Jesus In India Theory

There has been much controversy about the "missing years" of Jesus from the age of 13-30. Some claim that Jesus has traveled to India to preach and learn the ways of Buddhists. This theory had become quite popular through the book, the Unknown Life of Christ, by the Russian doctor Nicolas Notovitch in 1894 who was the first to introduce that idea. This idea has also been mostly propagandized by the Ahmadiyya Muslims, a rationalist Islamic sect in the 19th century which was regarded as unorthodox by the Shia and Sunni Muslims. Notovitch claimed he was traveling through Afghanistan, Tibet and India. His journey was delayed in Leh, the capital of Ladak due to a broken leg and took hostile in one of the Buddhist convent, where the Himis were. That is where he supposedly came across a compilation of books and scrolls containing ancient scriptures of St. Issa, which were directly parallel of the Jesus story and were translated to him by one of Notovitch's men. The translation revealed a story told by merchants who took accounts of an Israelite by the name is St. Issa who came from the west during his childhood and studied among the monks and mastered Buddhism. St. Issa was known to be a great man of wisdom and taught in ways strikingly similar to the Biblical Jesus.After Notovitch arrived back with the shocking news, much criticism arose to attack Notovitch's claim and was thought to be a hoax. Two other explorers by the names of Swami Abhedananda and distinguished philosopher and scientists, Nicolas Roerich, traveling at different times, visited the Buddhist convent where Notovitch claimed to have seen the scriptures to verify its authenticity. Both men have testified to have seen the ancient manuscripts.

NOW HERE ARE SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:1. THERE ARE VIRTUALLY NO CONCRETE EVIDENCE such as the scrolls themselves to be cross examined at all! Absolutely nothing! These elaborate theories are based on an accumulation of hand selected bits and pieces of history, fables and speculations without empirical evidence. For example: Jesus supposedly visited England because there is a tree called "Hollowed Tree" named after him? Using folklore as credibility? That's a joke!

2. What would entice Jesus to go to India and leave his hometown in the first place? Some say that during his fleeing to Egypt from King Herod, Jesus was first introduced to Buddhism in Egypt which sparked his interests. Is that itself proof behind his intention, to study and preach Judaism but yet carry interests for Buddhism?

3. Professor Archibald Douglas visited the convent claimed that the head lama denied Notovitch's visit there or hospitalizing his broken leg or even the ancient manuscripts themselves ever existing!

4. F. Max Muller (1823-1900), the great Orientalist of the nineteenth century and translator and editor of the multivolumed Sacred Books of the East claims that if The Sutra of St. Issa had such an impact on India like it claims to have, why wasn't it ever listed in the Kandjur or Tandjur collections? Also, if his teachings where that impactful, why are there no records, legends, or anything at all of Jesus for the cities and countries in-between Jerusalem and India?

5. The origins of merchants who told of the stories of St. Issa as well as their names and how they obtained their facts are NOT mentioned nor can be verified at all.

6. Notovitch claimed that Jesus mastered Buddhism while living in Tibet. However the problem is that Buddhism didn't reach Tibet until the 17th century.

7. Notovitch claimed to have seen the sutra of St. Issa in books. However, books nor scrolls were not used among the Buddhist that time. Oblong leaves kept resembling palm trees kept loose in wooden plates were commonly used.

8. Notovitch was not a scholar. Notovitch admits that he arranged the fragments in chronological order, and then had them read aloud and translated. Not scholarly like since he manipulated its order to his advantage. He also was not biblical scholar as he stated that "St Issa was in the desert until the day of his showing". This is reference to John the Baptists! This is just one of his many inconsistencies about his knowledge of the Bible which is very weak.

