# Who Killed Jesus? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 29, 2009, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168 "2009-03-29T07:47:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![wsbenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@wsbenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wsbenge)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/242 "2009-03-30T22:03:11Z")
Easy answer. The Sanhedrin killed Jesus. The Jewish government failed the test, and couldn’t recognize divinity. The government didn’t last too long, after that. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/243 "2009-03-30T22:07:58Z")
> [@wsbenge](#): > > Easy answer. The Sanhedrin killed Jesus. No, the Romans did. Thus the crucifixion - a ROMAN punishment. > [@wsbenge](#): > > The Jewish government failed the test, and couldn’t recognize divinity. Since there’s no such thing as divinity, and he didn’t match the prophecies anyway, that’s understandable. > [@wsbenge](#): > > The government didn’t last too long, after that. Considering that Jesus got himself crucified, there’s no reason to think that allying with him would have made the government last **longer**. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/244 "2009-03-30T22:22:35Z")
**Kanicbird** Earth + Wind + Fire= a band. And it’s spelled nephilim and pronounced nuh-FEEL-eem. I hear a lot of NEFF-uh-lum but that’s just wrong. The word appears once in all of the OT. “The nephilim were in the earth in those days”. I have no idea how often, if at all it appears in the NT. OTTOMH it doesn’t appear once in any canon books but only in apocrypha such as the Book Of Enoch. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Quell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Quell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Quell)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/245 "2009-03-30T22:25:05Z")
> [@YamatoTwinkie](#): > > Because if they let the ET nutters in, then they’d open the floodgates to the Kennedy assassination nutters, the hollow earth nutters, the moon landing hoax nutters, the “9/11 was an inside job” nutters, the New World Order nutters, the Illuminati nutters, and the mole people nutters. Does the Vatican really want: > > A. thousands of these woo-woos pawing through their historical documents? > B. To have their name _associated_ with these people? Hey, that offends me! We have landed on the moon! Just because I believe in conspiracies doesn’t mean I believe all conspiracies. I’m just going to mention the E.T. one because the others are too dangerous to talk about. God is the creator of ALL things… even Extraterrestrial life. However, at this current time in our mental and spiritual evolution, it’s better that we don’t worry about if they exist or not. It’s certainly not a question of possibility, probability, fact or truth if conspiracies exist. We all know the truth. What we don’t know are the lies. Conspirators tell lies that distort the truth, not hide it… that way they can make sure the truth is never known. It doesn’t really matter what anyone believes about a conspiracy, because it’s all a lie and it’s all the truth. Life goes on… let’s just try to stay out of other people’s business when they don’t want us to know about it. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/246 "2009-03-30T22:25:51Z")
Actually, the factual, historical answer is that crucifixion was a Roman method of execution, illegal under Jewish law (and for the sanhedrin to sanction), and the Romans only did it to slaves and to people convicted of crimes against the state. In Judea, specifically, it was used by the Romans only against local insurgents (who were basically perceived as terrorists). The Romans did not crucify people for religious reasons, and didn’t give a rat’s ass what the Sanhedrin wanted. The high priests at that time danced to Pilate’s tune, he didn’t dance to theirs. Moreover, the trial of Jesus, as described by Mark, then copied from Mark by Matthew and Luke, is riddled with so many factual and procedural inaccuracies (including a conviction for something that was not illegal under Jewish law), that it can’t be historical. Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin is a Markan, apologetic fiction designed to shift blame away from the Romans and onto Jewish authority. Bottom line – if Jesus was crucified, it was because the Romans wanted him crucified, not the Temple priets, and if the Romans wanted him crucified, it was because the saw him as a political threat or public menace, not for any religious reasons. The most likely reason Jesus was crucified was for causing a disturbance at the Temple during Passover. This was a very tense time of year for the Romans, who feared riots in the overcrowded city, and who dealt summarily and ruthlessly with anyone who looked like they might be stirring up shit. That’s not to necessarily say the Temple authorities didn’t help to facilitate his arrest, they may well have done so. They would have been doing it for the most pragmatic of reasons, though. They didn’t want riots either, and somebody staging a violent protest in the Temple courtyards was unsettling to everybody. There was nothing religious about it. They would have seen it as getting rid of a potentially dangerous nutcase, not as anything with any theological significance. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/247 "2009-03-30T22:30:23Z")
