I have no desire to convince people to stop believing in religion. Your beliefs your are own, and you are free to believe how you feel. However, when I think analytically about the Easter holiday, I can’t help but find serious, logical problems.

According to 1 Corinthians 15: 3-7:

[3] For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, [4] that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,[5] and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. [6] After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

The belief written here is that Jesus Christ died for our sins (whatever that means). This sacrifice is the basis of the crucifixion story, which is celebrated by Christians every Easter. I’m going to break this story apart and explain why it is highly problematic.

1) Death is permanent

Death is defined as the termination of all biological functions that sustains a living organism. Death is permanent. If a human ceases biological function, especially in a matter as severe as the crucifixion, there is no known way for that person to resume biological function.

You have to invoke a faith-based belief in a supernatural power to imagine that Jesus could be reanimated and brought back to life. Personally, I cannot take this leap of irrationality. But, for the sake of this argument, let’s assume that this is possible. (Maybe using advanced nanobots or something.)

2) You can’t claim to be dead if you’re alive

In verse 4 above, it states that Jesus was raised on the third day and appeared [alive] to his disciples and 500 others. Other Gospels state that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene. Clearly, the story goes that Jesus rose from the dead – meaning he was no longer dead. That Jesus changed his status to “alive” retroactively undoes the whole “dying for our sins” bit. Logically speaking, if Jesus became alive once more (however that might work), he can’t get credit for dying and the sacrifice that was his death.

To put it another way, either Jesus died, and that was the sacrifice, or he didn’t die, and there was no great sacrifice.

3) Living forever is no sacrifice

Mark 16:19 states:

So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

The Bible makes it clear that following the brief period of death and the appearance of being alive once more, Jesus went to heaven where, presumably, he was able to live happily forever. Ignoring the fact that he abandoned his colleagues on Earth and failed to fulfill the prophecy of becoming the Messiah, how can anyone attribute to Jesus a great sacrifice when he escapes his duties on Earth and gets to live forever far far away? It makes no rational sense whatsoever that being dead for under two days, leaving all your friends on Earth, and going to heaven to live forever can be considered a sacrifice.

4) He abandoned his mission

At this point, we reach the biggest question of all: if Jesus spent his life helping poor people, was believed to be the Messiah, survived crucifixion and came back to life, why didn’t he stay on Earth to continue his mission? Seriously, if he had supernatural powers and could take five loaves of bread and two fish and feed 5,000 people, why didn’t he continue this work? If he could survive being crucified by the Romans, why didn’t he stay on Earth to snub those who tried to end his life?

To me, a hero is someone who overcomes obstacles and continues doing what he thinks is right. A hero is someone who does not abandon his work when the going gets tough. A hero is someone who stays committed to the job. By coming back to life and leaving Earth and all his people behind, Jesus surely did not act like a hero. He sounds like someone who felt like things got too rough, so he decided to abort his mission.

Or maybe, he really did die. By Occam’s Razor, that seems the simpler explanation.

But that’s just my two cents. Believe what you feel is right.

– Analytical Cortex