head and died. (John 19:30)

3. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34) followed by "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46)

Then he died and the sin of humanity had been paid in full by the blood of Christ, hence it is he “who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Now that the death part of the crucifixion had come, we run into more irregularities; the post-crucifixion practices. You see, because this punishment was used to set an example, when people were affixed to the cross, they were essentially permanently affixed - there was no intention of removing them to give them a burial. Although we are shown images like this:

A nail was not driven through stacked feet. Instead, one foot was placed on either side of the cross and a nail was driven through the ankle area on each side with fixtures attaching the forearms to the crossbeam:

Many scholars of ancient crucifixion state additional fixtures were used to bind the torso to the cross.

After people were attached to the cross, they were left hanging, with their bodies rotting and being ravaged by scavengers. Once the body had been demolished, whatever was left of the corpse was thrown into a pit (mass grave). No decency was permitted for these individuals (remember, it was to set an example). But when it comes to Jesus’s crucifixion, we have more exceptions to the rule. According to the Bible, it was the day of Preparation and the Jews didn’t want bodies hanging on the cross on the Sabbath, so the Jews demanded Pilate break their legs and take the bodies down (John 19:31, ESV).

According to the Gospels, with Pilate's permission, Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Jesus, and Nicodemus took Jesus' body down from the cross after his crucifixion. They then put it in a tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea.

One problem here is that Arimathea, like Nazareth, didn’t exist until much later in time and tombs were typically reserved for elites. Poor were either placed into mass graves called potter's fields or, if given a Jewish burial, they were wrapped in a shroud and placed in a coffin. It would have been most likely that Jesus’ body would have been tossed into a pit because he was crucified. But the story here seems to be that Joseph of Arimathea was a Jewish elite who donated his unused cut-stone tomb. It would have been odd for the elites who hated Jesus so much they wanted him killed by torture to then gift a tomb for honorable burial purposes, but being that he was a “secret follower” of Christ, it fits the story.

After Jesus was placed in the tomb Matthew 27:65-66 outlines Pilate ordering the tomb to be guarded (by Roman soldiers but it isn’t specifically stated who stood guard).

THE RESURRECTION

There are no biblical claims that anyone actually watched Jesus rise from the dead, so what we are working with here is people arriving at the tomb and discovering Jesus’ body isn’t there. If you compare the Bible’s stories of the resurrection, they are different. The differences begin with who went to visit the tomb:

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• “After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb.” (Matthew 28:1)

• “When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they could go and anoint him.” (Mark 16:1)

• “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared…Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things.” (Luke 24:1,10)

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Whomever went, they then arrived at the tomb. There are no guards guarding the tomb upon these arrivals:

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• And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. (Mark 16:3-9) The women who entered the tomb saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

• And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb…(Luke 24:2). They saw two men in shining garments who told them that Jesus had risen.

• At the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. (Matthew 28:1-4)

• In the book of John, the women see the empty tomb then ran to get John and Simon Peter who then accompany them back to the tomb. When they arrived, Simon Peter rushed in and saw linen laying on the ground. John then went in and saw the same. Then the disciples went back to where they were staying (John 20:10). This is followed by John 20:11-13 which states “Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb, and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.”

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There are many more inconsistencies, and again, none of these things are a big deal on their own, but they matter when all of the little issues are combined. The bottom line is, every which way you look at it, what is stated in the Bible doesn’t seem to fit with fact or evidence (See Part 2 of this series). Knowing this and still choosing to believe is different from believing this is true history that is accompanied by well documented fact, as my church teaches and as I believed for 40 years.

This research led to more thinking…

MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT MY RELIGION

1. Let’s say I take out a bunch of credit cards, rack up a bunch of debt, then repay that debt. That debt is paid in full. I now owe nothing. Alternatively, let’s say I rack up so much debt I cannot pay it so I go into a “debt consolidation” program. The program takes all of my credit card debts, combines them, then says “Ok, you owe us $80,000 but we will forgive this debt if you pay $8,000”. I then pay the 8k and my debt is forgiven, I now owe nothing and have no further actions I need to take because a debt forgiven is the same as a debt paid.

   With that in mind, being that Jesus died for our sins and God accept his spilled blood as repayment for our sins, why are our sins not eliminated? According to my religion, I will not be saved unless I go to church and accept the sacraments, tithe, repent (which includes going to confession), accept Jesus as my savior - there’s a list of additional duties. Why did Jesus need to die and I also need to fulfill a checklist to have my sins forgiven? This may sound silly, but I Googled it and the resounding answer was “Jesus died for us to have the opportunity of salvation” - but that isn’t what I was taught. I was specifically taught he was murdered for our sin and because Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice, we are forgiven, hence Jesus is “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). If the debt has been paid in full (forgiven), how to we still owe on the debt?

