Why is anyone surprised that Jesus...

[Morgan]

Why is anyone surprised that Jesus rose from the grave? I marvel at even some Christians who say that they have a hard time believing that Jesus rose from the grave. They say there must be another explanation.

That just confuses me so much. Why should it be any surprise or wonder - He is God! I would be more amazed if God couldn't conquer death in His own creation.

Am I missing something? I would love it if someone could explain it to me.
Is it really so hard to believe? Anyone out there ever struggle with this?

[tjplaw]

I marvel at even some Christians who say that they have a hard time believing that Jesus rose from the grave. They say there must be another explanation.

How can they be Christians if they question the Resurrection or don't believe in it, I would then question their salvation.

The Resurrection and Ascention is the Pinnacle of Christs sacrifice.

[Livin'4Him]

What I find around me is that most believe in the Resurrection, but have a hard time with the "walking on water thing." I would think if you could rise from the dead, walking on water wouldn't be a problem at all, but most don't see it that way. :noidea

[Amazedgrace56]

http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=1302


This was a pretty thought provoking article when I first read it years ago..it may offer you some insights why folk's struggle due to their understanding's coming from many places..sometimes faith is not simply where we stand but what we stand for.

Notwithstanding the vital importance of the resurrection for the church, past and present, it would be naïve to suppose that there is anything approaching a consensus within the church over the objective question: What actually happened on the first Easter?

This Easter, though Christians in many churches will be standing together in the pews and singing in joyful harmony the triumphant anthem “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today, Alleluia,” their interpretations of the resurrection will be radically discordant. Some members of the congregation will be thinking of a relatively straightforward physical event. Certainly more was entailed, but at the very least the resurrection entailed a resuscitation of the body and an empty tomb, with Jesus concretely and empirically manifested.

Others will conceive of the event in a “demythologized” manner. What came forth from death was not a body; the event was not historical but existential. What arose was the apostles’ faith, which impelled them to proclaim the kerygma. In a sense we are celebrating, through the “myth” of Christ’s resurrection, the existential fact of our own resurrection from despair through the proclaimed word of faith.

For still others such Germanic circumlocution is impossible to understand, let alone embrace; they will regard the resurrection in a rationalistic, relatively “old-fashioned” deist-liberal manner as a prescientific way of expressing the timeless content of Jesus’ life and ministry -- his preaching about the love of God and the need for human fellowship.

This latter view is emblematic of a relatively “low” Christology; however, there need be no direct correlation between a belief in a bodily resurrection and a “high” Christology. One church member might affirm the objectivity of the presence of the risen Christ as the first fruits of a new creation and still be entirely agnostic over the question of what occurred in the tomb. What was buried was flesh and blood; what confronted the apostles in the resurrection appearances was a new humanity. Who can know -- and who cares -- what happened to the atoms of Jesus’ body?

This range of opinions does not exhaust the list of possible alternative understandings of the resurrection, but it is enough to indicate that the church is not of one mind on the question of what happened that first Easter.

This lack of single-mindedness is surely problematic. If, for example, we Christians testify to the resurrection of Christ but include in that testimony a myriad of self-contradictory caveats, does not the skeptic have some grounds for shaking a finger derisively at what is a perceived hypocrisy and insisting that Christians don’t really believe in the resurrection either? Or do we try to keep our divergent views to ourselves, and though meaning vastly different things when we say that Christ is risen, give the outward appearance of a unified intention?


Such a conspiracy of silence could not be maintained for very long, even if it were not dishonorable. Inquirers in and out of the church have always pressed for answers concerning the meaning and intention of resurrection talk. It does no good to keep repeating, “I believe in the resurrection,” when the question we are asked is what we mean by the word resurrection. The cat has long since been out of the bag; it is an open secret, this fact of the church’s pluralism in its interpretation of the resurrection.

But the church need not be embarrassed by this diversity of understanding. A wealth of interpretations is unavoidable -- given the character of New Testament witness, the difficulties inherent in the doctrine of revelation itself, and the pluralism of our philosophic environment.

Some of those who affirm a bodily resurrection argue that the Scripture is unambiguous, that its literal intention demands a physical interpretation. Consider the empty-tomb narratives, the Pauline insistence on the bodily resurrection, the Johannine episode in which Jesus invites Thomas to touch his wounds, and so on. Surely, it is held, any questioning of the bodily resurrection is a clear departure from the biblical witness. Any questioning of the miracle of the resurrection is a typical modernist failure of faith.


