VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Dinah|DATE|1385135084|CONTENT|I suppose people who die young or young-ish have less opportunity to stain their reputations or have their reputations scrutinised than those who live to a ripe old age. It is interesting to speculate what kind of Christianity (if any) would have developed had Jesus, its putative founder, died peacefully in his bed at the age of 90 or so with his wife Mary Magdalene by his side holding his hand. He might have murmured in his dying breath, ‘My heavenly father forgives you all,’ but it wouldn’t have had quite the same impact as a bloody sacrificial death. Human beings do seem to revel in their horrible histories, and the primitive notion of vicarious expiation by means of blood sacrifice lies at the heart of Christianity as we know it.

We will probably never find out what really happened to the historical Jesus, but his supposed resurrection is taken as fact by billions of human beings.  The myth of the indestructible hero is not confined to Jesus: the legends of King Arthur and other legendary characters have them returning on some future date to save their kind or kingdoms. There even were rumours circulating following the deaths of JFK and Elvis that their deaths had been faked. Humans find it difficult to accept the finality of death, both for loved ones and for larger-than-life charismatic characters, which is probably why the story of the resurrection of Jesus continues to resonate so powerfully. 
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