What if Jesus Had Not Been Crucified, So There Was No Easter?

[kevinanderson]

I very much respect Jesus, and people’s religious beliefs, so there is no offense intended when I raise this intriguing question: What if Jesus had not been crucified? What if he had lived a long life, perhaps even to experience old age and die of natural causes?

 

[Gjallarhorn]

We'd probably have another commercialized reproduction of pagan equinox celebrations.

 

[fallingblood]

There would be no Christianity. Jesus would most likely have been forgotten.

 

[Reptillian]

I very much respect Jesus, and people’s religious beliefs, so there is no offense intended when I raise this intriguing question: What if Jesus had not been crucified? What if he had lived a long life, perhaps even to experience old age and die of natural causes?

One wonders if Christianity would have been so widespread without the martyrdom of it's founder. Imagine, Saul has no vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus. No Constantine conversion to Christianity...we'd probably all still follow the ancient Roman religion and celebrate some of the festivals and holidays described on this site: Roman Festivals & Holidays I was going to post some instead of the link, but there are a ton of spring celebrations!

 

[Sultan Of Swing]

If Jesus had still commanded his followers to go out into the world and spread the gospel then I reckon I would probably still be a Christian, albeit part of a small close knit community that never caught on in the world.

But of course it would be silly because the whole point of Jesus coming to earth (in my own view of course) was to die for our sins.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

One wonders if Christianity would have been so widespread without the martyrdom of it's founder. Imagine, Saul has no vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus. No Constantine conversion to Christianity...we'd probably all still follow the ancient Roman religion and celebrate some of the festivals and holidays described on this site: Roman Festivals & Holidays I was going to post some instead of the link, but there are a ton of spring celebrations!

[youtube]kaUuSJx-VDA[/youtube]

 

[Reptillian]

Is that Willem Dafoe playing Jesus in that clip?

 

[arthra]

I very much respect Jesus, and people’s religious beliefs, so there is no offense intended when I raise this intriguing question: What if Jesus had not been crucified? What if he had lived a long life, perhaps even to experience old age and die of natural causes?

I think the teachings of Jesus would continue... and His followers would spread His teachings as they did.

but Easter is after somewhat pagan in my way of thinking anyway...

The modern English term Easter developed from the Old English word Ēastre or Ēostre (IPA: [ˈæːɑstre, ˈeːostre]), which itself developed prior to 899. The name refers to Eostur-monath (Old English "Ēostre month"), a month of the Germanic calendar attested by Bede, who writes that the month is named after the goddessĒostre of Anglo-Saxon paganism.[8] Bede notes that Ēostur-monath was the equivalent to the month of April, yet that feasts held in her honor during Ēostur-monath had gone out of use by the time of his writing and had been replaced with the Christian custom of the "Paschal season".

Easter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[angellous_evangellous]

We'd probably have another commercialized reproduction of pagan equinox celebrations.

I highly doubt that the pagan celebrations would survive that long without some powerful driving force behind them.

The Roman Church did that -- but who knows if a Roman religion could have thrived as long as the Church has.

 

[Gjallarhorn]

I highly doubt that the pagan celebrations would survive that long without some powerful driving force behind them.

The Roman Church did that -- but who knows if a Roman religion could have thrived as long as the Church has.

Hmm...and if it had, what would it have been influenced by and how would have it evolved...

 

[kai]

I highly doubt that the pagan celebrations would survive that long without some powerful driving force behind them.

The Roman Church did that -- but who knows if a Roman religion could have thrived as long as the Church has.

I may be generalizing but in my experience bank holidays and chocolate eggs are a powerful driving force.

 

[obi one]

I very much respect Jesus, and people’s religious beliefs, so there is no offense intended when I raise this intriguing question: What if Jesus had not been crucified? What if he had lived a long life, perhaps even to experience old age and die of natural causes?

Easter is the feast of Astarte, the Queen of heaven. This is a pagan festival, just as Christmas is the birth date of Nimrod, and not of Yeshua, and coincides with the feast of Saturnalia, a Roman festival of drinking and exchanging gifts.

The last supper occurred with respect to Passover, which starts on the 15th of Nissan, which I believe occurred midweek on the date in question. As to whether Yeshua was actually crucified, Isaac wasn't sacrificed by Abraham, because a substitute was provided, and Yeshua had asked for his suffering to pass from him, so it is questionable that God would not have answered this request. (Mt 26:39)

 

[angellous_evangellous]

Hmm...and if it had, what would it have been influenced by and how would have it evolved...

It's hard to imagine a world without Christianity - it has had such a profound impact on Western history.

A lot of people imagine a better world - but Christianity has shaped the West so much that we can't just remove a religion and imagine the world as it is without it.

It's fun to imagine a better world, but it could be a lot worse.

 

[obi one]

It's hard to imagine a world without Christianity - it has had such a profound impact on Western history.

A lot of people imagine a better world - but Christianity has shaped the West so much that we can't just remove a religion and imagine the world as it is without it.

It's fun to imagine a better world, but it could be a lot worse.

You would have to define "Western history". Greece probably did fairly well, and did so without "Christianity". Although they killed Plato just as the Roman Church/State killed and intimidated any that shook the boat. Rome fell apart fairly quickly after Constantine established the Roman "Christian" church, although other off shoots soon took up the mantle, and helped intimidate and kill those who shook the boat.

Now if you are referring the the American experience, I think that was the result of principaled men such as Jefferson and Franklin, who were free thinkers, and although were raised under the Protestant work ethic, felt free to disagree with conventional thinking. Jefferson went so far as to edit the bible, leaving out as much of the leaven as he could.

