Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 84
? 84 he appeared suddenly in rooms whose doors were shut is not true in its literal sense and that his body was not an astral body, but a body made of flesh and bones. This also shows that the statement of the Evangelists that forty days or so after the tragic events of the crucifixion he was lifted up to heaven by a cloud is a myth (if it is taken literally), for, it being established that he was in his body of clay, it is foolish to say that a vapour cloud lifted him up to heaven. No cloud has the power to raise a body of clay; no mortal can soar to heaven. If he had assumed an astral body, where did his body of clay go? He did not leave it in the sepulchre and we have seen that it was with a body of clay that he moved about during the remaining days of his sojourn in his native land. To say that he ascended to heaven with his mortal body, as we have quoted above from the commentary by various authors, is absolutely con- trary to the sayings of Jesus, for he said: ‘No man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven. ’ 1 It is obvious that he did not descend from heaven with his body of flesh and bones; therefore, he could not ascend to heaven with the same. To say that he, with his body of flesh and bones, sat on the right hand of God, a pure pagan notion, is so ridiculous that it does not require any refutation. The passages upon which the ascension theory is based are not reliable. Matthew says nothing about the ascension; he merely states that after coming out from the sepulchre Jesus went to Galilee and met his disciples at a mountain which he had appointed for them. 2 1. John 3:13 2. Matthew 28:16