> [@Lacunas Quell](#): > > Just because I believe in conspiracies doesn’t mean I believe all conspiracies. I’m just going to mention the E.T. one because the others are too dangerous to talk about. How and why are they too dangerous to talk about? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/248 "2009-03-30T22:33:27Z")
> [@Lacunas Quell](#): > > Just because I believe in conspiracies doesn’t mean I believe all conspiracies. I’m just going to mention the E.T. one because the others are too dangerous to talk about. Ah, but unlike the rest of us, superior being that you are, YOU know these deep dark secrets that will get you killed if you speak of them. By ninjas, probably. Or maybe alien shapechangers. You DO know that _X Files_ wasn’t a documentary series ? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/249 "2009-03-30T22:39:46Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Actually, the factual, historical answer is that crucifixion was a Roman method of execution, illegal under Jewish law (and for the sanhedrin to sanction), and the Romans only did it to slaves and to people convicted of crimes against the state. I am nitpicking here a little bit, but both the Hasmoneans and Herodians also crucified…not that either group was scrupulous about their obedience to Jewish law. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Quell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Quell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Quell)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/250 "2009-03-30T22:49:15Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Including the tsunami? > That is correct. No God, so he can’t be blamed. The tsunami came from purely natural forces of course. But if you do believe in God, you might wonder why he saw fit to kill that many people. God is. God didn’t kill anyone. God doesn’t interfere with nature. IT’S NATURE! It’s natural. If God interfered with nature it wouldn’t be natural. The tsunami was cause by an earthquake which was caused by the natural shifting of tectonic plates. How is that God’s fault? The Earth is like a billion year old house. It’s going to creak a little. “For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs…”.–Romans 8:22 All throughout history it was normal for people to hold their god responsible for a natural destruction. They never blamed their god. They believed it was a punishment for something they did wrong. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/251 "2009-03-30T22:52:24Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > **Kanicbird** > > Earth + Wind + Fire= a band. > > And it’s spelled nephilim and pronounced nuh-FEEL-eem. I hear a lot of NEFF-uh-lum but that’s just wrong. > > The word appears once in all of the OT. “The nephilim were in the earth in those days”. I have no idea how often, if at all it appears in the NT. OTTOMH it doesn’t appear once in any canon books but only in apocrypha such as the Book Of Enoch. The nephilum are said to be mighty men, which King David had some ‘might men’ in his service, and there is some indication, but not a lot, that King David was also a Nephilum. I also believe Paul was also a nephilum, as well as many others even today, people who just command authority. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/252 "2009-03-30T22:57:05Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > The nephilum are said to be mighty men, which King David had some ‘might men’ in his service, and there is some indication, but not a lot, that King David was also a Nephilum. I also believe Paul was also a nephilum, as well as many others even today, people who just command authority. First, again it’s spelled with an I just like cherubim, seraphim, adephim, etc. Second, there has been speculation that other folks in the bible are nephilim for a few thousand years. Having giant stature, Goliath is often accused of being nephilim. BUT the word nephilim appears in the OT just once. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/253 "2009-03-30T23:05:03Z")
> [@Lacunas Quell](#): > > God didn’t kill anyone. God doesn’t interfere with nature. If I have the power to prevent someone from being killed, but instead I stand idly by and do nothing, am I not responsible for his death? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/254 "2009-03-30T23:07:02Z")
> [@Lacunas Quell](#): > > God is the creator of ALL things… Well then, who created god? Or is it turtles all the way down? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/255 "2009-03-30T23:10:02Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > First, again it’s spelled with an I just like cherubim, seraphim, adephim, etc. > > Second, there has been speculation that other folks in the bible are nephilim for a few thousand years. Having giant stature, Goliath is often accused of being nephilim. BUT the word nephilim appears in the OT just once. The NT does not mention nephilim, but does mention demons/devils in human bodies, living as people, Judas being the one most directly mentioned, the pharisees also as sons of the devil. Their children with humans should be nephilim. The prophetess Jezebel in Revelation 2 is also taken often as a demon who has children, though that would be a female demon, and possibly male human instead of male demon female human. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/256 "2009-03-30T23:12:54Z")
