Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 28
? 28 meeting took place in Jerusalem. These accounts cannot have been written by the disciples as they knew where the meeting was to take place, because both say that the eleven disciples were present at the meeting. Likewise, some say that Judas, who betrayed Jesus, let the band know about Jesus by kissing his hand; another denies it when he says that it was Jesus him- self who made himself known to them. Consequently, their evidence is self-contradictory. Without hesitation, therefore, we declare that these accounts are not the accounts of eyewitnesses, but are based on hearsay, and do not even give the source of the information. Their statements that Jesus died on the cross and that he rose from the dead cannot be taken as genuine even if we suppose the writers to be the disciples of Jesus at the time of his arrest, for they deserted Jesus and fled. Peter, who followed him to the palace of the chief priests, is con- victed by the four accounts of wilful lying three times. According to these accounts, none of Jesus’ disciples were present at the time of his supposed death nor at the time when his supposed resurrec- tion took place. We have no option, therefore, but to say that the evidence is insufficient to prove the important points on which, as the plaintiff claims, depends the salvation of the world. Now we give below, briefly, the main points from the defend- ant’s statement defending Jesus against the charge of an accursed death, and asserting that he was unconscious when he was taken down from the cross. (a) (a) Points already discussed in the previous chapter have been left out.