The question arises:
1. ‘Why did she go there?’ ‘to anoint him’, Mark 16:1 tells us. The Hebrew word for anoint is ‘masaha’, which means to rub, to massage, to anoint (read ‘Who Moved the Stone’).
2. The second question is: ‘Do Jews massage dead bodies after 3 days?’ The answer is ‘No!’
3. ‘Do the Christians massage dead bodies after 3 days?’ The answer is again, ‘No!’
4. Do the Muslims (who are the nearest to the Jews in their ceremonial laws) massage dead bodies after 3 days? And the answer is again, ‘No!’
Then why should a Jewess want to massage a dead, decaying body after 3 days? We know that within 3 hours rigor mortis sets in – the stiffening of the body after death. In 3 days time, the body would be fermenting from within – the body cells would be breaking up and decomposing. If anyone rubs such a decaying body, it will fall to pieces.
Does the rubbing make sense? No! It would, however, make sense if she was looking for a live person. you see, she was about, the only person besides Joseph of Arimathe’a and Nicodemus who had given the final rites to the body of Jesus. If she had seen any sign of life in the limp body of Jesus when he was taken down from the cross, she was not going to shout, ‘he is alive!’ She returns after 2 nights and a day, when the Jewish Sabbath had passed, to take care of Jesus.
Stone removed – winding sheets unwound
She was sorely amazed to find on arrival, that somebody had already removed the stone and, on peeping into the tomb, she finds that the winding sheets (shroud) were folded up inside. More questions arise? ‘Why Was the stone removed?’ Because for a resurrected body, one which had conquered death, it was not necessary for the stone to be removed for it to get out, nor was it necessary for the winding sheets to- be unwound for it to move. Because, for a spiritualised body: ‘Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage.’
The removal of the stone and the unwinding of the winding sheets was the need of a physically resuscitated body, not that of a resurrected (read ‘Resurrection or Resuscitation?’) body! The empty tomb was an anti-climax to what she had expected! So the hysterical woman (Jesus had to cast out of her ‘seven devils’ – Mark 16:9) breaks down and sobs. Jesus was all the while watching her from the vicinity – not from heaven, but from earth.
This burial vault (tomb) was a privately-owned property belonging to Joseph of Arimathe’a (a very rich, influential Jew), who could afford to carve out of rock the big roomy chamber (Dimensions already given earlier). Around this tomb was his vegetable garden. Please do not try to tell me that this Jew was so generous that he was planting vegetables 5 miles out of town, for other people’s goats and sheep to graze upon. Surely, he must also have built gardeners’ quarters for his labourers and his own country home for himself and his family to relax during the weekends?
Jesus is there! He is watching this woman. He knows who she is, and he knows why she is there. He approaches her from behind, and finds her crying. So he asks her “Woman, why wee pest thou? Whom seekest thou?” (John 20:15)
Before she replies, allow me to interject ‘Why does he ask what appears to be silly questions? Doesn’t he know the obvious reasons? Of course he does! Then why the silly questions?’
The answer is that in reality they are not silly questions, though they appear to be so. He knows that this woman is looking for him, and she is disappointed on not finding him; hence the weeping. But he also knows that because of his heavy disguise she would not be able to recognise him. So metaphorically speaking he is pulling her leg. In describing this incident John, referring to Mary Magdalene, says “She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him” Still John 20:15
Now why should she suppose that he is a gardener? Do resurrected persons look like ‘gardeners’? No! Then why does she suppose him to be a gardener? Because he is disguised as a gardener! Why is he disguised as a gardener? Because he is afraid of the Jews! Why is he afraid of the Jews?
Because he did not die and did not conquer death! If he had died, and if he had conquered death, then he would not be afraid anymore. Why not? Because a resurrected body cannot die twice! Who says so? The Bible says so. Where? In the Book of Hebrews 9:27. It says “It is ordained unto all men ONCE to die, and after that the judgement”.
Back from the dead
But what about the hundreds of people who have come back from the ‘dead’? We read about them daily in our newspapers. Those persons who were certified dead, by medical men, and who subsequently came back to life; were not really dead, in the sense of death and resurrection. Our Doctors have erred and will continue to make mistakes; it cannot be helped. But I want you to note the word ‘dead’, and ‘Corpse’, and ‘crucifixion’.
All these words are in inverted commas. The honest and alert newspaper reporter in each case is telling us, very subtly, that the ‘dead’ was not really dead. That the ‘corpse’ was not really a corpse, and that the ‘crucifixions’ were not really crucifixions but cruel-fictions! They were so-called dead, the so-called corpse, the so-called crucifixions, etc. But from the newspaper circulation point of view, the word ‘so-called’ would greatly diminish the sensationalism, lessen the news value, and reduce possible sales. After all business is business! Hence the inverted commas ‘…’ In actual fact, no man ever dies twice. No matter how many death certificates are issued.
The drama continues
Mary supposing the disguised Jesus to be a gardener, says unto him “Sir, if you have taken him hence, tell me where have you laid Him” (John 20:15)
She is not looking for a corpse, for ‘it’. She is looking for a live person, for ‘him’. And further, she wants to know as to “where have you ‘Laid’ him?” (i.e. To rest, to relax, to recuperate!) Not, “where have you buried him?” ‘So that I might take Him away” (John 20:15)
Take Him away, where? What would she want with a dead (?), decomposing body? She could only bury it. Who dug the grave? Carrying a corpse is one thing for an American Super-woman, but another for this frail Jewess; carrying a corpse of at least a hundred and sixty pounds. That weight plus another 100 pounds of medicaments (according to John 19:39) would make a neat load of 260 pounds. Carrying would be one thing, but burying? She would have to dump it in a hole! Does it make any sense?
The prank that Jesus was playing upon this woman had gone too far. The woman had not been able to see through the disguise yet and Jesus was ‘laughing under his breath’, but could restrain himself no longer. He blurts out: ‘MARY!’ Only the one word! But it was enough. This one word, ‘Mary!’ did what all the exchange of words failed to do. It enabled Mary to recognise her Master. Everyone has his or her unique and peculiar way of calling one’s nearest and dearest. It was not the mere utterance of the word ‘Mary’, but its deliberate intonation which made her respond: ‘Master! Master!’. Mad with happiness, she lunges forward to grab her Master, to pay reverence. Jesus says, ‘Touch me not!’ (John 20:17)
Sobering questions
Why not? Is he a bundle of electricity, a dynamo, that if she touches him, she might get electrocuted? No! ‘Touch me not!’, because it would hurt. Though he appears normal to all intents and purposes, he had, nevertheless, been through a violent, physical and emotional ordeal. It would be excruciatingly painful if he allowed her any enthusiastic contact. Jesus continues “For I am not yet ascended unto my Father” (John 20:17)
She is not blind. She can see the man standing there before her. What does he mean by ‘not yet ascended’ – gone up – when he was down right there? He is, in fact, telling her that he is not Resurrected from the dead. In the language of the Jew, in the idiom of the Jew, he is saying: ‘I am not dead yet’ – He is saying: ‘I am alive!’
