Salam,
What is the Quran say?
[4] And for claiming that they killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of GOD. In fact, they never killed him, they never crucified him - they were made to think that they did. All factions who are disputing in this matter are full of doubt concerning this issue. They possess no knowledge; they only conjecture. For certain, they never killed him.
[4] Instead, GOD raised him to Him; GOD is Almighty, Most Wise.
As you all should know, the Bible was complied toward the end of the second century. There were other gospels that were not approved( I think more than 300 of them were burned ). Anyway, new light has been cast on the beliefs of early Christians:
1) The Nasoreans or Nazarenes : ( recently discovered )
a) claimed to be descendent of Jesus's disciples and were driven out of Palestine to Syria around 62 AD
b) They believed Jesus to be a great Prophet
c) They accused Paul of heretically substituting Roman customs for the authentic teachings of Jesus and proclaiming him as God
d) They refused to celebrate Christmas which they regarded as a pagan feast
e) They claimed that Judas tricked the Jews into taking someone else other than Jesus and that guy denied it all but he was eventually crucified
2) Gospel of Barnabas : Claimed that Judas was crucified in place of Jesus
3) The Basilidon sect : Believed that Simon the Cyrene was crucified and not Jesus.
and Of course there are more gospels which affirm that Jesus was never crucified.
It is a fact that Jesus was not a well known person at that time in Jerusalem. Jesus has been teaching his faith for about 2 or three years wondering from place to place with no fixed abode. Mark says he had only been there once while John says he was there at least four times. so little was known that Judas had to kiss him in order for people to know it's Jesus.
Gospels describing the court scene failed to produce one piece of evidence which would prove the identity of the accused.
Now if we examine the answers the accused gave in court will surely indicate that the accused could probably not be Jesus.
Luke :"67: "If you are the Christ, tell us." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe;
68: and if I ask you, you will not answer. "
when he was asked a point blank question :"Are you the Son of God, then?" And he said to them, "You say that I am."
A clear statement of defense, he is saying YOU SAY I AM THE SON OF GOD but he still gave no clear answer. Furthermore, add to the fact that when he died he said :" God, God, why have you forsaken me" this is a statement that is the least below the dignity of a leader.
MAtthew has a similar account but the other two gospels don't. None of the Gospels agree on these important facts.
Here is what Mark had to say about the account:
Mark:"61: But he was silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?"
62: And Jesus said, "I am; and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven."63: And the high priest tore his garments, and said, "Why do we still need witnesses?
64: You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?" And they all condemned him as deserving death.
Obviously the gospels don't even agree on what Jesus really said in the court or when he died. They totally depended on witnesses. Different witnesses report different things.
One more thing that just came up to my mind. Why did the Jews fail to understand their scriptures which they have been reading for thousands of years and know that GOD will come down and die. Why is it that only Paul is the one who got it all?