What happened to Jesus?

[Kingaroo]

According to Christian theology (not your own personal perspective on the validity of religion or the existence of god)....
What happened to Jesus in the three days between his death and resurrection? I don't recall the risen Jesus saying anything to his disciples about where he'd been. Did his soul go to hell to suffer all the punishment that everyone else would have suffered if he hadn't redeemed them? How come this is left out of the Credo ("He suffered under Pontius Pilate and was crucified, died and was buried. After three days he rose again..")? It seems rather a key point. Did he only have to die, not actually go to hell, to seal God's bargain with the devil?

[Kingaroo]

Never mind... It IS in the Apostles Creed. You can look up "the Harrowing of Hell" in Wikipedia for more info.

[Peter Pedant]

Apostle's creed - the shortened one you Proddies use to cover up your short-comings (ha!)

I am sure the Nicene Creed c 540 is the one to look at.

Creeds./ credos were big in the first thousand years of X and you know each saint or council sent one out on a wing and a prayer

St Athanasius springs to mind - but he had doctrinal problems of his own (as a bishop, managed I think to get deposed twice and had many adventures on the run !)

[Peter Pedant]

Nicene not helpful

Athanasius - he say :
For just as the rational soul and flesh are one man,
so God and man are one Christ;
who suffered for our salvation,
descended to Sheol, rose from the dead,
ascended to heaven, sat down at the right hand of the Father,

[Peter Pedant]

Hmm this may be a question on the lines of
what did God do before he created the world ?

[jake-the-peg]

If you're a mormon I think he nipped over to the US to spread the word a bit with the lost tribes of Israel who were apparently there at the time.

But I could be wrong about the exact timing

[fairkatrina]

Oh please, he was barely on the cross 6 hours, there is no way he died. My personal theory is he became hysterical ("Oh father why hast thou forsaken me" etc) and passed out. He was then put in a nice cool cave with plenty of food and after a couple of days he felt well enough to go and find his mates.

[jno]

six hours is more than enough to die. As victims hung from their hands they basically suffocated - they could only prop themselves up on their feet for so long. Don't try this at home.

http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/crucifixion .htm

[juliacornwal]

Fairkatrina, he was also stabbed in the side with a spear. I have problems with physical resurrection, certainly, but I don't think there can be much doubt that he was dead before he was laid to rest. You try hanging there for six hours struggling to breathe and then having a nice, blunt iron spear thrust into your vitals - and the Romans weren't stupid, they knew all about crucifixion, they practised it regularly, and they wouldn't have allowed him to be taken away without being dead.

I am a regular church-goer and a strong believer in the doctrines of Christianity - basically, do as you would be done by - but I do have a problem with virgin birth and physical resurrection. Doesn't make me less of a Christian though, so I'm told!

[Lil O'lady]

It's all a story though isn't it. It has its roots in older stories - the good son Osiris had to die, and was revived by (the love of) his wife Isis - osiris, isis and horus their son appear as a kind of earlier version of the Christian holy family. Astarte the good mother, Baal the father or 'the lord' and Baal his son, whose symbol was a calf, were worshipped all across the ancient Levant at the time we are discussing. And wasn't one of the Norse gods killed with a spear while tied to a tree?
I think humans have always made up these stories as metaphors to explain why we should try to be good and try to make the world better - which is no bad thing.

[Lysistrata]

Surely it is in the Apostles' Creed?!

'...suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God...'

I sing C of E evensong a lot so am pretty strong on this creed; it definitely says he descended into hell!