₦airaland Forum

Pls explain matthew 12:40, how did jesus resembles jonah there?

Bastage:
True. But then why bother with the crucifixion story at all? As I've already stated, if you don't believe the general gist of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that Jesus died on the cross, any argument regarding the following specifics is redundant.

I will try to give you a comparison:

"I read a Marvel comic that said that Superman is a superhero who can fly."

Now let's say that some people believe in Superman and some don't.
The important argument is that Superman is just a fictional character whilst others would argue that he is real. The fact that he can or cannot fly is irrelevant.
If you do believe that Superman is real, you only have the word of the Marvel comic for reference. Therefore, you can only go by what is in it's pages and follow that to be the truth as that is the only place you have your knowledge of Superman from.
If you don't believe that Superman exists, it's totally irrelevant as to wether or not he can fly. Why argue that he can't fly when you know he doesn't exist in the first place?

Now swap Superman for Jesus and swap flying for the crucifixion. 

True there is a third way of looking at it and stating that Jesus was just a historical figure who was crucified and lived, but not only is there absolutely no evidence of that whatsoever, it defeats the whole purpose of his place in the religions and is therefore also irrelevant.

And finally, there is a fourth way - that Christ was not a physical figure or a historical one but a spiritual one.

So to recap - if you believe in Christ as a god figure, you have to believe that he was crucified and resurrected as that was what was written. One doesn't have to believe in a physical ressurection though - a spiritual one is good enough for those who believe that he was a spiritual figure.
If you don't believe in Christ as a god figure, nothing regarding his life matters and any argument promoting something that he did or did not do is irrelevant.

i believe jesus to be an ordinary prophet for the children of israelite. He was also an humble servant of Almighty Allah.
Surely, the Messiah will never disdain to be a servant of Allah, nor will the Angels; and whoso disdain to worship Him and feels proud, He will gather them all to Himself.(4:172)
the act of crucifixion in just a method of killing a person, but since the jews aim is to falsify the claim of jesus, God saved him from the death on the cross. If he had died there, then it would mean that he (jesus), God forbids, was a sinner and not a righteous person, and the jews would have achieved their aims!

and be killed

you cannot say positively that these were the exact words spoken by jesus. these books were written at a time when the theory of crucifixion, invented by paul, had come to be accepted by the majority of the christians.
luke as we know, was very much in the company of paul. he accompanied him on many of his travels(acts 16:12;28:13). he was with him at rome(2tim 4:11). and mark, according to a fragment of papias, was the follower and interpreter of peter(ency. brit.,ed. II vol. 17 p. 729).
furthermore, it is in dispute who were the author of the other two gospels. it is not strange, therfore that we should find some sentences in this books in support of paul's theory . it must also be remembered that the words of this prophecy '[quote]and be killed[/quote]' differ in each gospel.
thus matthew says that when jesus told his disciples that the son of man would be betrayed in to the hands of men and they would kill him, "and the third day he would rise again. And they were exceedingly sorry"(matt 17:23). this passage shows that they understood what he said and were sorry about it.
luke says that he told them that he would be delievered into the hands of men. "but they understood not his saying and it was hid from them, that they percieved it not they feared to ask him of that saying"(LUKE 9:45 & mark 9:32)
and it appeared from the fourth gospel that they had no knowledge of any prophesy to the effect that he must rise again from the dead(john 20:9)
and mark says that when mary magdalene told the disciples, as they mourned and wept that jesus was alive and had been seen of her, they disbelieved!. after that he appeared unto two and when the two told the rest, neither did they believe. then he appeared to the eleven and upbraided them with their unbelieve and darkness of heart, because they believe not them which had seen him after he was risen(mark 16:10-14).
their lamentation and their disbelieve in the news of his ressurection, show they had no knowledge of any prophecy of this kind.

كيف انتم اذا نزل فيكم ابن مريم وامامكم منكم  ''How would it be with you when the son of Mary will descend among you and you will have a leader raised from among you?' (bukhari, kitabul-anbiya, chap. nuzul isa bin maryam.)

