Why it is preposterous to think that Jesus rose from the dead?
Despite the obvious reason, that it is humanly impossible for someone to rise from the dead, there is a very logical explanation as to how Jesus walked out of his tomb after he was thought to be dead. Let us ignore the fact that the claims that Jesus’ tomb was found empty and that he allegedly appeared, in the physical, to many people after his death could be complete fabrication. Let us pretend that these claims are in fact true.
Before Jesus was nailed to the cross the Romans forced him to drag it, while crowned in thorns, to where they would nail him upon it. Although these things would physically and mentally exhaust him they would not kill him; perhaps their purpose at this point was not to kill him.
Later a Roman soldier stabbed him in the chest, and in astonishment instead of blood a translucent fluid came out; this has been written down as one of Jesus’ miracles. An explanation for this is that Jesus had tuberculosis which caused the pleura cavity to fill up with this translucent fluid, and because of the inflammation it put pressure on his lungs making it difficult for him to breathe; when he was stabbed between the ribs by the soldier’s knife the pleura cavity was punctured, and the translucent liquid came out. They thought that he was dead and put him into a tomb where he was laying on his back rather than standing upright, this would have allowed more liquid to drain out, relieving the pressure on his lungs. He then must have felt better than ever, now being able to breathe, he probably got up and walked out of his tomb. This is why many thought he had, “risen from the dead”.
It is understandable that in this time period it was thought that Jesus had risen from the dead but now with all of our medical advances we are able to give an educated interpretation of the events surrounding the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Grand Central Blog 
I would so LOVE to show this to my uberCatholic grandma. Too bad it’d probably cause her to keel over, and I don’t think she’d be rising again.
Ha! Great Post
My grandmother is much like Ashley’s. Her belief in Jesus Christ is blind, so even I let her read this, she would dispute it. Of course with no evidence at all, just like this blog.
I was raised in a Catholic home and was taught that whatever the church told us was true. As I started my education and learned to question things for tangible proof, religion became unrealistic. At least to me. I do agree that what you are saying is possible, but there is also no proof that provided that forces the reader to agree with you.
I would like to add that even with this scientific proposition about Jesus Christ, christian followers are not likely to change their religion because of this. Faith has no logical thinking, its passed down through generation. It’s respect.
I LOVE this post! The particular brand of Catholic I was raised around was a “my way or the highway” type of ideology. I was told that Catholicism was the ticket to heaven and everyone else was going to hell. (Of course, I’m not saying that this is what all Catholics believe, this is just what my family has always told me.) I don’t know why but from a young age I chose not to adopt these ideas as my own yet whenever I go home I go to church every Sunday with my family without complaint out of respect.
I like your post because it offers another perspective on something that a lot of people believe very strongly in. I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss your scientific explanation just I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss people’s ideas of faith. No one really knows what happened and because of that I think it’s important to listen to other people’s perspectives even if you don’t adopt them as your own.
Also, I think you make a great argument in your post because you have scientific knowledge to support what could have happened. I’m not a science person at all but for some reason, the use of scientific language always helps to make a convincing argument in my mind. It’s the same way with numbers, if someone gives me statistics, I’m more likely to believe them.
It seems as though there are far too many variables here to “debunk this myth” so easily. First, these events are based on an account that is part the bible. The vatican contains many books that are held from the public containing alternate stories and surely different subtleties to this story. Next, one must question how someone who’s pressure has been reduced suddenly wakes up feeling better than ever, despite laboring through a town and up a hill shouldering a cross. Following this laborous walk he was CRUCIFIED, where he stayed for some time before being put in his tomb. The tomb was then sealed. To say that a person who was recently relieved of pressure via a STAB wound felt better, and strong enough to “walk out” of his tomb seems a bit simplistic.
I do not contend that this is not possible, only that the relief one would feel from said pressure is not sufficient supporting evidence to justify this conspiracy theory. Furthermore, treating the bible as a factual account of events is dangerous, and doing so gives too much clout to a book that is filled with accounts that are intended to be moral guidance and symbolic. However, this is an interesting conspiracy theory nonetheless.
I like your claim in this post, but I have to agree very well with Michael Kane. It is very hard to believe that someone who has been punished, beaten, stoned down, stabbed, and not to mention carrying a cross for hours while being beating and stoned down that he will just happen to “wake and and feel better” It is almost impossible for that to happen, especially with all the bruising and tearing of his flesh, and even the nailing in his hands to just vanish within three days is impossible.
Reading the Bible describes to you well detailed elements from the beginning to the very end of Jesus death, and not to mention if you watch the movie “The Passion of the Christ” you can physically see how Jesus was suffering even though the movie was not as near the actually real life pain that Jesus encountered. I just have to completely disagree with the statement that Jesus just felt better and just walked out.
In the Bible it states “His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men” (Matthew 28:3) When Jesus was put into a tomb he wasn’t wearing any clothing, Joseph had actually taken his body and wrapped it in clean linen cloth and then laid him in the tomb which he then rolled a large stone against the door of his tomb.
I think that evidence like this is clear enough to say that not anyone can just feel better and get up and walk after a brutal death beating in just three days. You also state that it is impossible for any human to rise from the dead. Jesus was not just a human he was the son of God, and with the faith of God anything is possible.
If you have faith you have God.
(Philippians 4:13) 13 I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.
(John 15:7) 7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
(Isaiah 41:10) 10 Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
What really rose Jesus from the dead?
The answer: faith, Jesus knew God would take care of it all
I was completely shocked when I read this post. I have never ever heard of this theory before and it’s crazy that someone was able to come up with this theory after so many years. I have been raised as a Roman Catholic since I was born so I can identify with the other people who have said that they view religion in the strictest of terms. My grandparents don’t really talk about the details and history of our religion, but they are very strict with the conditions and rules in which the catholic religion entails, such as going to church every Sunday and not swearing. In other words, they follow the Ten Commandments like their life depends on it. That may be a little bit of an exaggeration, but in today’s day and age, there are fewer and fewer Catholics who are as strict about the religion as people in my grandparents’ generation.
This idea of Jesus’ rising from the dead interests me because I am both religious and a science nerd. The thought of Jesus actually feeling better after TB fluid flowing out of him seems somewhat logical, however I cannot imagine it being true! Back when Jesus walked the earth, there was very little medicine and it doesn’t seem possible that Jesus would have been able to get up out of his tomb and walk around after being stabbed in the chest (let alone all the other physical labor he went through before his death), even if it had released toxic fluid from his body. MAYBE if Jesus had been medicated and given careful watch by a doctor he would have been able to survive the stabbing but he was left in a tomb!
I understand that people don’t all follow the same religion and everyone is entitled to their own opinions but this seems crazy to me. I mean maybe this is a plausible reason for Jesus’ awakening, but then how could all of his miracles be explained? Maybe the miracles have been criticized and ripped apart and maybe they have been proved in a scientific way but religion is about so much more than understanding every little detail that goes along with it. I was born and raised a Catholic but I feel like I don’t know half of the history or the beliefs of the religion. The point of religion is to provide a safe place for people. It is there for people to fall back on when it seems like everything is going wrong in their lives. One of my friends has this theory that no matter what religion you are a part of, it will benefit you in some way because if when you die, you find out that the afterlife is real, you will have somewhere to go; and if you find out that the afterlife isn’t real, then at least you had something to believe in when you were alive. So I feel like maybe this story is true, but maybe it doesn’t even matter if it’s true or not.