As for if it could have been worse, that is a possibility, but I would not be able to ask the victims of the pogroms of Spain, or the extermination camps of "Christian" Germany, for they are dead.

As for will things change, yes they will, and the nations (Gentiles) will confess that they have inherited nothing but falsehood. (Jer 16:19) But this will come in the "day of distress". And what was one of the falsehoods inherited by the Gentiles? That would be keeping the traditions of men in the form of the feast of Astarte, Easter, which has nothing to do with Passover.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

You would have to define "Western history". Greece probably did fairly well, and did so without "Christianity". Although they killed Plato just as the Roman Church/State killed and intimidated any that shook the boat. Rome fell apart fairly quickly after Constantine established the Roman "Christian" church, although other off shoots soon took up the mantle, and helped intimidate and kill those who shook the boat.

Now if you are referring the the American experience, I think that was the result of principaled men such as Jefferson and Franklin, who were free thinkers, and although were raised under the Protestant work ethic, felt free to disagree with conventional thinking. Jefferson went so far as to edit the bible, leaving out as much of the leaven as he could.

As for if it could have been worse, that is a possibility, but I would not be able to ask the victims of the pogroms of Spain, or the extermination camps of "Christian" Germany, for they are dead.

As for will things change, yes they will, and the nations (Gentiles) will confess that they have inherited nothing but falsehood. (Jer 16:19) But this will come in the "day of distress". And what was one of the falsehoods inherited by the Gentiles? That would be keeping the traditions of men in the form of the feast of Astarte, Easter, which has nothing to do with Passover.

I was using the term "western history" with respect to its conventional definition:

Western world - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in Greco-Roman civilization in Europe, with the advent of Christianity. In the modern era, Western culture has been heavily influenced by the traditions of The Renaissance, The Protestant Reformation, The Enlightenment, and shaped by the expansive colonialism of the 16th-19th centuries.

So no, ancient Greece doesn't matter in this case.

 

[gnostic]

The Christian Easter not only relates to Jesus' resurrection, but to the Jewish Passover, which is called pascha in Greek and Latin.

The Passover relates to the meal in Egypt, when the Angel of Death killed the first-borns, to mark the time when Israelites were almost freed from slavery, as narrated in the Exodus. It was marked on the Jewish calendar, which begins the feast on the 15th of Nisan.

It was not set on specific day of the week, like the Christian Last Supper being held on a "Friday" or Jesus' resurrection on the "Sunday". The Christians made the changes to mark the occasions on Friday and Sunday. That the pascha or Easter Sunday to be held on the 1st Sunday after the full moon on the day of the Spring Equinox or after.

The pagan Germanic celebrate the Easter on the Spring Equinox, and the celebration relates to fertility. And like Arthra said about Bede, it was the feast day of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eoster. The Easter eggs and Easter bunny were pagan symbols of fertility, and were sacred to Eoster.

I am not certain that the pagan customs of Easter would have survive to this day without the Christian Easter. So without Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, the pagan customs could have survive or it probably would have, depending on what religion became more prevalent in Europe.

But one thing for certain, there would have been no Christianity if there was no crucifixion and resurrection. The world would be very different...and there would be no Muhammad as a prophet, no Qur'an and no Islam, without Christianity.

 

[Pegg]

I very much respect Jesus, and people’s religious beliefs, so there is no offense intended when I raise this intriguing question: What if Jesus had not been crucified? What if he had lived a long life, perhaps even to experience old age and die of natural causes?

if he lived till an old age and died then he would not have been the Son of God, and therefore not the messiah.

It would also show that he was a sinful man like the rest of us for if he was sinless as the scriptures state, he would never have died.

 

[1137]

I very much respect Jesus, and people’s religious beliefs, so there is no offense intended when I raise this intriguing question: What if Jesus had not been crucified? What if he had lived a long life, perhaps even to experience old age and die of natural causes?

I feel like Jesus was more than willing to die. I mean he was an enlightened man surrounded by weak, unintelligent people who didn't understand him and who were a lost cause from the start. Logically speaking, he was probably fed up with the people of weak faith who relied on him rather than the divinity he kept saying is in all of us.

 

[arthra]

if he lived till an old age and died then he would not have been the Son of God, and therefore not the messiah.

It would also show that he was a sinful man like the rest of us for if he was sinless as the scriptures state, he would never have died.

Let's assume Jesus was not martyred and that He died a natural death later in life.. How would that have made Him a "sinful man like the rest of us" and would His passing say at an advanced age made Him less a "Son of God"?

What I have seen is that what we have of the teachings of Jesus is often drowned out by
the church doctrines like the resurrection..The Easter story is told and retold but where is the emphasis on His teachings?

 

[lunamoth]

Let's assume Jesus was not martyred and that He died a natural death later in life.. How would that have made Him a "sinful man like the rest of us" and would His passing say at an advanced age made Him less a "Son of God"?

What I have seen is that what we have of the teachings of Jesus is often drowned out by
the church doctrines like the resurrection..The Easter story is told and retold but where is the emphasis on His teachings?

The teaHchings of Jesus are alive and well. I realize it has been a while since you've been a Christian, Arthra, but living the teachings of Jesus is at the heart of Christian life.

AnyWay, I agree that if Jesus had died in bed of old age it would not change the Gospel of Christ - the kingdom of God has drawn near. The salvific miracle of Christ is the Incarnation, God with us, not death on the cross. The resurrection did not require horrific death, but such a did reveal Christ's love.