Is it possible that jesus christ was just a very good magician, and tricked people to believe he was gods son?

Question

I don't mean to offend anyone by this question, but magic has been around since before christ. I believe in God and that he created this world we live in, but could it be that jesus christ was just an excellent magician in his time, like david blaine and chris angel of this decade, they can all seem to perform miracle like things, that you have to just drop your jaw and say wow, that is impossible. Could it be possible Jesus's miracles were just astonishing mind blowing magic tricks? I'm not trying to make a joke or anything like that about this, it was just something I was wondering, i'm just pretty much trying to figure out why God chose that specific moment in time to send christ to earth, their have been thousands more years before christ than afterwards thus far. Just trying to figure out why he chose 2006 years ago to sacrifice his son, and not 4000 years ago?

Answer 1

For over 1,000 years various challenges have been made regarding the person and nature of Jesus and Christ.

The one you are referencing is perhaps one of the oldest. . .and some versions of the Talmud hints at. . .although obscurely and not to the satisfaction of even present day Jewish scholarship. About 100 years prior to the expected birth time range of Jesus (0-7 BCE) there was a Yeshuva who was a teacher and healer. . .accused of practicing magic. . .but condemned to death for sharing his teachings in public (which is surprising because there is no Torah Commandment requiring death for such a transgression). Others who may post later on may provide you with more specific details than this. . .but the Talmud reference is 1-2 verses in length at best. . .and not readily believed by scholars today to be hinting at a "real" person. . .whom later became Jesus the Christ.

Were you or others to search more. . .and the "temptation" to make it a life effort. . .you will inevitably find other pieces of a puzzle. . .but much lost in antiquity to prove the claim. . .and. .. more telling. . .your life will not be better or richer for such a search. . .until you discover the mystery of Christianity itself: that the Christ Principle does not depend on the life or return of Jesus.

(Btw, the relevant calendar is Hebrew. . .c2006 = 5760. . .so the Common Era began in 3,754. . .not quite 4,000 years ago.)

Best wishes!

Answer 2

Faking raising the dead is a tough one, when all were familiar with what constitutes death. Lazarus was raised from the dead a few days after his death, when decay was set in -yet he come from the Tomb whole. Jesus was no where around when Lazarus died so thats another factor which does not pan out as a con.

Also - technology for ascending up into the sky out of sight was not available for cons in Jesus day. Some 500 witnesses saw Jesus ascend toward the sky and out if sight into a cloud.

No magical to this day has duplicated that - although with technology that exists now, I suppose these magicians would try to mimic it to try and discredit Jesus. Again - technology today is far advanced ahead of the 1st century AD.

Also healing blind and lame people who have been known around town could not have been faked. If he had brought in a stranger that no one knew, he could have gotten by with it had it been a trick. But no - no strangers. IT was always someone that had been know a lomg time that was heald. Not a magicians trick.

Answer 3

Jesus didn't perform magic tricks. He performed miracles.

Magicians perform magic tricks (which are just optical illusions, really) to entertain people and to make people admire their skill.

Jesus never did that. His miracles either helped a person who was very much in need, or they taught some deeper moral lesson.

Raising people from the dead, and then rising from the dead Himself, is not the average, run of the mill magic trick.

As for why Jesus lived and died 2,000 years ago instead of 4,000 years ago -- there's probably no special reason for that. It had to happen sometime on the calendar.

If He had come 4,000 years ago, then somebody could ask, "Why did he come 4,000 years ago instead of 5,000?"

If He had come 5,000 years ago, then somebody could ask why He came at that time, and not some other time.

In other words, we can play that game all day. But what's the point of it?

