What kind of "resurrection was that, anyway?

[Tedly Nightshade]

I mean the guy comes back just long enough for some folks to get a glimpse, and then off he is to heaven?

 

For my money, the resurrection of Lazarus seemed to take a lot better... I assumed he lived more than a few days after coming back, anyway.

 

Clearly the real miracle is the resurrection of the entire world in the spring

[Slowly]

Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:

I mean the guy comes back just long enough for some folks to get a glimpse, and then off he is to heaven?

 

For my money, the resurrection of Lazarus seemed to take a lot better... I assumed he lived more than a few days after coming back, anyway.

 

Clearly the real miracle is the resurrection of the entire world in the spring

He was here for forty days. That's long enough, don't ya think? Kcbass

[coyote]

He shoulda stuck around a few thousand years. The story's quite a tall tale to take on faith alone.

 

Remember, it was Moses who insisted on going up the mountain and questioning God directly. It was Thomas who put his hand in the resurrected Jesus' wound.

 

Well, that's me. Ready to accept it as a reality if indeed it is a reality. Otherwise, number me among the doubters - confident that if God indeed exists, He won't cast me into Hell for exercising the doubt that He gave me as a gift (and a survival tool).

[antimatter]

Thank Goodness!

I thought you guys were talking about Mr. Nice Jazz Guitar Guy.

[Super 8]

Originally posted by coyote:

He shoulda stuck around a few thousand years.

He had finished what he came here to do. What was the point in staying?

 

Many saw him during the time he was still here after he was resurrected. Many went willingly to violent deaths for sharing the news of what they saw. Obviously, they saw something that blew their minds, and simply couldn't keep quiet about it.

[Raymar]

Can you say Bodhisatva?

 

Steve

[Slowly]

Originally posted by Super 8:

Originally posted by coyote:

He shoulda stuck around a few thousand years.

He had finished what he came here to do. What was the point in staying?

 

Many saw him during the time he was still here after he was resurrected. Many went willingly to violent deaths for sharing the news of what they saw. Obviously, they saw something that blew their minds, and simply couldn't keep quiet about it.

How come you ain't a preacher? Kcbass

[ViLo]

Originally posted by Super 8:

Originally posted by coyote:

He shoulda stuck around a few thousand years.

He had finished what he came here to do. What was the point in staying?

 

Many saw him during the time he was still here after he was resurrected. Many went willingly to violent deaths for sharing the news of what they saw. Obviously, they saw something that blew their minds, and simply couldn't keep quiet about it.

And He's Coming again!!! "Bad Boys Whatcha gonna do??" Do it while is time!

[kylen]

Thank Goodness!

I thought you guys were talking about Mr. Nice Jazz Guitar Guy.

Naw...oh no - could it be , whoops no it couldnt've been - do ya think it was Him ? How would we know - oh gawd - a test - and we cast him out...arf !@#! If (s)he had a halo or something that would help too I guess...

[coyote]

Like I said, it a huge amount to take on faith 2000 years later - especially when we so often witness man's individual and/or collective insanity.

 

Originally posted by Super 8:

He had finished what he came here to do. What was the point in staying?

Many saw him during the time he was still here after he was resurrected. Many went willingly to violent deaths for sharing the news of what they saw. Obviously, they saw something that blew their minds, and simply couldn't keep quiet about it.

[boosh]

I allways wondered why HE couldn't bring Elvis back for an hour or 2 just to jam with me....

[kylen]

I allways wondered why HE couldn't bring Elvis back for an hour or 2 just to jam with me....

I think it's easier (in some cases) for us to go 'there' if you follow me - so be good - otherwise it's AC/DC jams for eternity...hmmm

[Tedly Nightshade]

It just seems weird to me, the 40 day resurrection, if it was that... did it not take or something? What killed Him the second time?

[Wewus432]

Everything in The Bible is in 40 days and nights increments. Ever notice that? It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, Moses was with The Lord 40 days and 40 nights, 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, etc., etc. There's probably 40 such references in The Bible, possibly that number is symbolic of something.

[Tusker]

Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:

It just seems weird to me, the 40 day resurrection, if it was that... did it not take or something? What killed Him the second time?

Ted, I'll assume it's an honest question, not a rhetorical taunt.

 

Jesus had to play his next role. He ascended into heaven, as opposed to dying. Jesus has a positional role of authority, today at the right hand of the father. This is the metaphor of a royal court. In other words having showed us how to be good humans, he now takes heavenly authority, so as to intercede for us, and so that we can use the power of his name, in prayer.

