The apocryphal theory that says Jesus Christ did not die "on the cross"but shortly after being lowered

Jesus was crucified, died, was buried in a tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea, and was resurrected on the third day. Over the next 40 days, he appeared to various of his disciples and loved ones before ascending and sitting at the right hand of God. That is the Christian belief, but what if that were not the case? Of course, some Japanese people do not believe this story and even believe that the crucifixion was a great hoax concocted by Jesus Christ himself.

That is an apocryphal theory about the life and death of Jesus, and the basis for it is not very solid either (let’s not kid ourselves). Where there has been more discussion over the years is about the resurrection. It is true that we are close to the cellular “resurrection”, but can someone be resurrected and walk as if nothing happened? It is complicated, but there are a number of theories that seek to explain this resurrection of Jesus. And it has its own name: the fainting hypothesis.

Reasons to doubt the crucifixion. First of all, the fainting hypothesis does not deny that Jesus was crucified, it simply attempts to explain how someone who has died can be resurrected. Among the arguments that seek a more earthly explanation are those who think that Jesus Christ died too quickly on the cross, but this actually involved a lot of variants. Deaths can occur in minutes, hours or days and it depends on the physical condition of the person, the severity of their injuries, whether they had become infected or if they experienced heat stroke or heart failure.

However, critics of the official version claim that death was too quick and that, in addition, there are no records of eyewitnesses seeing Jesus’ corpse after the crucifixion.

The hypothesis and the drugIt was in the mid-eighteenth century that the theologian Karl Friedrich Bahrdt suggested that Jesus faked his death. Using some drug provided by the evangelist Luke, Jesus pretended to die on the cross so that, when he was safely placed, he would reappear as a spiritual messiah who would give faith to humanity. He goes further, since Jesus would have remained in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, with whom he shared a bond because they were both members of the mystical sect of the Essenes.

Shortly afterward, a similar theory emerged that claimed that members of a secret society, dressed in white, were keeping vigil at the closed tomb of Jesus Christ until they heard noises coming from inside. It was Jesus regaining consciousness, so they decided to open the tomb to get him out. From these first theories arose other theories that no longer defended the idea of ​​a fiction orchestrated by Jesus Christ, but rather a fainting or coma due to the brutal conditions of the cross and the recovery of consciousness in the tomb thanks to the conditions of fresh air and humidity.

Fanciful. So there is not just one hypothesis of the fainting spell, but several versions that agree on details. There was also a current that defended that, after the resurrection, Jesus traveled to India, Muslim theologians also gave their version of this hypothesis and, from the end of the 19th century until now, it is something that has been expressed in works of pseudohistory. However, since the birth of the hypothesis, it has been criticized by medical experts. The Journal of the American Medical Association refuted all this affirming that Jesus was definitely dead when he was taken down from the cross.

And not only because of the conditions of the crucifixion itself or the previous wounds, but because of the spear received in the side that would have pierced the right lung, the pericardium and the heart itself. That position has been defended on several occasions, stating that the loss of blood caused by the whipping and the exhaustion of carrying the wooden crossbar to Golgotha ​​would have weakened Jesus so much that death would have occurred due to asphyxiation from exhaustion and, later, from the stab.

There were no drugs so powerful. Whether he died from a combination of circumstances or from the stab wound with the lance, another argument that later researchers use to criticize the fainting hypothesis is that there were no drugs strong enough to stop the pain that Jesus had experienced and, therefore, to be able to fake death. Even if that was the intention, the state of the body and the stab wound would have finished him off.

Another interesting point is that put forward by pathologist Frederick T. Zugibe. He describes the hypothesis as refuted by medical evidence and, among his arguments, is that the nails that penetrated Jesus Christ’s feet would have caused them to swell, causing not only severe pain, but also swelling and infection that would have prevented him from walking for months, which would have prevented him from visiting anyone after his resurrection.

There is moreJesus Christ is one of the figures about which the most has been written and theorized, and there are many theories that attempt to explain his reappearance after the crucifixion. One is the substitution theory, which maintains that Jesus had a twin or double who either died for him or was personified after the death of the real Jesus Christ.

Another hypothesis is that the body was stolen. According to this hypothesis, the fact that the tomb was open was not the result of Jesus’ resurrection, but because someone stole his body. It could have been the disciples and their family, or simply grave robbers.

Image | Peter Paul Rubens, here you have the full picture

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