How is it possible that a book proclaiming to know every word Jesus ever spoke not know exactly when he died.?

Question

Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon following the Spring Equinox (how wonderfully pagan!). No one knows when Jesus died but the bible claims to have every word the man ever said in his entire adult life written in it. How is it possible to know THAT much about him but not when he died? This is but one of the many reasons that I do not accept the bible as a truth or the "word of God". Maybe someone out there can shed some light on the issue. I am almost 40 years old and have been questioning people on this for about 20 years. No one has ever been able to answer this question beyond "I don't know, let me ask my minister."

I NEVER claimed to know everything about the bible, that is why I am asking. You would be right to correct me by stating that the bible never claimed to have EVERY word Jesus ever spoke. My point is proven though in many of these answers since I have been told many different things. (All quoting the bible.) Most agree on Friday, rising on Sunday during Passover but one person has said it was Wednesday and yet others claim that the bible never mentions anything about it. Even Christians can't agree, all getting their info from the same book. Incidentally, the issue is important to me because if I were to use a book as the word of God, God's law, I want that book to be based on logic, reason and fact. Very little, if anything, has ever struck me as logical and potentially factual in the bible. I was raised a good Christian so I have extensive exposure to the bible but it has been many years since I have read anything in it.

I NEVER claimed to know everything about the bible, that is why I am asking. You would be right to correct me by stating that the bible never claimed to have EVERY word Jesus ever spoke, my mistake. My point is proven though in many of these answers since I have been told many different things. (All using the bible to get their info.) Most agree on Friday, rising on Sunday during Passover but one person has said it was Wednesday and yet others claim that the bible never mentions anything about it. Even Christians can't agree, all getting their info from the same book. Incidentally, the issue is important to me because if I were to use a book as the word of God, God's law, I want that book to be based on logic, reason and fact. Very little, if anything, has ever struck me as logical and potentially factual in the bible. I was raised Christian so I have extensive exposure to the bible but it has been many years since I have read it. No one has ever been able to prove it's divinity to me.

Answer 1

Maybe he never told the author that he died.

Answer 2

We don't mind, But at least try to get it straight.

The last statement in the book of John is this:

"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that could be written"

So the Bible says that what has been written about him is far from every act or every word that he uttered.

As for when he died, the year can only be approximated. But we can't even do that for the Roman Governor of Judea or a thousand other very famous men in history. The year he died was 33 A.D.. That much is absolute because A. D. means Anno Domini (the year of our lord) and he was 33 years old. By definition then, the date is right. What is still unclear is the year of his birth. But there were no birth certificates and the Romans didn't spend much time chronicaling the births of Jewish kids.
So why should that be surprising?

As for the day he died, that we know for sure. You see the Jews have kept Passover for centuries. It's date is based on a moon calender that doesn't vary any more than the Moon does. Jesus was in Jerusalem to observe Passover. The events of that week are clear and the date of his death relative to Passover is clear.
The church wanted the celebration to take place on a Sunday. So it is always Sunday. And Jesus did rise on Sunday.

But if you had the actual date of the first full moon of Spring in that year and you factored in the changes wrought by the switchover to the Gregorian calander, you could easily learn the actual date on which he died.

The Bible says he returned to life on the morning following the Sabbath. Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath so that makes it Sunday.

So the short answer is that the first Easter was on the Sunday following the first full Moon of Spring (passover) . That is the actual day on which we celebrate.

There is hardly a day in history (especially pre-Gregorian) that can be fixed as accurately as Easter. The month, the day of the week, and its relationship to Moon cycles are all absolute.

By the way, we don't know how long Jesus had been out of the tomb before it was discovered. But we do know that the Sabbath was just ending (sunrise). Since it rises at about the same time on the same day in the same place every year, all we have to do is find out what time the Sun rose in Jerusalem this year on Easter and we could tell you what time the discovery was made. How's that for accuracy after 2000 years?

Now tell me the moment at which Nero died so I can stop thinking he's just an atheists fairy tale.

Answer 3

First of all time itself is measured by the movement of the planets, and the months were started by the Jewish priests who declared the first day by the new moon. And that is not pagan. God himself put it that way for us..
Second the bible does not contain everything that Jesus did..

John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

So there you have it from the Bible that it does not contain everything..
If you are looking for the exact date that Jesus died, then the calendar that we now use would have to be corrected as it does not even reflect the exact year.. Why is it so important that you need to know the date?? One even needs to go to the Jewish calender to find out the day of the week as we don't use that calendar any more.. It is a fruitless search and for WHAT END> Will you become a better person if you know?? Doesn't make sense that you would spend so much energy on this subject..