 

Here some scriptures that illustrate this if you are interested. (I won't post them.)

 

An old testament description of the Son's authority can be found in Psalm 2.

 

A new testament description of the Son's authority can be found in the book of Ephesians Chapter 1, verses 17 through 23.

 

If you have more questions, fire away.

 

Jerry

[Tedly Nightshade]

Originally posted by Jerry Aiyathurai:

Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:

It just seems weird to me, the 40 day resurrection, if it was that... did it not take or something? What killed Him the second time?

Ted, I'll assume it's an honest question, not a rhetorical taunt.

 

Jesus had to play his next role. He ascended into heaven, as opposed to dying. Jesus has a positional role of authority, today at the right hand of the father. This is the metaphor of a royal court. In other words having showed us how to be good humans, he now takes heavenly authority, so as to intercede for us, and so that we can use the power of his name, in prayer.

 

Here some scriptures that illustrate this if you are interested. (I won't post them.)

 

An old testament description of the Son's authority can be found in Psalm 2.

 

A new testament description of the Son's authority can be found in the book of Ephesians Chapter 1, verses 17 through 23.

 

If you have more questions, fire away.

 

Jerry

Thanks for taking it as an honest question Jerry. I suppose this makes JC the first person to make it to heaven alive? It's a curious business to be sure. I don't know if you've ever researched the antecedents to this story, the story of Mithra for instance, and the tradition of sacrificial kings, where Judas and Jesus were alternating names of sacred kings. Next time around, Jesus killed Judas, and so on.

 

And yeah, I did notice this recurring 40 number too...that must have it's antecedents as well... wonder what the relevance is, or if it was meant as a nice round number approximation.

[boosh]

Originally posted by TheWewus:

Everything in The Bible is in 40 days and nights increments. Ever notice that? It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, Moses was with The Lord 40 days and 40 nights, 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, etc., etc. There's probably 40 such references in The Bible, possibly that number is symbolic of something.

Let's ask Michael Jackson,... He used a phrase like that in Billie Jean

[fantasticsound]

Originally posted by boosh:

I allways wondered why HE couldn't bring Elvis back for an hour or 2 just to jam with me....

Duh! You can't resurrect someone who isn't dead! C'mon, Boosh, people see Elvis here in the states all the time!

 

Not only that, but he is, apparently, connected with Jesus. Just look at this headline:

 

http://members.optushome.com.au/stylofone/poecmc/wwncover.gif

[ViLo]

Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:

[QB].... I suppose this makes JC the first person to make it to heaven alive? [QB]

Nope! Enoch and Moses made it too! Enoch was taken alive, moses was resurrected

[Super 8]

Originally posted by ViLo:

Originally posted by Ted Nightshade:

[QB].... I suppose this makes JC the first person to make it to heaven alive? [QB]

Nope! Enoch and Moses made it too! Enoch was taken alive, moses was resurrected

I don't think Ted buys into it.

 

Ted,

Is there anything you DO believe in?

Seriously....

I recall that bit you wrote about how not aborting a child was a sign of selfishness. So, abortion was a sort of 'mercy killing' I guess. I don't mean to put words in your mouth, but that was what your point seemed to be.

 

I read that, and I'm reading this....and I've read some other stuff you've written....my impression of you, is that you are a really nice person, but not a very happy person.

 

And, I'm just wondering what the deal is?

 

Is there anything you believe in? Is there any hope for the future?

 

These aren't loaded questions. I'm genuinely curious.

[Wewus432]

Originally posted by boosh:

Originally posted by TheWewus:

Everything in The Bible is in 40 days and nights increments. Ever notice that? It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, Moses was with The Lord 40 days and 40 nights, 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, etc., etc. There's probably 40 such references in The Bible, possibly that number is symbolic of something.

Let's ask Michael Jackson,... He used a phrase like that in Billie Jean

Good idea. As we all know Pop stars are the smartest people in the world.

[Slowly]

Originally posted by TheWewus:

Everything in The Bible is in 40 days and nights increments. Ever notice that? It rained for 40 days and 40 nights, Moses was with The Lord 40 days and 40 nights, 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown, etc., etc. There's probably 40 such references in The Bible, possibly that number is symbolic of something.

Forty in the Old Testament days was slang for a whole lot. Not a concrete number as it is today. Kcbass

[Dennyf]

40 was just a crude approximation that was the best they could do at the time, analogous to early measurements of the circumference of the earth based on measurements of shadows thrown by sticks at different latitudes. Good methodology, but limited by the accuracy of measurement at the time.

