There is a story I’ve heard about this. Jesus was very well known as a healer and miracle worker throughout the Mid East. He was sought after and, well, very famous. People offered their goods, wealth, and lives to him, the miracle worker of God. Now then, as today, some people were jealous of such fame. And a few of these took it upon themselves to imitate Jesus, posing as him at various points around the area. They derived the benefits and made themselves rich. When the time came for the big event, it was arranged for one of these impostors to be arrested and crucified. The authentic Jesus was seen on his way out of town by a few people, and he went on his way eastward to continue his teaching, healing, etc.

Oh well, I like the story if only for the “Na-Nee-Ya-Do-Ya-Ra” mantra, and the fact that (so far) locals refuse to let so-called experts noodle around with the graves.

But since you are dealing with the “why” of it, what if Jesus’ death was faked by a collusion between Roman and Jewish authorities? Sort of a scared straight kind of tactic: “Look … we like you, but you’re causing all sorts of trouble. Now, we have a way you can continue to do your good works but only if you agree to go underground.”

Stranger things have happened. Such as Dostoyevsky’s mock execution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passover_Plot

basically it says that jesus & his crew set the whole thing up in order to make him the messiah. it’s interesting, because the NT gospels are full of references to jesus going out of his way to be sure he fulfills certain prophecies.

Over the years I have heard other ideas that he lived out his life in hiding, married, and raised a family. But where, I do not know.

So, the disciples think Jesus is dead; three days later, he returns from vacation, and he says, “Hey, everybody, why the long faces?” Now all the disciples are freaking out ( “He rose from the dead!” “He’s the Messiah!” ). Jesus goes, “No, I was just on vacation - didn’t I tell you?” He turns to Thomas and says, “Thomas, you believe me, don’t you?”, and Thomas is like, “I don’t know what to believe anymore…”

Could Christianity be the result of the telephone game?

In this reading he was chosen by Christ to betray him and thus be the everlasting figure of hate - both for the disciples and for posterity. Of course Judas was the one who died and Christ lived on. Clearly if Christ was seen after his supposed death then this would give rise to the belief of the resurrection.

Garrett

but it doesn’t result in a plausible explanation for the history of the Christian church nor does it provide a way forward for resurrecting the Christian church as a credible religious path for people with modern scientifically developed minds.

Well, I would be worried about that maybe, were it my goal. My goal is figuring my life out. And I gotta take that one step at a time. A website I visited the other day had a great description of what it was about. It went something like, “To the casual observer, this website is about pop culture, movies, etc. But I know what it’s really all about. Me”

My website’s really no different

The idea that Jesus faked His own death is fine as an exercise in exploring possibilities but it doesn’t result in a plausible explanation for the history of the Christian church nor does it provide a way forward for resurrecting the Christian church as a credible religious path for people with modern scientifically developed minds.