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Tim_D
Guest
Absolutely correct. It is easier to arrive at a window for His birth than it is for His death because of the known date of Herod’s death.
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Tantum_ergo
Guest
Not to drive off topic or be uncharitable, but really, what does it matter if a person says that Jesus was crucified in AD 33? First, it is not IMPOSSIBLE that the crucifixion did occur then. It’s not impossible that it didn’t, but really. . .
Must we be so pussyfootingly pedantic and so excruciatingly exact that a one sentence communication turns into a weasly paragraph of “Well, authorities have speculated on the possible length of time of Jesus’ ministry and the time frame of the crucifixion such that the dates, which not exact, are mainly considered possibilities within the years of AD 27 to AD 35, more or less, although it could have occurred earlier or later, but we are not certainly and never will be. . .”
SHEESH.
Must we be so pussyfootingly pedantic and so excruciatingly exact that a one sentence communication turns into a weasly paragraph of “Well, authorities have speculated on the possible length of time of Jesus’ ministry and the time frame of the crucifixion such that the dates, which not exact, are mainly considered possibilities within the years of AD 27 to AD 35, more or less, although it could have occurred earlier or later, but we are not certainly and never will be. . .”
SHEESH.
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Tim_D
Guest
Its called a “discussion” forum. If one isn’t interested in discussion, then it is a wonder why they are here in the first place.
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mamlukman
Guest
There were some stories last year about dating of earthquakes in Palestine at that time, and assuming the crucifixion was accompanied by an earthquake, they can date it to April 3, 33 AD.
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Tim_D
Guest
Do you accept this as “fact” or are you just putting it out there?
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mamlukman
Guest
I’m just putting it out there. You can do a search and find a bunch of news articles. I think the earthquake is only mentioned in Matthew. Was it real or symbolic? Who knows?
Without looking anything up, it seems to me this question is a bit murky. John (?) has his own day for the crucifixion, which doesn’t match the other Gospels, and if I remember correctly he was trying to match it up to something else which I don’t recall–in other words, the actual day didn’t matter to him, the symbolism of matching did. Then there’s the issue of the Passover, which depends on sighting the moon rather than actual dates, and then the bit about “3 days and 3 nights” which goes along with how you count “days” and “nights” (part of a day counted as a “day” back then, if I remember correctly). And then of course the new day didn’t begin at midnight, but at dawn–c. 6 AM. So taking all this into consideration, you could make a good guess as to the actual day.
But of course it’s a moot point: No one cared at the time exactly what day it was, and neither do we. It might be a diverting exercise, but that’s about it.
Getting back to the Muslim issue: this is the sort of thing Muslims glory in–the fact that the Gospels are rather contradictory at worst and at best each gives a slightly different account. So Muslims would say this is symptomatic of the corruption of the New Testament, etc. etc. To which the correct response would be, “You’re missing the point. Everyone agrees about the crucifixion and resurrection and what it meant. The details are irrelevant.”
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Tim_D
Guest
Mamlukman,
Wow! Excellent post! You precisely highlight why it is practically impossible to make a dogmatic statement about ancient events. Sometimes, we just don’t know.
Wow! Excellent post! You precisely highlight why it is practically impossible to make a dogmatic statement about ancient events. Sometimes, we just don’t know.
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Tantum_ergo
Guest
Interested in discussion? I’m certainly interested. However, sometimes I’ll disagree with a person, and I’ll say so --again, hopefully with charity but I’m not perfect. Disagreement shouldn’t end a discussion --it should help it, don’t you think?
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JMM1957
Guest
I was just adding something to the conversation, not saying I agree or disagree with him. As you say, this subject has been studied for a long, long time and nobody know for sure about either date, but I’ll bet someone’s educated guess is correct, wouldn’t you?
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Tim_D
Guest
Sure, but then again, how would we ever know???
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Tim_D
Guest
Sure, as long as it isn’t "pussyfootingly pedantic."
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Tantum_ergo
Guest
Agreed!
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flower_lady
Guest
I asked because I never looked it up and because I honestly did not know. I wasn’t interested in Islam and I thought this would be the best place to ask. I am catholic and I spend most of my studying trying to learn as much as I can about the catholic church. I had been away from the church for many yrs. and only came back about seven years ago. I thought that I would get the most informative answers here, in which I have. In the past I could have thought less about who Mohammad was or anything about their religion because I thought they were anti- Christ and had no interest in them.
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HelenRose
Guest
Don’t give up on studying. I use these forums as a way of learning what works and what doesn’t work in talking with people.
We all ask questions off the top of our heads before realizing that we could at least check out Wikipedia first.
Forums are a wonderful way to learn how to express ourselves. There are plenty of people to point out holes in my logic. I don’t take offense. I recognize that I need to think things through a bit more.
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