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so maybe he didn't rise on sunday and sunday church is a result of the simple transfer of the roman church system from pagan to christian and a continuation of sun worship?
Jesus's disciples discovered the empty tomb on Sunday morning, so the practice of having church on Sunday to commemorate this event is not too far fetched. Christ rising before dawn on Sunday is supported by the story of the Roman soldier who met an angel on Sunday night, after which it is assumed that Jesus left the tomb.
What strikes me as strange is that two ideas seem to conflict. It is said that it would be impossible for the disciples to have moved the tombstone away, yet the Romans felt it necessary to post a guard. Why would you post a guard at an impenetrable tomb? To stop vandalism?
However, there are other inconsitencies that others have pointed out, but don't take them as refutations of the crucifixion. First, it took a long time for people to die on the cross, sometimes more than 24 hours. Here, we have Jesus dying after a very short amount of time (say 2-3 hours). Second, we have Jesus being buried in a tomb on private land, and therefore access to the tomb is controlled by Joseph of Arimethia (sp?), who also happened to be a supporter. Third, we actually have less than 48 hours between burial and resurrection. In other words, Jesus's crucifixion was quite different than your normal criminal execuation, both in the speed with which Jesus died and the way he was buried.
The theory that some put forward is that Jesus was actually alive when he was taken down from the cross. Although I am pretty neutral on the matter, the case does have some merit (and I stress "some"). However, it is reported in the Gospels that Roman soldiers pierced the side of Jesus with a spear to judge whether he was alive or dead. This is a big hole that this theory can't seem to get around. Only by ignoring this part does the theory hold any water, or somehow explain away the lethality of being pierced in such a manner.
Post 7 and I am already getting things off track. Oh well. Perhaps the lesson here is that people stressing "3 days and 3 nights" are in fact pushing the envelope of what is actually in the Gospels, not that the Gospels are incorrect. Sunday worship among christians is not contradictory to the day of the Ressurection, but is consistent with worshiping the discovery of the resurrection which is really what christianity is about. Hope this all made sense.
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