“He's risen, He's risen,!” They Say, But True Credibility Is:

A candid examination of the circumstances surrounding the alleged resurrection of that man Christians refer to as Jesus ...

“He's risen, He's risen,!” They Say,

But True Credibility Is:

Written By Marvin Thomas Cox-Flynn de Graham

Copyright © 2019 Marvin Thomas Cox

DBA: Marvin Thomas Cox-Flynn de Graham

All Rights Reserved

“No Esta Aqui!”

Although most laymen continue to remain unawares, there is actually much speculation among scholars in support of the premise that the historical Jesus did indeed have, at least, two Earthly brothers: James and Judas -- Judas¹ having been Jesus' identical twin brother, often affectionately referred to as Thomas, Thomas being a Hebrew word which literally translates as Twin but, was eventually transformed over time into what is, today, considered as a common first name, with the Greek word Didymus also translating literally as Twin (“'Thomas' who is called Didymus [the twin]”²). In fact, there is more than ample evidence in support of this theory, if one should wish to devote the time and study required to read great works like the books of, Professor of Middle Eastern Religions and renowned Archaeologist, Dr. Robert Eisenman³. I do highly recommend his books: James The Brother Of Jesus and The New Testament Code.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the time (or the patience) to devote themselves to such in depth and detailed personal study and research. Thus, having shared, above, the very real possibility that Jesus may have (as a historical truth) had an identical twin brother, such a possibility would serve to cast a whole new light upon questions regarding the alleged resurrection of Jesus from the dead -- questions such as: Which one of the twin brothers were actually seen after the execution and burial of Jesus? Honestly, we may never know the answer to this question. However, it is a question well worth contemplating. In the meantime, setting the possibility of twin brothers aside, I would like to, simply, present a few thoughts as other valid points that are well worth giving careful consideration and contemplation -- points which, do not require one to be a scholar devoting countless hours of personal study but, are based solely upon common horse sense logic, and sensible reason. I humbly submit my points for your scrutinous consideration, below …

____________

If one is to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, what obstacles would he have had to overcome in order to make such a dramatic feat a credible one that critics would find difficult to refute or question?

First off, Jesus would have to successfully overcome the natural decomposition process of the human body, which begins immediately upon death, with the brain and liver being the very first internal organs to decompose, with all internal organs in a state of irreversible decomposition, bloating and stinking within the first three to four days. Secondly, he would have to successfully unwind himself from the burial clothing and shroud in which he was securely encased, as was the Jewish custom of day and time in order to prevent the scattering of the deceased's bones.

Thirdly, he would have to successfully present himself alive to the world in a most dramatically irrefutable fashion, the most dramatic of which would have been to exit the tomb dragging his burial clothing and shroud behind him and reeking to high heaven of the lingering stench of death and decomposition, leaving not a shred of doubt that he had managed the feat of raising himself from the rotting decomposition of the human body that ensues upon the very moment of death.

For the sake of my own credibility, allow me to provide some excerpt evidence in support of that which I share in regards what Jesus had to have overcome, indeed, he rose from the dead:

How Long Does It Take A Body To Decompose? @ Ranker.com: “... Decomposition begins immediately after death, in a stage known as autolysis, or self digestion. During this process, as the name implies, the body begins digesting itself. As cells are deprived of oxygen, they begin to breakdown and release membranes that are then digested by enzymes. Typically, this begins in the liver and brain due to the high water and enzyme content in these areas. As your body eats itself, your internal temperature drops as blood stops flowing. This causes blood to coagulate, stiffening the arteries, veins, and capillaries. This leads to the well-known phenomenon of rigor mortis, in which corpses become stiff and immobile. This usually occurs two to six hours after death. Rigor mortis lasts about 24 hours. After it passes, blood settles in the area of the body that was closest to the ground at the time of death. The area where blood settles develops a red-brown stain. For example, if you died after falling down headfirst, you would get a blotchy brown stain on your face. Other body parts begin to take on a bluish tinge within eight to 10 hours of death. Ever wonder when a corpse starts to smell? A bad odor begins two to three days after death, in a process known as putrefaction. It's caused by micro-organisms in your intestines. These organisms do not die immediately along with you. Instead, after death they begin eating through the intestines. After a few days, micro-organisms spread across your thighs and stomach. This eventually causes a foul odor, similar to the scent of rotten eggs and methane. Other side effects include a protruding tongue, a greenish patch on the belly, and fluid oozing from the mouth and nostrils ...”⁴ (Bold Lettering & Underlining are mine)

