Did Jesus decompose?

[Natachan]

So, a question for religious people who believe that Jesus died and resurrected.

Within a few minutes of death the brain becomes so damaged as to be incapable of sustaining most higher functions. A few more minutes and it can’t communicate with other parts of the body. A few hours later the neurons that physically contract the muscles will break down. After this the body cannot, through its own power, move or maintain any functions.

The story goes that Jesus was dead for (conservatively) nearly 48 hours. Under normal conditions, even with refrigeration, the brain is now mush and the neurons are now gone. The process of decomposition has progressed to such an extent coming back is impossible. And we’re not talking about best case, this is long enough to start to stink. Hell, at this point insects should have showed up.

So, did Jesus decompose prior to his resurrection? If so, how did he resurrect? If not, why not?

[The Valkyrie]

Because...

Immaculate Deception.

[Brian37]

So, a question for religious people who believe that Jesus died and resurrected.

Within a few minutes of death the brain becomes so damaged as to be incapable of sustaining most higher functions. A few more minutes and it can’t communicate with other parts of the body. A few hours later the neurons that physically contract the muscles will break down. After this the body cannot, through its own power, move or maintain any functions.

The story goes that Jesus was dead for (conservatively) nearly 48 hours. Under normal conditions, even with refrigeration, the brain is now mush and the neurons are now gone. The process of decomposition has progressed to such an extent coming back is impossible. And we’re not talking about best case, this is long enough to start to stink. Hell, at this point insects should have showed up.

So, did Jesus decompose prior to his resurrection? If so, how did he resurrect? If not, why not?

The death myth is just that and there is no debate.

If one were to end the life of another human being as the story implies there would be no survival.

It is myth. Even the Egyptian savior god Horus was depicted as a savior son god that would save humanity, whom also survived the conflict of mortals to rise to sit in judgment of mortals.

The reality regardless of old religious claims, is that if one were to stab another human being in the side with the intend of draining all their blood, as the myth implies which leads to death. To do that in reality will ALWAYS end up with the victim dead, and a victim that will not come back to life.

[no one]

Yes, he decomposed. Why else would they call him the holy spirit?

[Rev. Rye]

As someone who's read Dostoevsky's major novels, this reminds me of this painting that figures prominently in The Idiot.

When Dostoevsky saw this in 1867, his wife had to drag him away from the painting, lest it inspire an epileptic fit in him. He talked at length about the painting and its implications, about how it could make one lose one's faith. Terentyev says that it's an exhibition of how blind nature can conquer everything, even the most beautiful person to ever live. Prince Myishkin has no answer to that because there really is no pat answer to that (part of why I, atheistic as I am, love such a blatantly Christian author, also, see Brothers Karamazov, Book V, Chapter 4). The only possible answer Dostoevsky could come up with comes from a heavily marked verse on his own dog-eared copy of the New Testament, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

And for those of us who can't accept that, well, the basic facts of decomposition can only say this about the possibility of a resurrection:

[brewer]

So, did Jesus decompose prior to his resurrection? If so, how did he resurrect? If not, why not?

Magic.

[Natachan]

So as an atheist obviously I think the resurrection is a myth. So for this I’m just for the sake of argument granting a lot. I’m granting that Jesus existed, that he was crucified, and that he died.

This is an argument I got into a few years ago and never got an answer for. I kept on hearing about how plausible this all was, how it was all possible, etc. So today I was watching YouTube and it came back. How, physically, could Jesus get back up after being dead for that long?

[Rev. Rye]

That said, there was one strain of thought in Christianity that said that Jesus dud not actually die on the Cross because his humanity was all an illusion. It was called Docetism and it was roundly rejected at the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD.

[Natachan]

That said, there was one strain of thought in Christianity that said that Jesus dud not actually die on the Cross because his humanity was all an illusion. It was called Docetism and it was roundly rejected at the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD.

That’s kinda interesting and something I thought might be the answer. But it goes against the theology I was taught. When I studied theology the priest told us that the reason god came down as Jesus was so he could live and die as a man. He referred back to genesis where it talks of god walking with Adam, so god had a body and could walk with man but was not human. So when god came down as Jesus he was a man. He lived as a man, he died as a man.

(Off topic, but this is why it always made sense to me that Jesus was married. After all, if he’s going to live as a man god has to experience life AS a man.)

So while it would make logical (sorta) sense for him not to be human, it wouldn’t necessarily make theological sense. Thus the dying and decomposing question still remains.

[The Valkyrie]

Did he compose in the first place?