“And they (the disciples), when they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her (Mary Magdalene),they believed Not” (Mark 16:11)
Disciples disbelieved
That very day, on the way to Emmaus, Jesus joins two of his disciples and discourses with them for 5 miles without being recognised by them! What a perfect masquerade! On reaching their destination, the disciples persuade the Master to join them for a meal. “And it came to pass, as he sat eating with them, he took bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them” (Luke 24:30)
By the manner in which he brake bread (meaning the way he blessed it), ‘their eyes were opened’. Did they walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus with closed eyes? No! We are being told that the disciples recognised him only at that juncture. Luke continues with his story, that when they recognised him, ‘he vanished out of sight’. Did he do the Indian ‘Rope Trick’? Please don’t be ridiculous! What it means is that he went away. He went out of their sight.
Incredible scepticism
Full of excitement, the two disciples rushed up to that upper room, where the other disciples were “And they went and told it unto the residue (of the disciples), neither believed they them” (Mark 16:13)
What is wrong with these disciples of Jesus? Why are they reluctant to believe? What is their difficulty? The problem is that they are confronted with evidence that Jesus is alive! Not resurrected (i.e. not spiritualised), but evidence that he is the same physical Jesus, flesh and bones as any one of them! – Eating food! In disguise – but not a spirit and not a ghost. This is what they could not believe. If they were told that Mary had seen the ghost of Jesus, they would have believed. If the above two had told the rest that they too had seen the ghost of Jesus, they would certainly have believed that. They were a people who had seen spirits going into pigs and stampeding two thousand of them to destruction. (Mark 5:13)
They had seen spirits going into trees and drying them up from their very roots overnight. (Mark 77:20)
They had seen ‘seven devils’ coming out of Mary Magdalene. (Mark 76:9)
All this was quite natural to their age. spirits, ghosts and devils! They could accept that which was believable at that time and age. But a Live Jesus? A physical Jesus? One who had escaped the stings of death. (Acts 2:24)?
This was too heavy for their ‘little faith’. Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 74:37; 76:8; and Luke 72:28
a) Mary Magdalene testifies that Jesus is alive.
b) The disciples from Emma us testify that he is alive!
c) Angels said that Jesus was alive! Luke 24:23
d) Two men that stood by told the women ‘why seek ye the living among the dead?’ That he is alive! Luke 24:4-5
Alive: Here as well as in every other place where this word ‘alive’ occur, it has been faithfully reproduced from the Christian Scriptures, and it is not any interpretation of mine. If these verses were inspired by God, then, it seems, that the poor ‘Hoty Ghost’ did not have the word ‘Resurrected’ in its vocabulary!
Yet they will not believe!! Let us see whether they will believe the words of their own ‘Lord and Master’, in the coming paragraphs.
Jesus no phantom and arithmetical conundrum
The two from Emmaus, “rose… and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them” (Luke 24.33)
Which ‘eleven?’ They ‘found the eleven.’ Did they include themselves in the number they found? Even then the disciples there (of the elected twelve of Jesus) could never be more than 10 altogether. Because on this first visit of Jesus to that upper- room. Judas and Thomas were definitely not present. But Luke was not an eyewitness to this scene. He is simply copying verbatim from Mark 16:14 who said “he (Jesus) appeared unto the eleven as they sat eating”.
Now listen to Paul,. the thirteenth self-appointed apostle of Jesus. He says that after three days of hibernation. “(Jesus) was seen of Cephas (meaning Simon Peter), then to the twelve” (Corinthians 15:5)
Which ‘twelve?’ The word ‘then’ here, excludes Peter! But if you add him on, and with all good luck, you can still never get the ‘chosen twelve’ together to see Jesus, because the traitor Judas had committed suicide by hanging – (Matthew 27:5), long before Jesus alleged resurrection.’ (read ‘What was the Sign of Jonah?’)
We are dealing here with a strange mentality, where ‘eleven’ does not mean eleven’. Luke 24:33 ‘twelve does not mean twelve’, and ‘three and three’ means two and one!’ Jesus would truly sympathise with us ‘it is hard for you to kick against the pricks’ (Acts 9:5) (Paul says that these words were spoken to him by Jesus, originally in the Hebrew tongue. Acts 26:14).
Enter Jesus
Whilst the two are telling their sceptical audience about their encounter with a physical, living Jesus (one who was eating food with them), ‘in walks Jesus’ (these are my words), (‘Came Jesus and stood in their midst’ John 20:19) the doors being shut for fear of the Jews. The Christian controversialist says: ‘No! our records state that Jesus simply ‘stood in their midst; he did not walk in!’
It was a question of disappearance from Emmaus and a reappearance in Jerusalem – like the ‘Invisible Man’, like the ‘Indian Rope Trick’, like ‘Star Trek’ (a science-fiction fantasy where people are ‘beamed’ from Space Ships to planets and back again) you actually ‘see’ people disappearing in your very sight and materialising in another place. People who believe this to be real are victims of their own delusions. They have seen too many films and viewed too many TV programmes.
In John 20:79, 24. 26, the word ‘CAME’, ‘CAME’, ‘CAME’, contradict the notion that he simply appeared, meaning that he materialised out of thin air.
But why did it take Jesus so long to reach the upper-room? He had ‘vanished’ before the ‘two’ made a beeline for Jerusalem, and yet Jesus had not preceded them. He was late in coming. It reminds one of the story of the hare and tortoise. Could it be that he was nursing his wounds on the way?
The cultists imagine that Jesus was floating around from place to place, appearing and disappearing at will. Jeffrey Hunter, the handsome young actor, playing the role of Jesus Christ in the film, ‘King of Kings’, made a very sensible observation after climbing Mount Zion for the scene of the ‘temptation’ of Jesus by the Devil. After heaving and hoving, sweating and panting for breath while climbing the hill, he remarked, ‘For the first time in my life I realised how human Jesus was!’
Neither Luke nor John, who record this episode of Jesus’ visit to the upper-room, venture to tell us that he simply oozed through the key hole, or that he oozed through crevices in the wall. O! But why did they deprive us of this vital information? Because no oozing happened! But the problem remains – how did he get in when the ‘doors where shut’? (John 20:19)
Amazingly, Luke 24:36, who also records this incident word for word did not think fit to add, ‘the doors were shut.’ It was unimportant to him! Why? Because it was irrelevant! Claiming an ‘orderliness’ and judiciousness for his writing, he would not confuse the issues. (Luke 1:3)
The upper-room
This abode in question, is alternatively described as a ‘guest chamber’ and as a ‘large upper-room’ (Mark 14:14-15)
It is not the whole residence. It is part of a mansion. Do I have to prove this to you? Could this be the only room upstairs? Taking into account that this particular room contained a table big enough to seat at least 14 people on 14 clumsy chairs – Jesus and his 12 disciples making the ‘unlucky thirteen’, and John the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’ being the owner of the house and ‘leaning on Jesus’ bosom’ (John 13:23) making fourteen in all.