Factors Affecting Human Decomposition: Initial decay --  0 to 3 days after death: “As cells of the body are deprived of oxygen, carbon dioxide in the blood increases, pH decreases and wastes accumulate which poison the cells. Concomitantly, unchecked cellular enzymes (lipases, proteases, amylases, etc.) begin to dissolve the cells from the inside out, eventually causing them to rupture, and releasing nutrient-rich fluids. This process begins and progresses more rapidly in tissues that have a high enzyme content (such as the liver) and a high water content such as the brain, but eventually affects all the cells in the body. At the same time gut bacteria begin to break down the intestines and start to invade other parts of the body.

Putrefaction -- 4 to 10 days after death: “Microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and protozoa) break down tissues and cells into gases, liquids and simple molecules. This usually occurs under anaerobic conditions, releasing fluids into body cavities. Bacteria break down haemoglobin (in blood cells) to sulfhaemoglobin causing the green colour change of the skin. Various gases (hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide, methane, ammonia, sulphur dioxide, cadaverine (pentamethylenediamine) putrescine (butanediamine) and hydrogen) are formed within the abdomen forcing various liquids and faeces out of the body and causing swelling of the mouth lips and tongue. Bacteria enter the venous system causing the blood to haemolyse causing red streaks followed by colour change to green caused by marbleisation. Blisters form on the skin filled with various body fluids. The skin starts to slip off the body ...”⁵

Facts: What Happens To A Body After Death: “... The intestines are packed with millions of micro-organisms that don't die with the person. Therefore these organisms start the job of decomposition immediately by breaking down the dead cells of the intestines. As the bacteria starts to eat through the gut the first sign is usually a greenish patch on the lower right belly which also blisters. Then special bacteria called clostridia and coliforms start to invade other parts of the body and putrefaction spreads across the stomach before travelling down the thighs and across the chest. This rotting produces foul-smelling matter which include the gases hydrogen sulphide (the smell produced by rotting eggs) and methane. These internal gases push the intestines out through the rectum, the tongue may protrude and fluid from the lungs oozes out of the mouth and nostrils ...”⁶ (Bold lettering & Underlining are mine)

Life After Death: The Science Of Human Decomposition: “ … As the gas pressure continues to build up inside the body, it causes blisters to appear all over the skin surface, and then loosening, followed by ‘slippage,’ of large sheets of skin, which remain barely attached to the deteriorating frame underneath. Eventually, the gases and liquefied tissues purge from the body, usually leaking from the anus and other orifices, and often also from ripped skin in other parts of the body. Sometimes, the pressure is so great that the abdomen bursts open ...”⁷ (Bold lettering & Underlining are mine)

The History Of Jewish Burial Sites: “From the archaeological record, we know that the burial practices of the earliest Jews, the Israelites and the Judahites (who would unite into the people called yehudim, or the Jews), usually interred their dead in 'family caves' located outside the settlement. These 'family caves' were usually created by expanding naturally-occurring tunnels in the chalky foothills of the region ...”⁸

What Were The Rituals Associated With Death & Burial In Jesus' Day?: “... Very poor people, who could not afford a rock-hewn tomb, or foreigners who had no land were buried within vertical shafts in designated fields. In the Gospels there is reference to the purchase of the potter’s field as a place to bury the poor and foreigners who died in Israel (Mat 27:7) ...”⁹