Dadjjal
A difficulty is often raised about the prophecy relating to the Dadjjal. It is said that the Dadjjal was to appear before the Promised Messiah. Therefore, as the Dadjjal has not yet appeared, the time of the Promised Messiah has not yet come.

It must be remembered that the prophecy relating to the Dadjjal, like all prophecies, is subject to interpretation. We read in the Holy Quran:

'And the sun and the moon, I saw them making obeisance to me.( Yusuf, 4)
'And I have seen in a dream that I am slaughtering thee.'( Al-Saffat, 102.)

The references are to the dreams of Joseph and Abraham respectively. Both dreams are well known. Both are symbolic of events which they prophesied. It is not fitting for Muslims to treat prophecies as anything other than symbolic descriptions of the future.

The prophecy about the Dadjjal cannot be understood except in the light of other Traditions and ill the light of the general laws of God. If it is true, as the Traditions say, that the Promised Messiah is to be preceded by the Dadjjal, and if it is true that the advent of the Promised Messiah is to be marked by the dominance of Christianity, does it not follow that the prophecy about the Dadjjal relates to the power and overlordship of Christianity in our time? The prophecies are saying ill effect that the Dadjjal and Christianity will be powerful forces and that both will appear some time before the Promised Messiah. Two powerful forces due to appear simultaneously could easily be one and the same. Two different forces cannot acquire dominance at the same time. The difficulty can be solved by assuming that the two names are two different names for the same thing.

A very important consideration which leads to this conclusion is that the Holy Prophet (on whom be peace and the blessings of God) instructed his followers to turn to the first ten verses of Surah Kahf, (chapter 18), when they confront the menace of the Dadjjal. The first ten verses of this chapter contain a refutation of Christianity. One of the verses says:

'And that it may warn those who say, Allah has taken unto Himself a son.'(Al Kahf,4)

The object of the revelation of the Holy Quran is to warn mankind. Among other things, the purpose of the Holy Book is to warn those who attribute a physical son to God. The verses, cording to the Holy Prophet, provide guidance for Muslims to .meet the menace of the Dadjjal. But they contain a refutation of Christianity. Does this not prove that the Dadjjal and Christianity re one and the same thing? Treatment of a disease must be relevant to the disease. If the Dadjjal and Christianity were two different things, the Holy Prophet would not have recommended the reading of verses of the Holy Book which relate not to the Dadjjal but to Christianity. The reading of these verses would have been ,next to useless if they did not relate to the Dadjjal. This proves, therefore, that even according to the Holy Prophet, the appearance of the Dadjjal is the appearance of Christian propagandists. The greatest obstacle to a true understanding of the subject of the Dadjjal is the preconception, from which most people seem to suffer, that the Dadjjal is one powerful individual, a kind of Superman, This he is not, even according to Arabic dictionaries. To quote two authorities:

'The Dadjjal is the name of a large party which, through force of numbers, will spread over the whole earth, and according to some authorities, it is the name of a party which keeps moving from one part of the world to another the goods and material in which it trades.'(Taj)

'The Dadjjal is a large party'(Aqrab)

These descriptions apply to Christian propagandists today. They transport their books from one part of the world to another, together with other forms of entertainment; they also promote business activities of various kinds wherever they go. One meaning of the word Dadjjal is 'pretender'. To whom is this description more applicable than to the Christian propagandists of our time? They present the man Jesus so that he should seem like God. True, the Dadjjal has other signs. He was to be one-eyed and was to have with him a donkey of inordinate size. Clouds of smoke were to be seen in front of the animal and behind it. These descriptions are symbolic. The one-eyed Dadjjal is a group or party of men devoid of spiritual vision. The right side in spiritual symbolism indicates religion and virtue. If the Dadjjal is without his right eye, he symbolizes men incapable of spiritual understand- ing and a spiritual view of things. The donkey of the Dadjjal symbolizes the railway, the most typical of modern means of transport. It was invented by Christians in Christian countries. When the railway whistles, the sound resembles the braying of a donkey. It uses fire and water as fuel, and clouds of smoke are before and behind it. Christian propagandists use it for transporting themselves to different parts of the world.

