Off The Record

13 Theories About The Lost Mysterious 18 Years Of Jesus Christ’s Life

Published on September 17, 2024

The Gospels include no information regarding Jesus’ activities from the age of twelve to thirty-one, despite the fact that the New Testament is filled with references to him.

However, don’t expect a 13 Going On 30 type of ending right away. Regarding Jesus’ lost years, there are many more tenable ideas.

There is evidence suggesting that Jesus may have traveled during his illustrious life, including evidence of his presence in India, which is similar to the compelling physical evidence that researchers have found to support the existence of Jesus. Some ideas even suggest that he may have traveled to Britain or Japan. Jesus is considerably less likely to have looked like a white European if he had stayed closer to home and worked as a carpenter outside in the sun. Perhaps the reason the years are “lost” is because Jesus disobeyed several commandments in the Bible.

During the years that were absent, where was Jesus? You may now cast your votes for the most plausible explanations.

1. Jesus Spent The Years Working As A Carpenter With Joseph

The conventional wisdom on Jesus’ missing years is rather simple: he was raised in Nazareth, where he apprenticed under his father, Joseph, and eventually became a carpenter. Given that sons typically followed in their fathers’ footsteps in their trade, this argument is the easiest to understand. As per the practices prevalent at the period, it is probable that Jesus acquired the skill of carpentry from his father. Following Joseph’s death, Jesus assumed the role of the household patriarch. He would have been old enough to start his ministry formally at thirty.

The Gospels also support the theory. For example, in Mark 6:3, once Jesus starts teaching, the crowds ask, “Is not this the carpenter?”

There is little proof that Jesus spent those years as a carpenter, however. Even the early Christian author Origen asserted that “nowhere in the Gospels accepted by the churches is Jesus himself described as a carpenter.”

2. Jesus Spent The Lost Years As A Family Man

Jesus certainly seemed to know what guests at a wedding want when he showed up at the wedding at Cana and began turning water into wine. Is it possible that Jesus got married during the lost years?

Barrie Wilson and Simcha Jacobovici contend in The Lost Gospel that Jesus wed Mary Magdalene and had children during the period known as the “lost years.” A 1,500-year-old Aramaic book housed in the British Library serves as the foundation for their thesis. Furthermore, there are other sources that also imply Jesus was married. A quotation from Jesus referencing his wife can also be found on an Egyptian papyrus from the fourth century.

3. John The Baptist Was Teaching Jesus During The Lost Years

It is unrealistic, according to some scholars, to imagine that Jesus worked as a carpenter for nearly twenty years before rising to prominence in religion. Before recruiting his own disciples, Jesus might have spent years as a disciple. Bruce Chilton contends in Rabbi Jesus that following his visit to the Temple, Jesus never returned to Nazareth. Rather, he adopted the faith of John the Baptist, who served as Jesus’ teacher. Chilton says, “Jesus had a rebellious, venturesome spirit. He did not become a passionate religious genius by moldering in the conventional piety of a village that barely accepted him.”

Matthew says that when Jesus asked John to baptize him, John responded, “I need to be baptized by you” rather than the reverse. Could it have been a “the teacher becomes the student” moment?

4. Jesus Spent Years Arguing With Scholars

Jesus’ time at the Temple is the sole instance of him mentioned in the Bible between his birth and his thirties. Luke 2:41–52 describes how, when Jesus was twelve, Mary and Joseph unintentionally left him in Jerusalem for a few days—akin to a first-century Home Alone. Mary and Joseph discovered their son in the Temple, arguing with the professors and responding with startling insights, when they hurried back to the city.

It is clear that Jesus devoted a significant portion of his time to learning. Even at the age of twelve, he informed his parents not to be alarmed because he had been debating with academics for several days. That experience raises the possibility that before starting to gather followers, Jesus spent years engaging in academic endeavors.

5. Jesus Became A Desert Monk By The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea scrolls were found in the parched desert southeast of Jerusalem in 1947. Additionally, the documents might include hints to Jesus’s lost years. Following the discovery, a popular hypothesis suggested that Jesus had visited Qumrān, the home of the monastic Essene sect, when he was still a young man. The Dead Sea scrolls contain their ancient religious writings, and there is evidence that John the Baptist, the man who baptized Jesus, may have drawn inspiration from the group.

It’s plausible that Jesus studied with the Essene sect as well, since John the Baptist picked up knowledge from them. Furthermore, a character who sounds a lot like Jesus is mentioned in one scroll. His titles include “Son of God” and “Son of the Most High.”