9. Fida Hassnain, an Islamic professor and author of A Search for the Historical Jesus (1994), also claims to have visited the Himis monastery several times in search of the Issa manuscript. Although he never saw the manuscript, he claims that he found in a local church a journal entry dated 1890 by a Moravian missionary named Dr. Marx which mentioned Notovitch's visit to the monastery and his discovery of the manuscript. Hassnain says he photographed two pages from Marx's diary and translated them from German. He claims that the diary mentions Notovitch as "a Russian traveler who broke his leg at Hemis in Ladakh, and who was nursed by the Moravian Mission doctors. Mention is made of the claim of Notovitch that he had seen Tibetan scrolls about Jesus in the Hemis monastery. Although Hassnain includes several photographs of the monastery in his book, strangely, he does not provide a photograph of this journal entry. The entry mentioned only Notovitch's claim to have seen the Tibetan manuscripts. Dr. Marx says nothing of having himself seen the manuscript. If this diary is authentic (which is very hard to establish given the lack of evidence), it could be that Notovitch simply lied to Marx.
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10. If Jesus learned from the Buddhist, he certainly did not practice nor preach their ways. For one thing, he was not a vegetarian unlike the monks since he ate fish, taught his disciples to eat fish and even multiplied it to feed the thousands. A guru would not have done that. Gurus strictly opposed the consummation of wine yet Jesus turned water into wine. Also, his teachings bears no resemblance to Buddhist and early Hindus but actually contradicted them! Jesus taught that he was the way, truth and life and that God could not be reached through false idols or other gods. Basically he was not pantheistic as were the gurus. What kind of guru would claim to be God? As far as acknowledging god(s), Buddha himself disregard worshiping them. Also, Jesus never even cited any Hindu Vegas and or made references to them! His teachings ONLY made references to Hebrew's concept of God not of India's. Some say that Jesus made reference to reincarnation and karma? Where is that found exactly? Just because Jesus may share some philosophy and common humanity similar to Buddha's it does NOT mean one was influenced by the other. Ancient cultures from different regions of the world have similar philosophies to Buddha's but does that necessarily mean that they influence Buddha? Not at all! We all share a common concept of humanitarian in all of us.

11. Jesus was known in his community as a carpenter since it was a Jewish tradition for young boys to learn their father's trade. His parables were even influenced by his job. He told of building a house on a rock as opposed to sand. (Matt 7: 24-27)This is a great indication that Jesus has spent his adolescent years around the community.

12. A trip to India that time would be extremely unlikely since it would be dangerous and difficult no matter through what means of transportation. Also, the trip would be very costly considering that Jesus' family was very poor.

13. Gentile culture was repugnant to Jews. At that time in history Jewish involvement with gentiles was strictly limited. Non-Jewish culture was repugnant to a Hebraic (as opposed to Hellenistic) Jew. Jesus would have little cultural tolerance for living in the midst of idol worshiping gentiles in India.
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14. Some also use reference to the Gnostic scriptures of St. Thomas as a reliable source indicating that Jesus went to India. It claims that Jesus force Thomas to be sold to merchants to go to India. Big problems rises with that as well. For one thing, force wouldn't be used. Also, Gnostics were rejected to the Christian society which is similar to the teachings of modern Christianity today. The Gnostics had scriptures that didn't arrive till a whole period after the New Testament scriptures were common, circulated and recognized which clearly links to plagiarism. The Gnostics contained the supposed sayings of Christs which contradict the teachings of how we know Him today such as claiming that "women must be like men to enter heaven "and "Christ is found under rocks and wood". No wonder why these particular Gospels were rejected and the Gnostic sect flourished!

15. The following scriptures imply that Jesus was known in his community: Matt 2:23 "and He came and resided in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, 'He shall be called a Nazarene.'" Lk 2:51-52 "And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." Lk 4:22 "And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, 'Is this not Joseph's son?" Matt 13:54-56 (cf. Mk 6:3) "And coming to His home town [i.e. the place where He grew up] He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, 'Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? Where then did this man get all these things?'" According to Matthew 2: 13-15, the next biggest event was Jesus' baptism. If Jesus had traveled to the Far East, historical records would not have been left out. The only accounts ever citing Jesus' travels was through Egypt. Some point out that according to the Gospels of Thomas, Jesus reunited with him in India in a wedding. However, the problem with that is contradicts the other Gospels that share more in common and are consistent with each other. Those Gospels do not contain any information alluding Christ's visit to India.

Based on the information citied above, my conclusion resides over that the chances of Jesus ever visiting India is possible but very very very unlikely, more close to impossible. No facts, empirical evidence, just speculation and interpretation based on a terrible attempt to reconstruct and synchronize beliefs. How can some discredit the Bible as a whole but at the same time use fragments from it to support their theory? Furthermore some claim that there are texts, medical records, and documents stating that Jesus went to India. Where are they? Some Hindus claim that early Vedas 5000 years before Christ's contains scriptures prophesying about Jesus. But that itself isn't sufficient evidence to prove that Jesus went to India. Muslims claim that there are abundant evidence supporting that? WHERE IS THE PROOF? Still, that doesn't prove that Jesus went to India. There are boundless similarities found in all religions but that doesn't necessarily mean they are directly related or influence each other. If Jesus was to ever visit India, I suppose he was there to only preach the Good News.