Nobody can take exception to the interpretation of symbols and prophecies. We have for this the authority of the Holy Prophet himself In the Hadith we read that one day the Holy Prophet went to see Ibn Sayyad a man credited with strange experiences. He was with him for some time and asked him questions. From the answers to the questions it appeared that Ibn Sayyad had some Satanic or self-caused intuitions. Omar, who accompanied the Holy Prophet, drew his sword, saying on oath that Ibn Sayyad was the Dadjjal of the prophecy. The Holy Prophet (on whom be peace) stopped Omar:

'Hazrat Omar asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be on him), "Permit me to strike his head with my sword." The Messenger of Allah (peace be on him) replied: ' "If he is not the Dadjjal, it is wrong to kill him. If he is, it is not for you but for the Messiah to kill him '(Mishquat, under Ibn-- Sayyad.)

The incident proves that the signs of the Dadjjal mentioned in earlier prophecies are symbolic and can stand interpretation. When Omar declared Ibn Sayyad to be the Dajjal, the Holy Prophet did not contradict him. He could have cited the signs which he himself had narrated about the Dadjjal: that the Dadjjal would have KFR written on his forehead, that he would have one eye, that he would fail to reach Medina, and so on. These signs were not present in Ibn Sayyad. He did not have one eye, he did not have KFR written on his forehead. (This important inscription was not visible even to the Holy Prophet, let alone to others.) And he was present in Medina. The question is, if the signs about the Dadjjal are not symbols, if they have to be taken literally, why did not the Holy Prophet contradict Omar straight away? Why did he hesitate? Why did he not tell Omar that the Dadjjal was to have one eye, he was to have KFR written on his forehead and was not to be seen in Medina? So it was futile to call Ibn Sayyad the Dadjjal of prophecy. The fact that the Holy Prophet did not contradict Omar at once, that he at least thought it possible that Ibn Sayyad was the Dadjjal, proves that, according to the Holy Prophet, signs about the Dadjjal were capable of interpretation, that they were not to be taken literally but
could have a meaning very different from their surface meaning. If, even the Holy Prophet believed that the signs of the Dadjjal can stand interpretation, nobody else has the right to turn his back upon the facts of contemporary history and demand a literal fulfilment of those signs, ignoring their obvious symbolic significance.

@Bastage

Matthew, Mark, Luke and John wrote that Jesus was crucified and that he died. You've either got to take their word for it or just disown the whole lot. You may as well deny the fact that he was crucified in the first place. The crucifixion story has no more plausibility than the death by crucifixion part.

the accounts of the four gospels on the event of crucifixion are  contradictory.  for example;
the time of crucifixion-- mark says: ''it was the (third hour) when they crucified him (mark 15:25).
but john says: ''it was about the (sixth hour) when pilate delievered jesus to the jews (john 19:14)
matthew & luke only mention that fron the sixth hour there was darkness all over the land unto the ninth hour.

how did jesus gave up the ghost?
matthew: jesus when he had (cried again with) (a loud voice), yielded up the ghost(matt 27:50)
mark :he (cried with a loud voice), and gave up the ghost (mark 15:37)
luke: when he cried with a loud voice, he said: Father in thy hands i commend my spirit; and having said thus, he gave up the ghost. (28:46)
john: when jesus, therefore, had recieved the vinegar he said it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.(19:30).

Anas b. Malik(raa) reported that the Messenger of Allah(sAas) said: "Dajjal is blind of one eye and there is written between his eyes the word 'Kafr'. Then he spelled the word as K.F.R., which every Muslim would be able to read."

the holy prophet also says that "every believer would be able to decipher it, whether he can read or not" in another tradition he says ", whether he can write or not".
lets be sincere with ourselves, this should not be taken literally. a person who cannot read would not be able read KFR, its no magic.
it would be appropriate to first know the identity of DAJJAL!