6. Jesus Made Multiple Trips To India

Given the length of the 18 years, it’s likely that Jesus traveled great distances during the years He was absent. According to one theory, he visited India multiple times. It is possible that Jesus studied Buddhism in Kashmir; in fact, some people say he moved there after the day of his crucifixion. Years after his claimed crucifixion, in AD 80, Jesus is said to have attended a religious gathering at a Buddhist monastery north of Srinagar.

The hypothesis suggests that Jesus might have traveled to India in order to reciprocate the three Wise Men’s visit from the East. It could also clarify why Jesus commanded St. Thomas to preach the gospel in India.

7. Jesus Broadened His Mind Traveling The Silk Road

Perhaps Jesus visited many countries in the Far East prior to starting his ministry. Nicholas Roerich, an archaeologist and theologian, provides the proof for this theory. He visited a Tibetan monastery in Kashmir in 1887, and there he says he discovered several old manuscripts that tell the story of Jesus’ entry into the area.

Roerich claims that Jesus journeyed via the Silk Road, passing through what is now Afghanistan, going south to India and other sacred towns, and even making it as far as Tibet. Then he crossed Persia and Kabul to return to Jerusalem. Numerous other academics concur with this theory and believe that Christ’s travels in the east had a significant impact on his teachings and philosophies.

8. Maybe Jesus Really Was A Shepherd

In John 10:11, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.” The passage has often been interpreted as a metaphor, meant to imply the relationship between Jesus as shepherd and his followers as his flock of sheep.

But what if Jesus took it a step further? He may have spent years working as a shepherd after leaving his father’s carpentry business. Jesus would have had plenty of time to reflect on his life as a shepherd and would have learned the value of not losing any sheep from his experience.

9. The Lost Years Were Jesus’s Loner Years

The Gospels don’t exactly portray Jesus as antisocial, but by the time he developed into a prophet, he was already in his forties. It’s possible that his lost adolescence was very different. Like the first-century equivalent of a high school student, Jesus might have spent his adolescent years wandering in the desert, trying to find out what he wanted to accomplish with his life.

Of course, in his later years, Jesus spent almost all his time with the Apostles. Maybe he surrounded himself with people to avoid the loneliness of his teenage years. Or maybe Jesus turned things around after reading Proverbs 18:1-2, “A loner is out to get what he wants for himself. He opposes all sound reasoning.”

10. Jesus Went To A Tibetan Monastery

The Life of Saint Issa was recorded in an enigmatic manuscript from the third century. Known as the Best of the Sons of Men, he received yoga instruction from yogis in Tibet, Nepal, and India. Could Jesus be mentioned in the manuscript? Did he receive his training from mystics in the distant Tibetan Himis monastery?

Critics claim that the theory that Russian aristocrat and spy Nicolas Notovitch first put forth in 1894, is merely false. The monastery even refuted Notovitch’s first claims about the hypothesis, leading many to conclude it was a hoax. Nevertheless, the tale endures, with other guests at the Himis monastery claiming to have seen the identical text.

11. Jesus May Have Visited Britain’s Druids

Dennis Prince contends in The Missing Years of Jesus that there is proof Jesus traveled to the British Isles. The theory is not new, either. William Blake, a British poet, questioned in verse,

And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England’s mountains green?

And was the Holy Lamb of God

On England’s pleasant pastures seen?

According to the theory, Jesus chose to study with the Druids in Glastonbury after traveling to Britain with his uncle, Joseph of Arimathaea, a tin trader. Additionally, a British tribe even created coinage with the name Eisu, a cryptic figure who gained notoriety in the year 30 AD. Nevertheless, the theory’s archeological evidence is not very strong.

12. Jesus Was The “White Prophet” In The New World

In his “lost years,” Jesus may have been quite the traveler. According to one theory, Jesus made the entire journey to the New World. Archaeologist L. Taylor Hansen claims that during Jesus’s lost years, a “White Prophet” made several visits to various Native American tribes. The “White Prophet” is said to have lived in North America, Mexico, and Peru.

Could Jesus have been the “White Prophet” ? According to mythology, the prophet had a thousand language skills, could revive the dead, and could heal the sick. Perhaps Jesus was using the New World as a training ground before revealing his miracles in Judea.

13. A Japanese Town Claims Jesus Lived There For 12 Years

Though it’s a considerable way from Nazareth, the Japanese village of Shingo claims that Jesus made a visit there when he was 21 years old, during his lost years. The hypothesis holds that Jesus traveled to Japan to pursue theological studies. He only returned to Judea when he got into problems with the Roman authorities, spending a total of twelve years there since he liked it so much.

However, the Shingo hypothesis holds that Jesus did not actually die on the cross but rather escaped and returned to Shingo, where he lived until the age of 106. Shingo now refers to itself as Christ’s Hometown, and 20,000 people come here every year to see Jesus’s tomb.

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