Jesus could not have died on Friday Nisan 14

by Hacche 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Hacche

  Another reason that Jesus trial before Pontius Pilate and his being nailed to the stake was not on the same day, as Watchtower teach, is found in two scriptures. John 19:14 says, Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover; it was about the SIXTH hour. And he said to the Jews: See your King. Now look at Mark 15:33 which says, When it became the SIXTH hour, a darkness fell over all the land until the ninth hour.

  In both of these scriptures it mentions the SIXTH hour. John says, Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate at the SIXTH hour (12 noon). Mark says, that Jesus was nailed to the stake at the SIXTH hour (12 noon). JW.org and their New World Translation, confirms that the SIXTH hour mentioned in both events was 12 noon.

  My question is this, how can both events be on the same day Friday Nisan 14 as Watchtower teach? Clearly, these two events had to happen on 2 separate days.
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  Anony Mous

  The Last Supper was a Passover Seder meal that Jesus Christ and his disciples ate to celebrate this event. The Passover Seder occurs at the beginning of Nisan 15. Hence Jesus died somewhere on Nisan 15 or on/after Nisan 17 depending on the source used (as you correctly infer, the gospels and subsequent commentaries such as Pauline writings make many different Jesus stories). But as you say, the gospels generally spell out ~2-3 days of trial and crucifixion.

  Many Christians scripture however attempt to place Jesus’ death on Nisan 14 simply for the symbolic value of the sacrificial lamb.

  The problem is then with chronology of the Passover meal, which would have to be done just by Jesus and his disciples early, which would be weird and would’ve definitely been noted as sacrilegious. This would’ve been brought as a charge against Jesus in the Sanhedrin.
  

  Moreover, Jesus would not have been killed on the next day since that is a Sabbath day (Lev 23:5-7) and the Sanhedrin would not have convened on those days and the Romans would likely not have made a public punishment when the public was religiously prevented from attending. So make of that what you will, the whole story doesn’t make sense in context. It only exists within the symbolic value, but wouldn’t have happened in real life.
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  Hacche

  Nisan 15 would have been a Saturday. The Bible says Jesus was in the grave 3 days and 3 nights and was resurrected early Sunday morning according to the Bible. How is there 3 days and 3 nights between Saturday and early Sunday morning? That just doesn't work does it? Nisan 17 is even worse because that would have been a Monday.
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  Hacche

  I believe Jesus died the following week on Nisan 20 which was a Thursday. Jesus was then in the grave 3 days and 3 nights, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and was resurrected early Sunday morning.
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  Anony Mous

  But as you pointed out, that doesn’t make sense, you have to look at it in the scope of the Jewish belief system. You can kill him on Passover, but not the day after that, you also can’t kill him a week later, for the same problem happens every week, you need to account for a Sabbath day, hence he couldn’t have died on a Friday, because depending on the scripture you pick, you then kill him or have the court proceedings on a Sabbath day. Likewise his resurrection couldn’t coincide with Sabbath as there are several days of his disciples running around.

  The (modern translation) Bible is wrong and full of anachronisms because it was not written with the objective of a historical narrative. The modern tendency to ascribe historical accuracy to pre-renaissance writings is in itself a fallacy.
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  WTWizard

  To me, this hyper-abomination called jesus didn't die at all, since that thing was never alive at all. Problem solved.
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  Simon

  Even if you believe the bible, it's written something like 70 years after the events supposedly took place, so imaging it's any kind of "eye witness" account is laughable.

  It's like the rest of the bible - badly written stories to manipulate the gullible and feeble minded, to push a narrative.

  Arguing over trivialities in the stories is as pointless as debating whether Harry Potters scar was shaped in a lightning bolt because that's what hit him.

  None of it happened. It isn't real. Stop pretending any of it is true to start with.
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  TonusOH

  If there is a god: please... write the book yourself. That should avoid centuries of interpretation, reinterpretation, and general confusion. Thanks.