Can you imagine the size of this ‘guest room’? – With pantry, and kitchen, and other facilities; and downstairs, where the owner’s family and servants resided. It was like a small palace! Jesus was familiar with this mansion. He had visited Jerusalem often for the feast of the Passover. Remember how he directed his disciples to find the place? (Luke 22:10)
My own humble abode has four entrances. Perhaps John’s ‘guest chamber’ had only one main-entrance with 2 doors. But was there a need to seal it off from the rest of the house? For the visitor, the front doors were sufficient for all their needs – entry and exit. And Eastern guests do not pry into passages, attics and apartments of their hosts! They are easily gratified with every little hospitality bestowed. But Jesus was no stranger to the house. He was like a member of the family of the disciple Jesus loved. He had no need to knock at bolted doors to terrify his timid flock. There were more ways than one of getting in. If there was any misgiving on the part of the disciples for his sudden appearance in their midst, he was quick in dispelling it. ‘Peace be unto you’, he cried; but his little lambs ‘were terrified!’ (Luke 24:36-37)
Opposite reactions on recognising Jesus
Remember at the break of dawn that very morning, a lone woman, Mary Magdalene, was mad with glee on recognising him around the tomb. And she had to be stopped in her stride from embracing him. But these ten heroes who were rattling sabres in this very room were now petrified on recognising their Master.
Why was there opposite reactions between the men and the woman? – Men terrified, woman not afraid? The reason is that the woman was an eye-witness to all the happenings around calvary, whereas the men were nowhere in sight. Therefore the woman went to the tomb with the intention of meeting a Live Jesus, and her joy on meeting him. But the ten were not witnesses to the happenings, hence their supposition about seeing a ghost. They were physically and emotionally on the verge of breaking down. Luke succinctly describes their condition “But they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit” (Luke 24:37)
Reason for fear
The reason for their terror was that they thought that the man they saw standing in their midst was not Jesus himself but his ghost. Ask your ‘born-again’ friends who want to share heaven with you, the reason for the disciples thinking that Jesus was a spirit. Ask them, ‘Did he look like a spirit?’ And though misguided as they may be, you will hear their answer – ‘No!’ Then why did the disciples of Jesus think that Jesus was a spirit, when he did not look like one? There is no answer! They are speechless. Please help them. Free them from their infatuation.
The reason the disciples of Jesus were afraid was that they had learned by hearsay that their Master was killed by being fastened to the cross – that he was crucified.
‘Crucified’: Later on, ‘‘Crucified or Cruciplayed’ is discussed. The Gospel writers had not known the use of inverted commas to imply, that this is what other, say, or this is the ‘’so-called’.
They had learned by hearsay that he had ‘given up the ghost’: that he had died. They had learned by Hearsay that now he was –’dead and buried’ for three days. A man with such a reputation, would be expected to be decomposing in his tomb. For all their knowledge was from hearsay! – What they had heard! Because none of them was there to witness what was really going on with Jesus at Golgotha. In the most critical juncture in the life of Jesus “they all forsook him and fled” (Mark 14:50) Even more explicit, is Matthew “Then all the disciples forsook him and fled” (Matthew 26:65)
The genuine disciples
Mark is talking about the chosen ‘twelve’. Not about Jesus’ ‘secret’ devoted ones like the other John who took Mary the mother of Jesus home, and Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathe’a and the like. In view of the dastardly desertion by the other ‘twelve’, I am loathe to call these ‘men’ disciples. Or is Mark lying? When he said all, did he not mean ‘All’? There was no come-back with these heroes.
The author of the fourth Gospel lists a number of women from Jesus’ entourage. Among them three Marys, ‘and the disciple whom Jesus loved’. He repeats this phrase a number of times without actually identifying him as John their benefactor in Jerusalem. Why? If that John is the author himself of the fourth gospel, then why does he not say so. Why is he so shy? He was not very bashful when asking Jesus to make him and his brother sit “One on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand in thy Kingdom” (Mark 10:37)
Nicodemus: A selfless soul, who, having risked his all in associating with a man (Jesus) condemned by a Roman Court for treason, is deliberately blotted out of the 26 Books of the N.T. ‘It is difficult to avoid concluding that the omission in the synoptic tradition of the mysterious disciple was intentional,’ says Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield, one of the world’s leading, one of the world’s leading Biblical scholars.
The reason for his reticence is that the ‘beloved disciple’ is his namesake, i.e. his name is also John! The rest of the disciples were nowhere to be found when he (Jesus) was most in need. They all had, as Mark says, “forsaken him and fled!” (Mark 14:50)
Jesus not resurrected, a physical, live Jesus!
After the due greetings of ‘Shaloam’, Jesus begins calming the disciples’ fear for taking him to be a ghost. He says “Behold (have a look at) my hands and my feet, that it is I myself (I am the same fellow, man!): handle me and see; for a spirit has no flesh and bones, as you see me have… And he showed them his hands and his feet” (Luke 24:39-40)
What was the man trying to prove? That he had been resurrected from the dead? – That he was a spirit? – What has the demonstration of hands and feet to do with resurrection? ‘It is I myself!’ Can’t you see, you fools!? ‘For a spirit…’ – any spirit, has ‘no flesh and bones, as you see me have!’. This is an axiomatic, self- evident truth. you do not have to convince anybody, whether Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Atheist or Agnostic. Everyone will acknowledge without any proof that A spirit has no flesh and bones!
Then why does Jesus need to belabor the point? It is simply because the disciples were thinking that he had returned from the dead, that he had been resurrected, and if so he would be in a spiritual form – A spirit! And Jesus is telling them that he is Not that – he is not a spirit – Not resurrected! The above verses in their original, in every language, are so vivid, so simple, so clear that you do not need a dictionary nor a PhD. to explain them to you.
Why don’t you (dear reader) memorise just this one verse. In your own language – English, Arabic, Zulu or Afrikaans, and with just this one verse you can take the wind out of the missionaries’ sail. you can ‘crack his skull’, exactly as young David, with his little pebble did to Goliath. The pleasure is yours… Allah is giving you the opportunity, in this day and age to disabuse the Christian mind from his fantasies!
I have asked learned giants of Christendom to tell me whether in their language, when a man says, ‘A spirit has no Flesh and Bones,’ that it means – A spirit has flesh and Bones! In debates, no opponent of mine has ever had the courage to tackle the question. As if pretending that the words were never uttered. Vivid explanation… I am alive!
If I tell you in English that ‘Because I have flesh and bones – I am not a spirit, I am not a ghost, I am not a spook!’- is that what it really means in your language? you say, ‘Yes!’ (This reasoning equally applies to every language under the sun). In other words, Jesus was telling his disciples, when he said: ‘Behold my hands and my feet’, that the body he wanted them to see, feel and touch was not a spiritual body, nor a metamorphosed body, nor a Resurrected body. Because a resurrected ‘body’ becomes spiritualised!
Who says so?
