Ann K

This will be a time of rejoicing with our Lord and with our loved ones gone on before. Life on earth is too busy. Material things or wants are more important to many people than spirituality or love for each other. Take time to stop, look around you to see the magnificent earth God has created for us ~~ see your neighbour as your brother. Love must abound. Be prepared. We know not the hour when the Lord will come to take us home in our new spiritual body .. Thanks be to God for all He has given to us!!

We know not what our resurrected bodies will be like. To go to Heaven we have to have some change ~~ as our mortal body will not work or function there. There has to be resurrection of our bodies to give us faith and belief that life continues after our death on earth. From dying must come rebirth in some other form.

The redemption of our bodies is the setting free of our earthly body by our resurrection to a more heavenly, complete spiritual body, free of the chains of earthly existence. The words describing our resurrection bodies are imperishable, glorified, powerful and spiritual.

Christians will immediately be with God at the time of their death awaiting the final resurrection. We await the resurrection in the presence of God ~~ in the house Christ has prepared for us in Heaven.

The word is Resurrection. Christ's return will be on the Last Day. We know not the time. All will be raised living and dead but those who will believe will be given eternal life. The Great Gathering will separate believers from non-belivers ~~ but God's love will abound on all.

By doing work we are doing work for the Lord. It is his work not ours. Our work may not always be productive, but we must focus on our belief that Christ is coming and when he comes we shall rise from the dead. Our labour is not in vain because Christ lives we are able to face tomorrow. God will not give us work or cares that we cannot do.. They may feel ovewhelming at times but we are able to carry the load with his love and support.

Christ's resurrectionis my asurance that I too will experience a spiritual resurrection. Christ's resurrection is the focus of our own hope for eternal life. Jesus' resurrection from the dead led the way as the first to experience rebirth and opened up the way for the rest of us.

Christ's death and resurrection~~ Christ died and rose again. By baptism, immersion portrays death``rising out of the water represents our being united with Him (In the future) in his resurrection. The love of God shows our being raised with Christ and that we can share his power and privileges in the spiritual world.

Jesus' resurrection gives us the assurance of God's promise that we are saved from our sins and we are forgiven. How could we believe if we did not have the resurrection . We all experience death. We would not have the necessary 'proof' to explain our belief or salvation. Seeing is believing!

I don't think any of the various proofs are more compelling than another. All the facts are woven together to make the story complete. One cannot , I feel, talk about the spread of Christianity without the bringing of the other 'proofs' into the story. Yes, I believe, I could explain why I believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. The older I get the more I understand. I believe that Jesus walked on earth , teaching and listening, was crucified, dead and buried. He appeared after his resurrection to various people, went to heaven, sits at the right hand of God, and some day will return. What a wonderful story we have to believe in. Christ the Lord has risen.

After the resurrection the disciples were so down heartened, confused, afraid and discouraged they were probably at the lowest part of their lives in their 'spititual belief and walk.' With the appearance of Jesus in various places to them and others , and the various happenings at the tomb, to the Romans soldiers and their outlook and change at the events ,supported their belief in the events that took place. The discip;es began to remember many of the things Jesus spoke about to them about and which they did not understand at the time. They now believed that 'Christ had indeed risen.'

The disciples had no reason to steal the body as they knew it had been properly prepared for burial and was in a secure tomb. The Romans would maybe want to dispel the 'love affair' or following that many were getting from Jesus and his teaching, but to steal the body would only give the followers of Jesus more solid belief. Taking the body would be the wrong approach. The Jews would be glad to see the death of Jesus and would not want to touch the body for fear of the reaction it would cause against them. Joseph Had no need to steal the body . He provided a tomb for the burial of Jesus' body. He wanted to provide a safe place for the body. Noone really had a need to steal the body.

I have read and reread this question and am having difficulty in coming up with an answer. Some scholars have to have an answer for everything. Something can only be black or white with nothing in between. In my belief I believe in the resurrection and the cross. We cannot have one without the other. Something marvelous can happen and never be repaeated. Is this not what happened in theEaster story??? The resurrection cannot be complete without the ascension. Part of my being a Christian is that I have the faith and love to believe in this historical act. To date it has never been repeated. Aren't we blessed that we can have a faith to believe in it. Don't know if I have answered the question or not.

