If Jesus himself said that he would not rise from the dead that would be damning for Christianity.Some feel that when Jesus told a thief on the day they were dying that they would be in Paradise that day and how he said he would not drink wine again in this world and even refused bad wine on the cross to make the point that he was clearly thinking he was going out of this world for good. The resurrection appearances could actually have been holograms or images rather than real appearances of Jesus.The sign of Jonah can be read as a hint. There Jesus says like Jonah who was three days and nights in a fish so he will be in the earth. But the story does not say Jonah died.
There is actually a clue in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus never intended to be crucified or rise from the dead at all. He left a simple test for working out who was a false prophet. He said false prophets act like sheep but are wolves in disguise and he said you can tell that they are fakes by their bad works, their bad fruits. So basically if they do or say anything that cannot be provably excused they are fakes. This is a very simple test and that was what Jesus intended it to be. Therefore tales about the prophet only seeming to be evil for there is a higher purpose for what he does which only he can fathom are out for they make the criterion useless. Jesus did a lot of terrible things like dragging around apostles after him while he put their lives at risk and his by claiming to be the Messiah.
He insulted a demonised girl to her mother. He failed his own test. But his ideal was to look good and his ideal proves that he never intended to be crucified and rise again for if he did then he would have blatantly failed his test.
He said that heaven and earth would pass away and his word would not. Christians say he meant the sky not the abode of God which is a lie for in those days the sky was thought to be just that, where God lived as in a sort of house.
Jesus here denied that he would ascend to Heaven to live forever or rise in an immortal body for where is he going to go when Heaven is destroyed? His word would last beyond these meaning that his message that they would pass away would still be true then. Even if he meant the New Testament scriptures by his word, who needs them in Heaven? What would be the point of rising from the dead and going to Heaven if he still had a mortal body?
He also stated that the Devil is a burglar and ties up the strong man before raiding his house meaning that the Devil only does things that look good. He never gave any philosophical proof that his resurrection could not be the work of the Devil and it is worthless without that philosophical exploration. Evil is unreasonable so it follows that this lack proves that the resurrection was satanically powered and engineered.
The disciples of Jesus did not fast and those John the Baptist had did. Jesus explained that he would not let his own do that for they had him with them meaning that it was a time for rejoicing (Mark 2). He remarked that you do not put patches from new things unto old. And he said that his own disciples should wait until he was out of the world before fasting. Fasting was done to discipline the body. Jesus is forbidding his apostles to do that. Perhaps he thought that fasting was not about discipline but about pain for the sake of pain. If it was party-time, as he said, then after his death should be a bigger party for he is now with God and better at helping us than ever. When Jesus said that now was the time for celebrating he had no intention of surviving death or rising from the dead at that time. He did not even believe in life after death.
In John 2, Jesus causes trouble in the Temple and claims authority to put the buyers and sellers and their animals and stock out. The Jews asked him where he got this authority and what evidence he had to show he had it. He replied that they should destroy this Temple and in three days he will raise it up. He didn't say what he meant by that. John says he meant the temple of his body which would die and be raised up again three days later. The Jews assumed he meant he would demolish the Temple and rebuild it in three days. From this they concluded that he was mad. Jesus is declaring that the resurrection is his big proof that he is the Messiah, Son of God and whatever else he claims to be. Would Jesus have misled them that way and made them think he wished to demolish the Temple? What other interpretation could they take of him? Maybe that is what he meant. Especially when he was attacking the Temple physically. It is tempting to think that the resurrection story could have started with a missing tomb. Then the apostles remembering the prophecy about the Temple decided it was his body he meant not the real Temple and decided they had enough to go on to proclaim a resurrection. In any case, Jesus was claiming the right to meddle even violently in Temple affairs without giving any evidence that he had authority to do so. He needed that evidence before he could act. But he didn't let that stop him. John puts this episode at the start of Jesus' ministry when he hadn't even started his ministry with its alleged miracles which worsens it all. He was not to be trusted.
Jesus said in Mark's Gospel that false Christs would appear before the destruction of the Temple. He warned his own apostles to be very careful that these Christs would not lead them astray. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. The gospel was written about that time. But where were the Christs who were so plausible that even the apostles had to watch out in case they were taken in? Mark's gospel ends with angels saying that Jesus rose from the dead and was going to meet his apostles in Galilee. Then it stops. The rest of the chapter is a forgery. Putting two and two together, Jesus possibly was only seen during one apparition in Galilee. But was he a ghost or a vision caused by remote viewing? Whatever. If we are right then the other appearances of the risen Christ were either the work of demons or men pretending to be Jesus. The false Christs were all the appearances of somebody pretending to be Jesus. Is that why Mark stopped the gospel there? Was it because though it was thought Jesus rose, that only one of the appearances could be trusted?
It is strange how Jesus would think his rising from the dead would be that important when he said in the gospel of Luke, in the Rich Man and Lazarus story, that if anybody does not hear the Law and the Prophets they will not turn to God should somebody go to them from the dead even to warn them against eternal fire.
The resurrection failed to be his big proof for nobody saw him rising. That can be taken as support for a literal interpretation of his Temple prophecy.
The scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus about the resurrection. If a woman had a husband who died then another and another and so on whose wife would she be in the resurrection? Jesus told them that they knew neither the scriptures or the power of God. He said those in the resurrection are like the angels and do not marry and are not given in marriage.
Mormons say that that does not apply if you marry for all eternity in this life. That is nonsense. His point was that the afterlife was too different to have marriage happening. Angels do not marry and are not married. She didn’t marry any of her men for all eternity because she couldn’t not because there was no opportunity.
The Christians argue that here they were trying to trap Jesus into saying the resurrection made no sense. Jesus gets defensive and tries to patronise them. It was a fair question. And what has the power of God got to do with it? He surely knew like the scribes who were talking to him that there is a case to be made that correct Jewish belief is that life ends at death or that there is no resurrection.
He could mean that the power of God changes one in the resurrection. But again why get angry at the scribes and Pharisees for not assuming a change happens? That was not obvious.
If you are like an angel when you rise again then how come Jesus who ate fish
was not like one? In some respects yes but eating fish is as human as sex and
marriage.
The Pharisees unlike the scribes were open to the resurrection
idea as they were absorbing pagan ideas and liked new traditions and books to
add to the scriptures. The scribes were clearly the most accurate
representatives of Judaism and thus their opposition to any idea of resurrection
was scripturally and theologically correct. For them despite the value of Isaiah
and others, it was the Torah that had the real authority and came first. It
never mentioned an afterlife never mind a resurrection. It is not true that
Christianity came from Judaism. It came from a part of Judaism that should not
have been in good standing for bringing in new doctrines and thus it needed
condemnation for heresy.
The defensiveness of Jesus on this subject and his
own resurrection being different from what he expected do not weigh in favour of
his return from the dead being the truth.
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