Answer 4

i've never seen a magician die and come back to life, have you? and there isn't any doubt that Jesus died. some people don't think he actually died, they think he fainted or something, but that's ridiculous.

he was nailed to a cross, gouged in the side with a spear, practically mummified in shroud wrappings & spices, entombed in a dark, cold cave where he would have no food or water, very little air, no light, and no medical attention for the wounds he sustained, for three whole days. Then he supposedly got up, got out of the wrappings, singlehandedly removed the huge boulder blocking the cave entrance, walked several miles on pierced feet, and flaunted his undeniable un-dead-ness in front of the Romans who tried to kill him . . . who comes up with this stuff????

so i think i established that Jesus actually died--why do i think he came back to life, that he pulled off the impossible and did what no magician in his time or ever, has been able to do?

here's why: the disciples.

think about it. after Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples were spreading the message that he had come back to life. as you can imagine, this was not a very popular idea with the Romans because they wanted people to believe that the emperor was God, not Jesus. So the disciples got persecuted--you probably already know about all that, right? so you know Christ's followers will often killed for their beliefs.

these were the men and women who LIVED with Jesus, who SAW the kind of miracles you think might be tricks, who KNEW he was dead and brought back to life. if anyone knows the truth about who Christ really was, it was these early disciples, the ones who were being persecuted for their faith.

so why does that prove that Jesus was truly God? consider this:

* * * PEOPLE WILL DIE FOR WHAT THEY ***BELIEVE*** TO BE TRUE, BUT NO ONE WILL DIE FOR WHAT HE ***KNOWS*** TO BE FALSE * * *

if Jesus was just a really good magician, nobody would ever die in his name, but people did it then and in some countries they are doing it today.

i hope maybe this answers your question! i would recommend reading "Know Why You Believe" by Paul Little -- it has a lot of answers about things about faith that you may not understand -- like was Jesus actually God, and why does God allow sin, and things like that, it's a really good book.

i can tell you're searching for answers, and i hope you find them, God bless!

Answer 5

Keep in mind that Jesus himself never said he was God's son. He spoke of himself as the son of the Heavenly Father, but in a way that showed he was using the expression the way modern Christians do when they speak of themselves as "children of God". When Simon Peter said that he (Peter) thought he was the Son of God, Jesus told him, "YOU are saying that!"

There are magical tricks that anybody who has learned them could do, like the business of turning water into wine, but also Magickal actions -- using the "ck" spelling to distinguish them from stuff like stage magic -- that can be performed by those who have studied certain advanced topics: Jesus would have had to know these to do "miraculous" healing or the raising of Lazarus from the dead. But this is not the place to give details about them. Google, or check Wikipedia, on "Reiki" and you'll be able to make a start at tracking this info down. If you are Jewish, find out more about the Ba'alim Shem -- "Masters of The Name" -- who claim to be able to work miracles by their knowledge of The Name (i.e., the Holy Unspeakable Name of God).

Answer 6

Remember the world he lived in, they had no scientific explanation for many things, so when something happened that today we would consider normal, they considered it to be supernatural. For example, there are stories of Jesus casting out demons. Now consider the fact that someone who has what we call a chemical imbalance today, or even depression would be considered "demon possesed". Any irrational behavior was no doubt considered that because that's the only way they could explain it. Also Jesus wasn't the only one who did miracles, there were many who claimed to do them and even secular history backs that up. There were many who also considered themselves to be the Messiah. Many were looking for him to come so many would be inclined to what we would call the placebo effect today. We still see it in some faiths today, the faith healing procedures.

I think he may have been a very enlightened, charasmatic guy and couple that with the atmosphere of the times and bingo! You have a hero.

Answer 7

I guess it's possible, but that's where our faith comes into play. Believing without seeing.
God had a good reason for His timing of sending his son 2006 years ago instead of 4000 or whatever. I'm not sure what it was but maybe if you pray or read the bible about it, you'll find an answer.

Good luck! &hearts

Answer 8

Sure. He healed diseases, made crippled legs strong and deaf ears hear, stopped storms, raised the dead, and so on...with mirrors.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, for His final and best trick of all, Jesus will endure horrible torture, die on a cruel Roman cross, and finally rise from His very own tomb, appear before His audience, and then, He will rise up to heaven before their very eyes!

As a magician, I'd say He is gonna be a real tuff act to follow.....

Answer 9

Well, if that were the case, one would also have to make the case as to how he fulfilled all of the prophecies he did. For example, no matter how good David Copperfield is, he can't trick his audience into believing that he was born in Bethlahem in the lineage of David, and so on and so forth throughout all of the other prophecies.

Answer 10

How could someone magically bring someone else back to life...not possible except for Jesus with the power of God