Firstly, you claimed that Christian is the Dajjal having forgotten that Christianity was in existence during the Holy Prophet's time and never said it would be the dajjal. Jesus would come pray and die a natural death because he didnt die in the first place, he would be the one to kill the Dajjal and that is why ALLAH said in the Quran that Jesus would be the sign of the day and there are narrations from authentic hadiths about his coming.

dajjal:i mean the christian missionaries.
the Quran is clear about the death of Jesus Christ. the Jesus that was sent to the childern of israelites is not going to come back forever, his second coming is going to take place in another person.
the quran says that he is going to be the sign of the HOUR and NOT DAY. the hour does not mean last day, but may mean the period when the kingdom of God would be taken from the Israelite and given to the Ishmaelite, (the nation that would bring forth its fruit).

from some verses before it is said "and when the son of mary is mentioned as an example, lo! thy people raise a clamor threat.

the advent of the messiah was a sign that the jews would be disgraced and humiliated and were about to be deprived of prophet-hood for all time, mathal signifying anything similar or equal to another (6:39), the verse beside the meaning given in the text, may also signifies that when the people of the holy prophet-the Muslims- are told that another person who would be like jesus and would be his counterpart, would be raised from amoung them to regenerate them and to restore their lost glory, instead of been glad of this good tidings, they raise a clamour.

toba:
Im glad to hear from muslims about the 2nd coming of christ. Why is it that mohammad is not the one coming back?
Jesus&mohammad who is superior?

muhammad is superior,

@petres_007, no problem, lets analys it one by one.
Sign of Jonah: Jesus foretold he would survive just like Jonah did.
The Greatest Miracle of Jesus

Jesus prophecied that his fate would be like that of prophet Jonah.

Jesus said:

    "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39,40)

Survival — Not Revival

The sign of Jonah is related in the Bible:

    The Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. (Jonah 1:17, 2:1,2)

The sign given to the Ninevites by Jonah was he was saved from certain death. He stayed for a period of time in danger, but ultimately recovered. He went alive into the belly of the fish, stayed alive for days, and came out alive.

The same fate was prophecied for Jesus. He would enter the tomb alive, stay alive for days, and come out alive. If Jesus had died, there would be little resemblance to Jonah.

The story of Jonah is one of survival — not revival

ISLAM (PEACE) TEACHES PEACE
i challenge you to disprove this from the Quran itself,

you would soon realise how this theory is wrong from the biblical point of view. please be prepared!!!

@ frosbel, thanks a million for the post, i so much appreciate it.
all the contradiction that was noticed in the accounts of the Muslim scholars is not surprising, coz its clarification would be done at the time of the promised messiah. had it been you've read the book of the founder of the Ahmadiyya community, you would have discovered that he mentioned it and clarified it.
as for the case of Ahmad Deedat, its recorded that he has read the book of the founder of the Ahmadiyya comunitty, which he never denied.

frosbel:
@Niyi53 

Lol. Please Niyi you are making me laugh my head off here. 

Muhammad bring comfort ? Is that a joke or what   

Let me provide you with some comforting news from Muhammad's religion for the 3rd week of April.

Weekly Jihad Report
Apr 17 - Apr 23

Jihad Attacks: 38
Dead Bodies: 227
Critically Injured: 597

He sure was a tyrant comforter, 

this is not what islam teaches. If it is by what some people do that we know a good religion, then christianity would not be free, rather would any other religion be!
Lets judge a religion by the scripture the founder brought. Its only by this that one can come across the truth.
Lets analyze the scripture of both religion (QURAN AND BIBLE) and see which teaches peace and brings comfort!

toba:
Just like petres said, u need help. Im not interest in your thread. Olaadegbu,noetic or viaro will see to your case.

you coward! Why don't you help me, by providing proves from the bible, that jesus died on the cross, as against what i have posted?
However, I am expecting those you mentioned,

toba:
Islam doesnt need jesus,but they need the comforter jesus said he was sending in his own name in john14. How do u reconcile that with your below post?

this prophecy is true only of the Prophet of Islam. True, it says "whom the Father will send in my name." But "in my name " can only mean, "he will bear testimony in my truth". The Holy Prophet testified to the truth of Jesus as a divine and honoured Teacher and Prophet, and declared them mistaken who thought him accursed. The prophecy says clearly, "He shall teach you all things." The words are reminiscent of those used in the prophecy in Deuteronomy. The description applies only to the Holy Prophet; and it was his teachings which brought comfort to the world.

frosbel:
Islam does not need reformation, Islam needs Jesus christ.



