A genuine question about the life and death of Jesus.?

Question

I wasn't raised as a Christian (or any other religion) and have knowledge gaps in the life of Jesus, as well as many other parts of the bible, and am curious to learn a little more.

First of all, I have trouble understanding the concept of Jesus dying for the sins of all humans. Can someone please explain a little about this to me?

I have also heard of something called "The Wilderness Years", which is, or so I've heard others discussing, when Jesus' whereabouts were unaccounted for in The Bible, for about 10 years or so. Where is he believed to have gone, and what is he believed to have done? Are there many theories about this, or are Christians pretty much in agreement about this?

I'm not mocking Christians or any aspect of Christianity, I'm simply curious and would like to know (without having to read the whole bible, which I don't have time to do right now - predicting some of those responses!). I appreciate your time.

Answer 1

Id be really happy to try to help you out. I think its great that your searching for these answers. This might end up being a really long answer so ill try to give you the most imporant information. If you need any other info u can email me. I am a Practicing Catholic Christian so i will give you an overview of what i know to be fact about Jesus and what he did.

So...I'll start at...part of your question. Where was Jesus for the time in his life the BIble doesnt account for. Let me say this. Everything...and i mean EVERY single tiny little thing in the bible was divenly willed. That is to say, bassically that God wanted evrything that is in the bible to be there. This includes the absense of things. Therefore, the absense of the majority of Jesus' adolesence was on purpose. I would also like to say then, that Christianity is based on Biblical teachings. What i mean to say is bassically: while the absense of Jesus adoleseance is not in scripture we can learn from its absense. It has things to teach us. BUT! you should be careful what you read! Do not take "the wilderness years" as fact.
(sorry for the novel on that but i wanted to be clear)

OK sooooo....
Bassically heres what it all is. An angel named Gabriel came to a very holy woman named Mary, and told her she was to bear a son and name him Jesus. Mary was confused because although she was engaged to a man named Joseph, they had both chosen a celibate marriage. But the angel told her the holy spirit (ill explain what this means in a minute) would desend upon her. This is why mary is known as "the Virgin Mother"

Ok so then JEsus grew up and gathered 12 apostels. He worked many miracles and preached to thousands/millions of people all around. All the while teaching his apostels.

One night he took them to an upper room to celebrate the passovermeal. (This meal is to bassically remeber the night when the egytians had to flee egypt and they ate unleven bread) So as was custom Jesus and his apostels had unleven bread and wine prepared. During dinner Jesus took the cup Blessed it saying "Take this all of you and eat it, this is my body which will be given up for you. Do this in memory of me" Likewise with the cup of wine he blessed it saying "take this all of you and drink it. This is the cup of my blood. The blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all. Do this in memory of me."
It is here that Jesus instituted what is known as The Holy Eucharist. At mass Catholics do as Jesus commanded and celebrate this magnificant sacrament! Its amazing. The Priest takes unleven bread, and wine and says this same prayer and it transforms into the body and blood of Jesus. This happens at every single mass! Not symbolically, not figurativly. No. It changes into the Body Blood Sould and Divinity of Jesus Christ!

That same night, Jesus was betrayed by Judas, (one of the 12 apostels.) Jesus was condemed to be scoureged (severly, SEVERLY whipped) at a pillar. He was then mocked and given a "crown" of thorns which were forced upon his head. Then he was given a cross and carried it up to a hill to be nailed to it. Keep in mind Jesus was true God and true man. He felt the pain of all of this and, sense he was God, could have ended it at anytime. But he did not.

Once at the hill he was stripped of his clothes and crucifed. In dying for us Jesus secured our salvation. His death on the cross made it possible for us to enter into heaven with him. There is a reason this was nessesary and i will explain it in a second.

After Jesus died, his body was taken down and laid in a tomb. 3 days later Jesus rose from the dead!!

During his time on earth Jesus did many profound wonderful things which can be found in the Bible. One of the most remarkable things was this. Jesus told peter; You are rock. And upon this rock I wull build my church. And the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. He also told his apostles :recive teh holy Spirit. whoevers sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whoevers sisn you retain are retained. So, Jesus has instituted a church on peter (ur probly thinking "what in the world does that mean") and given his apostels the power to forgive sins! this is awesome...sooooo your probably wondering (and even if your not ill tell you) what did the apostels do!?!?