Last time I checked the word nephilim was generally held to apply only to the children of the Grigori (Watchers) and humans. The child of an already fallen angel and a human would be something else. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Quell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Quell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Quell)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/257 "2009-03-30T23:13:26Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Your crystal ball is a little fuzzy there, **Lacunas**. I am thinking no such thing. But I am thinking you (nor any UFO researchers) have no idea what is in the Vatican archives, so you are just filling in the blanks from your own over-stimulated imagination, much the way your religion has perpetuated itself all these years. You rush to fill any gaps in human knowledge with fanciful fiction that has no foundation other than, “god told me so”. I don’t care if you don’t believe that I have read that because I have. I’m not imagining I read something that I didn’t. I know I read it. Do you really want me to weed through the internet looking for that source just to read “…was denied access to the Vatican archives for UFO research”? I also never claimed God told me so. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Because Christian dogma is a house of cards, and they don’t want it exposed for what it is? Then why aren’t you worried about getting into the Vatican archives to expose Christians as the loonies they are? If you truly believe what you said, then you must believe in some sort of grand conspiracy where the powers that be control the masses through deception. If there were such material in the VSA then don’t you think someone would have exposed it by now? The Vatican Library is over 500 years old (the secret archive was established in the early 17th century). ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/258 "2009-03-30T23:13:56Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Well then, who created god? Or is it turtles all the way down? Things that have a purpose have a creator, God has no purpose, unlike you and me, he just is, therefore he doesn’t not need a creator. I won’t list what’s wrong with that statement, but I’m pretty sure that’s the party line right now, right kanic/Lacun? (That’s not mockery, I’m legitimately just throwing that out there for them because it’s what I usually here) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/259 "2009-03-30T23:19:15Z")
> [@Lacunas Quell](#): > > Then why aren’t you worried about getting into the Vatican archives to expose Christians as the loonies they are? why would I be worried about that? > [@](#): > > If you truly believe what you said, then you must believe in some sort of grand conspiracy where the powers that be control the masses through deception. Why would I believe that? You imagination is running away with you again. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/260 "2009-03-30T23:20:19Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > Last time I checked the word nephilim was generally held to apply only to the children of the Grigori (Watchers) and humans. The child of an already fallen angel and a human would be something else. While I believe the nephilim exist today and not limited to the Grigori. Very possible if the angel is fallen it would not be a nephilim, but a redeemed such creature would be a nephilim. As God would then be their father, not Satan. I have heard the term cambian for a demon/human creature, which again would be from my post before fire+earth+wind, while a nephilim would then be fire+earth+wind+water. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168/261 "2009-03-30T23:28:01Z")
> [@Lacunas Quell](#): > > Even IF my faith is wrong, and I live a life serving Jesus only to die and find out that after death all consciousness ends and all I become is a rotting corpse in the ground, what did I lose? Now, if my faith holds true (which it does and will), and when I die and after the Day of Judgment, look at what I’ve gained, and look at what those who denied a faith in Christ lose. > > Faith has given me hope. Faith has shown me things that you those lack faith will never, ever, EVER, not in a billion years, see. So if I have seen what tangible evidence faith produces with my own eyes, I’m either lying, crazy, or telling the truth. > > I never said I didn’t believe in the other gods or goddesses. I said from the beginning that I believe the Holy Trinity is God, and that there is no power greater than they. I might believe in Zeus, but I believe there is One greater than Zeus, and I believe there is none greater than the Holy Trinity. Yeah, but if you put Jesus ahead of Zeus, Zeus will get angry and send you to hell. But if you put Zeus first, Odin will get angry. And if you put Odin first, Quetzalcoatl gets pissed off. How do you know which one to worship? And why should I consider your Bible any more of an authority than the Iliad, Gilgamesh, the Bhagavad Gita, or even The Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter for that matter? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-killed-jesus/491168.md?page=14)