Is a Bodily Resurrection of Jesus Necessary for Easter to Have Validity? Pt.1

This is an article I pulled from a friends face book page. We as Christians must get rid of our biblical illiteracy and become rooted and grounded in our faith. Dr. Steven Mcswain is some distinguished professor of religion, claims to be a Christian. Run from this name saints!I am not sure where he teaches. I know he is speaking at many churches across the country. My friend is a student at Harvard. Many of these prestige institutions are confusing and leading people into major doctrinal errors as it relates to Christianity. I have incuded my statements in the atricle to help you see his errors. Please read this prayerfully and carefully. I will have pt. II tomorrow.


Is a Bodily Resurrection of Jesus Necessary for Easter to Have Validity? Pt.1

Soon, millions of Christians will gather to celebrate Easter. For many of them, the literal, not merely metaphorical, resurrection of Jesus -- that is, a bodily resuscitation -- is necessary for any of it to have validity.

Is this necessary? Does the resurrection need the resuscitation of Jesus' body to have any transformative significance in the 21st century?


Keelan:I say it does for me. The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important event to occur in the history of man-kind. The Christian faith hangs on the very hinges of the resurrection. This doctrine is one of the most important doctrines of the Bible. I will go a step further and say that the bodily resurrection of Jesus from the dead is a fundamental and foundational doctrine of the Christian faith. If Jesus did not rise from the dead bodily, then we have no faith and Christianity is no better than any other cult or false religion in the world. Paul said in 1 Cor. 15:14, "and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain." Three verses later, in verse 17, he again says, "and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins."


Though there are many subjects with which Christians may disagree and still are considered Christian, this is not one of them. To deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus is to deny the heart of Christianity itself. The reason I stress the word bodily or physical is because simply put a "resurrection" of the dead (Matthew 22:30-31; Luke 14:14; 1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16) is to imply physicality. That is what a resurrection is. The Bible has no categories for the concept of a resurrected body that remains dead and physically lying in a grave.

Dr. Mcswain: It doesn't for me. Although, like many other Christians, I grew up being taught that on the third day after his crucifixion Jesus' body, which was wrapped and buried in a tomb, miraculously came back to life, and he wiggled out of his clothes, got up and walked out. When I got a little older, I began to question both the validity of this version of the story and the necessity of a physical "come-back-to-life" miracle in what we now know as Easter.
Keelan: I believe one has the right to question the validity of what is told to them; however the standard of the test of all Christian subjects must be the Word of God. Any test that does not and an Absolute Standard is merely speculation.

Dr. Mcswain: Today, I think the significance of Easter is more metaphorical than literal. Few theologians have helped better articulate what I've felt and thought for years than Marcus Borg. If you have not read his book, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time, I think you would find it inspiring reading. Believable too. It's a bit dated now, but if you've ever wondered how to make more logical sense of your Christian experience than the explanations you were taught as a child, this is a pretty good book to read to enhance your Easter experience.

Keelan: The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a documented historical fact. Something that Paul points out in 1 Cor. 15:5-8. We have the testimony of Peter, Paul, all the disciples and of over 500 brethren who all saw the risen Lord on one occasion. The resurrection is documented in the Bible, Luke 24; John 20-21; Matt. 28; Mark 16; Acts 1:3, etc. There are our secular resources as well such Historian Josephus. Not only is it an historical fact it is a Present Reality that holds the Christian Faith it tact. Christ is not metaphorically alive He is actually alive forever making intercession for His people (Heb. 7:5)

It is interesting that for such a serious subject, Dr. Mcswain endorses Marcus Borg’s book any never endorses the bible. I wonder why? What do he believe about the bible? Well here is what

Marcus Borg believes:
Borg advocates entering into relationship with God as more important than belief about God. He has a panentheist understanding of God, which sees God as both indwelling in everything and transcendent.[6] He teaches that a historical-metaphorical approach to the Bible is more meaningful for today's world than is the historical-grammatical approach or that of biblical literalism. He also distinguishes between the pre-Easter Jesus, who was a Jewish mystic and the founder of Christianity, and the post-Easter Jesus who is a divine reality that Christians can still experience personally.

Borg does not believe that the Bible has to be taken literally if it is to be taken seriously, an idea he develops in his book Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, subtitled Taking the Bible Seriously but Not Literally. He claims that truths can be found in the many messages and metaphors of the Bible stories even though he states that such stories may not have actually happened at all. Rather than asking what the events in certain New Testament stories actually were, he challenges his audience with another question, 'What effect must this man (Not GOD MAN) Jesus have had on the people he came into contact with for so many rich stories to have been written about him after his life?' (Wikipedia Biography)

Dr. Mcswain: Why have I come to believe the resurrection story is more metaphorical than literal?

Well, the most obvious reason is, it's more believable. Maybe it's easy for you to live in a mythical, magical world of make-believe (and, if so, so be it), but I cannot. I've conducted too many funerals in my lifetime, walked through too many stone-cold cemeteries and stood beside too many grieving souls (my own included) whose family members had gone the way that we all will go -- the way of death -- to believe anything other than death is pretty fatal and pretty final. You can pretend all you'd like that it isn't so. Dress up the altar with lilies and sing as loud as you can "Up From the Grave He Arose." But, one day, you'll discover for yourself that all the pretending in the world won't keep you from going to the grave. You will die, just as I will die.