Ok so Peter. Peter bassically became the leader of teh apostels. They went and forgave peoples sins (and retained some im sure) The followers of Jesus seeked guidance from these apostels and became known as Christians. they all sought to follow the path of Jesus and begged Jesus' closest friends (the apostels) so help them. This was the start of the Church. This is how it is founded on Peter. He was the leader figure of the church. Also known as the VERY FIRST POPE. now, the apostels did not live forever. So how would the church continue??? Jesus gave Peter the Power to "bind and loose". Therefore, The apostels power was handed down to the next generation who continued this ministry. These people recieved their power to forgive sins. And peter passed his power down his power as pope to a sucessor. This has continued for many many years (about 2000 actually).

Ok the succesors of the apostels ( the ones who had the power handed down to them) are known as bishops. These bishops still have power to forgive (or reatin) sins. Ok. so how does the church tie into this? Th early Christian church, which i jsut spoke of, is still alive and well today and known as the Catholic (aka universal) church. And as the church grew bigger and bigger the bishops simply could not cover the vast number of places the church covered. Therefore they instituted preists. The preists act only on the authority of the Bishops (the sucessors of the apostles) who get their authority from the Pope. This is where the sacrament of "Confession" comes from. Youve no doubt heard of people going to a preist and confessing hteir sins to him. Now you know why. These preists act on the bishops (apostels) authority to forgive sins. And in caseyou were wondering preists go to other preists or bishops for confession. The pope goes to confession regularly (also also hears other peoples confession)

This is not all the church does. They also develop doctrines by which catholics are supposed to live their lives.Doctrines of the Catholic church are infallible (without error).
This does not mean however, that we believe everyhting a preiest tells us, or everything the Pope even says. The only things Catholics msut belive is the Doctrine of the Church.

Unfortunatly, many people including Martin Luther broke off from teh church beleiveing they did not need one, hoping to understand the truth trying to develope doctrines themselves, attempting to derive them from scripture. However, Jesus only sadi that evil would not prevail over HIS church. These "break-off churches are not HIS CHURCH. Which is why they often contradict each other. New ones spring up all the time, and then cease to exist. These churches include, the baptist church, teh lutheran church and any other "non-catholic" Christian church. This is not always there fault however sense many of them are misinformed about the origins of their religion and as a result beleive the Catholic church to be wrong. As I have shown you this is not true. I wish i could explain this to al fo them, but they dont alwasy lsiten.

OK as for original sin. When God first created man he named him Adam. He then created a woman out of Adams rib. They lived in perfect harmony with God until they sinned against him. They ate from a tree which God forbid them to eat of. Bassically this sin has been "inherrited" by all men at conception. Therefore we could not enter heaven because of this sin. We are cleansed of this sin in Baptism but its effects remain. This is where Jesus comes in. He is our redemption, By his death he put an end to death and opened for us the gates of heaven, which could not not have formally entered. This applies to everyone, whether they beleive in God or not. Jesus is everyones salvation.

What is the holy Spirit? There is only one God. God is 3 person, but one nature. The Father, the Son, and the HOly Spirit. This is very difficult to understand, i know and no one can FULLY comprehend this.



I hope you read this in its entirety. Sorry for the novel, but this is what i know to be the extremely important core facts. If you wish for more info on Jesus or his Church, PLEASE feel perfectly free to email me!

To sum up ill give you this website. It is a Catholic website and you can find virtually any information on the church and what it beleives here.

Id also like to say that i respect all other Christian religions COMEPLETELY. It is not my intention to offend ANYONE. I merely trying to inform you of the facts of Jesus and the origin of his Church and its practices.

also sorry for the spelling errors. My spell check wasnt working. I am aware that there probably are alot so...sorry. :)

www.newadvent.org


God Bless you and feel free to contact me (email or yahoo messenger)

-Shane

Answer 2

For the first question you have to look at the Old Testament. Jews were required to sacrifice a lamb each year to atone for the sins they had committed. Their sins were ceremonially place on the lamb, the lamb was killed, and so were their sins. When Jesus came to fulfill the Law, He became mankinds lamb. He was born sinless and lived sinless so He was the only person capable of accepting and forgiving our sins. When He was crucified all the sins committed by all generations of humanity were placed upon Him and were killed when He was. But if ppl do not accept Him as their Savior from sin then there can be no forgiveness for those sins.