[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iZDfCTRSm4&hl=en[/flash]

Islam is never in need of Jesus, becos JESUS CHRIST IS DEAD LONG AGO.
Muslims are in need of a Mahdi (a guided one), who has already appeared in person of HAZRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD (AS)

Jesus Christ did not die on the cross, rather he was saved from it. he faced persecution just like other prophets of God, but he was saved just as they also was saved.

[b]any christian who think that i am wrong should come forward and disprove it with evidence from the bible.[/b]

[quote author=petres_007 link=topic=437971.msg5982797#msg5982797 date=1272729536]Whoever spewed out this garbage needs help urgently!  [/quote]help in what way? is it because you cannot disprove what is been posted? try not to be an enemy of what you don't know! it is better for you to find out and not to remain ignorant!
see that its you who's in need of help

chakula:
@niyi53, your preceded post is contrary with Islam teaching because surely jesus would be back, so if you are Muslim in heart please quickly repeant.

@chakalu, my post is in no way contrary to the teachings of Islam, rather it supports, and establish its superiority. try read the holy quran well and see how the quran establishes the death of Jesus. don't you reason and realize that if all Muslims can accept on the authority of the holy quran and the hadith, that Jesus is dead, CHRISTIANITY WOULD COLLAPSE TOTALLY!. IT COULD ALSO BE PROVEN FROM THE BIBLE THAT JESUS SURVIVED THE CRUCIFIXION.

by God's Grace, Jesus Christ of nazaret would not come again because he is gone, *dead*.

1)what i mean is that according to the holy quran and hadith, Jesus Christ,(Isa ibn maryam) (as) is dead, the second coming does not mean that he is going to physically return to this worldly life, its a spiritual descent, which is going to occur in another person.

2)i don't reject the hadith, i believe in what the hadith says. i still stand on my point on dajjal, cos its not against the hadith of Rasullulahi (saw).

3)try to understand this. you consider Ahmadis to be disbelievers and you still expect them to be observing prayers behind you, don't you know that the imam's believe is already different from that of his follower? *a believer& a non-believer*?

(please lets be sincere in the process of quoting the believes of peoples, don't base it on hearsay, but try to find out about it. this is supposed to be the attitude of an average Muslim, cos this is what the quran teaches.)

dear christian brethren, pls let go back to the true teachings of Jesus Christ as taught by the Bible, its only through this that you can be said to be on the straight path.
Your believe in the death on the cross, a prophet been God's incarnate, son of God, original sin is all against the clear teachings of the Bible. its not until you go back to the bible, your are not on the straight path!

Healing Herbs: Used for healing the living — not embalming the dead

Aloe and Myrrh

After the crucifixion, the body of Jesus came into the hands of his disciples Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus

The Gospel of John records that Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloes 'about a seventy-five pounds in weight' (John 19:39). These plants, particularly aloe plants, are considered medicinal and applied to wounds. It was used extensively in many ancient cultures is used even today to soothe open wounds. The Roman physician Pedanius Dioscrorides (c 75 B.C) recommended aloe for wounds and skin conditions. Alexander the Great's mentor, Aristotle, persuaded him to capture the island of Socotra to harvest the aloe plants for treating wounded soldiers.

Interestingly, the medieval near eastern classic textbook of medicine entitled Canon of Medicine by Avicenna mentioned an ointment termed Marhami Isa (Ointment of Jesus)

Unbroken Legs: This would have prevented death by respiratory distress

Saved from a Fatal Blow

After Jesus supposedly 'died' on the cross a Roman soldier made a decision not to break the legs of Jesus while on the cross. The episode fulfilled a prophecy and was not without meaning.

