This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://biologos.org/blogs/guest/why-do-some-modern-christians-doubt-the-resurrection
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://biologos.org/blogs/guest/why-do-some-modern-christians-doubt-the-resurrection
2 Likes
I find this new article fascinating… that there should be committed Christians who doubt the afterlife?
I am a Freemason. One of the most common requirements (but not a Universal one, for example, many jurisdictions in France do not specify it) is that to become a Freemason you must confess a belief in the Immortality of the Soul (or the slightly different Resurrection into an Afterlife). Some jurisdictions duck a little by requiring a belief in a power greater than one’s self… and just assume that only in rare cases would someone believe in a greater power … but not in an afterlife.
I have read some articles lately about the Babylonians “believing in an afterlife” - - but that it was a miserable, grayed out, even muddy, existence. Compare such a general belief to the general belief of the ancient Egyptians… who didn’t see the point of having a miserable afterlife: once the heart was tested as worthy, the afterlife was wonderful. If your heart didn’t pass the test, you would be consumed by a beast of the underworld.
The ancient Greeks split the difference! They assumed the Babylonian stance… but if you went through a mystery school initiation (allegedly inspired by Egyptian metaphysics), you would have a wonderful afterlife too.
There has been recent discussions about the difference between a bodily resurrection and a resurrection of just a spiritual entity (frequently called “the soul”). As far as I can tell, the only real difference between the two ideas is the former requires God to rebuild your body as he designed it originally, and “poof”, your soul is there too (kind of like repairing a light bulb filament, and “poof”, the current starts running again and the soul appears.
The latter requires no such cloning work… because God made your soul for your body to use, and when you die, the soul goes “somewhere else” … presumably to wait for the End of Days, or until God assigns you another “vehicle” (all chrome I hope!) to house your soul. It would hardly matter whether the new vehicle was either recognizably flesh OR some super-duper-color-changing supernatural material completely different from mortal animal flesh.
How is it one can be a Christian if they doubt the resurrection? the whole basis for Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus Christ and without the resurrection Christianity as a religion is meaningless
Universalists of all stripes, even if they aren’t consciously aware of it, are holding to the Chess Master scenario of redemption.
God is not only like a world-class Chess Master, he invented the game… and losing a chess game is a good metaphor for being allowed to have complete Free Will … and yet still not being able to avoid the strategems available to God to redeem your soul.
Heck, God gave you the soul to begin with … so it’s not really much of an impasse…
There are many denominations that consider the Chess Master scenario to be the hallmark of people going straight to … H.E. Double-Hockey-Sticks !!!
I don’t know why , people are resurrected frequently in hospitals .
My nephew was dead for 6minutes and the doctors said he wouldn’t make it .
Now 4years later he is trying to start a family , works for a union , and has been restored 98+ % recovered.
The miracle , the doctors said he wouldn’t recover , we diligently prayed at his bedside ,
They came back with more tests ,and said , well he will be a vegetable likely …
We prayed on ,
They came back and said , he will have the mind of a child for the rest of his life …
We prayed on.
They came back again , the damage is too severe, he will have permanent short term memory loss , and some long term loss and loss of much of his motor function …
We prayed on …
Yet again they said ,we don’t expect any further recovery , he is going to need home care because of the memory loss , he may wander confused …
We prayed on …
They released him with a warning that he may seem different …
Finally they were correct,
He got baptised, started attending regular church ,and fixed the problems that had plagued his life prior to his death …he was changed ,he now believed in God .
A couple days ago we were reminiscing about our childhood , he reminded me of events from when we were 8 yo that I had forgotten
We are both in our 40s …
Had we stopped life support as the doctors originally suggested , he would not have gained his faith as he has it now …he just witnessed his newly married wife get baptised.
I have not doubt that it was prayer that healed him , life support gave us the chance , but no medication or treatment was expected to have any effect .
I lost any doubt about resurrection , the power of prayer, or second chances after that …
The doctors credited his natural instincts to survive and the body’s amazing ability to repair itself …
My nephew had hung himself from his shower and accomplished killing himself …
We credited God because we witnessed the effect prayer had .
Make of this what you will , but I have no doubts , God brought him back to us .
One love (agape)God bless
This topic was automatically closed 6 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.