Jesus'resurrection is his victory over the grave rising from the dead. His ascension is his going up to heaven to sit at the right hand of God ~~~ the place chosen or reserved For Him. His ascension is the continuation from the Cross to the Grave to his appearances on earth and finally his going to his rightful place chosen by the Father for the Son, that is to have a seat a t the right hand of his father.

His body was 'still flesh and bones' yet had added new elements. He could do all things he had done before his death on the cross~ but after his resurrection he could appear on a roa besude travellers travelling on the road, walk through doors, etc. His body could almost be thought of as now having tha added ability of a ghostly aspect.

The grave clothes would have been missing if the body had been stolen. The matter of the position of the grave clothes so neatly placed were the realization to the disciples that jesus had risen and escaped from his earthly body. Thr grave cloths were still in the same position as when he was buried in them.

The similarities were that Jesus was dead and buried. Women were the first to go to the tomb. Disbelief that Jesus was not there. Angels (not always the same number )were there. The placing of the cloths. Confusion, The disciples encounter a number of experiences which they thought to be Jesus. The stone had been rolled away. Jesus is not there but still some uncertainity that he is risen from the dead. That Jesus has risen from the grave is what I perceive between the agreements of the accounts.

The number of angels, different women who went to the tomb, description of cloths found in the tomb, the rolling away of the stone, etc. Everyone sees a particular occurence in different ways (not major changes). These differences add to the credibility of the witnesses in that each observer's 'state ofmind' was in various stages of belief, acceptance, grief ,etc. and thus, perceived happenings in minor different ways. Does this not happen in our own individual lives??

Knowing their 'Bible' the Enemies seemed to be more aware of His words when he spoke about destroying the Temple and rising on the Third day. However, they were or could not believe in the resurrection as no one had ever experienced that. I don't know if they realized what Jesus was saying, but rather they thought that the disciples would take the body away and say that he had been raised from the dead. I don't think his followers believed he would be raised. They were not ready for the events which were to take place. Were they hiding their heads in the sand not wanting to believe what they were hearing from Jesus!!!! Human nature is like that!!

Jesus is the One 'the Agent" who will cause the raising of the dead on the last day. His death on the Cross and his rising on the third day was the chief role instrumental in the rising up of 'mortals' on Judgments day. Without the Cruxification there would be no resurrection of the dead.

This will be a time of 'Reward' for those who had followed the Lord. They will live again, but not as'life' as we know life here on earth in our body.

Death to the Jews was a finality. Job appears to believe that there is some sort of life after death. That something happens to the soul. Progressive revalation is a belief or understanding that death is not an end--- there is something more than gloom and darknes in our demise.

In Proclaiming it is made known to the public or the community. The proclamination is made to all. Everyone is invited to the Lord's table ~ no one should be turned away. Would you turn someone away from your dinner table??? I think the church that would shift to a different central theme would be turning away from the concept that Jesus died on th cross for our sins and in observing the Last Supper He wanted the tradition to be carried on in His name and in remembrance of him. Whether you go to the Lord's Supper daily or only occasionally it has to be meaningful to you as you proclaim what Christ has done for you.

We have to remeber if not we are quick to forget.His death is the crowning point of my belief. If we neglect remembering in this way it will be veryeasy for us to walk away from our religion. Sharing in the Lord's Supper brings us back to community and the realization of whatChristianity or our religion is about.. When we forget Christ's death we lose a vital part of our own exitence ~ love fadesand evil will invade our minds. The Lord's supper is sharing, Communion and love.r

The Passover meal was a remembrance to the Jews of the Passover Sacrifice when the Lord passed over their houses when he struck death in the Egyptians homes. It was to be repated as a remembrance of how they were spared from the Lord's wrath. Certainly an important part of their history would be lost, but more important would be their forgetting of the Love of the Lord and his saving grace.