   The second answer provided online is, “it’s because we keep sinning!”, but if this is the reason, then Jesus dying only took away the sins of the world leading up to that point? And if we all collectively cease sinning, there would be no sin to forgive so the issue would be moot, would it not?

   The third answer is Jesus’ death only forgave “Original Sin”, meaning Adam and Eve (God’s creations) eating the apple (God’s creation) in the Garden of Eden (God’s creation) which was provided to them by a snake (also God’s creation). Ok, but then that would mean because God knows all, he knew they were going to sin which would have to mean the whole thing was a setup to get them to sin so we would inherit said sin and Jesus would be murdered as repayment for those sins yet we would continue to sin thus needing church and the checklist and risking eternal fiery Hell as punishment?

2. Were there no other options? Why did God choose the most morbid thing imaginable? Why couldn’t the checklist to get to Heaven be stuff like being a good person, caring for elders, being a great parent, doing one good deed a day that positively impacts the life of another? Why did it need to include spilled blood as repayment for anything? Of course the answer here is, like my mom would say, “It is not our job to understand God’s decisions. He always does what is righteous”, but as I said in Part 1, after 40 years of this religion, I now think it is our duty to understand something if we are telling people they are going to burn in Hell if they don’t believe in it too.

   If we look at this topic not as religion but as anything else; if I was to tell you that you absolutely must travel to Idaho if you don’t want to get cancer and you say “What? How does that work?” and I reply, “It’s what this book says. It’s not our job to understand it, just do it if you want to be saved”, you would think I’m nuts.

3. Being that God is God, why couldn’t he just choose to forgive us and skip the rest? My church ingrained in my brain that “it had to be this way”, but the truth is, it didn’t. This was what the God in the Bible chose. This is what made him happy, according to Christianity. God required his only son to be tortured to death in order for him to choose to forgive our sins.

Being that all of this seems confusing and sometimes evil, the next logical step in this research was to try to track down where exactly the Bible came from. This is an important step in any investigation and, as I said previously, I vowed to treat this research no different than any other topic…

NEXT READ: WHO WROTE THE BIBLE? The Answer May Surprise You [Part 4]

But first, if you appreciate

NEXT READ:

If you missed Part 1:

Or check out my archive for tons of other topics!

SOURCES, NOTES & OTHER STUFF

Was the God of the Bible a “Blood God”? This is a topic that is often debated because the Bible says “Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22), yet the New Testament steers away from sacrifices. Like everything in the Bible, it seems to have been not explained clearly enough so people argue over how it is supposed to be interpreted, many pointing to the Bible also saying sacrifices are not required. Regardless of how you would like to interpret it, here are some examples of sacrifices:

Examples in the Old Testament of sacrifice include the Passover lamb (Exodus 12), whose blood marked Israelite homes, sparing them from divine judgment in Egypt. The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, Leviticus 16) involved two goats: one sacrificed, its blood cleansing the sanctuary, and the other symbolically bearing sins into the wilderness. Abel’s sacrifice of a firstborn flock animal (Genesis 4:4) was favored by God, contrasting Cain’s grain offering, highlighting blood’s theological significance early in Scripture. Other instances include covenant ratification (Exodus 24:5–8), where Moses sprinkled blood on the altar and people, sealing Israel’s bond with God. Consecration of priests (Exodus 29) required ram’s blood applied to Aaron and his sons. Even narrative episodes like Job’s sacrifices for his children (Job 1:5) reflect the cultural norm of seeking divine favor through blood rituals.

Genesis and Leviticus feature numerous sacrifices.

Deuteronomy 12:27 Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat.

Other research:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/archaeology-of-the-holy-land/ancient-jewish-tombs-and-burial-customs-to-70-ce/0C0B48471EC795D191D583248B24FD92

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ancient-burial-practices

https://www.kremp.com/pages/funerals-in-ancient-rome#:~:text=Ancient%20Romans%20buried%20wealthy%20citizens,same%20tomb%20when%20they%20passed.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/ancient-burial-practices#google_vignette

