Information Related to "Who Killed Jesus Christ?"

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Many people, particularly in North America, accept that putting an incorrigibly wicked person to death is a justifiable act. Killing innocents, however, is universally condemned. Only a madman or someone saturated by evil would kill his own brother or friend. Crazy people do that sort of thing, not normal people like us.

History is full of stories of fascinating murders. Some are fictitious, such as the myth of Oedipus Rex, the ancient Greek tragedy in which Oedipus, king of Thebes, kills his father, Laius, unknowingly and marries his own mother. She in turn commits suicide when she discovers his identity.

Many murders are stranger and more fascinating than any fictional scenario. Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 B.C., assassinated by his close friend and ally, Brutus, on the steps of the Roman senate. That slaying ended a career that had changed the course of history. Henry VIII beheaded his second wife, Anne Boleyn, mother of Queen Elizabeth I.

The hapless Anne was executed because, as the story goes, she did not bear Henry a male heir. He likewise had his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, put to death.

Some medieval and Renaissance popes had political and religious rivals murdered supposedly to preserve the peace of God-or, more likely, to assert political and religious control. One pope hired a hit man to try to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I to bring England back into the Catholic fold-for the peace of God, of course.

Then there is the profound account of the first murder in history. Cain, unable to control his jealousy, killed his brother, Abel, because God said Abel was right and Cain was wrong. Cain established an often-followed pattern for dealing with disagreements.

Read the full article at www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn33/killedchrist.htm