Did the Sun stop shining?

[amortalman]

Did the Sun stop shining when Jesus was on the cross as the writers of Matthew, Mark, and Luke claim?

Matthew 27:45
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.

Mark 15:33
33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Luke adds even more:
Luke 23:44-45
44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

Notice that Luke says the darkness lasted for three hours and was over all the earth!

Certainly, an event that goes beyond extraordinary should have been thoroughly documented by thousands of astronomers and writers all over the Roman empire and beyond. Yet there is not to be found a scrap of parchment or papyrus or stone carving or anything else that might lend support to this fantastic claim. Why is that?

The logical answer is that it never happened and is a made-up claim by Christians decades after the supposed event. What do you think?

[Zzyzx]

.

At least one translation has it that the sun stopped shining.

I ask you to prove this statement or to rescind this statement and this crusade of foolishness.

Okay. Here are a few

Common English Bible w/ Apocrypha Luke 23:45 (CEBA) while the sun stopped shining. Then the curtain in the sanctuary tore down the middle.

New International Version Luke 23:45 (NIV) for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

The Complete Jewish Bible Luke 23:45 (CJB) the sun did not shine. Also the parokhet in the Temple was split down the middle.

GOD'S WORD Translation Luke 23:45 (GW) The sun had stopped shining. The curtain in the temple was split in two.

New International Reader's Version Luke 23:45 (NIRV) The sun had stopped shining. The temple curtain was torn in two.

New Century Version Luke 23:45 (NCV) because the sun did not shine. The curtain in the Templen was torn in two.

The Bible in Basic English Luke 23:45 (BBE) The light of the sun went out, and the curtain in the Temple was parted in two.


Don't Christians claim to study the Bible? Why do they need Non-Christians to tell them what it says?

When one defends a defective position, their attempts to defend often expose further weaknesses. Thank you for inspiring an additional thread “Copycats� viewtopic.php?p=1008426#1008426

[amortalman]

Did the Sun stop shining when Jesus was on the cross as the writers of Matthew, Mark, and Luke claim?
…. What do you think?

I believe it happened. And I believe other than disciples of Jesus would have no reason to tell about it, because they were against Jesus and didn’t want to make Jesus look what he was. After all, if for example Romans who killed Jesus would have told, yes, when he was killed, there was unnatural darkness, it would have made them look bad.

The ancient world at that time was much larger than Palestine. There were hundreds of astronomers all over the Roman Empire who had never heard of Jesus and knew nothing of what supposedly happened. But the sun going out for a full three hours would have lit up the press so to speak. The lack of evidence for a worldwide blackout is telling. It assures us that it never happened but was simply man-made embellishments of the Jesus story that were recorded by anonymous writers decades later.

But, it is an interesting idea, could it be possible to happen so. After all, it is said that same thing will happen again... Can you give one good reason why I should tell how it happens?

No

[amortalman]

It seems to me that you and Charles are ignoring that ge is also translated "earth". In fact, according to Strong's lexicon ge is translated "earth" 188x, compared to "land" 42x, ground 18x, country 2x, world 1x, and earthly 1x. Clearly, "earth" is the overwhelming choice. The whole earth in this case.

Not at all, in some circumstances it can refer to earth...

Don't you mean that in most circumstances it does refer to earth as pointed out in my response above? So I wonder why in this particular case most translators (but not all!) shied away from translating ge as earth? Could it be that they are Christian or Christian sympathizers and therefore biased, knowing that translating ge as earth puts the whole account in a troubling situation? Why else would they do that?

Come to think about it why really would any bible believer be troubled if the sun did stop shining for three hours during the crucifixion of their King? Is that any more fantastic than say, the sun and moon standing still for a full day?

[JehovahsWitness]

I wonder why in this particular case most translators (but not all!) shied away from translating ge as earth?

You may wonder but unless you are a greek scholar I suggest we do well to recognise the fact that since by far the majority do indeed make that choice and these peer reviewed works, there is solid academic reason behind such scholarly choices.



JW

[amortalman]

I wonder why in this particular case most translators (but not all!) shied away from translating ge as earth?

You may wonder but unless you are a greek scholar I suggest we do well to recognise the fact that since by far the majority do indeed make that choice and these peer reviewed works, there is solid academic reason behind such scholarly choices.

The "solid academic reason" could very well be the inherent bias of Christian scholars.
Peer review is meaningless if one's peers have the same bias as oneself.

Being a scholar does not exempt one from following his biases. The fact remains that ge was translated "world" 188 times, four times more than all the choices combined until it became more expedient to use "land."

[brunumb]

It amazes me that unsupported claims of incredible miracles are readily believed by people today, but, according to the accounts, the same events were essentially dismissed by the people they were meant to impress at the actual time. If those alleged miracles were not compelling back then one can only conclude that they were either scams or made up stories.

[amortalman]

[Replying to post 26 by brunumb]

Good point, brunumb. What amazes me is that otherwise intelligent people believe in fantastic claims made thousands of years ago when there hasn't been a miracle like those in the last 2000 years. This god just dumped "his people" the Jews over 2000 years ago and even allowed genocide to wipe out 6,000,000 of them during WW2. Who would want to spend eternity with an evil brute like that?

[Difflugia]

You may wonder but unless you are a greek scholar I suggest we do well to recognise the fact that since by far the majority do indeed make that choice and these peer reviewed works, there is solid academic reason behind such scholarly choices.

That is a fascinating position for one of Jehovah's Witnesses to take on a translation issue.

[The Nice Centurion]

[Replying to post 4 by bjs]

It seems to me that the writers clearly meant what they said, that there was darkness over the whole earth.

Interesting!
What could do that?
Also we have to take into Account that we more or less only have to find out why half the earth fell into darkness - in one half it would have been night anyway!

[The Nice Centurion]

[Replying to post 26 by brunumb]

Good point, brunumb. What amazes me is that otherwise intelligent people believe in fantastic claims made thousands of years ago when there hasn't been a miracle like those in the last 2000 years. This god just dumped "his people" the Jews over 2000 years ago and even allowed genocide to wipe out 6,000,000 of them during WW2. Who would want to spend eternity with an evil brute like that?

The LDS death baptized Adolph Hitler AND all of his 6.000.000 Jews. According to mormon doctrine they will all spend eternity in heaven with M.G. (Mormon God) happily ever after!