PATJOE
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Posts posted by PATJOE
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Q4. What assurance do you have that you will be physically resurrected rather than experience disembodied immortality? What does it mean that Jesus is the "firstfruits" (1 Corinthians 15:20) and "firstborn" (Revelation 1:5) from the dead?
We are promised that we died to our life and our lives are now hidden in Christ. He is our life, and when He appears, we will appear with Him and be presented to the father. To believe this, is to know we will have bodies to appear with and be presented with. We will be resurrected as Christ was, and He was recognized in His body by those who loved Him. Jesus was the very first to be risen to life from actual death, making Him "firstborn"- and He's given us the reason to make Him our "firstfruits" of our day, and our lives.
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Q3. How does Christ's death and resurrection provide an analogy for baptism according to Romans 6:3-5 and Colossians 2:12? According to Ephesians 2:4-6, while being "raised with Christ" is still spiritual, not physical, in what way does this union impart real spiritual power?
When we are baptized, we are united with Christ in His death and at the end of our worldly life we will be united with Him again in His resurrection. We will be at Christ's right hand as He is with the Father, which puts us in a position to share in Christ's power spiritually and all His power can do for us. Here we are, so undeserving on our own, and yet so loved to be in this wondrous position with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Do we really understand what kind of love this is? It is beyond all human understanding. We are in His grace and praise Him for that.
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Q2. In what way does Christ's resurrection somehow validate that we are saved and forgiven by God? If we didn't believe Christ had been actually raised from the dead, how might we have doubts about our salvation?
Jesus was pure and without sin. He lovingly accepted the burden, punishment and suffering, for all of OUR sins, while on the cross. So we have been vindicated through His death. There is absolutely nothing we could ever do to achieve our vindication/forgiveness on our own. His death did that for us and for the 6 hours it took Jesus to die, God turned His back on Him - while he bore OUR sins. His resurrection by God was God's way of restoring Jesus to His state of perfect holiness, and honoring Him by taking Him to His right side in heaven, while at the same time promising us our resurrection on the last day, if we believe and trust God with our lives. There is absolutely no sound basis for our salvation without the truth of Jesus' resurrection by God. What a loving Father and Saviour we have.
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Q1. What kind of credibility would Jesus' ministry have had if he were not raised from the dead, especially when he predicted it ahead of time? In what way is the resurrection God's seal of approval on him?
There would have been no credibility to Jesus'ministry for the world, without His resurrection. For the 2+ days He was in the tomb, all hope died - the Jews felt they had discredited Him because they thought He would have avoided the agonies of the cross if He was who He said He was. His resurrection made everything right again. It put His enemies in a place they could not refute; it proved Christ was the Son of God; it gave new birth to Christianity; it restored the joyful mood of His disciples and gave every one of us the basis of our own faith. God was very pleased with His son's willingness to suffer such agonies in order to obey His Father and in order to give all in God's creation a way back to Him and He placed His son on high at his right side in the position of Holiness that He so rightfully deserved. Praise God our Lord and Saviour for such abounding love for us and giving us this soul saving opportunity that we could not even begin to attain on our own.
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Q4. Which of the various proofs for the resurrection seems the most compelling to you? Why? If you had a friend who wasn't sure about the resurrection, could you explain why you're sure that Jesus was raised from the dead?
The fact that ten of the twelve disciples willingly chose martyrdom rather than denouncing their belief in Christ as their risen Saviour is so compelling. These disciples were ordinary people just like us and the strong convictions and bravery that they displayed, not only risking their lives, but knowing they would die, could never ever be present in them, had they known that this was always just a concocted lie. The martyrdom of these ten disciples are points of documented history and cannot be refuted. They were there. They followed Him; they learned from Him; they loved Him; they witnessed His death in horror; they rejoiced in seeing Him- His scars- communing with Him, hearing His voice, all after His death -- all of which is the basis for their faith, (in Jesus being indeed our risen Saviour), and my faith.
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Q3. How does the disciples' psychological state after the crucifixion provide excellent support for belief in the resurrection?
At the time of Jesus' crucifixion the disciples were devastated and full of sorrow. When He appeared to them, spoke to them, ate with them, invited them to touch Him, they were instantly filled with joy. In such a short period of time, to emerge from the depths of mourning a loved one, to the point of joyful celebration, could only logically happen with the return of the loved one.
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Q2. On the theft theory, what motive might the disciples have to take Jesus' body? What motive might the Romans have? The Jews? Joseph of Arimathea?
The disciples loved Him and would never want to steal His body, nor would they have any logical reason to do so. This would be true of all who loved Him. His enemies could never have guessed ahead of time that Jesus would be risen, and they would be looking at an empty tomb, so logically they too would have no motivation to steal His body. Joseph of Arimathea donated his own personal tomb for the purpose of interring Jesus' body permanently. He would not logically make this offer and then steal Jesus' body from His grave. In supposition, should any of Jesus' enemies have had fore knowledge of His rising from death, as soon as the disciples made the public statement that Jesus had indeed risen, His enemies would certainly have taken advantage of an opportunity to discredit who He claimed to be, and would have produced His body, as proof against Him, however this did not happen.
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Q1. What do you think motivates liberal Christian scholars to explain away the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ? Why would they claim that it is unhistorical more than some other event in the first century?
The world has slowly but surely been evolving toward "scientific proven data" to be their perceived idea of the only proof of hstorical events' legitimacy -- the lack of which, they consider the total basis to claim "not true". Sadly, this theory has been strongly adapted by "liberal Christian scholars". Again, sadly, their motivation seems to be either 1) jump on the bandwagon of "worldly views" to stay popular, or 2) possibly a selfish need to be a part of (their perceived notion of) ground-breaking, astounding evidence against Christ's resurrection, which is contrary to Christian belief. Either way, it is all about them and the fact that "Divine intervention by God alone" is squeezed right out of their equation. If they can convince "the world" of this, then the topic/controversy of Christ's resurrection would be, in their erroneous perception, the biggest "newsmaker" in the world. (Again, fortifying their perceived notion of "self greatness"). They indeed, in the end, are achieving the exact opposite -- their own condemnation for not accepting God's word as it is written.
