what if jesus did not die on the cross?

Back in 1992 I came a across a back dated magazine called the Economist. In one of its sections there was an interesting article on the Dead Sea Scrolls http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2011/12/dead-sea-scrolls which was brought forward to 2011. Much to my surprise, The reading really inspired me. I wonder how somtimes we are subject to manipulation and how primitive we still are into manipulating people in our glorious days of today. Any insights into developing a discussion on this difficult topic?
Cheers