The argumentative Crusader asks: ‘Who says that resurrected persons will be spiritualised?’ I say, ‘Jesus!’ He asks ‘Where?’ I say: ‘In the Gospel of Luke; go back four chapters from where Jesus said “A spirit has no flesh and bones”, that is, to Luke 20:27-36, and you will see’. The Jews were coming to Jesus again and again with posers and riddles, like:
a) “Master, must we pay tribute to Ceaser or not?” (Matthew 22:77)
b) “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act” (John 8:4)
c) “Master, what commandment is the first of all?” (Mark 12:28)
Now they come to him concerning a Jewess who had seven husbands, according to a Jewish practice – if one man dies leaving no offspring behind, then the 2nd brother of the deceased husband takes her to wife, to give her his seed. But when he fails and dies, the 3rd takes her on; and so on and so on. In the case before Jesus, seven brothers had this one woman, one after another. All the seven brothers died, and in time, the woman also died. There was no problem while each was trying to fulfil his duty – it was one by one! But the question of the Jews was that, at the resurrection, which one was going to have this woman, because they had all ‘had’ her here!
The picture the Jews are trying to conjure up in Jesus’ mind is that if the seven brothers are resurrected simultaneously at the resurrection, and the woman also, then there will be a war in heaven among the seven brothers, all claiming the woman as his own wife, because they had ‘all had her’.
In short, which fellow will have this woman as his wife in heaven? In answer to that, Jesus says: ‘Neither shall they die anymore’ – meaning that the resurrected persons will be immortalised: needing no food, no shelter, no clothing, no sex, no rest. ‘For they are equal unto the angels,’ meaning that they will be angel1sed, they will be spiritualised, they will become spiritual creatures, they will be spirits! As regards himself, four chapters further on he says: ‘A spirit has no flesh and bones, as you see me have’ – I am Not a spirit, I am Not a ghost, I am Not a spook, I am Not Resurrected! I am the same living Jesus – alive! “And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and feet” (Luke 24:40)
Paul is more specific and succinct. He says in 1 Corinthians 15:35-46 “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come? So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorporation is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual”.
The disciples’ fear subsides
The disciples were ‘overjoyed and wondered’, what could have happened? They had thought that he was dead and gone, but here with them stands their Master, with flesh and bones – with 100% characteristics of a man alive!
To assure them further, to calm their shaky nerves, he asks: ‘Have you here any meat’, i.e. anything to eat? “And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and of a honeycomb, and he took it, and did eat before them” (Luke 24:41- 43)
To prove what? That he is Resurrected? Why does he not then say so instead of proving everything to the contrary? Presenting his physical body for examination, eating and masticating ‘broiled fish and honeycomb’. Is all this an act, a pretence, a make-believe, another ‘leela’ as the Hindus might say? ‘No!’ Said Schleliermacher a hundred and sixty five years ago. Albert Schweizer in his book, ‘In Quest of the Historical Jesus’, page 64, quotes him ‘If Christ had only eaten to show that he could eat, while he really had no need of nourishment, it would have been a pretence – something deceitful’
What is wrong with our Christian brethren? Jesus says that a spirit has no flesh and bones, they say that it has! Please ask your friends among them; Who is lying? Jesus or you, the billion so-called followers of his? This is the result of two thousand years of brain-washing or ‘programming’ as the American would say. Salvation is cheap in Christianity! The Christian does not have to fast, and pray, and strait-Jacket his life as the Muslim is obligated to do. He merely has to believe and salvation is his. For us, all our efforts, all our good deeds are ‘like filthy rags’, he says. you better re- programme him, or he will programme you. He will never be satisfied with us, never mind how far backward we bend to appease him. God says “Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion” (Quran 2:120)
The only miracle promised
The hot Gospeler and the Bible thumper does not tire of quoting statements, alleged to have been made by Jesus, that he was going to Jerusalem to die, and on the third day he would come back to life. The Gospels, any Christian scholar will confirm, were first penned decades and centuries after Jesus. In his lifetime, not a word was written, nor did he instruct anyone to write a word! Taylor in his commentary on the Gospel of St. Mark, page 437, discounts the so-called prophecies regarding the ‘crucifixion’ as vaticinium ex eventu meaning ‘prophecy after the event’. That the Gospel writers fabricated words and sayings, and put them into the mouth of Jesus, as if he had foretold the happenings.
The Christian missionary, the evangelist, the crusader, is reluctant to give a hearing to any Christian scholar despite the latter’s sincerity or greatness of calibre – whether Taylor, or Schweizer, or Brandon or Anderson he may be. As soon as they say a word which goes against their pet prejudice, they will discount them all as ‘external source’ and ‘minority 20th-century speculation’. Therefore, I am constrained here to catch the proverbial ‘Bull by the Horn’ and take him to the drinking trough.
Demand for a miracle
The Jews had murmured in the wilderness against Moses. They had given him endless trouble, and now his successor, the Messiah is given no lesser parrying. In their bouts of harassing questioning, they come to him, now, sounding most respectable and polite “Master, (Hebrew – Rabbi, meaning Teacher) we would have a sign of thee” (Matthew 12:38)
All his teaching and preaching, and healing were not enough to convince the Jews that he was a man sent by God; that he was their Messiah. Now they are asking for a ‘sign’ – a miracle – such as flying like a bird, or walking on water; in short, anything they considered impossible.
Before you proceed any further in the discussion with the Christian, please make sure that he understands the word ‘sign’ in the above verse to mean a ‘miracle’. This simple English word from the King James Version of the Bible, which every other Version seems to have copied is creating difficulty in the grasping of its true significance. In the ‘New International Version’, supported by Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and Reformed churches, the word is expanded as ‘miraculous sign’, thank God! Not just any sign, or road signs – ‘Stop, Yield or Go!’
It is also necessary for us to try and define what is meant by a miracle. One of the simplest and truest of definitions is that given by Dr. Lyttelton in, ‘The Place of miracles in Religion’, that is: ‘An act beyond human power.’
This is exactly what the Jews wanted from Jesus. An act which they, the Scribes and the Pharisees, could not duplicate. On the face of it the request seems quite fair, but it is a sick mentality which craves for ‘tricks’ which every sceptic and materialist can rationalise.
No ‘sign’ but one!
So Jesus reacts “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign (miracle), and there shall no sign (miracle) be given to it, but the sign (miracle) of the prophet, Jonah” (Matthew 12:39)
What was the ‘sign’ or the miracle that Jonah performed that Jesus now proposes to emulate? To discover this miracle, we have to go to the ‘Book of Jonah’, in the Bible. But this ‘Book’ is very elusive! it happens to be a single leaf, with four short chapters, and is difficult to find in any encyclopedia of a thousand pages, such as the Christian Bible. But you do not have to go to the Book itself. Every Christian child who ever attended Sunday-school, knows the whole story.
To refresh your memory, let me tell you that God Almighty commands Jonah to go to Nineveh (a city of a hundred thousand people) and warn them to ‘repent in sack-cloth and in ashes’. That is, to humble themselves before the Lord, or God will destroy them.