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Q5. What is the difference between Jesus' resurrection and his ascension? How do the two fit together? In what sense is the ascension the completion of the resurrection?
Jesus' resurrection took place when His physical body rose from the tomb and appeared to many who loved Him. His ascension took place 40 days later. In His resurrection, He claimed victory over death. When He ascended to His Father, he was honored and exalted by God and taken to be at His right hand in the highest places. His ascension completes His resurrection, in that Jesus was given a task by His Heavenly Father, which He obediently fulfilled. God was pleased in His Son and placed Him on high, as He so willingly endured the agony of our due punishment. The result being, that God can reclaim all of His chosen (but sinning) people through their faith and belief that because of Jesus' loving actions, we are all under grace and forgiven and can all reside with our Father in heaven after the last day. The job was done and the desired result was achieved, without which, we would all be doomed. Can we even begin to comprehend the depth of His love for us? We should thank Him diligently every day of our lives.
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Q4. What do we know from the Gospels about the properties of Jesus' resurrection body? What was he capable of in this new body?
Firstly, His scars from crucifixion were healed. He showed them He was not a ghost. He was flesh and bone. He was able to be touched by Thomas. He was able to eat a piece of fish. He was able to cook fish on the seashore. His voice was the same. When He spoke Mary's name, she recognized Him. He could appear in their midst in spite of locked doors around the disciples.
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Q3. (Luke 24:12; John 20:6-8) What about the grave clothes brought Peter and John to faith? What was so peculiar about them?
The fact that the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head was neatly folded and lying separately from the other cloths. To be in this state, rather than just thrown aside, or even missing, had His body been stolen, strongly signfied to Peter and John that Christ had indeed risen.
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Q2. What similarities do you find in the resurrection accounts? Based on the agreements between the accounts, what seems to have happened?
1. Jesus did die and was buried. 2) All who loved Him were overcome with grief. 3) After three days the tomb was found empty and the cloths that Jesus was wrapped in were left behind. 4) Jesus appeared to Mary, Mary and Peter and other apostles - to Thomas and then to a group of 500 people.
Based on what all scriptures agree on, and as prophesized in the Old Testament, Jesus indeed died for our sins, was buried and rose again on the third day so that we could be saved through His loving grace.
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Q1. What differences do you find between the various resurrection accounts? How do you account for differences in eyewitness testimony? How might these differences add to the credibility of the witnesses?
1)In Matthew, Mark & Luke, Mary Magdalene and other women go to the tomb. In John she goes alone; 2)In Matthew, Jesus appears to the women before they tell the disciples. In John, Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene alone, after she reported to the disciples; 3) In Matthew and Mark, only one angel appears at the tomb. In Luke and John, two angels appear. In Mark, the women told no one what they had seen as they were frightened. In Matthew, Luke & John, they report the empty tomb to the disciples and they were not believed. These differences in eyewitness testimony are not out of the ordinary, as rarely do eye witnesses observe identical situations. Had they observed identical situations, it would have been less credible and would appear to be collusion. These differences support the human individual observations and adds to the credibility of the witnesses.
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Q4. Why did Jesus' enemies heed his prediction of being raised on the third day even more than his disciples? Did his enemies expect him to rise? Did his followers?
I believe Jesus' enemies viewed Jesus as being deceitful but powerful. They heeded his prediction that He would be raised on the third day, not because they believed Him. They heeded it because they didn't trust Him and expected Him to deceive them. I don't think anyone, even his disciples, believed Jesus enough that they knew for certain He would rise from the dead. I think His resurrection was a total surprise to everyone.
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Q3. (John 11:23-25) What do you think Jesus meant when he said, "I am the resurrection and the life"? What role will Jesus play in the resurrection of the dead?
Jesus is our personal agent to our resurrection. He is totally involved in the resurrection of the dead. He, Himself will raise us up out of our graves and deliver us to Eternal Life.
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The righteous will enter into Eternal Life with our Creator and Saviour. The righteous will rise to live and the unrighteous will rise to be condemned.
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Q2. (John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15) According to scripture, both the righteous and unrighteous will experience resurrection. What will be the result of resurrection for the righteous?
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Job's vision is one of light and hope that some day he will see His Lord.
Sheol is a dark place with no hope and where the Lord is not present.
Progressive Revelation: As years go by, more and more is learned by us and revealed by the Lord to help answer the many questions asked about life after death.
Q5. Steadfast because of the Resurrection
in 4. The Present-Day Significance of Christ's Resurrection
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Our being alive in this world that God created, is the first part of God's plan for us. It can and will get nasty; we will feel defeated without God; we will feel at times discouraged, even with God. We are to never lose hope and quit. We are to never feel we have failed as far as the world's idea of what the big picture is. We are working according to God's Big Picture and every little thing we have done all counts with God (even if it's just a frantic prayer during a crisis and calling on Him when we need him). All we go through is at God's request and our obedience and never losing faith in His power is what gives us the promised hope for our own Eternal Life with Him. He is always there. He never abandons us. He always hears us and His perfect timing for us is always a blanket of comfort to wait for, as our own timing is never anything but impatient. Nothing we do is in vain. It is the Lord's work we do, and He counts every little pebble. To answer the question why this is true - I believe it is all a part of God's grace that He gives us. It is certainly not something we have earned or deserve.