One can affirm a bodily resurrection without such literalistic smugness; however, such a dogmatic insistence on a bodily resurrection is often indicative of a vague grasp of the problems involved. The implication that a physical event guarantees that a divine reality gave rise to that event is an assertion not of the Christian’s faith in the doings of the transcendent, invisible, eternal God, but an attempt to link a particular finite metaphysic and epistemology to the Christian faith.

Even if God in his wisdom and mercy determined to commend the event to faith by the visible sign of a risen body, one could never prove that it was God’s act by looking at that body. Bodies are bodies, visible, concrete and finite. Whenever we perceive physical objects, we can be certain of one thing: we are seeing that which God is not. Revelation faith affirms that God is revealed through finite events in the finite world, but that any linkage between God and concrete historical events is never self-evident. A concrete “act” of God in history can be discerned only by faith -- and faith, as even the most orthodox theology maintains, is the gift of the Holy Spirit; the physical, objective “miracle” or act of God is only an outward indication. The miracle of revelation -- a work in which the Holy Spirit is indispensable, and which alone makes it possible to discern the significance of a concrete event -- can never be known except to faith. Even if a “body” was seen, there are various ways to account for it. For example, it can be regarded as a merely resuscitated Jesus, or even an elaborate hoax by which the apostles hoped to deceive a credulous populace.

[andy]

This is indeed odd and disturbing. Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity. How sad that those who profess Christ don't even understand who Jesus really is, the Son of God! :(:

As to why they don't believe, and I don't mean this to be cruel, Christ does not live, rule and reign in their heart.

Rom 10:9 Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation.
Rom 10:11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame."

Jesus is Lord!

[831]

Hi All.

The problem with a lot of so called Christians is that they pick & choose what they will or won't believe in for the word of God ( the Bible ). Now correct me if I am wrong but that book was wrote by God through the Prophets that he chose to write it. It is his words & so, if that is what God says happened & or is going to happen. Then that is what will or did happen, as God has said it is or did, its as simple as that.

To many ignore big parts of the Bible, & lets face it even the catholic church have in recent days openly said that the Book of Genesis is not true. Also to add to that the arch bishop of Canterbury ( the arch druid ) has also said the same & he has told all his church schools to stop teaching creationism. So you see it is also deep in the church, this pick & choose mentality.

I believe that if you truly believe in our Lord & saviour, what he is who he is & what he did for us. Also in the trinity. I think you have to believe what the word of God says from the first words in Genesis to the very last word in Revelation. You can not pick & choose what you will or what you won't believe in from his book. If God says that this is what happened & this is what is going to happen, well that's enough for me I believe him.

If you take a look at the Bible & through history you will see that this book has been 100% correct in every prophesy it has in its pages up to now. So just going on that proof alone, backs the Bible 100%. This can not be said for any other book in the history of man or of any other religion. The Bible is 100% correct, so as that is true whatever the Bible says will happen is going to happen & whatever it says did happen, did happen it has been proven over & over again. That's if people are willing to do a little research into it, the problem with that is people are not willing to do that, but they are willing to believe what some scientist or politician tell them. Odd that isn't it they will believe what they say but when it comes to the word of God they demand every possible proof going & then they will even question those proofs.

I truly think that we are fast getting to the point where the person who's name is the last one in the Lambs book of life, I think that person is soon to make his or her commitment & then in doing we will then be taken by our Lord & saviour off this world to the wedding feast. I just pray daily that those who do not believe will have there ears eyes hearts & minds opened before it is to late.

God Bless you all
831

[Morgan]

Thank you all. The comments above about questioning their basis of faith is something that I had wondered. These same people (old friends) have done Bible studies with me, shown enormous passion for various revelations about scripture and even give daily professions of their faith.

However, this issue continues to haunt the conversation and hovers over all dicussions. Also, they still cling to the world and all the things in it and their attitude never changed about anything really. It has confused me greatly because my life, insight, and focus has changed 180 degrees.

But this one issue has surfaced time and time again. I was wondering if it were possible that they had all the head knowledge but in their hearts had not embraced it all. I had given the thought that it may be possible that the Holy Spirit had not revealed it to them or they had not accepted it for their own reasons and that is one thing that if it is not revealed to you by the Holy Spirit and you do not accept it as fact - then you have not yet made the commitment to our Lord and therefore are not actually born again - yet.

I have hesitated to make a statement to them of my own hidden thoughts as I know they would rebuke me as judgmental, saying "We are all at different points in our walk" But it makes no sense to me how one could be on any walk without the most important piece being already settled in your mind and heart.

[andy]

Thank you all. The comments above about questioning their basis of faith is something that I had wondered. These same people (old friends) have done Bible studies with me, shown enormous passion for various revelations about scripture and even give daily professions of their faith.