Jonah feels despondent, fearing that the materialisic Ninevites will not listen to him; they will make a mockery of him. So instead of going to Nineveh, he goes to Joppa and sets sail to Tarshish. At sea there is a terrible storm and, according to the superstition of the mariners, whoever runs away from his ‘Master’s Commands’ creates such a turmoil at sea. An enquiry begins and Jonah realises that he is the guilty party, that as a prophet of God, he was the soldier of God. And as a soldier of God he had to obey the Commands of God. He had no right to act presumptuously. So he volunteers and makes a manly comeback. He feared that God was after his blood, and in wanting to kill him. He will sink the boat, and innocent people will die. Jonah reasons, that it will be better for him to be thrown overboard, and thus avert the disaster overtaking them.
These ‘pre-exilic’ (Before the Jews were carried away into exile under Nebuchadnezzar) people, eight centuries before Christ had more sense of Justice and fair play than modern civilised (?) man. They felt that Jonah wanted to commit suicide, and perhaps wanted their helping-hand. They were not going to aid and abet in his folly. So they said that they had a system of their own, to discover right from wrong, by casting ‘lots’, something like our tossing of the coin – ‘head or tail’! And according to their primitive system the lot fell against Jonah, who was discovered as being the guilty man. So they took him and threw him overboard!
Dead or alive?
The question arises that, when they threw Jonah overboard, was he dead or was he alive? To make it easy for you to get the right answer, let me help you by suggesting that Jonah had volunteered; when he said “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm for you; for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you” (Jonah 1:12)
When a man volunteers, one does not have to strangle him before throwing him; one does not have to spear him before throwing him; one does not have to twist his arms or legs before throwing him. Everyone agrees that that is so.
Now once more the question: Was Jonah dead or alive when he was thrown into the raging sea? We get a unanimous reply – that he was alive! The storm subsides, perhaps it was a coincidence. A fish comes and swallows him. Was he dead or alive? And again everyone says alive! From the fishes belly he prays to God for help. Do dead men pray? ‘No!’ So he was,.. alive! On the third day the fish vomits him onto the seashore – dead or alive? And the reply again is alive! It is a miracle of miracles! The Jews say that he was alive! The Christians say that he was alive! And the Muslims say that he was alive! Little wonder that Jesus chose the ‘sign’ (miracle) of Jonah as his only ‘sign’ (miracle): Something on which the followers of three major religions are agreed.
Let me recapitulate this Mighty miracle from the Book of Jonah:
1. When you throw a man into a raging sea, he ought to die. Because Jonah did not die, therefore, it is a miracle!
2. A fish comes and gobbles the man; he ought to die. He did not die. It is now therefore, a double miracle!
3. Because of heat and suffocation in the whale’s belly for three days and three nights, he ought to die. He did not die, therefore, it is now a miracle of miracles!
When you expect a man to die, and he does not die, only then is it a miracle. If a man faces a firing squad and six bullets are pumped into his body at the given signal, and the man dies. Is it a miracle? ‘No!’ But if he lives to laugh it off, would that be a miracle? Of course it would be a miracle. We expected Jonah to die each time, but he does not die; therefore, his is a multiple miracle.
Jesus like Jonah
Jesus too, after the ordeal he is supposed to have gone through, ought to die. If he died it would be no miracle. But if he lived, as he had himself foretold, and proved ‘according to the scriptures’, it would be a ‘sign’ – a miracle! And these are his words “For as Jonah was” (English), “Want soos Jonah” (Afrikaans), “Ngokubanjengo Jonah” (Zulu).
“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the son of man be” (Matthew 12:40)
How was Jonah in the whale’s belly for three days and three nights – dead or alive? The Muslims, the Christians and the Jews again give a unanimous verdict of alive! How was Jesus in the tomb, for the same period of time – dead or alive? Over a thousand million Christians, of every church or Denomination give a unanimous verdict of dead! Is that like Jonah or unlike Jonah in your language? And everyone whose mind is not confused, says that, that is very unlike Jonah. Jesus said that he would be ‘like Jonah’ and his infatuated followers say that he was ‘unlike Jonah!’. Who is lying – Jesus or his followers? I leave the answer to you!
Big business
But religion is good business. In the name of Christ they are making a mint of it. The crusaders say that we have got it all wrong. They say it was the time factor that Jesus was prophesying about, and not whether he would be dead or alive. They say, ‘Can’t you see that he is emphasising the time factor? He repeats the word, ‘three’, four times.’ These are drowning men clutching at straws, drowning women do the same! What did Jesus say?
“For as Jonah 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 12:40)
Jesus was nowhere near the ‘heart of the earth’; he was supposed to have been in a tomb, which is well above ground level. Maybe he was speaking figuratively.
Three and three are no doubt repeated four times, but there is nothing miraculous about a time factor. The Jews were asking Jesus for a ‘sign’ – a miracle and there is nothing to make three days, or three weeks or three months into a miracle. The first time when I went to Cape Town from Durban, thirty years ago, was by train, and the train took exactly three days and three nights to reach there. Hooray! It’s a miracle! Nonsense you will say, and I am forced to agree.
But it is not so easy for the Christian to agree because his salvation hangs upon a thread. Therefore he must hold on for dear life. We can afford to be charitable. So let us humour him! So was it the time factor that Jesus was out to fulfil? ‘Yes!’ Says the Christian. When was he ‘crucified’? The bulk of Christendom believes that it was on a Friday afternoon some two thousand years ago.
– ‘Crucified’: The wisdom of the inverted commas will become apparent when you read ‘Crucified or Cruciplayed?’ later on.
Simple calculations and why ‘good Friday’?
In my country, we enjoy a four day holiday around Easter, beginning with what is called Good Friday. What makes Good Friday. good? They say that because Christ died for their sins on that day. And in tune with that, every Christian country in the world – Britain, France, Germany, America, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, they all commemorate Good Friday. I have already proved to you that Jesus could not have been on the cross for more than three hours, if at all. For all their rush and hurry, they could not bundle Jesus into the tomb before sunset of Friday.
More than a thousand and one sects and denominations of Christianity, bickering on every aspect of faith, are nevertheless, almost all agreed that Jesus Christ was supposed to have been in the tomb on the night of Friday. He was still supposed to be in the tomb on the day of Saturday. And he was still supposed to be in the tomb on the night of Saturday.
(We are dividing the 24 hour day into day part and night part exactly as Jesus had. As a Jew, he was reckoning time exactly like a Jew, not according to any heathen calculation. Like those of the Romans from midnight to midnight. His people the Jews, to this day, reckon the day from sunset to sunset).
But on Sunday morning, the first day of the week, when Mary Magdalene visited the tomb, she found the tomb empty. you will note that I have repeated the word supposed, supposed, supposed, three times. Do you know why? Surely not to rhyme with the other three, three, three of the prophecy. The reason is that none of the 27 Books of the New Testament record the time of his exit from the tomb.
Please note: Not a single writer of these 27 ‘tomes’ (A volume, a large book) was an eyewitness to his alleged ‘resurrection’. The only ones who could have told us, authoritatively, a word or two on the subject, have been utterly silenced.
