I was trying to explain the Resurrection to the kids. We’re not any religion in our household, but that doesn’t mean we don’t talk about different faiths.
They asked me how anyone knew it was three days, and was three days somehow significant. Is it???
Why was he not Resurrected that evening, or the next morning? I promise the Teeming Millions, this is not a tongue-in-cheek thread in ANY way. I’m asking this with all due respect.
Was there something about the three days that is significant???
Happy Easter to those who mark it’s passing,
Happy Passover to those who mark it’s passing,
Happy Weekend to those who are kicking back with no higher agenda.
Three’s the integer that’s been used for supernatural stuff going back to the dawn of time. Seems to be part of Spiritus Mundi, or Jung’s collective unconsciousness. Three wishes; three bears; three Magi; the Holy Trinity; Faith, Hope, and Charity, three Stooges, you name it.
Actually, it wasn’t really 3 days. In Matthew 12:40, JC said he would be underground for 3 days and three nights. Kind of a neat trick if you go in on Friday night and are up and running Sunday morning.
Then again, Jesus was never too keen on prophesy. Ask any Jew.
You know, I made it as clear as I could in my O.P. that this was a serious query. I was hoping that some of our more scholarly Dopers would chime in and offer me some place to go and check out the proofs, such as they may be.
HubZilla, take it to the Pit if you feel the need to slam anyone else’s faith. I didn’t start this thread for it to degenerate into a mud-slinging party.
Please don’t ruin my thread, and the discussion it might engender.
Maybe I’m being insensitive today, but I didn’t see any particular offense in HubZilla’s post. Seems to me that (after addressing the OP) Hub was just making an off-the-cuff comment about Jesus’ adherance to phophecies. It’s certainly not the kind of “Who cares? It’s all fairy tales anyway” type of slamming that I might’ve done, f’r instance.
In any event, I’d bet Ukulele Ike hit it on the head – three has long been considered a magic number, and three days and three nights (as pointed out by HubZilla) seems like an appropriately mystic time to wait.
Either that, or Jesus consulted with his manager about how long he should lay low for his trick to have maximum effect. (joke!)
Waiting three days after his death was the way to insure that he was REALLY dead, opposed to just in a near-death state. If one said he’d arise the next morning, there was that chance that he might not be dead.
Wait three days, and you pretty much insure that he had died.
I dunno…this doesn’t quite hold water in my mind, although I may be biased by an extra 2000 years of medical knowledge. When the Roman centurion put the spear in Jesus’s body, the fluid from his lungs came out; I’d think that’d be proof that he was dead (and not only that, but it’d be tough to stick a spear that far into someone without killing them). Just a though, YMMV, etc.
Don’t feel bad, Cartooniverse, the great mythologist Joseph Campbell was also puzzled by the whole three days bit. The best answer I’ve been able to find is in Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions by T. W. Doane. I’m quoting from memory here, so this answer is a bit sketchy as I can’t find the particular cite in the book. Basically it boils down to the fact that during the new moon phase of the moon it is invisible for three days (at least when one is in the Caucasus mountains). So it’s a tradition from very, very ancient times that has been picked up by every other religion since then.
Part of the reason for the 3 days is because I believe there was a prophecy in the old testament that said the messiah would rise after 3 days. If you believe in God, then it was 3 days in order to fulfill the prophecy. If you don’t, well… Then it was 3 days in order to fulfill the prophecy.
you ask a religious question and then get hacked off because of an answer. anyone that has the balls to ask a religious question better have the stomach to hear any answer.
the answer to your question is really quite simple. the whole story is a myth, so who cares how many days it was.
It’s a mystery to me why someone’s posting a religious question takes “balls,” as biker put it. What’s ballsy/nervy about asking a legitimate question?
Biker, the OP made it quite clear (and very politely so) that your kind of post was not desired. The question also didn’t ask you to believe, if you choose not to. The question asked why three is such a significant number.
there is no such thing as a “legitimate” religious question. religion is all based on “belief,” not fact. how can you ask a question wanting a factual answer, when the question is based on “belief.”
the point was, if you are going to ask a question about a topic as inflammable as religion you better be prepared for any type of answer.
there are major wars currently going on in all parts of the world and they are all religious wars. people killing one another over their “beliefs.” can anything be more ridiculous?
if you want answers to religious questions watch “power of the myth” by joseph campbell. that explains the basis for all religions.
there is no such thing as a “legitimate” religious question. religion is all based on “belief,” not fact. how can you ask a question wanting a factual answer, when the question is based on “belief.”
the point was, if you are going to ask a question about a topic as inflammable as religion you better be prepared for any type of answer.
there are major wars currently going on in all parts of the world and they are all religious wars. people killing one another over their “beliefs.” can anything be more ridiculous?
if you want answers to religious questions watch “power of the myth” by joseph campbell. that explains the basis for all religions.
Three is the number of days required to determine that -
IF he sees his shadow…
Six more weeks of winter. Glad to get this back on the OP and negate those hijackers!
I’m sorry to inform you that you are just plain wrong. There IS indeed a FACTUAL answer to the question “What is the significance of the three days’ duration?” If you don’t believe in it, that doesn’t change the fact that X or Y is the reason for the three days, as opposed to 5 or 6…even if it’s just a myth as you believe.
Analogy for the non-Christians: I don’t believe in Santa Claus, but there is a factual answer to the question, “In Clement Moore’s poem, how did St. Nick enter the house?” If you were asked this question, would you answer, “There is no answer, because Santa Claus is a myth”? The reason why this isn’t in Great Debates is that the OP does not want to debate anyone’s beliefs or non-beliefs. He/she just wants to know a bit of the history/significance of the religion.
Your mentioning holy wars going on is completely irrelevant, by the way, to the question at hand. Yes, we know there are holy wars going on…but that has little or nothing to do with the question about the significance of three days.
Yeah, three days was the period considered necessary to prove death beyone doubt. It also makes Jonah’s story a neat foreshadowing: three days he was in the belly of the beast and then emerged.
(joke!)