Jesus was crucified, died, buried in the tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea, and rose on the third day. Over the next 40 days, he appeared to some of his disciples and loved ones before ascending and sitting at the right hand of God. That’s the Christian belief, but… what if it wasn’t? Of course, some Japanese don’t believe this story and even believe that the crucifixion was a big hoax, invented by Jesus Christ himself.

This is a bogus theory about the life and death of Jesus, and it’s not that it’s based on very solid evidence (let’s not kid ourselves). Where there’s been more debate over the years is the resurrection. It’s true that we’re getting closer to a cellular “resurrection,” but can a person just rise from the dead and walk around like nothing happened? There’s a complex set of theories that try to explain Jesus’ resurrection. 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 was dead could be resurrected. Among the arguments that seek a more secular explanation, there are those that believe that Jesus Christ died very quickly on the cross, but this actually included many different versions. Deaths can occur within minutes, hours, or days, and depend on the person’s physical condition, the severity of their injuries, whether they are infected, suffering from heat stroke, or heart failure.

However, critics of the official version argue that death was too rapid and, furthermore, that there are no records of eyewitnesses seeing Jesus’ body after the crucifixion.

Hypothesis and medicineTheologian Karl Friedrich Bahrdt proposed in the mid-18th century that Jesus faked his death. Jesus simulated dying on the cross using a drug provided by the evangelist Luke, so that once he was safely laid to rest he would reappear as a spiritual messiah who would restore faith to humanity. He goes further, because Jesus was to lie in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, with whom he shared a bond, as both were members of the mystical sect of the Essenes.

A similar theory soon emerged, claiming that members of a secret society dressed in white had been watching over the closed tomb of Jesus Christ until they heard voices from inside. Jesus was regaining consciousness, so they decided to open the tomb to get him out. From these early theories, other theories emerged that no longer advocated the fictional idea of ​​Jesus Christ being dead, but instead argued for a state of unconsciousness or coma due to the brutal conditions on the cross, and for consciousness to be restored in the tomb thanks to the fresh air and humidity.

Fantastic. Therefore, there is not only one hypothesis about fainting, but several versions that overlap in detail. There was also a movement that argued that Jesus went to India after his resurrection, that Muslim theologians also gave their own versions of this hypothesis, and that this is something that has appeared in pseudo-historical works from the late 19th century to the present day. . However, the hypothesis has been criticized by medical experts since its inception. The Journal of the American Medical Association denied all this, stating that Jesus was definitely dead when he was taken down from the cross.

And not just because of the circumstances of the crucifixion or the previous wounds, but also because of the spear blow to the side that would have pierced the right lung, the pericardium, and the heart. This view has been repeatedly defended, that the loss of blood caused by the scourging and the exhaustion of carrying the wooden crossbar to Calvary would have weakened Jesus so much that death would have occurred from suffocation due to exhaustion and then from the move

There was no such powerful medicineWhether he died from a combination of circumstances or from being stabbed with a spear, another argument later scholars have put forward to criticize the fainting hypothesis is that no medication strong enough to stop the pain Jesus was experiencing was available, and therefore Jesus was able to fake his death. Even if this was the intention, the condition of the body and the force of the thrust would have finished him off.

Another interesting point is that made by pathologist Frederick T. Zugibe. He states that the hypothesis has been refuted by medical evidence, and among his arguments suggests that the nails that had penetrated Jesus Christ’s feet could have caused the feet to swell, causing not only severe pain but also swelling and infection, preventing Jesus from reaching Him, as He would have been walking for months, which would have prevented Him from visiting anyone after His resurrection.

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

Another hypothesis is that the body was stolen. Therefore, the tomb being open was not a result of Jesus’ resurrection, but rather because someone stole his body. These could have been the disciples and their families, or simply grave robbers.

Image | Peter Paul Rubens, here is the full image

In Xataka | A thousand years of worship: How the cross and its meaning have evolved throughout history