May another Arab lad makes a find like the ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’, but this time autographed by Joseph of Arimathe’a and Nicodemus themselves! These two would have told us candidly how they had taken their Master soon after dark that very Friday evening, to a more congenial place for rest and recuperation. Is it not amazing that the only genuine witnesses have been eternally silenced? Could it be that these two and the disciples at Jerusalem were preaching about ‘another Jesus, and another Gospel’? 2 Corinthians 11:4
If it was the time factor that Jesus was trying to stress in the prophecy under discussion, let us see whether that was fulfilled, ‘according to the scriptures’, as the Christians boast.
You will no doubt observe that the grand total amounts to no more than One day and two nights and, juggle as you may, you will never, ever get three days and three nights as Jesus had himself foretold, ‘according to the Scriptures’. Even Einstein, the Master mathematician, cannot help you for this! Can’t you see the Christian is giving a double lie to Jesus from this one prophecy alone. Jesus said, that he would be ‘like’ Jonah!
1. The Christians allege that Jesus was ‘unlike’ Jonah. Jonah was alive for three days and three nights, whereas Jesus was ‘Dead’ in the tomb!(?)
2. Jesus said that he would be in the tomb for three days and three nights, whereas the Christians say that he was in the tomb for only One day and two nights. Who is lying, Jesus or the Christians?
Count backwards to solve dilemma
For all their learning, you have got them hooked. And, they know it! We must not relent. The Christians are already inventing a way out of this dilemma. They have now invented the ‘Good Wednesday’ theory. ‘The Plain Truth’ with its monthly free worldwide circulation of 6 million copies, is offering further free books on the subject of ‘Three days and three nights’. There are other organisations in South Africa, like ‘Bible Revelation’ Johannesburg, who are also offering free books to prove that the ‘crucifixion’ took place on a Good Wednesday, and not on a Good Friday.
Mr. Robert Fahey from that great country, America – where almost all (?) new cults originate eg. the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Christian Scientists, the Mormons, you name them, and they have them – representing that premier Christian magazine, named in the previous paragraph, lectured recently in the ‘Holiday Inn’, Durban. He startled his overwhelmingly Christian audiences with a lot of novel ideas. Among these newfangled doctrines was one about Good Wednesday. He agreed 100% with the present writer’s conclusion that Good Friday was actually disproving Christ’s claim to be the Messiah.
To solve this problem he suggested that we count backwards from the time he was discovered to be missing from the tomb, viz. on that Sunday morning, (‘first day of the week’) when Mary Magdalene went to anoint him. If we deduct 3 days and 3 nights from Sunday morning, we ought to get Wednesday as an answer. It is not difficult from here to get your three days and three nights to resolve the Christian dilemma. The audience, already pre-prepared with a flood of free magazines and literature, gave Mr. Fahey a resounding applause.
God or the devil?
After the meeting, during a personal discussion (The Christians do not allow their speakers to be questioned in public), I congratulated Mr. Fahey for his ingenuity. ‘How was it possible for the past two thousand years, that the Christian world had not known their religious arithmetic to get their sums right?’ Even to this day the bulk of Christendom commemorate a Good Friday. instead of a Good Wednesday. ‘Who has deceived the 1,200,000,000 Christians of the world, including the Roman Catholics who claim an unbroken chain of Popes from the first Pope (Peter) to the present Pope, into falsely celebrating Good Friday.?’, I asked Mr. Fahey.
Mr. Fahey, unashamedly answered: ‘The Devil!’ I said, ‘If the Devil can succeed in confusing the Christians, and keep them confused for two thousand years in the most simple aspect of Faith, how much easier it would be for the Devil to mislead them in things concerning God?’ Mr. Fahey blushed and walked away. If this is the belief of the trendsetters of Christianity (At the rate of this cults progress, before long the whole Christian world will opt for a ‘Good Wednesday’), we may well ask, ‘is this ‘crucifixion’ not the mightiest hoax in history?’ Should we not, now, more appropriately, call it cruci-fiction!
Crystal-clear evidence
I have given you a list showing overwhelming proof from the Christian scriptures where it was being said, again and again that Jesus was alive, alive! Yet the disciples did not believe. Will the modern-day disciples believe now? Are they prepared to believe their own Master who had said:- ‘As Jonah was… so shall the son of man be’? Not likely! Remember Thomas? – Another one of the elected ones of Jesus.
Dubbed by the Christians as ‘Doubting Thomas’?. He was ‘not with them (the disciples) when Jesus came’ – (John 20:24), the first time in the upper-room. Subsequently, when these very disciples who had felt, and touched and eaten with Jesus, testified that they had seen the ‘Lord’ (not God, not the ghost of Jesus, but he himself flesh and blood – alive!), Thomas said unto them “Except, I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25)
Fabricated scripture
New name, old game. A ‘born-again’ had been boasting how he used to pinch 10 cents from the church collection plate for a ‘milkshake’, and how he used to tie his drunken father ‘… in the barn…’ – the same barn where he used to see his ‘… mother lying in the gutter in the manure – the bathroom of the cows – beaten so badly by my father…’ (The sickness is so cultivated that when this type of tripe is narrated, the ‘born- again’ Christians go into ecstasy with their ‘Alleluyas!’) now he does another confidence trick upon his readers.
He quotes the above verse (John 20:25) from his American Bible without giving the reference (On the same page 20 of ‘The resurrection Factor’ the author gives four other quotations, with references for everyone! On the following page he gives three quotes, also with references. But the verses where he wants to deceive, no references at all)
And after the words, ‘I will not believe’, he begins a new paragraph with the words, ‘at this point, Jesus said to Thomas’, quoting again from the Bible without giving the reference. St. John, gives a lie to this cultist by saying, “And, after eight days, again his disciples were inside, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus” (John 20:26)
Artful lies
Another of these cultists, claiming to be a lawyer by profession, supports his reborn brother from America with yet another lie. He says on page 120 of ‘The Islam Debate’, that ‘Deedat has recently made a big issue of the stone which sealed the tomb by publishing a booklet entitled Who Moved the Stone? In it he suggests that the stone was moved by two disciples of Jesus who were Pharisees – Joseph of Anmathe’a and Nicodemus (page 10). But in his booklet Was Christ Crucified? suggests it was a Super-Woman (page 25), implying that it was Mary Magdalene.’
How can a born-again Christian and an Attorney at Law lie? To ensnare his victim he even quotes the page number, ‘25’. The book has been out of print for very long. Even if you had a copy, you were not likely to check it up. The cultist sounds so cocksure! But the ‘Gospel-Truth’ is that my actual words are ‘She was pleasantly surprised on her arrival to find the stone already rolled away.’
Where is the suggestion that it was Mary Magdalene? Where do I imply that it was Mary Magdalene? But for these sick people, whether American or South African, every trick in the bag is permissible to clinch a convert for Christ. I ‘throw in the towel’, I am not prepared to give battle to every false charge, and I want you to do the same. you simply deliver your message the best way you can, and leave the rest to God.