The Gospel of John (19:36) tells us that the Scripture was fulfilled (based on Psalms 34:20) - a bone of his shall not be broken. The Roman soldier did not bother to break the legs of Jesus to hasten death since he thought he was already dead. Breaking the legs would have been devastating due to the severe trauma of blood loss and consequential hypovolemic shock by breaking one of the larger bones in the body, the tibia, in each leg.

The Scriptural attention to not breaking the legs can only be meaningful if the body was alive - it is a meaningless issue for a corpse. A fuller reading of Psalm 34, verses 19 and 20 underscores it:

"The righteous face many troubles but the Lord rescues them from each and every one. For the Lord protects them from harm - not one of their bones will be broken

His Denial: Of being an apparition, baring his wounds he called for food


Wounded, but Alive

After the crucifixion, Jesus came under the care of his devoted followers who brought him into a spacious tomb.

If a man survived the death punishment, we would expect such a person to show clear evidence of the wounds. We would expect him to keep a low profile and move away from the place of crucifixion, as there may be the chance of re-arrest. Fear would be exhibited by his followers out of concern for their master.

The Gospel testimony leads precisely to that conclusion.

Jesus shows his wounds to Thomas (John 20:25-7), showing he did not have a supernatural, resurrected body, but a patient's body.

He hurriedly travelled away from the locality of the crucifixion and chose to meet only his closest followers:

"Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there" (Matthew 28:10).

The followers of Jesus were frightened to the extent that they decided not to tell anyone about his emergence from the tomb (Mark 16:.

Not once did Jesus appear before his persecutors or wandered through the center of Jerusalem asking people now to accept him as the resurrected Messiah who had atoned for their sins.

All we have is a man in his earthly body of flesh and bones (Luke 24:39) who suffered pangs of hunger (Luke 24:41) and staying out of the lime-light. In convincing his disciples that he had the same wounded body, he in effect was showing he never died as God saved him from the ordeal just as Jonah emerged alive from the fish (see "Sign of Jonah" above)

karo93:
the person who thought of this did well.

it makes as much sense as saying someone caught redhanded robbing a bank was actually keeping the money for the bank or that a politician caught with stolen government funds was keeping it for the state.

all ways the person bringing up such and idea must be better at twisting than shakira.but coming to think of this;these days a white cloth could be made to be seen as black.

good job to the author!

its left for you to make thorough research,we are in an advanced and developed age.

babs787:
@Niyi




I can see that you do not know about your group. Ahmadiyyah believe that Dajjal is not coming in person but that it is even in existence already. Your group said Poverty, war, injustice etc is dajjal.

Could you shed more light on that and I even saw that you ignored my other part.

you better know what you are saying. You did not study Ahmadiyya properly except for what you hear you say, be careful!
we believe that Jesus had made his second coming. the Jesus who was sent to the children of isreal is dead and not alive.
DAJJAL (deceiver) we believe to be existing,because it nothing other than the present day Christianity, for they believe and preach a totally different thing from what Jesus taught them,e.g. atonement, ascension, redeemption, original sin e.t.c. All these theories are not supported by the Bible.

i purposely ignore your other questions.

Death by Crucifixion Takes Days

When the news of the supposed death of Jesus reached Pilate, he was surprised to learn that Jesus had passed away so soon (Mark 15:44). His testimony is extremely important and revealing. Here was the man who probably had the most knowledge in his time of the nature of the punishment of crucifixion and likely officiated over many such crucifixions.

Though many details of the crucifixion have been lost with the end of the Roman Empire, there are ample records to show this particular punishment took at least two to three days to kill a person. For example, good testimony comes from historian Flavius Josephus in the first century A.D who described survivors of crucifixions. The writer Plutarch (c 75 A.D) mentions some individuals surviving some ten days on the cross.

The New Bible Dictionary also concluded based on the historical facts of crucifixion that "death by this method was usually quite protracted, rarely supervening before thirty-six hours, and on occasion taking as long as nine days" (1962 ed, Intervarsity Press, Page 282).