However, this issue continues to haunt the conversation and hovers over all dicussions. Also, they still cling to the world and all the things in it and their attitude never changed about anything really. It has confused me greatly because my life, insight, and focus has changed 180 degrees.

But this one issue has surfaced time and time again. I was wondering if it were possible that they had all the head knowledge but in their hearts had not embraced it all. I had given the thought that it may be possible that the Holy Spirit had not revealed it to them or they had not accepted it for their own reasons and that is one thing that if it is not revealed to you by the Holy Spirit and you do not accept it as fact - then you have not yet made the commitment to our Lord and therefore are not actually born again - yet.

I have hesitated to make a statement to them of my own hidden thoughts as I know they would rebuke me as judgmental, saying "We are all at different points in our walk" But it makes no sense to me how one could be on any walk without the most important piece being already settled in your mind and heart.

Morgan

First of all, you are indeed a good friend to these people you speak about. But I must say this; if Jesus did not die on the cross and rise on the third day, then He is not God. If He is not God the Son, then all of our beliefs are in total vain.

A good man can die for another but only God can die for the sins of mankind. Only God can rise from the dead. Only God can resurrect our bodies from the grave. Only God can prepare a heavenly home for His children. And on and on.

You may be right about your friends having head knowledge without a true born again experience and faith in what the scriptures tell us (and warn us about).

I understand you do not wish to be confrontational but may I suggest their eternal future rests on their decision about who Jesus really is. To tell someone the truth is not being judgemental but a true act of love and kindness.

I will pray that our Lord instruct and guide you on how to proceed with this dilemma.

May God richly bless you my sister.:wave

[4everHis]

Christians have no problem with the resurection of Jesus from the grave. It's a cornerstone of our faith.
The devil on the other hand will do everything he can to blind unblievers from the truth.

[Morgan]

Morgan

First of all, you are indeed a good friend to these people you speak about. But I must say this; if Jesus did not die on the cross and rise on the third day, then He is not God. If He is not God the Son, then all of our beliefs are in total vain.

A good man can die for another but only God can die for the sins of mankind. Only God can rise from the dead. Only God can resurrect our bodies from the grave. Only God can prepare a heavenly home for His children. And on and on.

You may be right about your friends having head knowledge without a true born again experience and faith in what the scriptures tell us (and warn us about).

I understand you do not wish to be confrontational but may I suggest their eternal future rests on their decision about who Jesus really is. To tell someone the truth is not being judgemental but a true act of love and kindness.

I will pray that our Lord instruct and guide you on how to proceed with this dilemma.

May God richly bless you my sister.:wave

Thank you for your post. I did give a mild attempt at confronting them by questioning their priorities one day - for months they had so many other nonsense things in their agenda that kept putting some charity work on the back burner. They kept dragging out old projects they decided just had to be done now that would keep them from moving forward with the charity work we were going to do together. I did it in a joking, casual way but that is all it took for the bomb to go off and we haven't spoken since.

The more time that has gone by the more reflection I have had on the whole situation. I look back now and realize I was constantly confused about their relationship with the Lord; But the one thing that has glared the most is how could they have a faith in our Lord without complete confidence in the resurrection?

So, I thought maybe you folks here could either confirm my concerns or shed a different light on them. You have indeed confirmed what I had suspected. Thank you for your help.

[Gray Fox]

The entire Bible is the holy, inspired Word of God. We must believe all of it, from cover to cover by faith.

To only believe what we want to believe is to remove portions of it. The last warning in the Bible should be very sobering and cause trembling to those who choose to make the Bible a multiple choice of options.

Revelation 22:18

18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book;
19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

[andy]

Morgan

I have thought about your post all day. I was lead to this scripture:

1Co 15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
1Co 15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
1Co 15:15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
1Co 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
1Co 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.


Kinda says it all. I will be praying for your friends that their eyes be opened and their hearts filled with the Truth who is of course our Savior and Lord.

:wave

[Hootmon]

Those verses Andy posted are at the core of this.

Not believe that Christ died and then was raised up is basically saying that you dont believe the Gospel.

Here is a different version...

Now if it is preached that Christ rose from the dead, how can some say among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ also has not risen: And if Christ is not risen, then is our preaching in vain, and your faith is also in vain; And we are also found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ when he had not raised him. For if the dead rise not, then neither did Christ rise: And if Christ did not rise, your belief is in vain; and you are yet in your sins. And also, then, those who have died in Christ have perished.
(1Co 15:12-18)