the minnow

I've heard about this theory somewhere. Is there any historical evidence to claim Jesus, at some point during his "missing years" wandered to India to study esotericism in Kashmir or the Himalayas, as a small minority claim?
Was Jesus ever influenced by Eastern/Indian philosophy of any kind or had contact with it?

Or is this a completely unfounded claim?

mountainman

The story of Apollonius of Tyana trecking to India
was first published circa 220 CE by Philostratus,
under the sponsorship of Julia Domna.

goldenroad

I believe in light of the evidence this theory is absurd.

First of all the theorists who came up with this theory are concluding that Jesus didn't die because if you allow that he died you either have to say that he was just a man and his bones are still in the ground somewhere today or you can say that he was more than a man and a rose from the dead.

Second of all you must consider the evidence that points to his death. First he was flogged by the Roman soldiers. A Roman flogging was extremely brutal, in fact, the word excruciating was first used to describe the pain that Jesus experienced. The whip had pieces of bone in it that would cut extremely deep. The normal flogging was thrity-nine ouches but depending on the soldier this was often more. By the time the flogging was finished the back was in ribbons from the buttocks up to the neck. The bone would have cut down to the spine and more than likely exposed vital organs by ripping through the muscle tissue.

Second, the flogging would have sent the victim into hypovolemic shock. This is a great loss of blood that results in the heart having to work extremely hard to pump blood that isn't there, your body experiencing extreme thirst to replace the lost blood, irregular heartbeat, and dizziness and fainting. This was evidenced when Jesus could no longer carry his cross and the Roman soldiers got Simon to do it.

Third, the crucifixtion was terrible. Nails would be driven through the wrist just before the palm. The nail would peirce through a nerve much like the one that you refer to as your funny bone. The same would happen to your ankles and i doubt its possible to imagine the pain that this would cause.

Fourth, the cruified person would hang in a way that the arms would be pulled out of the socket. The the victim would have to pull himself up on the nails or suficate and eventually the victim would lose the strength to do this and would die.

Lastly, the Roman soldier drove a spear into Jesus's side. The report says that blood and water came out so we can deduce that the spear struck just below the heart pucturing a bubble like build up of water and blood. (and for more info, the Roman soldier faced death if one of the crucified prisoners were to survive)

So, was Jesus dead? The sources (the gospels) are much more reliable than the source that Jesus went to India. In fact, the earliest argument we have is in the creed that is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 that was written within a couple of years of Jesus's death meaning it would be easily disproved or approved by the eyewitnesses. So yes, Jesus was dead (though if you have some other info i would love to hear it.)

But...if Jesus was just man and he died then he's still dead or...was there something more? There are many interesting evidences to Jesus's resurrection, the eyewitnesses, the sources, the historical evidence, but perhaps the most compelling evidence is that all of Jesus's disciples except John were horrifically martyred. Would they be willing to die for a lie? Is it possible that a lie could have changed the lives of hundreds of millions if not billions throughout history? I think the evidence is very clear but i would love to hear what you have to say.

Toto

Jesus did not go to India. All of the "evidence" for Jesus in India (or Japan) is obviously legendary, and appears after Nestorian Christian missionaries were in the area.

All that said, the evidence for any Christian creed that can be traced to shortly after Jesus' death, or for Jesus' resurrection, or for Christian martyrs, is about the same - legendary and unconvincing.

rlogan

For a mere $22.50 plus shipping and handling I'll be happy to send along my authoritative work on Jesus' trips to India and for that matter any place of interest to you.

In the interest of full disclosure, Jesus' "missing years" begin approximately with the rise of Homo Sapiens as a species, and run to the present time. That is, he was and always has been missing from history.

Utilizing the established "historical Jesus" methodology, I can construct for you the Jesus that would have led to the absence of record in any country on earth right up through November of 2006.

GrandpaMithras

Nope. Mithras did though.

Thomas II

They talk about a certain saint called Issa...I'm sure you have googled it by now...But who knows?...:huh:

:wave:

spin

Oh, not this crap again... :banghead:

Roger Pearse

It is completely unfounded. A 19th century conman named Notovitch claimed to have read some gospels to this effect in a Tibetan monastery, but another traveller took the time to check his steps and found that his account of his visit was largely fiction.

http://www.reluctant-messenger.com/issa.htm
http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/scanned/notovitch.htm

I believe that there is a Hindu group who profess something of the kind as an anti-Christian ploy, but I don't know much about them.

Wikipedia asserts that Ahmadi Moslems say the same: I wouldn't trust this to be true, but offer it for what it's worth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Notovitch

All the best,

Roger Pearse

The Evil One

Jesus certainly got around a lot. India, Cornwall.... I presume there are other places that make the same claim...