Where Did Jesus Die? — Page 87
Chapter Seven—Did Jesus Ascend to Heaven? 87 original account by some unknown person. Luke, who refers in a vague way to his ascending to heaven, was not present with the disciples when Jesus parted from them and bade them farewell. As further evidence of their incompetence as authorities, we find them disagreeing upon certain important points. Two usher him into the heavens from Bethany, and from the Mount of Olives, and a third from Jerusalem without fixing any place, and Matthew says that he went on to Galilee and met his disciples, and John says that he parted from disciples at Tiberias. Weigal writes: Ascension is not mentioned in the earliest Christian writ- ings, namely, the Epistles, nor apparently, was it referred to in the earliest Gospel, that of St. Mark, for the words, ‘He was received up into heaven’, are quite vague and are included in those last twelve verses of the book which are now recognised by practically all Biblical scholars as a much later addition. 1 Further, he says: Such an Ascension into the sky was the usual end to the mythical legends of the lives of pagan gods, just as it was to the very legendary life of Elijah. The god Adonis, whose worship flourished in the lands in which Christianity grew up, was thought to have ascended into the sky in the pres- ence of his followers after his resurrection, and similarly 1. Weigal— Paganism in our Christianity, pages 99–101.