Quake reveals day of Jesus crucifixion

[Gman]

Geologists say Jesus, as described in the New Testament, was most likely crucified on Friday, April 3, in the year 33.

The latest investigation, reported in International Geology Review, focused on earthquake activity at the Dead Sea, located 13 miles from Jerusalem. The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 27, mentions that an earthquake coincided with the crucifixion:

“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open.”

To analyze earthquake activity in the region, geologist Jefferson Williams of Supersonic Geophysical and colleagues Markus Schwab and Achim Brauer of the German Research Center for Geosciences studied three cores from the beach of the Ein Gedi Spa adjacent to the Dead Sea.

Varves, which are annual layers of deposition in the sediments, reveal that at least two major earthquakes affected the core: a widespread earthquake in 31 B.C. and a seismic event that happened sometime between the years 26 and 36.

The latter period occurred during “the years when Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea and when the earthquake of the Gospel of Matthew is historically constrained,” Williams said.
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"The day and date of the crucifixion (Good Friday) are known with a fair degree of precision," he said. But the year has been in question.

In terms of textual clues to the date of the crucifixion, Williams quoted a Nature paper authored by Colin Humphreys and Graeme Waddington. Williams summarized their work as follows:

All four gospels and Tacitus in Annals (XV, 44) agree that the crucifixion occurred when Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea from A.D. 26 to 36.
All four gospels say the crucifixion occurred on a Friday.
All four gospels agree that Jesus died a few hours before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath (nightfall on a Friday).
The synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) indicate that Jesus died before nightfall on the 14th day of Nisan, right before the start of the Passover meal.
John’s gospel differs from the synoptics, apparently indicating that Jesus died before nightfall on the 15th day of Nisan.

When data about the Jewish calendar and astronomical calculations are factored in, a handful of possible dates result, with Friday, April 3, 33, being the best match, according to the researchers.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47555983/ns ... 78mCFKEGh0

[RickD]

Interesting stuff, Gman. I'm kinda amazed that they can trace earthquakes back to a specific date.

And, FYI, April 3, 33 AD, is the precise date that Harold Camping first predicted the end of the world.

[PaulSacramento]

So, that would have made Jesus how old then?

[Dallas]

So, that would have made Jesus how old then?

33?

[RickD]

So, that would have made Jesus how old then?

33?

If he was 33, that was so young. Just think of what he could have accomplished if he lived longer...

Rick, that's sacrilege. Don't you know what Jesus accomplished by his death and resurrection?
(it's ok if I talk to myself. It enhances the dramatic effect)

[PaulSacramento]

So, that would have made Jesus how old then?

33?

I recall that he was born BEFORE what is dated as "year 1" in the CE calender, no?
Typicall bewteen 6-4 BC, yes?

[Danieltwotwenty]

So, that would have made Jesus how old then?

33?

I recall that he was born BEFORE what is dated as "year 1" in the CE calender, no?
Typicall bewteen 6-4 BC, yes?

As far as I am aware he was born around that date, they think he was between 35 and 37 years of age when cruxcified.

Dan

[Swimmy]

What was the the other outside source that coincided with a biblical event during Jesus crucifixion? Where the sky darkened?

[Swimmy]

Phlegon Trallianus-"In the fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad [AD 32-33], a failure of the Sun took place greater than any previously known, and night came on at the sixth hour of the day, so that stars actually appeared in the sky; and a great earthquake took place in Bithynia and overthrew the greater part of Niceaea."

[Danieltwotwenty]

What was the the other outside source that coincided with a biblical event during Jesus crucifixion? Where the sky darkened?

As far as I have heard there was a blood moon on the day of cruxifiction, which would have made everything twilight.
As described here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsuekXMY ... re=related

*edit*
sorry the moon wouldn't have made twilight, they think it may have been a dust storm or something else, there were also earth quakes.

Dan

[Gman]

About the darkness.. I've written about it before.



Was Christ's death just an exaggeration in the Bible? Evidence outside the Bible refutes that claim.

In Luke 23:44-46 there is the record of darkness falling upon the land during Christ's crucifixion. "And it was now about the sixth hour, and darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 the sun being obscured; and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit." And having said this, He breathed His last." Is there any non-biblical evidence of the day of darkness mentioned at Christ's death? The answer is yes, there is.

"Circa AD 52, Thallus wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean world from the Trojan War to his own time. This work itself has been lost and only fragments of it exist in the citations of others. One such scholar who knew and spoke of it was Julius Africanus, who wrote about AD 221...In speaking of Jesus’ crucifixion and the darkness that covered the land during this event, Africanus found a reference in the writings of Thallus that dealt with this cosmic report. Africanus asserts: 'On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun.'"1

Another first century historian who also mentions this darkness was Phlegon who wrote a history entitled the "Olympiads. Julius Africanus mentioned a quote taken from the Olympiads which said: "Phlegon records that, in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth . . . It is evident that he did not know of any such events in previous years."

Phlegon is also mentioned by Origen in his work ‘Against Celsus’ Book 2: "The darkening of the sun took place at the time of Tiberius Caesar, in whose reign Jesus was crucified, and the great earthquakes which then took place, Phlegon, I believe, has written an account in the thirteenth or fourteenth book of his Chronicles."

One might wonder why other historians of the time did not also mention the darkness. First of all, the darkness was localized so it would not be a widespread phenomena that other historians would naturally record. Second, other historians like Pliny, Tacitus, and Josephus, generally were focusing on events that could be verified and were not based in the miraculous. The fact that Thallus mentions the darkness tells us that something did happen and that there is extrabiblical citation for the event.

Sources:
//www.biblehistory.net/newsletter/crucifi ... rkness.htm
//carm.org/there-non-biblical-evidence-day-darkness-christs-death

[PaulSacramento]

FYI:
http://ntweblog.blogspot.ca/2012/05/ear ... jesus.html