First Century Jewish Burial Practices: “... When a person breathed the last breath and the heart stopped beating, the eyes of the deceased were reverentially closed, the entire body was washed and anointed with oil, and the hands and feet were then wrapped in linen bands. The body, clothed in a favorite garment, was then wrapped with winding sheets. Spices of myrrh and aloes were placed in the folds of the garment to perfume the body. A napkin was then bound from the chin to the head. The family took the body on a bier to be buried within hours of death, not days. During the first century, many people were laid to rest in rock-hewn tombs, one of the most prominent features of the hill country of Galilee and Judea; others were buried in the ground … Burial in a rock-hewn tomb usually consisted of two separate and distinct burials. The first burial was the simple placement of the body in the tomb either in a niche (loculus, Latin for “a little place,” and in Hebrew, kokh, plural kokhim) -- shafts cut as deep as a body in the burial chamber -- or on an arcosolium -- a bench or shelf cut out of the wall of a tomb … The second burial occurred about a year later when family members reentered the tomb, carefully took the bones of the deceased (once the flesh had completely decomposed), and placed them in a specially prepared, separate container known as an ossuary (from Latin os, “a bone”). These chests were placed in small niches in the tomb for permanent burial. Gathering the bones following the primary burial was considered one of the important duties of a son and was viewed as a time of rejoicing. This practice ended by the middle or end of the third century AD ...”¹⁰

Now, since I have chosen to title this brief article, Credibility Is, it remains a reality that the credibility and reliability of The Gospel's reports of the resurrection of Jesus are more than suspect for many reasons -- a lack of credible first hand witnesses being, first and foremost, the powerful deterrent to any logical mind seeking to accept the resurrection story of Jesus rising from the dead, apart from that of Blind Faith alone. The secondary reason being that of the various contradictions between The Gospels themselves and the thousands of textual variants between the many shreds of surviving ancient documents that comprise The Gospels, Book of Acts, and the letters that comprise The New Testament.

Many Christians might respond with, “Well, the Bible is the inspired word of God and that is credibility enough for me.” Perhaps it is. And perhaps not. However what credibly perfect and all knowing God divinely inspires men to pen a compilation of salvation oriented documents that disagree with, conflict with, and contradict one another -- and that consistently?

Allow me to set forth a bit of logical food for thought as to what true credibility in the veracity of the resurrection of Jesus would have been, if he, indeed, rose from the dead:

Logical food for thought? Credibility is a resurrected Jesus bound hand & foot in linen wrappings. The factual event of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead would have been a universal success had our perfect and all knowing God thought to cause the alleged Earthquake to entice the stone roll to away before the public eyes of a gathered crowd of spectators -- come to see if Jesus could actually pull off his death defying feat on that promised third day (say 5,000 people, a nice Gospel number) -- to reveal a risen Jesus who would come struggling, mumbling, and stumbling out of the tomb with the same crescendo of thrilled spectator theatrics as was fanned to flame in the passages of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead with the command of, “Lazarus come forth!” The crowd would have hit their knees in awe and reverent adoration, retching, gagging, and struggling with all their might in an all out effort to avoid puking as their nostrils were assaulted by the stench of death and decomposition that permeated their now risen Savior -- squirming maggots dropping from his burial garb as he was lovingly loosed by his disciples, who would, also, lovingly inform their Master that he stunk to high heaven (no blasphemy intended) and needed a bath in the worst way.

Logical food for thought? Credibility is a Jesus that could pass right through the stone sealing the tomb, rather than needing angels to roll it away. If Jesus could walk through walls or transport himself Star Trek-style into the midst of a room (as per John 20: 19 & 26 below), then, it was flat out stupid to remove the stone from the tomb, thus destroying any controlled setting of believability aspect of his burial and every single shred of credibility in his having honestly raised himself from the dead.