Pilate’s Plot: Having sympathy for Jesus, he planned to save him

Convinced of His Innocence

It is notable in the New Testament testimony that Pontius Pilate believed Jesus to be innocent and did not want him executed. One of the influences was a dream Pilate's wife convincing her of Jesus' innocence, and the message she passed on to Pilate was "leave that innocent man alone" (Matthew 27:19).

Pilate eventually acquiesced to the demand of the Jews that Jesus be crucified, as a riot was developing. However he then asked for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd and exclaimed "I am innocent of the blood of this man. The responsibility is yours!" (Matthew 27:24) .
The Plan to Save Jesus

An analysis of the Gospels clearly reveals Pilate had an interest in saving Jesus' life to the best of this ability while trying to maintain official execution procedure as mandated by Roman law. Three key points may be noted:

* He set the crucifixion day just before the Sabbath, as Jewish law specifically prohibits bodies to hang on the cross by the start of Sabbath. Death would be unlikely to ensue within 6 hours (see "Short Duration"
* When the time came to remove Jesus and the two others on the cross, the Jews asked Pilate to break the legs of Jesus (John 19:31). However the centurions acting on Pilate's command did not break the legs of Jesus (John 19:33). It was because he had taken these precautionary measures that Pilate was surprised when he was told that Jesus was "already dead" (Mark 15:44).
* Roman protocol was that body would lie on the crucifixion grounds and be subjected to the elements and animals. However Pilate allowed something quite interesting to take place by deviating from standard practice. He allowed Jesus to be given to Jesus' friends not his enemies

There are many verses from the Bible which attest to the fact that Jesus survived crucifixion, for example:
Sign of Jonah: Jesus foretold he would survive just like Jonah did. 

      Jesus prophecied that his fate would be like that of prophet Jonah.

      Jesus said:

          "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:39,40)

      Survival — Not Revival

      The sign of Jonah is related in the Bible:

          The Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. (Jonah 1:17, 2:1,2)

      The sign given to the Ninevites by Jonah was he was saved from certain death. He stayed for a period of time in danger, but ultimately recovered. He went alive into the belly of the fish, stayed alive for days, and came out alive.

      The same fate was prophecied for Jesus. He would enter the tomb alive, stay alive for days, and come out alive. If Jesus had died, there would be little resemblance to Jonah.

      The story of Jonah is one of survival — not revival.
   
Prayer at Gethsemane: He prayed to be rescued from death on the cross.
Prayer in the Garden

When it appeared that there was no way to avoid the devious plans of the Jews to have him crucified, Jesus prayed fervently 'to remove the cup' of death upon the cross (Mark 14:36).

Jesus had full confidence that his prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane would be accepted as he himself told his disciples:

    "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:22).

    "Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks. You parents- if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Of if they ask for fish, do you give them a snake?" (Matthew 7:7-9)

God Accepted His Prayer

The prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was the most important and grand prayer offered by Jesus and portrayed quite vividly in the Gospels. It is inconceivable that the prayer did not reach the Divine Throne, especially as Jesus taught his disciples the power of prayer.

Indeed we need not guess. The Gospels furnish evidence that his prayer was accepted.

The Gospel of Luke states an angel came from Heaven "strengthening him" (Luke 22:43). This indicates God had heard his heart-felt prayer.

After his supplication in the garden, when Jesus was apprehended, one of his followers drew a sword, struck a servant of a high priest and cut off his ear. Jesus sternly rebuked him and said:

    "Those who use the sword will be killed by the sword. Don't you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?"(Matthew 26:52-53).

This shows Jesus was now in perfect contentment that his prayer was accepted and all could be left now in the hands of God, with no need for active self-defence.

Finally, when death looked imminent and he was in agony on the cross he cried "Eli Eli lama sabachthani"* (Matthew 27:45-46) because he did not expect that it would come to this. He fully believed the prayer would be accepted.

Blood and Water: Gushed from the spear wound, a sign of a beating heart.
Corpses Do Not Bleed

An important piece of information is mentioned in the Gospel of John which supports the view that Jesus did not die on the cross:

"One of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water" (John 19:34).

