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quietthinker
Well-Known Member
Stumpmaster
Well-Known Member
Lambano
Well-Known Member
How do you know your sins are forgiven?
How do you know that Jesus has defeated Death, satan etc ?
As Paul says, " If Jesus did not rise from the dead, we are still in our sins."
That is why the resurrection is important.
Lambano
Well-Known Member
I mention that because I remember an incident at my mother-in-law's funeral, excuse me, "Service of Death and Resurrection". The funeral director asked if we wanted to see the corpus delecti before the service (closed casket; the cancer was not kind to her). My wife didn't want to remember her mother that way, so she stayed away, and I stayed to provide comfort, but my precocious little 7-year-old grandson wanted to see. When he came back, he asked, "Will we wear clothes in heaven?" I told him we'd be wearing white robes, thinking of Revelation 7:9. My sister-in-law, a wise and a faithful Christian lady, said no, in the New Heavens and New Earth, it will be like the Garden of Eden before the Fall, and we'll all be naked and unashamed. I was stunned by that, not least by the mental image of my elderly sister-in-law naked. I'd never thought of that. But I was my church's sound tech, which meant I had to attend all the funerals, excuse me, Services of Death and Resurrection. And we'd had a run of them lately. I couldn't help but notice that while the laity talked about the deceased "going to Heaven to be with God", the scriptures read all talked about RESURRECTION. Why the disconnect? So, browsing the local Christian Book store (long out of business, sad to say), I ran across N.T. Wright's book, Surprised by Hope, the title being a riff on C.S. Lewis's Surprised by Joy. Wright made a case that the ultimate Christian hope is not floating around Heaven in some ethereal spiritual state, but Resurrection into real spirit-powered bodies in the New Heaven and New Earth, where "God's home is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them." (Revelation 21:3)
This was a significant moment in my spiritual life, and started me on a journey that's been ongoing for 20 years now.
Lambano
Well-Known Member
I have noticed that there is a docetic tendency to "spiritualize" the Biblical passages about Resurrection ("Oh, who wants to live in bodies again?"), and in the lunatic fringe, to even deny that Jesus Himself was literally resurrected.
On the other side, does anyone else notice that "born again" terminology echoes "resurrection"?
On the other side, does anyone else notice that "born again" terminology echoes "resurrection"?
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Hobie
Well-Known Member
Christ tells you...
John 11:25
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
and Christ shows that He will resurrect the saints who believe in Him..
1 Thessalonians 4:16
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Luke 20:36
Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
Lambano
Well-Known Member
Lambano
Well-Known Member
Apparently, Christ's Resurrection was integral to Paul's understanding of what The Gospel is:
15 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. - 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
So, I guess the Resurrection was important to Paul.
RR144
Well-Known Member
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. - 1 Corinthians 15:15-18
Bob Estey
Well-Known Member
Lambano
Well-Known Member
I've actually heard people say that. One bunch of folks have a theology that's very Atonement-centered. To them, Christ's death on the cross for our sins is critically important, but the Resurrection... well, it makes for a happy ending to the story, but to them, the Resurrection serves no theological function. If our souls go to Heaven when we die, what's the meaning of Christ being resurrected in this world anyway? I ain't buyin' it, but it did spur me on to investigate the matter further.
One special case: This guy was a member of our Bible study who had some kind of mystical encounter with Jesus as a young adult. To him, Jesus's entire earthly ministry paled in comparison to the Jesus he met at that youth camp. (So, why are you even studying this Book?) I loved and respected that man - but I have some serious issues with that also, like, "How do I know if the Jesus you met is the same one described in this Book?"
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