Joh 20:19 KJV -- Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (Underlining is mine)

Joh 20:26 KJV -- And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. (Underlining is mine)

Furthermore, what more dramatic and believable act of proving his resurrection from the dead, than to literally pass through the very stone blocking the entrance to the tomb that imprisoned his, heretofore, dead body -- and that before the very eyes of the authorities who sought to prove him a fake and a fraud?

A perfectly logical point of argument? If Jesus could walk (or transport himself) through walls, there was no need for the removal of the stone. Even if the authorities, themselves, had not witnessed his stepping forth victoriously from the tomb by walking right through the stone that sealed and secured it -- with reports of his resurrection and being seen among the populace rising from day to day -- eventually, the authorities themselves would have removed the stone to discover no feasible means of escape, with his body simply gone -- vanished into the thin air of no logical explanation but that of a supernaturally miraculous event, proving his resurrection a true and honest actually factual reality.

Logical food for thought? Credibility is witnesses who have their stories straight and in reasonable agreement. Reality 101: Every single resurrection account within the Gospels differs in its presentation of exact timing and sequence of events, the number of people at the tomb, and, exactly who, and how many people were said to have seen Jesus after the resurrection.

The fact is, if the tomb of Jesus in those ancient days, or if the tomb alleged to be that of a Jesus in today's modern world, were a crime scene -- let's say vandalized and plundered of some great artifact of value -- every person who had visited that tomb or come near it, within days prior to the crime, would be apprehended and promptly brought in to stand before the proper authorities for questioning. If, in undergoing questioning, every person involved told a different version of what they saw or took place, it is a sure fire cinch that the authorities would conclude that one, or all, of the suspects involved were, either, lying or withholding information. Evidence is important. Evidence establishes facts, rather than relying upon Blind Faith.

Logical food for thought: Credibility is a loving and caring Jesus that actually thought to tell people about his experience of suffering, dying, decomposing in the grave and burning in that sinner's hell we are expected to believe exists. Yet, he uttered not a word of warning to anyone in relation to that which we are to believe he, himself, endured, suffered, and overcame -- not one single recorded word. Please allow me to elaborate with an excerpt from my article, Rapture This¹¹:

“ … Of the eight or nine people listed within the Bible that allegedly returned from the dead, not a single one remains to tell us what is on that other side, or if that side even exists. Even stranger still is that not a one of them had a word of encouragement to offer within the text of the very Bible that reports their return … “

Logical food for thought? Credibility is a Jesus that had no need to leave the Earth right after his triumphant feat of returning from the dead. The very evidence that supports the strong assumption that Jesus did not rise from the dead is this: A man rarely flees the scene of a crime unless he harbors some manner of guilt. So, why did Jesus need to be portrayed as going away in the Gospels, especially when as such had never been mentioned before? Where was he going and why?

Joh 14:2-3 KJV -- In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

In leaving you to contemplate the logic I have set before your eyes, I will conclude with a final excerpt portion of my article, Rapture This:

“ … Jesus has been conveniently swept away to prepare mansions that, if he and his alleged father truly had foreknowledge of his mission to earth, should have already been prepared long before his alleged voluntary & willful suicide upon the cross. Now, if there was a logical reason to wait on construction until after the theatrical festivities, just how long does it take the Creator of the entire Universe to build mansions for the very few that are said to be saved? After all, if God made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them in six days, surely He can build a few mansions in a bit less than two thousand years. Patience is a virtue, but something is wrong with this picture ...

