The Best Possible Thursday Crucifixion Theory
In my book, the Scroll of Biblical Chronology And Prophecy: mapping the times and seasons of the Holy Scriptures, I compare 10 published Passion Chronologies by various authors in a master chart, and then I score them against a set of 46 chronological criteria. The analysis and commentary begins on page 96, and is called the "Resurrection Scorecard". I only included published authors with a following typical of popular constructs. The view I now describe here is a theoretical view constructed by myself to show that the Thursday view is capable of vast improvement. While it can be vastly improved it falls short of being the solution. I will also explain why.
If we are going to critique a view, we might as well put the view we are critiquing in the best light possible. I conducted a poll recently on a popular Jewish Christian website. Surprisingly, the Thursday Crucifixion garnered more votes than the Friday Crucifixion! That is additional reason for writing this paper. And it seems that even Sunday supporters are waking up to the fact that Matthew 12:40 will not fit the traditional view that Christ died on Friday, and which is handed down to them by the Catholics.
The best Thursday Crucifixion Hypothesis (TCH) may be placed in A.D. 34. It must come one month after the Wednesday Crucifixion and Sabbath Resurrection. Sir Isaac Newton proposed that A.D. 34 was the year of the crucifixion. Newton was committed to the Friday view, but in his century, it was not possible to calculate the new moon with sufficient precision to rule out a Friday Crucifixion. Now that we can calculate accurately, if one is willing to prolong the year with an extra month, then a Thursday Crucifixion Hypothesis may be supported, but a Friday Crucifixion may not be. So before going further, lets see how the Thursday Crucifixion Hypothesis stacks up based on "Resurrection Scorecard".
The results of this analysis show that the Thursday Crucifixion Hypothesis scores 13 points. This is higher than even Loraine Day's score (-4) which was the highest score against the perfect 46 for the Wednesday Crucifixion and Sabbath Dawn resurrection. It is also the first score in positive territory.
The reason that the score of 13 still falls far short of the truth is that it still accepts the mistranslation, "first day of the week". However, questions 1, 4, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33, and 39 are independent of "first of the Sabbaths", and this best of all possible Thursday Crucifixion Hypothesis' fails to answer those questions correctly too. For instance, where do the women find time to buy spices after the annual Sabbath? Here is a chart of the Thursday Crucifixion hypothesis:
And the first place prize goes to:
To learn more read The Sabbath Resurrection.