A fabrication
Biblical scholars are coming to a conclusion that the ‘doubting Thomas’ episode is of the same variety as that of the woman ‘caught in the act’ – (John 8:1-11), i.e. it is a fabrication! But as the orthodox will not allow this interpolation – (John 8:1-11) to be expunged from their Versions of the Bible, he exhibits a similar stubbornness in dealing with the verses about “putting fingers into the print of the nails” (John 20:25)
For the present we will deal with them for what they are worth. The Romans had no special reasons for being vindictive towards Jesus as compared to his two ‘crossmates’. Why make fish of one (his ‘crossmates’) and fowl of the other (Jesus), i.e. to have the two tied with leather thongs to the crossbar and to have Jesus ‘nailed’?
Not ‘at this point’, as the cultist alleges, but ‘eight days’ later, Jesus walks once more into the upper-room, and he finds Thomas there this time. And according to John, he commanded Thomas to “reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27)
Thomas realises the heel he has been. He had signally rejected every proof that Jesus was alive! Every other disciple, beside Judas Iscariot the traitor, had testified that they had seen Jesus and felt him and eaten food with him, but Thomas would not believe!. What would he not believe? That the living, pulsating Jesus was making his rounds – Not a ghost of Jesus. Now, being confronted with the physical reality of his presence, demonstrating his physical, material body, he was forced to exclaim, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
What did Thomas realise?
Did Thomas realise at that juncture that Jesus Christ was his Jehovah? Did he and the other disciples fall down in prostration before him. Never! His words were the words of self-reproach. We utter them daily, ‘My God! What a fool I have been!’ Are you addressing your listener, as your God? For further details regarding the false claim that Jesus was God, see ‘Christ in Islam’.
Take stock. The truth shines through:
Let me give you a quick summary of the points we have discussed so far, concluding that Jesus Christ was neither killed nor was he crucified, as alleged by the Christians and the Jews, but that he was alive!
1. Jesus was reluctant to die! He had worked out a strategy of defence to repel the Jews. Because he wanted to remain alive!
2. He beseeched God for help. With strong crying and tears for God Almighty to keep him alive!
3. God ‘heard’ his prayers which means that God accepted his prayers to keep him alive!
4. An angel of god came to strengthen him: In the hope and belief that God will save him alive!
5. Pilate finds Jesus not guilty! Good reason to keep Jesus alive!
6. Pilates wife shown a dream in which she was told that – ‘No harm should come to this just man.’ In other words that he should be saved alive!
7. Supposed to be on the cross for only three hours. According to the system in vogue, no man could die by crucifixion in so short a time which means that even if he was fastened to the cross – he was alive!
8. The other two – his ‘crossmates’ on their respective crosses were alive. So Jesus too, for the same period of time must be alive!
9. Encyclopedia biblica under article ‘cross’ – column 960 says: ‘When the spear was thrust – Jesus was alive!
10. ‘Forthwith’ came there out blood and water: ‘Forthwith’ means straightaway, immediately which was a sure sign that Jesus was alive!
11. Legs not broken – as a fulfilment of prophecy. ‘Legs’ can be of any use only if Jesus was alive!
12.Thunderstorm, earthquake, and darkening of the sun all within 3 hours! To disperse the sadistic mob to enable his ‘secret disciples’ to help, keep him alive!
13. Jews doubted his death: They suspected that he had escaped death on the cross – that he was alive!
14. Pilate ‘marvels’ to hear that Jesus was dead. He knew from experience that no man can die so soon by crucifixion. He suspected that Jesus was alive!
15. Big roomy chamber: Close at hand, and big and airy for willing hands to come to the rescue. Providence was out to keep Jesus alive!
16. Stone and ‘winding sheets’ had to be removed: Only necessary if Jesus was alive!
17. Report on winding sheets. German Scientists who carried out experiments on the ‘Shroud of Turin’ said that the heart of Jesus had not stopped functioning – that he was alive!
18. Ever in disguise! Disguise not necessary if Jesus was ‘resurrected’. Only necessary if he was alive!
19. Forbade Mary Magdalene to touch him ‘Touch me not’ for this reason that it would hurt; because he was alive!
20. ‘Not yet ascended unto my father’ In the language of the Jews, in the idiom of the Jews, he was saying, ‘I am not dead yet’, in other words, ‘I am alive!’
21. Mary Magdalene not afraid on recognising Jesus. Because she had seen signs of life before. She was looking for a Jesus who was alive!
22. Disciples petrified on seeing Jesus in the upper-room. All their knowledge about the ‘crucifixion’ was from hearsay, therefore, they could not believe that Jesus was alive!
23. Ate food again and again in his post ‘crucifixion’ appearances. Food only necessary if he was alive!
24. Never showed himself to his enemies. Because he had escaped death by the ‘skin of his teeth’. He was alive!
25. Took only short trips. Because he was not resurrected, not spiritualised, but alive!
26. Testimony of men around the tomb “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:4-5) That he is not dead, but alive!
27. Testimony of angels “angels who had said that he was alive!” (Luke 24:23) Did not say, ‘resurrected’ but the actual word uttered by the angels was ‘Alive!’
28. Mary Magdalene testifies “they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they believed not” (Mark 16-11).
Mary did not vouch for a spook, or ghost or spirit of Jesus but a Live Jesus. What they could not believe was that the Master was alive!
29. Dr. primrose testifies: That the ‘water and the blood’, when Jesus was lanced on the side, was on account of an upset in the nervous vessels because of the scourging by staves. Which was a sure sign that Jesus was alive!
30. Jesus had himself foretold that his miracle will be the miracle of Jonah! According to the Book of Jonah, Jonah was alive, when we expected him to be dead; similarly when we expect Jesus to be dead, he should be alive!
Every word is a frozen picture of what it represents. If we take a word and cogitate on it, we will be able to see or visualise it in our minds. Try – ‘ship’, you will see a ship in your mind. ‘Handbag’, you will see a handbag in your mind. ‘Cigarette’, you will see a cigarette in your mind. But we speak at such a rapid rate that we apprehend words as ideas, thoughts and concepts. Words are the tools wherewith we convey our messages. The greater the vocabulary, the clearer and easier the communication. But wrong words can mar the ideas.
The language cul-de-sac
The Arabic language is very rich in conveying spiritual thoughts and concepts, but English is richer in the field of science and technology. Yet this latter language is letting me down. It seems to have no verbs for uncompleted or attempted actions, for example:
1. A man is taken to the gallows, the noose is put around his neck, ‘he kicks the bucket’ meaning the rope is pulled for him to die, but fate intervenes and he is reprieved before he expires. Twenty years later the same man dies by drowning. We want one verb to explain to us what happened – was the man ‘’hanged’ or what happened? Not un-hanged. We want just one verb…?
2. Another person Is taken to the Electric-Chair for electrocution. He is strapped to the chair. And the switch is put on. A bolt of electricity goes through the man, but the power fails. The man revives, and before another bolt of electricity is shot through him, he is reprieved. A few days later the man dies in a motor-car accident. What was his end? What happened to him on the ‘Chair’? Was he electrocuted or not? One verb… ?