And still, beyond sanity's sensibilities, the Christian world awaits a Christ's return that shall never take place; living in hopes of a rapture that will raise them from their graves, or translate them to be swept away to walk streets of gold in a beautiful city of limitless housing where every person (every race, creed, color, or language) has his own individual mansion and there is no wrong side of the tracks where the poor, undesirable, folks of different skin tones, cultures, or languages, are relegated to reside, because everyone (well, the folks selected to live there) will live forever in peace and harmony in a Heaven that does not exist (nor ever existed except in the pagan-fairy-tale-mythological-imaginations of men); to feast at a great banquet, sipping endless supplies of finest wine, while listening to the cries of those starving, uninvited, individuals begging at the city walls; to top the festivities as guests and spectators who are blessed to watch from a safe distance as myriads of helpless people, including loved ones, friends, and relatives (those folks not selected to live in the city of perfect equality called Heaven -- a veritable Socialist paradise), are cast upon the fiery grill to roast in eternal suffering of a sinner's barbecue Hell that, coincidentally, also does not exist; to then live forever with Jesus, who just so happens to be God (a merciful, loving, God), who also just so happens to be a man, and so it happens that Jesus (who is God), having always preexisted with the Father, has, then, always preexisted as a man -- has, thus, always been a man …

Wait a minute! Do not all monotheistic religions teach that men are not to worship anyone but the one and only Creator of all that is and will ever be -- that men are not to worship men? Hmmmmm … So why would such a Creator command men to not worship other men, and then appear and exist as a man, a created being forbidden to be worshiped? Perhaps, man has been monking around in penning the text of those very fairy tales that have held Christianity in suspense for over two thousand years now. Perhaps, the pagan world of polytheism has found a clever way to rule over those who believe themselves to be monotheists.

Are we believing what is actually a provable truth? Or are we believing what makes us feel better about our own mortality; makes us feel better than others in thinking we are deserving of Heaven, while others are not; deserving of life, while others are not?

Are we thinking clearly? Are we thinking at all? Or, are we simply living out the programmed lives of cattle fed the fairy tale lies of ancient pagan mythology superimposed upon the Hebrew and Jewish monotheist religion?

I invite you to do some real, in depth, studying of what history has to reveal about the true origins of Christianity … Dare to be a Freethinker¹²: “A person who is willing to accept and explore the possibility that everything they were ever taught to believe as an established truth may not actually be true -- and that honestly, selflessly, and diligently in search of that which is true, rather than choosing to cling, blindly, to accepted and commonly held truths.”

(Written August 10^th, 2019)

Author's Note

EVIDENTIAL FOOTNOTES:

1 Didymus Judas Thomas — “With Didymus and Thomas both meaning "twin," the real name here is Judas. The Acts of Thomas identifies Judas as the Apostle Thomas. The evangelist, John, also identified Thomas as 'the twin.' Mark 6:3 lists Jesus' brothers — James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. There is no mention of Thomas …” https://biblewise.com/bible_study/characters/didymus-judas-thomas.php

2 St. Thomas The Apostle — http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14658b.htm

3 Robert Eisenman — http://roberteisenman.com/

4 How Long Does It Take A Body To Decompose? — https://www.ranker.com/list/how-long-does-it-take-a-body-to-decompose/erin-wisti

5 Factors Affecting Human Decomposition — https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/files/4112087/green_grave_report.pdf

6 Facts: What Happens to a Body After Death — http://www.memorialpages.co.uk/articles/decomposition.php

7 Life After Death: The Science of Human Decomposition — https://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2015/may/05/life-after-death

8 The History Of Jewish Burial Sites — https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-the-history-of-jewish-burial-rites-1.5353617

9 What Were The Rituals Associated With Death & Burial In Jesus' Day? — http://blog.adw.org/2014/08/what-were-the-rituals-associated-with-death-and-burial-in-jesus-day/

10 Jesus and the Ossuaries — https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/behold-lamb-god/jesus-and-ossuaries-first-century-jewish-burial-practices-and-lost-tomb

11 Rapture This by Marvin Thomas Cox-Flynn — https://www.scribd.com/document/334864440/Rapture-This-by-M-T-C-Flynn

12Freethinker — my own definition taken from my article, The Road To All Too Soon https://www.scribd.com/document/320191847/The-Road-to-All-Too-Soon-by-Marvin-Thomas-Cox-Flynn