Contradiction: The Nature of the Resurrection
There are plenty of anti-Christian sites that list Biblical conradictions. I think most are trivial. Okay, if you are against inerrancy, each contradiction is significant, but otherwise I do not think many really matter.
However, the resurrection is fundamental to Christianity, and the contradiction there strikes me as very significant.
First, we need to consider how Jesus is relevant here. Paul is quite clear:
Jesus was the prototype. His resurrection was the first, but all good Christians can expect to be resurrected in the same way.
Paul goes on in his epistle to the Corinthians:
A clear distinction between the natural, flesh-and-blood body, and the spiritual body. Now I would not take that to mean necessarily insubstantial, but rather to mean a body composed of a different kind of matter; the same matter that angels are made of, say.
Indeed, Jesus confirms this idea when talking to the Sadducees, discussing what happens in the afterlife to a woman whose husband dies, and she marries again. Whose wife is she?
It is also worth looking at the vision Paul saw of Jesus.
Does anyone think you need to go to the toilet in heaven? Of course you do not! And the reason is that you are no longer flesh-and-blood.
Do you think people with physical disabilities still have them in heaven? If you live to be ninety, are you resurrected as a ninety year old? How about if you have spots, are they gone? A big nose? A bit of excess weight? Are there clothes? Fashions? Modesty taboos? All these things would seem to be required if people come back to live in their original bodies. Do you think that makes sense?
It is also clear that the body you have in this life does not end up in heaven. The bones of many saints are still around, for example, but none of the flesh. If there really is a resurrection, it must be the case that God gives the good a brand new body. Now it is possible that he gives everyone a brand new body that is identical to the old one, but surely it makes sense to give everyone a spiritual body for a spiritual life.
If this view of resurrection is correct, then people who died in car accidents can expect to end up in heaven a tangled mess of limbs!
Remember that the absence of a body was of great significance.
This is from Answers in Genesis:
However, the resurrection is fundamental to Christianity, and the contradiction there strikes me as very significant.
Jesus as Prototype
First, we need to consider how Jesus is relevant here. Paul is quite clear:
1 Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
Jesus was the prototype. His resurrection was the first, but all good Christians can expect to be resurrected in the same way.
A Spiritual Resurrection
Paul goes on in his epistle to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
A clear distinction between the natural, flesh-and-blood body, and the spiritual body. Now I would not take that to mean necessarily insubstantial, but rather to mean a body composed of a different kind of matter; the same matter that angels are made of, say.
Indeed, Jesus confirms this idea when talking to the Sadducees, discussing what happens in the afterlife to a woman whose husband dies, and she marries again. Whose wife is she?
Matthew 22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.She is noone's wife! Marriage, sex and even gender are irrelevant in the afterlife, because people are no longer flesh-and-blood, and so worldly concerns are forgotten. Instead, everyone will be like angels; composed of spiritual matter.
It is also worth looking at the vision Paul saw of Jesus.
Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:Again, this was no flesh-and-blood person, this was a spiritual being, akin to an angel.
What is heaven like?
Sure the way heaven is portrayed it is usually with people walking around looking pretty ordinary, but does that actually make sense?Does anyone think you need to go to the toilet in heaven? Of course you do not! And the reason is that you are no longer flesh-and-blood.
Do you think people with physical disabilities still have them in heaven? If you live to be ninety, are you resurrected as a ninety year old? How about if you have spots, are they gone? A big nose? A bit of excess weight? Are there clothes? Fashions? Modesty taboos? All these things would seem to be required if people come back to live in their original bodies. Do you think that makes sense?
New bodies
It is also clear that the body you have in this life does not end up in heaven. The bones of many saints are still around, for example, but none of the flesh. If there really is a resurrection, it must be the case that God gives the good a brand new body. Now it is possible that he gives everyone a brand new body that is identical to the old one, but surely it makes sense to give everyone a spiritual body for a spiritual life.
The soul
What is it that goes to heaven? It is not the body, it is the soul. A spiritual entity.A Flesh-and-Blood Resurrection
The problem is that such a view is contradicted by the gospel resurrection accounts, especially that of John.John 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.This is a very different resurrection to that described by Paul and indeed Jesus himself! This is Jesus coming to life again in the original body. This is Jesus complete with holes in his hands from the crucifixion!
If this view of resurrection is correct, then people who died in car accidents can expect to end up in heaven a tangled mess of limbs!
Remember that the absence of a body was of great significance.
Mark 16:6 And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.In this resurrection, a person comes back to life in his or her original body. According to Paul, everyone except Jesus gets resurrected on the same day; to bad if you were cremated or died more than a few months before the resurrection and have started to decompose. Perhaps you think people go to heaven straightaway? Obviously not - their bodies are still here.
Using the Spiritual Resurrection as Evidence for a Bodily Resurrection?
Curiously, Christians are happy to cite Paul sayimg Jesus was resurrected in a new body to support their claim that Jesus was raised in his original body!This is from Answers in Genesis:
Crossan’s “Christian faith” is not Christian at all, since a denial of the bodily Resurrection of Jesus is actually a rejection of the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:12–21; Romans 10:9).That is quite a stretch of logic there, but I guess that feel confident most people will not bother to both read 1 Corinthians 15 and think about what it actually says.
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