 

Nowadays, we know the real figure to be 47, as that is the answer to everything.

[coyote]

40 seems about the number of days a person could possibly last without resources. I know that, if I didn't eat for three days, I'd be hungry but otherwise OK. I could even imagine two or three weeks... Make it 40 days, and we'd be getting to the edge.

[Base]

Originally posted by Dennyf:

Nowadays, we know the real figure to be 47, as that is the answer to everything.

Ah, but what was the question....?

[Wewus432]

A couple of links about Biblical numerology- HERE and HERE .

[Dennyf]

Originally posted by coyote:

Well, that's me. Ready to accept it as a reality if indeed it is a reality. Otherwise, number me among the doubters - confident that if God indeed exists, He won't cast me into Hell for exercising the doubt that He gave me as a gift (and a survival tool).

I wouldn't be too sure. He might. Maybe you (and I) won't make the cut. Why were we created (if that's what happened) in the first place?

 

There's a lot about Christianity and the Bible I don't get. One that's on my mind as I write this is, "Why was God such a kick-ass mofo in the Old Testament, yet suddenly so benevolent in the new?"

 

Thing's clearly weren't (and aren't) going well. Did He one day just throw His hands up in exasperation, and say "Jesus, these idiots are never gonna get it right. Hey, that's it, I'll send Jesus, and modify the game plan a bit?" Was His thesis project coming due, so He changed the experiment parameters to get the results he wanted?

 

Creationists say the world (and by extrapolation, the universe) is only 6000 years old, in spite of all kinds of clear evidence that it must be much older. But then a friend of mine suggested the possibility that an all-powerful God could create the universe just as it was, "evidence" and all. Why load the deck against us with a bunch of false leads? I dunno, it's not my project. Maybe there's no other way to create a universe, I never did it. And (for an example) maybe the fossil record is the work of the Devil. (This doesn't "feel" likely to me, but who knows?)

 

The upshot is that if we WERE created, there must have been a motive. There must be some result desired from giving us free will, and (now I'm extrapolating) culling the deficient. Otherwise, if it's a case of everyone getting a "get-into-heaven-free" pass, why not just create us there, and be done with it? (Maybe that's what He tried with the heavenly host, and it wasn't satisfying.)

 

I have trouble believing that Christianity is the "one true faith." I have trouble believing that there IS one true faith.

 

But maybe the key word is just "faith." Belief without, or in spite of, evidence.

 

This may just be an age-related thing on my part. I guess a lot of people come to faith as they get older, and the cynic in me thinks it's just fear of having to confront one's own mortality. BOTOH, I've gone the whole Christian-atheist-agnostic-nowIdon'tknowwhat route, and the only thing I find less likely than a God is that everything just happened. I'm beginning to think that maybe we AREN'T gonna find life anywhere else in the universe. I know we haven't made anything like a comprehensive search, but we haven't found any really encouraging evidence in our baby-step efforts so far. And then there's the Fermi Paradox , which is further discouraging.

 

And if we really ARE alone, then a creation (and Creator) seems more likely to me. If we're a unique event in the universe, then the chances that we happened spontaneously are infinitesimally remote.

[Tedly Nightshade]

Super 8,

 

there is a lot I believe in, and very passionately. Mostly these are things I have experienced directly myself, and many of them would come under the general heading of "conscious contact" with the divine, as the 11th step puts it, rather boldly I think.

 

All the ancient religious writings interest me a good deal- knowing something of the history of these works, I have to think that none of them are intact unrevised direct transcriptions of the word of any deity, but human documents that probably did have their origins, and likely some of the revisions (maybe revisions of revisions) as a result of conscious or unconscious contact with the divine. There certainly is more there than meets the eye- I wouldn't be taking most of this literally, but I think it points in relevant directions.

 

I am aware of the divine energy manifested in every part of our material world- literally I can see this energy, a kind of vibratory radiance. I see a higher form of it in vegetation than I do in asphalt though. My acute awareness of what is so precious, and of the subtle sentience of all things, does cause me good deal of distress in a time when most of this stuff is being directly destroyed on a daily basis. I can hear/feel the screaming, human and otherwise- empathy is not an easy thing to live with.

 

Here's hoping we can appreciate what it's like for the other forms of life among us, and to step lightly on our mother's face, where we are required to walk in this lifetime.