Jesus Might Not Have Been Crucified Where We Think, Book Suggests

While the site of Jesus Christ's crucifixion has been a hotly contested topic for years, a new book claims to have put an end to the debate once and for all.

Today, 15 April, marks Good Friday in the Christian calendar; the date commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus at Calvary, before his resurrection three days later, also known as Easter Sunday.

Exactly where Jesus was crucified has never been settled on, though most accounts agree it happened outside the city walls of Jerusalem, in a place that was both accessible to passersby and observable to others further away.

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In his new book, titled, Reaching God Speed: Unlocking the Secret Broadcast Revealing the Mystery of Everything, author Joe Kovacs examines the story of the crucifixion in detail, and tries to pinpoint exactly where it took place.

Addressing the Gospels, which recount the final days of Jesus Christ according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Kovacs notes they all mention Jesus being taken to the 'Place of a Skull', Express reports.

This was identified in the fourth century by Greek historian Eusebius of Caesarea, who believed it to be north of Mount Zion, outside the Old City's walls.

Kovacs argues this 'Place of the Skull' has been taken at face value, and accepted by many to refer to Golgotha, as the name 'Golgotha' is derived from the Hebrew word for skull. Instead, the author suggests the story of Christ's crucifixion should be read as a parable.

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"Scripture does have to agree with itself but it uses different words to describe where Jesus was crucified," he told Christian World.

"Throughout the Gospel, the trial and crucifixion were described as being in Jerusalem.

"Paul describes this as taking place right outside the city gates," he says, as Jerusalem Post reports.

However, the location is called into question in the book of Revelations: "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." This, Kovacs suggests, can be answered by seeing parts of the Bible as parable, rather than literal.

“This requires reading the Bible on a higher level, what I call ‘God speed'," he says. The author suggests that, by incorporating Hebrew into his reading of the Bible, a deeper meaning can be found, and that the real site of the crucifixion is 250 miles away from Golgotha, as Sodom means 'burning' or 'flaming' while Egypt can be interpreted to mean the 'dark place of misery'.

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"What it's saying is that this world of flesh in which we dwell is a place of darkness, distress and misery where we're being refined in a flaming furnace, the metaphoric 'furnace of affliction', as God famously calls it in Isaiah 48:10.

"Hence, spiritually speaking, Jesus was killed in this place where we're all being purified under some serious heat, a place that is quite dark and miserable at times."

It seems the debate surrounding the events, parables and teachings of the Bible is still to be debated.

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