Is the Resurrection Fabricated?

[Columcille]

Originally Posted by TruthSeeker

The Bible speaks about Jesus miraculous resurrection. But are there any proofs of his resurrection? Witnesses claim that Jesus resurrected, but how legitimate are their claims? Some believe the story of the resurrection has been stretched to the point it is distorted from generation to generation.

TruthSeeker

I agree with Trinity that there is no concrete proof of the resurrection, but do not think it hard to grasp its certainty. I think a good saying that a man might be willing to lay down his life for a good man. But is Jesus really a good man? Once we determine his goodness, we must revisit this willingness to die for a good man. As Lewis has pointed out, there are only three ways in which we can see Christ; namely, as a liar, a lunatic, or really God the Son in the flesh. His claim to be God is central and cannot be seperated from his frame of mind. If he believed it, and was not God, then he is a lunatic. But what he taught is effective emotional healing, almost all religions would agree with the sermon on the mount and I am sure every psychologist would agree to its profoundness as edifying to the mind and well being of their patient. Besides, we know very well how we respond to lunacy in other people, their credibility is often rejected. If he was a liar, nowing his statement to be untrue, then we cannot say he was a good man... no matter how good his teachings were. Yet every religion, Jesus is considered a good man, a prophet, a righteous man who was a *******, and etc.. So it comes down to the third option. He was who he really said he was.

Now back to the willingness of men to die for a good man. All the accounts of Christianity in its early formative years demonstrates a p***ive account the martyrs who knew Jesus and observed his resurrection. They were not dying for a lunatic or a liar, they called him Lord and understood his divinity. They could very well have denied it and saved their own skin, but they knew the truth because they observed it. This seems to me one of the biggest persuasive thoughts. St. Paul states in 1 Cor. 15.14-19 the following:

And if Christ has not been raised, then empty (too) is our preaching; empty, too, your faith.
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Then we are also false witnesses to God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised.
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For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,
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and if Christ has not been raised, 6 your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.
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Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
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If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are the most pitiable people of all.


Now there are other reasons along with this can also be grasped... I should think the necessity of a resurrection is necessary for absolute justice. The alternatives of there not being a resurrection leave the individual's moral responsibilities in their own lifetime to be as relative and inconsistent as the moral equivalency of might makes right, the ends justify the means, and the rationalization that the deed is alright because it hurts nobody. Annilation lets the wicked off scott-free, Hitler is no better off than St. Theresa; karma with its cycles of life cannot answer to the individual soul's own immoral acts since whatever form it takes on next does not share the punishment. What would Hitler's next incarnation be like? An ant, a goat, there are certainly many of these on the lower food chain and how would a goat's suffering bring justice to Hitler's atrocities?

As such, once we get the idea of a resurrection as being necessary... the power of such a resurrection by a moral law giver must take presidence and a reconcilation from sinner to saint points to a universal conception of the dying god motif in mythology. Lewis points to this in his letters and also in "Mere Christianity" where Christ is the fulfillment.

[Heart2Heart]

Originally Posted by Columcille

I think a good saying that a man might be willing to lay down his life for a good man. But is Jesus really a good man? Once we determine his goodness, we must revisit this willingness to die for a good man.

How could Jesus be a good man, if He deceived many people to follow Him? The supposition would be if Judaism is true that means Judaism has been a true religion all this time to the present, which means, Jesus is not a good man. Christianity has been a false religion all this time.

But now, let's suppose Jesus did resurrect and died for our sins, then I would say He is a good man/God.

[Columcille]

Originally Posted by Heart2Heart

How could Jesus be a good man, if He deceived many people to follow Him? The supposition would be if Judaism is true that means Judaism has been a true religion all this time to the present, which means, Jesus is not a good man. Christianity has been a false religion all this time.

But now, let's suppose Jesus did resurrect and died for our sins, then I would say He is a good man/God.

But Judaism is true, God established it. God cannot be a liar. However, as plans are made... there are certain progressions or foundations laid down. One must have a foundation from which to build a house... as such we should view Judaism as a building block and not the completed house. The resurrection of Christ is sort of a mechanically engineered design by God. The blueprints are laid out in the O.T.. As such, Judaism is true even now, but a real Jew is one inwardly and so as Christ fulfills Judaism.