Se7en said:
It was never my intent to invalidate the Bible, simply offering up some food for thought.
I didn't mean to suggest otherwise.
Among other reasons, I'm focusing on whether Jesus actually died rather than the Deluge or the shape of the cross because it is infinitely more theologically important.
And, to be honest, I find quite a few of these technical theories very interesting - from the idea that the horizontal bar was separate from a permanent vertical bar to the idea that there was no horizontal bar.
Here's some more...Jesus said he would be dead for 3 days and 3 nights be resurecting...the same amount of time that Jona was in the whale. That would be 3, 24 hour cycles totaling in at 72 hours. It's quite impossible that Jesus was layed to rest on a Friday evening and resurected the following Sunday morning. Friday night to Saturday night = appx. 24 hrs. Saturday night to Sunday morning = appx. 12 hrs. 24+12=36 hrs or 1.5 days. Something's not right there. I chalk it up to the pagan origins of today's "Christian Holidays."
It appears that you're referencing Matthew 12:40. There are a few things of note:
1. Biblically speaking, Jesus did rise from the dead on the third day. He died on Friday, which is considered the first day. He was still dead on Saturday, the second day. And He rose on Sunday, the THIRD DAY.
2. Matthew 12:40 is the only explicit mention of three days AND nights; all other New Testament references are to simply three days - and all four Gospel accounts claim that the women found the empty tomb on Sunday, immediately after the Sabbath, the first day of the week.
3. It appears that most Bible scholars
believe that, either way, there is no contradiction:
"The period during which He was to lie in the grave is here expressed in round numbers, according to the Jewish way of speaking, which was to regard any part of a day, however small, included within a period of days, as a full day."
Also:
"He continued in the grave just as long as Jonah continued in the fish?s belly,
three days and three nights; not three whole days and nights: it is probable, Jonah did not lie so long in the whale?s belly, but part of three natural days (
nychthemerai, the Greeks called them); he was buried in the afternoon of the sixth day of the week, and rose again in the morning of the first day; it is a manner of speech very usual; see 1 Ki. 20:29; Esth. 4:16; 5:1; Lu. 2:21."
(Follow
this link for those and other commentaries on Matthew 12:40. Some do not mention the apparent contradiction; those that do concur with those quoted above.)
4. Even if what you suggest is true - against ALL the evidence above, I don't see how it changes anything substantial.
I'm really beginning to believe that our religion has been, to a great degree, perverted from its true purpose.
If I may ask, what do you believe is Christianity's true purpose? And how have we strayed?
To only have seen the Truth with my own eyes, things would have been a bit more straightforward.
True, but if John 20:29 is trustworthy - and I believe it is - it offers this for ALL of us who were not eyewitnesses to the Resurrection:
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.