text stringlengths 1 330k |
|---|
A: Yes sir. Judas Iscariot - who committed suicide soon after Jesus died. |
Q: Had you heard your master talking of trapping this Jesus? |
A: I heard something but I wasn’t sure. He and the Sanhedrin kept it between themselves. |
Q: Please tell us what happened at the garden of Gethsemane? |
A: My master asked me to take Jesus by the arm. Before I even moved - one of Jesus’ followers drew his sword and swung at me. If I had not ducked, he would have cut me in half. As it was - he cut off my ear. |
Q: It seems healthy now. Can you tell us why that is? |
A: Yes, er - Jesus reached down and healed it, there and then. I don’t know how - but all I know was that my ear was replaced and the pain was gone. |
Q: So, do you believe that this Jesus is who he claims to be? |
A: I don’t know – I’m so confused |
Second Witness – |
Q: You are Pontius Pilate, Governor of the province of Judea? |
A: I am. |
Q: On the night preceding the death of this man Jesus, did your wife warn you of the strange implications of this matter? |
A: Yes she did, she recounted a vivid dream she had the night before. |
Q: Did you think that was odd? |
A: Yes, considering she rarely interferes with my job. |
Q: Did you heed her warning? |
A: Well - yes and no. I mean - I went on with the matter cautiously because I did not want the blame put on me. |
Q: Could you not have let him go under your orders? |
A: Yes, but it was a delicate situation between Rome and the Jews. |
Q: At the crucifixion of this man Jesus, you nailed a sign to his cross saying he was the King of the Jews. Why did you do this? |
A: To answer my conscience. |
Q: So you had a nagging suspicion he was different? |
A: Well--------- yes. |
Q: That suspicion went right through to putting your own seal and guard on this man’s tomb, is that correct? |
A: Ah ---- yes it is. |
Barrister: It is claimed this same Jesus on whom you ordered a guard, has risen from the dead and appeared to his followers. Can you explain this? |
A: If he did return to life(a scoff in the voice), he could not have moved the huge boulder at the entrance of the tomb, nor could any of his followers gotten past the guards. |
Q: But no-one can find his body. After an extensive search of the area, only his grave clothes were found in the tomb, folded. Where is he then? |
A: We don’t know. |
Q: The huge boulder at the entrance of the tomb, who moved it? Did your guards move it? |
A: (in a slight angry tone) My guards are loyal to me, |
I don’t know who moved it. |
Q: Would you say there are some strange unanswered questions to this matter? |
A: Yes - I would, and they will stay that way until more evidence is uncovered. |
Third witness: |
SIMON. A citizen of the city of Cyrene |
Q: Your name is Simon and you come from the city of Cyrene, is that correct? |
A: Yes it is. |
Q: Tell us sir, in your own words, how you became involved in this matter? |
A: I had travelled to Jerusalem from Cyrene for the great feasts, and saw that many people lined the streets, I thought it must be a special procession for some reason. So I decided to go through the alley ways of the city to avoid the crowd. My route took me close to the crowd and my curiosity took the better of m... |
Q: By Roman records, which are very accurate, you were pressed into carrying Jesus cross, were you not? |
A: That is true. Just as I arrived at the scene, the reason for the crowd became clear .There was this man or criminal, being led up to be crucified. In the crowd I was pushed to the front, and tried to get back through them but found it impossible to. The man stopped and fell in front of me. The soldier who was... |
Q: What did the criminal look like? |
A: His back hardly had any flesh on it from beatings and whippings. His face was swollen to a pulp, it was hardly recognisable. They’d put a crown of thorns onto his head, he was bleeding from many parts of his body. |
Q: Would you say it looked especially hard on this man? |
A: Yes sir/ma’am. I have seen a few criminals crucified, there was hardly a mark on them. The soldiers let the heat of the sun do the work for them. |
Q: Can you tell us why you think this man Jesus is alive today? |
A: Sir/ma’am, when we reached Golgotha, the soldiers put the cross on the ground and laid the man on top of it. As they bound him, through his bulging face and the blood, his eyes met mine. It was a look that pierced my conscience. It was like his mind talking to mine. Somehow I knew he was innocent. As that th... |
(Interrupted in mid sentence) |
Fourth Witness: |
A CENTURION of the Roman Army |
Q: You are a centurion of the Roman army? |
A: Yes I am. |
Q: As a representative of Rome, when did you first become aware of this man Jesus? |