Keelan: The Christian Life is rooted in faith, God given faith (Rom. 10:17). Everything that is not of faith is SIN (Rom. 14:23). So anything that is not believable in the bible we shouldn’t believe? Sounds like I’m the standard of what is true. This is Post-Modernism to the core – the denial of Absolute Truth. Truth is not only subjective but it is also objective. My experiences don’t determine what is true. Who is living in the world of make-believe? Yes death is real and it is fatal but death doesn’t have the final say, God does. We do hurt over the lost of love ones. Death is the terrible result of sin. However, God has not left us ignorant on this matter.

I Thes. 4:13-18
13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep (dead), that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep (died in Christ). 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,4 that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (fatal but not final) 17 Then we who are alive, ( all will not experience death) who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Hallelujah for the LAMB!!!!!! Someone is not reading their Bible or don’t believe the Bible.

Dr. Mcswain: Now, that does not mean that I have given up believing in something after death. I have not. I can't prove there's life after death. I'm pretty sure no one has proven there is nothing either. For me, I prefer to imagine something goes on beyond this life and that, whatever that something is, it's all good. I can get real metaphorical about it, too. But, the fact is, I don't think much about life beyond death, I've got too much to ponder now. And, it's infinitely more meaningful to me than either the past or the future. I suspect this is because, whenever I think about either the past or the future, I'm either regretting something I've done or worrying about something I'm getting ready to do.

Keelan: Christians don’t believe something we believe the Lord and His Word. Christians are intelligent articulate and kind people (I Pet. 3:15). We don’t believe something we know and should be prepared to say what we know when we are asked. Truth is not authenticated by my proving it. The truth is authenticated by the validity of the One who established it. Truth lies in the reliability of the One who establishes the truth. God cannot LIE! (Heb. 6:18) For those who deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ life after death will not be good. Christian are taught to focus on what is not seen not the things that are seen for the things seen are transient but the unseen is eternal (II Cor. 4:18)

All men have two dimensions of implanted spiritual consciousness that they every man cannot escape.

1. The Awareness of Accountability to and guilt before the True and Living God. Romans 1 and 2 make this clear. Romans 1&2
2. The Consciousness of their capacity for and need of communion w/God. Acts 17:26-28

These dilemmas can only be sufficed by the provisions of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The two provisions in the gospel for these dilemmas are:

1. Christ is the Objective Provision of Perfect Righteousness
2. Christ is the Subjective Provision of Knowledge and Communion with God.
Philippians 3:1-16 clearly articulates.

Dr. Mcswain: So, I find my biggest challenge in life, as well as reward, is staying present. That way, I'm not wasting my time thinking of situations that might have been better, of the stupid things I've done or the people who have offended me and what I wish I had said or done in those situations and so on. Such is madness. Conversely, I'm not wasting my energy with the future either -- a future that, when and if it does come, will only ever come as this present moment. I don't think anyone has ever lived in the future until they got there. When I don't stay anchored to the present, I'm anticipating some conversation, what I'm going to say, how he or she is likely to respond, what I'm going to do with the imagined response, and, well, you can see how this madness goes, too.

Keelan: What a blessing to be able to have a Personal Testimony like Apostle Paul;
“For to me to live (presently) and to die (future) is gain” Paul says in essence “When Christ is your EVERYTHING you handle ANYTHING. Past Present or Future.

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow

I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day.
And I don't borrow from the sunshine
'Cause the skies might turn to grey.

And I don't worry about the future,
'Cause I know what Jesus said,
And today I'm gonna walk right beside him
'Cause he's the one who knows what is ahead.

There are things about tomorrow
That I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.

And each step is getting brighter
As the golden stairs I climb.
And every burden is getting lighter
And all the clouds, they're silver lined.

And, I'll bet the sun it's always shining
There no tears will ever dim the eye
And the ending of the rainbow
Where the mountains, they touch the sky.

There are many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.

There is great theology in this song. I love to hear my Pastor Dr. James Brown Sr. sing it. He sings it with so much passion and assurance.

Dr. Mcswain: The hardest thing in life for me -- and I suspect the same is true of most people -- is staying here and now. So this is my daily spiritual practice. And when I do this, I've discovered a kind of resurrection all it's own -- a resurrection within my attitudes, my actions, as well as my sense of inner peace. At times, this inner peace is so wonderful, I could not imagine anything MORE wonderful beyond this life. So what I'm saying is something similar to what my favorite French writer, who is also an atheist, Andre' Comte-Sponville said. In one of his books, he asked, "Why would I want eternal life when I'm experiencing it already?"

Keelan: Ummm……… his favorite writer is an atheist?

These are the type of men teaching in these Liberal Seminarys. Then the young guys graduate for these prestige institution and many can't wait to call them as pastors because of where they studied and they say things we never heard. Church Wake Up!

JUDE

Jude, a servant1 of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

aTo those who are called, bbeloved in God the Father and ckept for2 Jesus Christ:

2 May dmercy, epeace, and love be multiplied to you.

Judgment on False Teachers
3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our fcommon salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you gto contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For hcertain people ihave crept in unnoticed jwho long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert kthe grace of our God into sensuality and ldeny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.