Answer 4

For one thing the Bible does not claim to have every word the man ever said in his entire adult life. In fact the Bible says the opposite, John 21:25. And the time of Jesus' death was following the Passover, a very Jewish holiday, not any Pagan celebration. But the real issue is that it matters more why Jesus died than an exact date. And since you seem to think you know all about the Bible you can read about that yourself. hint: start in Romans

Answer 5

Jesus was crucified during the Passover. This is a Jewish festival is the celebration of the Great Exodus. Kill the lamb & put blood on the doorpost so that the angel of death will passover your home and won't slay your first born. Exodus 12:6,7 The Passover was a prophesy of the blood sacrifice that Jesus would make to cover our sin. 1 Corinthians 5:7 Now it is not that know one knows when Jesus died, it was during the Passover . The Passover is to be celebrated on the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar which is March-April on todays calendars. Also the Jewish calendar has twelve months but there is and extra month every 2-3 years and also that month is use 7 times every nineteen years. That is why the calendar must follow the Spring Equinox to get a close to accurate date. Also it just a matter of faith why do you have to know when Jesus died. You just need to know that He took on a lowly form of a human, He lived a sinless life and then died on the cross so that you would not have to die because of sin.

Answer 6

The Bible itself doesn't say anything at all about dates. No date about anyone, including Jesus' death. If God felt that it was important for us to know this information then He would have put it in His book.

Also note, not every word He said is written in it; instead, every word written in it, is said by Him. At the end of one of the synoptic gospels, the author says that this book does not include everything that Jesus had done because not even all of the books in the world could contain everything that he had done in his life.

Furthermore, Easter was set on a pagan holiday in order to make the conversion of pagans easier to accept. Sorry, but I wasn't alive during the crusades to help vote against this, but what's done is done and there's no reason to persecute us for other people's actions.

Finally, the history books have all pointed toward the year around which Jesus had died; there's irrefutable history by many historians that all point to the fact that there was a man named Jesus, he preached, and he was killed on a cross. The other details can be found in the Bible, the other history book.

Answer 7

Hello, My Name is Lynne and I am I Have believed in the whole bible for the Most of my life. I have never found any where in the bible to say that every word ever spoken by Jesus is written down. How ever I have Found That some of the most Loving and Kind words Ihave ever read written in the text of the Bible. The Bible is more then Just Words in a book they are alive. each time I am reading them they speak to me in a new way. I realize what My Jesus was saying to me. I have had Meany happy day in the mist of sorrow because of the comfort found with in the bible. There is on thing that I know for sure, When the end comes I want to have lived my Life in a way that is loving and kind and having leaned on the stranght My Jesus has when I have none of my own to stand on.

Answer 8

First not one of the "gospels" was actually written by one of the apostles to which it is ascribed. the earliest book of the "New Testament" dates to about 150 after Christ.

Some claim that this was just the result of multiple transcriptions or oral history.

Next, biblical dating is entirely screwed up. At the moment the best scholarship figures Christ was born sometime in April, 5 BCE.

This is largely attributable to a monk in about 500 ACE. Calendars have been so completely jiggered over the centuries that it takes some arcane work of specialists to get even close to real dates for biblical events. This is one reason the Millenialists are complete idiots. Their beliefs ae the main reason.

However, if anyone wants to start to get close to real dating for those events, begin with "Confronting the Millenium" by Steven Jay Gould. this lovely gem of a book deals with the matter quite completely, and in a most acessible style of writing.

As for the alleged gospels - well, someone had to write the fairy tales.

Answer 9

In my humble opinion, the bible (with all due respect) is a facsinating story. In part factual, in part filler. It is my belief that the bible is the one book that has been translated in every academic and historical language known to man. The interpretations all vary. If you read the bible then you do so to find personal answers. It is left to the reader to decifer the meaning of the answers you seek.

I was once told by an amazing history professor that there is no clear evidence that Jesus actually existed. Hmmmmmmm..... If this is true, then?...........

Answer 10

Who said we have every word? John the beloved disciple says many more books could have been written. The reason it was set this way was not to be similar to a pagan ritual but because He rose on The Lords day. This event along with Pentecost is why His followers celebrate the Lords day instead of the Sabbath. So it was set as close as possible but to always land on a Lords day instead of a week day if it were kept on the same date every year.

Answer 11

The Bible not only does not record all of Jesus' words, it doesn't even get the ones it does record right. Remember the Gospels were written 10 to 20 years after Christ's death and no one had a tape recorder, shorthand or even paper to write on when he was around.

The Bible is not a historybook. When Jesus died and his exact words are not important. What is important is the beliefs and examples of believers found within. If you can apply them to your life, great -- if not, they don't eliminate God's existence.