A: Wherever he went crowds followed him. A number of times I had to send soldiers to break up a disturbance caused by his crowds. At one time, the crowd were ready to stone him but he walked straight through them. |
Q: Did you see him as a threat to peace in the area? |
A: Not really, however, we did keep an eye on his whereabouts, so as his crowds did not get too out of hand. |
Q: Did he bother you personally? |
A: No — I was there to keep the peace, not to involve myself in other peoples religious and cultural arguments |
Q: Could you tell us of his, Jesus that is, whereabouts before his crucifixion? |
A: Four days before we were notified of his open and empty tomb, we were told of a mob making their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. They took the man Jesus into custody. That same night he was before Governor Pilate, whom you have here. |
Q: Did you have any idea why they arrested Jesus? |
A: As I said before, many of the Jews were getting upset at his teachings and sayings. I assume it was for over stepping the Jewish law. Something like that anyway, the Jewish laws are quite different to ours. |
Q: Had you heard of the so-called miracles he performed? |
A: Um – yes, they were often sniggered at in the ranks. |
Q: Then you never witnessed any of them yourself? |
A: No, I never did. |
Q: Immediately before his death, did you, being highly ranked, hear any complaints from the people? |
A: I thought the trial was rather a rushed job. So I talked to some of the people and I found that they were divided, over the claims he made, to be their messiah. |
Q: So, What did you do? |
A: There was nothing I could do, just follow Governor Pilate's orders. However, what I had heard stayed in my mind, the positive and negative, both sides of the story. |
Q: Being an unbiased observer, this had no bearing on your own life or beliefs, is this correct? |
A: Yes Sir/Ma’am. |
Q: Could u please tell us in your own words, what actually happened at the crucifixion. |
A: As he, Jesus, was hanging thereon the cross, at the sixth hour the sky became overcast, almost as dark as night. Lightning flashed across the sky, it was eerie .I am not easily scared but this sent shivers down my back. Remembering the words I had heard from the people, what happened next completely changed my ... |
Barrister: There are no more Questions, you may step down. |
Pastoral Leader of the congregation: (A wrap up with words to this affect. Knowing the spirituality of their group.) You, the inquiry committee must judge for yourselves. Is Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, as his followers claim or is he an impostor - and an enemy of the people as claimed by those who had him cr... |
Please support Dramatix |
Glenn Hascall, Station Manager |
general donation |
Copyright © 2016. All Rights Reserved. |
At least 40 dead as US-Bangla plane veers off runway |
Written By: BBC/Hunja Macharia |
A plane carrying 71 passengers and crew has crashed on landing at Nepal’s Kathmandu airport, killing at least 40 people. At least 22 survived. |
Flight BS211 veered off the runway while landing on Monday afternoon. |
One survivor who managed to break through a window says the aircraft gave a violent shake, followed by a bang. |
Offering his condolences, Nepalese Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli promised an immediate investigation. |
Also Read Egypt investigates 'pyramid nude photo shoot' |
The plane, which was flying from the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, was a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 turboprop and was 17 years old. |
“The aircraft was permitted to land from the southern side of the runway flying over Koteshwor, but it landed from the northern side,” Sanjiv Gautam, director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post. |
The plane caught fire and a plume of smoke could be seen above the airport. |
Also Read Mikhail Popkov, Russian ex-cop jailed for 56 more murders |
One of the survivors, Nepalese travel agent Basanta Bohora, described from his hospital bed what he had experienced. |
After a normal take-off from Dhaka, the plane had begun to behave strangely as it approached Kathmandu, he said. |
“I was seated near the window and was able to break out of the window,” he added. |
“I have no recollection after I got out of the plane, someone took me to Sinamangal Hospital, and from there my friends brought me to Norvic [Hospital]. I have injuries to my head and legs, but I am fortunate that I survived.” |
Also Read 150 UN member states adopt the Global Compact for Migration |
The plane was carrying 67 passengers and four crew. |
It is now known that 33 of the passengers were Nepalis, 32 were Bangladeshi, one was Chinese and one was from the Maldives. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.