Blood pouring out is a sign of intact circulation, with the spear injuring an arteriole. Note the words 'sudden flow' which implies blood pressure. The 'water' was perhaps pleural fluid, present between the rib cage and lungs.

As blood does not rush out of corpses, the quoted verse did present a problem to at least one Church Father, Origen. In his exegesis of John 19:34, he admitted that blood coagulates after death, but the flow of blood in this case constituted a miracle and thus needed no explanation. (Contra Celsus, by Origen, translated by H. Chadwick, Cambridge U).

The spear thrust into the side of Jesus was not meant as a kind of definitive blow, but as a rough (and actually inaccurate) indicator if death had occurred. If the intent were to kill, the soldier would have stabbed into the front of the chest to injure the heart. However, in the event the person was not on the cross for sufficient length of time, death was usually caused by breaking the legs, as was done with the individuals hanging along side Jesus.
Breaking with Protocol

The Gospel testimony it should be pointed out is inconsistent on the point of the centurion wanting to ensure the death of Jesus. On the one hand, the centurion saw that Jesus was 'already dead' so he did not bother to break his legs (see "Legs not Broken" as against the demand of the Jews to hasten death by breaking his bones on account of the Sabbath (John 19:31) which was the standard protocol. On the other hand the centurion pierced Jesus' side. Was this done to cause death if he was uncertain about it? If so, why were the bones not broken also which was the standard, brutal method? How can we not assume there were some elements of sympathy from at least some of the Romans, starting from Pilate on top (see "Pilate's Plot" and going down the chain of command?

It is alleged the Romans executioners were cold, brutal and blood thirsty experts in the art of putting people to death. Not only do we have some inconsistency in actions documented on the part of the centurion, we also have what appears to a be a very sympathetic Roman officer and even a closet follower of Jesus, as marked by his words when he was looking on at the cross when Jesus supposedly died: "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mark 15:39).

yes, he would be the one to defeat the Dajjal

one truth you don't know is that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is dead long ago, after completing his mission, which is to bring together the lost sheep of the house of Israel. it was only two out of the twelve tribes he was able to preach the message to before he was crucified, he escaped crucifixion and traveled east ward in search of the remaining tribes. he finally got to them they accepted him and honored him before he passed away, his tomb is at Srinagar, Kashmir, India, where it is been held as sacred tomb till today.
therefore the Jesus that is to come is going to be a person who is a resemblance of Jesus in spirit and not bodily, Matthew 23:39.
Jesus has appeared its now leaft for those who are God fearing to accept him.

look you people regard us as disbelievers, so why then the need to worship behind a person whose ideology is different from mine? read sura Hashr,
. تحسبهم جميعا وقلوبهم شتى

what i meant was that we attend the funeral of non-ahmadis,

an ahmadi WOULD NOT allow a non-ahmadi to lead him, because our believe is different. he can allow if he realize that that non-member is not a kind of person that believes the Ahmadis to be Non-Muslims.

yes, i do believe in his second coming!

Our brother Lolman has made a great surprise today by his criticism of Roman catholic church. But this criticism must not be levied only the catholic but on the Christianity as a whole because not only the catholic practices idolatry but idolatry is found in every modern Christianity and the path of Jesus and his disciples is completely abandoned and another way is devised today and incoherent is seen in Christianity as a whole. Reflect on these issues:
1. The Belief of Jesus and his disciples as compare with today's Christians way of worship.
2. The way of worship of Jesus and his disciples as compare with today's Christians way of worship.
3. The Truth about the doctrine of trinity.
4. The Truth about the event of the cross, resurrection, ascension and descend.
5. The path Jesus set for the followers and the path being followed by the Christians today.
If it is true that Christians have lost the right path, then there must be way out, perhaps, [size=8pt][b][b][b]THE TRUE ISLAM[AHMADIYYAT] IS THE ONLY WAY OUT.[/b][/b][/b][/size]


Thanks for your reflection and peace be unto him that follow the right path.