As for the wilderness years, I've never heard them call that, but there is no account in the Bible from the time Jesus was 12 until he was a grown man of 30 and starting His ministry. There are many theories of what He was doing during those years but I believe that He was just living. Learning carpentry from Joseph, earning a living, and basically being human. That way He could understand our lives better and be more sympathetic to our temptations, our failures, our sorrows, etc.

Answer 3

The only "gap" in the Bible that I'm aware of is between the age of about 12 (when he went to the Temple with his parents and got "lost" and they found him talking to the scholars) and the age of about 30 when he started his ministry. The common assumption is he was living at home with Joseph and Mary and helping out in the carpentry business. The Bible says he was obedient to his parents and grew in stature before God and man, which basically means he was growing physically and spiritually.
The idea of Jesus giving his life for others is throughout the Old Testament, figured in the sacrifice of the pure, unblemished lamb for the sins of the people. If you read the accounts of Temple worship you will see that "there is no remission of sins without blood". But this lamb-sacrifice had to be done over and over, while Jesus, as the perfect, sinless Man who offered *himself* was the ultimate sacrifice to atone for all sin.
Yes, it is pretty hard to understand just at first, and sometimes the Biblical language doesn't help. Try to find a good Bible study in your area with people you like and who you find it easy to talk to, who can help you learn.
You can also get good study helps in any Christian bookstore, such as a Bible dictionary etc.

Answer 4

Your questions are the same as many people who are Christian. God loves us and he planned that Jesus would come to earth and teach us what we need to know so we all have the opportunity to experience eternal life. Jesus is God and while he was here on earth he was also fully a human being. So when I think of Jesus dying on the cross, I am humbled and awed that someone would go through that pain for me and you and all of us. I believe Jesus knew what was expected of him when he came here although I certainly can't tell you how. He came so that we can have eternal life and the human Jesus was born and raised and betrayed and crucified. Thanks be to God for this gift.

I'm not sure about the wilderness years. Jesus was only in active ministry for about three years. There were 40 days in the wilderness before he died and you can read about that in the gospels. During that time, Satan offered Jesus material things to give up the idea of dying for us and Jesus had to have been tempted - he was hungry and thirsty at the very least, but again he held out for us.

There were wilderness years at the time of Moses when he lead the Jewish people out of Israel -- 40 years.

I'm not a scholar but I know you can find a lot of information in the bible or in books like The Message by Eugene Peterson that are written in everyday language. Newer versions of the bible tell the same information but in more modern day language.

Good luck in your search for the truth.

Answer 5

Christ was God. He did not have to die. He did lay down his life and take it up again as the final sacrifice. In a way not clearly understood, He took upon him our sins prior to his Crucifixion. Most believe that transference took place in the Garden of Gethsemane when he bleed from every pore.

As a result of his death and resurrection, when we stand at the end of time for judgment, He is able to step forward and claim us although we will not be pure. (No unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of Heaven.)

There are many theories about where Christ was during those 10 years. I have heard everything from being educated in India to living with some of the Jewish sects. I don't think anyone really knows for sure.

I think you would like the show Mysteries of the Bible which airs on the Biography channel. They have various Christian and Jewish scholars on discussing the Bible, the customs of the time and what archeology shows. I know they have covered the life of Christ and I am sure it replays from time to time. They don't always say it's really 100% any certain way, but have great insights. I know learn a lot when I have the opportunity to watch the show. Perhaps your local public library will have some of the DVDs.

Answer 6

The idea is that sins are more than just stuff that God doesn't like, they are things that MUST be atoned for, by their very nature. Jesus' death provided this atonement. Him being human meant that he had, i suppose, "street-cred." Him also being divine meant that he had the authority to grant atonement. Also note that Jesus was/is *fully divine* and *fully human*, ant *not* "half and half." There was a special council in the first millenium that was devoted to getting this one thing straight. It's very important to Christians for some reason.