3. Josephus, a Jewish historian, records in his book of ‘Antiquities’ about ‘crucifixions’ in which he intervened and as a result the ‘crucified’ men were lowered from their crosses. One survived! What had happened to him on the cross? was he crucified? The one who did not die by crucifixion, but an attempt was made to crucify him. Was he crucified? One verb… ?
Cruci-fictions galore
The above are hypothetical cases one might say. But we are with history in the making, a reproduction from the ‘Weekend World’, dated August 3, 1969. Mr. Pieter van der Bergh, a barman by occupation, was ‘Crucified’ for ‘kicks!’ – just for the thrill of it. In his own words, he simply wanted to prove, ‘That man is master over his body’. He was on the cross; he went through the whole process of the crucifixion. To out do the three of Golgotha, he had ‘An 18 inch spike piercing his thigh’. This barman is still alive and kicking. Was he crucified? One verb… ? There is no such verb in English.
When the Jews cried repeatedly to Pilate – ‘Crucify him! Crucify him! Luke 23:27, John 19:6, they meant kill him on the cross – by crucifixion. ‘kill’ him! Not just ‘taking him for a ride’ on the cross! And, if after all the due ceremony, like that of Mr. Van der Berg, the man did not die by crucifixion, what would you say happened? What verb are you going to use, when you haven’t got it in your language?
Multiple deficiency?
A South African Englishman, and his American counterpart, Jointly confess (‘The Islam Debate,’ page 113): ‘If the word crucify only means to kill on a cross, we are at a loss to find an alternative verb to describe the mere act of impaling on a cross’ (Why does it not occur to them to write ‘crucify’ within inverted commas?). Shame on them. They make a mockery of me whilst the deficiency lies in their own language and in their own inability to coin an appropriate word.
With all their ‘In-dwelling of the Holy Ghost’, the Christian world has failed to coin an appropriate verb to describe, ‘ the mere act of being fastened to the cross’, Presently, I will get them out of their misery, before the chapter is finished. But why the rhetoric when they still say: ‘If the word crucify only means to kill…’. Will Christendom tell us what else crucify means?
The world-renowned Oxford Dictionary simply defines crucify as ‘Put to death by fastening to a cross’. The ‘born-again’ authors of ‘The Islam Debate’ cannot solve the problem so I will solve it for them!
‘Crucifixions’ now for kicks
There is always something new coming out of the East. Now in the Far East, the Philippines have developed a new craze of getting ‘crucified’! They want to walk in the foot-steps of Jesus. – (as seen much earlier in the newspaper clipping). A reproduction from the ‘Sunday News’ of Dares-salam, dated May 3rd 1981, reports of multiple ‘crucifixions’ in the Philippines. ‘At least seven cases of ‘crucifixions’ were reported in the local press.’ There could have been many more ‘crucifixions’ in the hinterland, which the newspapers failed to report. Among those ‘crucified’ was one Luciana Reyes, described as ‘the first woman known to have performed the ritual’ of ‘crucifixion’! A new addition to the fanatical elements of the ‘crucifixions’ is that ‘ the penitent’s hands are nailed to a wooden cross’.
Crucified or cruciplayed?
Not a single person died by ‘crucifixion’! (i.e. was crucified). One of the ‘crucified’ men fainted. Another ‘crucified’ man ‘was up and smoking a cigarette as soon as his hands were bandaged’. A vendor ‘had gone through the ritual (of ‘crucifixion’) for the fifth time’. This man has vowed to perform the ‘crucifixion’ ten times! It all sounds like a fairy tale. But there were 25,000 witnesses to four ‘crucifixions’ in one town alone. Some of these ‘crucifixions’ are shown ‘live on television’.
The Christian world has been notorious in exploiting Jesus to make money. The films on the life of Jesus, everyone of them, was a ‘box-office’ record smasher! They have their ‘Nativity Play’, they have their ‘Passison Play’, why not a ‘cruciplay’?
Reg Gratton, the correspondent for the ‘Sunday News’, has solved the problem of the ‘crucifixions’ by having the words in inverted commas. He has used the words ‘crucifixion’ and ‘crucifixions’ five times in his article, and every time when these words appear he has them enclosed in inverted commas. Please check it up. In other words he is saying that it is the ‘so-called crucifixion’ or the ‘so-called crucifixions’. The inverted commas are more subtle than the words ‘so-called’. I did not catch the joke on my first few readings of the article. Would you have?
You will note that other alert Journalists have taken the precautions of putting words like ‘Dead’, ‘died’, and ‘corpse’ in inverted commas earlier on. Now Reg does the same about the ‘crucifixions!’ Since the word ‘crucify’ is getting stuck in the missionaries’ throats, should we not use cruci-fiction instead?
Crucifixion or Cruci-fiction?
We can now say without any mental reservation that Pieter van der Bergh went through the process of the crucifixion with all severity and seriousness, but he was not crucified (verb of crucifixion) as the newspaper proclaimed but that he had been crucificted (verb of cruci-fiction).
Further, we can say that the Christians in the Philippines are not undergoing crucifixions, but that they are undergoing crucifictions in all sincerity. No passion plays or Play-acting with them as they do in films, it is the real thing, being only short of death! Hence, any performance with the cross, where the victim tries to emulate the alleged experience of Jesus, but does not actually die the ‘accursed death’ on the cross, we will rightly call it by its appropriate terms:
– crucifict instead of crucify (Verb)
– crucificted instead of crucified (Verb)
– crucifiction instead of crucifixion (Noun).
This simple and natural use of the right words will break the ‘cross’ of Christianity which finds itself at the ‘crossroads’, not knowing which way to turn. And if we use the words frequently enough, we will soon find them in the English dictionaries of the world.
To this end, we have published a hundred thousand copies of this publication for free distribution as a first print. Read it, study it and share it with friends and foes alike for the glory of Truth.
‘After more than 1,000 hours of studying…’ the ‘crucifixion’, the author of ‘A campus Crusade’ publication, ‘The Resurrection Factory invents another posture for his ‘lord’ and ‘saviour’.
Now you have a multiple of choices:
1. Frogi-fiction
2. Staki-fiction
3. Cruci-fiction
Afterword
The Crucifixion or Christ had been pushed down my throat to be the only redeeming factor for mankind since my early encounter with students and priests of Adams Mission when I was in my teens.
Being a rather impressionable youth, I was amazed at the manner in which scores of young articulate men believed in the Crucifixion as their only factor of salvation and seemed to be concerned about my being condemned to hell for not believing in it.
This subject of the Crucifixion of Christ on which all Christianity is staked, became a serious subject of my studies. I really wanted to know what it was all about and began to study their authority, the ‘New Testament’, on the subject.
Honestly, I do not expect anyone to ask me about my belief as a Muslim concerning the Crucifixion. My belief is the Quranic belief as categorically stated in Chapter IV, Verse 757.
I repeat emphatically that the study of the crucifixion was thrust upon me by those of the Christian faith who claimed to be my benefactors and well-wishers. I seriously took their concern for me to heart and studied and researched objectively, using their own sources. The results you will agree are astounding.