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAChristian/comments/1csp66x/how_were_burials_conducted_during_the_1st_century/

https://historyforatheists.com/2017/05/the-great-myths-4-constantine-nicaea-and-the-bible/

https://mycatholic.life/books/ignatius/part-two-ignatian-meditations-arranged-according-to-the-liturgical-year/meditations-for-lent/jesus-carries-his-cross-and-is-crucified/

https://rsc.byu.edu/new-testament-history-culture-society/judea-roman-province-ad-6-66

https://gregstier.org/the-unimaginable-suffering-of-jesus/

https://rsc.byu.edu/new-testament-history-culture-society/judea-roman-province-ad-6-66

https://archive.org/details/deconstructingje0000pric/page/20/mode/2up

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/crucifixion/roman-crucifixion-methods-reveal-the-history-of-crucifixion/

https://archive.org/details/NailedTenChristianMythsThatShowJesusNeverExistedAtAllPages3246/page/n19/mode/2up

https://mycatholic.life/books/ignatius/part-two-ignatian-meditations-arranged-according-to-the-liturgical-year/meditations-for-lent/jesus-carries-his-cross-and-is-crucified/

https://archive.org/details/jesushoax0000grah/page/80/mode/2up

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/266160

https://archive.org/details/youtube-se3Z_PaOVk4

https://earlywritings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8093

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle

https://www.bibleodyssey.org/articles/violence-in-the-new-testament/

https://archive.org/details/the-criminal-history-of-christianity-vol.-1-the-early-days-berserker-books/page/n5/mode/2up

78% Sayings Of Jesus Are Not Words Of Jesus At All ( Bible Scholars Conclude) Dr. Bart D Ehrman(phd): https://archive.org/details/78-sayings-of-jesus-are-not-words-of-jesus-at-all-bible-scholars-conclude-dr.-bart-d-ehrmanphd

https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/19/17469176/roman-empire-maps-history-explained

https://archive.org/details/Ehrman-Evans-Debate

https://archive.org/details/TheMythmaker

https://archive.org/details/jesuspuzzledidch0000dohe

https://archive.org/details/NailedTenChristianMythsThatShowJesusNeverExistedAtAllPages3246/page/n19/mode/2up?view=theater

https://gregstier.org/the-unimaginable-suffering-of-jesus/

https://www.gotquestions.org/Moses-promised-land.html

https://archive.org/details/solomons-temple-930

https://archive.org/details/TheTruthAboutJesusChrist

https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_en.html

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=90615c9d31cc8acccc8a61e57819c6f7649767910456c6a87aaaf07d69e4d017JmltdHM9MTc0MzU1MjAwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=1e19a44e-7a53-6a20-061f-b14e7b796bff&u=a1L3ZpZGVvcy9yaXZlcnZpZXcvcmVsYXRlZHZpZGVvP3E9d2h5K3dhcytnb2QrbWFkK2F0K21vc2VzJm1pZD05MUU1NjBCMjdENDk5QzEzODRBMzkxRTU2MEIyN0Q0OTlDMTM4NEEzJkZPUk09VklSRQ&ntb=1

https://ffrf.org

http://www.recoveringfromreligion.org

https://www.daretodoubt.org/resources

https://secularstudents.org

https://thehumanistsociety.org

https://www.reddit.com/r/excatholic/comments/6pkst6/a_timeline_of_the_vatileaks_scandal/?rdt=56404

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/lev/10.html#1

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/04/vatileaks-scandal-catholic-church-pope-francis

**https://valerietarico.com/2014/08/28/jesus-myth-or-history/

https://archive.org/details/howgreatpandied0000edmo/page/28/mode/2up?view=theater

https://polarisfinancialplanning.com/the-phil-ferguson-show-podcast/2017/04/11/208-david-fitzgerald-jesus-mything-in-action

https://www.bible.com/bible/114/MAT.5.NKJV

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2245648-extensive-biblical-revisions-made-by-the-romans

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/266160

https://www.bitchute.com/video/qx_Ia9S1NR0

https://www.bitchute.com/video/QeXdgw11rw04

https://www.bitchute.com/video/YEajiurqe9l0

https://www.openbible.info/topics/spells

https://archive.org/details/jesushoax0000grah

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles_in_the_New_Testament

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/christianity/a/roman-culture#:~:text=Beginnings%20of%20Christianity,promised%20personal%20salvation%20after%20death.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0609807986/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0609807986&linkCode=as2&tag=behrman616-20&linkId=ed8647e84bf29760c894fd044c5418dc

https://archive.org/details/jesus-a-jewish-prophecy-hoax

https://www.bitchute.com/search?query=Dr+Bart+Ehrman&kind=video&sensitivity_id=normal&duration=all&sort=new

https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B00C13E8WU/ref=atv_hm_hom_c_lZOsi7_2_1?jic=8%7CEgNhbGw%3D

https://archive.org/details/jesus-a-jewish-prophecy-hoax