As for the time unaccounted for in his life, the consensus I have heard from followers, protestant and catholic alike, is "Who knows, who cares?" Those years are not seen as very important to his message. That's not to say that other non-followers and historians don't have their own theories. BTW, I believe the time period is from age 12 to age 30, a span of 18 years.

Answer 7

In old religions the faithful would make sacrifices to their gods in the hope they would get what they wanted.
This symbolism is used in the Bible that God gave His only son as a sacrificial lamb to carry away the sins of the world.
Do not believe all the claptrap above. The Bible (which I have read many times) says that God rejoiced more at the return of one sinner (meaning you or me) than the faithful, so there is plenty of room for hope, if you want it that is!

Answer 8

certain Jesus develop into actual. The Temple Of Jerusalem develop into really a lot Destroyed by employing The Romans, not in basic terms That in spite of the undeniable fact that the whole fireplace Of Rome, Emperor Nero, The Christian Witch Hunts... If there develop into First Hand info For Christ It develop into probable Destroyed. quite some the info For Christ Is Held by employing Historians Of After The Time Of Christ. yet nonetheless round the Roman Empire. i assume for this reason Many Historians, pupils, Ect... under no circumstances fairly offered Into the entire "Jesus under no circumstances Existed" difficulty, Huh?

Answer 9

Jesus is called "the second Adam" in the Bible because he was only the second perfect human man ever to live on the earth. He could only be perfect because God was the one who placed him in Mary's womb-he never had a human father to inherit Adam's sin from. Also, he was kept screened off in Mary so as not to inherit sin from her. By living and dying without sin, Jesus could then present the value of his perfect human life to God in place of Adam's flawed human life, so Jesus could then be our father in place of Adam, if we choose to have him. Without this sacrifice, we are all doomed to die because of the sin we have inherited from Adam and Eve.
Jesus' ministry lasted only 3 1/2 years, so I have no idea where the wilderness years thing comes from. If you find out more or have more questions, feel free to e-mail me.

Answer 10

This is a hard one...
Before the jews had to do many sacrifices in order to be in God's favor and forgiveness of sins. Did you know that a person was not allowed to talk to God, only the priests?
That is why Jesus came. He was the Savior talked about in the old testement. (Alot in Isaiah) Jesus is our "bridge" to God, but he had to be the ultimate sacrafice.
Faith is believing in something unseen.
The only time that I know if Jesus leaving was for 40 days when he was tempted by the devil.

Answer 11

Let me try, as flawed as I am forgive my mistakes...
First Adam the first human male was PERFECT because he was created be God with out flaw, Adam chose to SIN, He and EVE knew BETTER, that is brought out in the first book of the Bible, Genisis 3, The woman repeated Gods laws to Satan.
Then, Adam after following the advice of the serpent and his wife who had not been around as long as HE, tried to blame Eve for the whole mess intead of taking the responsibility as a Man should as head of the house.
So, All Adams off spring were as imperfect as Adam was now.
But to repay the sin of an Origionally perfect man it would take the life of another perfect man. Old Testiment eye for an eye stuff.
If all Adams children inhereted His imperfection, then where would the Perfect Man come from to pay the randsome price to save man from Adams SIN.???
Well, God the father asked for his First Born of All Creation Spirit Son to take the Job. Jesus said Yes, and His essence was transmitted to a female human FAITHFUL to The God of Isrial, From His Mother he is Human, from His Heavenly Father He is Perfect, free of Sin. The replacement Adam, The New Father of All Mankind.
He completed his Earthly course of faithfulness to his Father, God Almighty, to the Point of Death. Adam did not, Jesus DID. So the ransome ws completed..Eye for an Eye..No more need in the New faith for that eye for an eye mentality. The law of the Isrialite nation had been fulfilled. So it was replaced with a new broader law, Love thy neighbor as you love your own self, and Above that, Love God Most of All, when we can really do that...then we can talk about being saved, not just Believing in Jesus, But LOVING like he loved...,with out restriction and then ACTING UPON IT! So we teach others about Gods Kingdon, and Jesus because of his faithfulness as the King of that Kingdon! Man I hate it when spell check shuts down, Sorry
About the wilderness years??? I have read the entire Bible dozens of times, No CLUE! sorry!