Clivedurdle

The Jesus in India thread has a very interesting link to a 19th century Iman in India. I may be wrong, but I think the sect he founded is flourishing in south London. The link has a very strong anti - jihad position and explains a lot of what is now happening. I think this sect is seen as heretical.

But it gives a very interesting summary of why Jesus is thought to have survived the crucifixion. It is all in Matthew 12 v 40.

I think this argument makes sense! What do others think? What is interesting is if you accept the word of God, how can you decide what to accept and reject?

Let it be noted that though Christians believe that Jesus (peace be on him) after his arrest through the betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and crucifixion -- and resurrection -- went to heaven, yet, from the Holy Bible, it appears that this belief of theirs is altogether wrong. Matthew (chapter 12, verse 40) says that just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth. Now it is clear that Jonah did not die in the belly of the fish; the utmost that happened was that he was in a swoon or a fit of fainting. The holy books of God bear witness that Jonah, by the grace of God, remained alive in the belly of the fish, and came out alive; and his people ultimately accepted him. If then Jesus (on whom be peace) had died in the belly of the 'fish', what resemblance could there be between a dead man and the one who was alive, and how could a living one be compared with one dead? The truth rather is, that as Jesus was a true prophet and as he knew that God, whose beloved he was, would save him from an accursed death, he made a prophecy in the form of a parable, revealed to him by God, in which he hinted that he would not die on the Cross, nor would he give up the ghost on the accursed wood; on the contrary, like the prophet Jonah, he would only pass through a state of swoon. In the parable he had also hinted that he would come out of the bowels of the earth and would then join the people and, like Jonah, would be honoured by them.

Toto

Or it could be that Jesus was a spirit with only the appearance of a man, and his apparent death on the cross only destroyed his outer garments, without killing the spirit. Or it could be that the whole passage is just highly symbolic and you need the Holy Spirit to interpret it.