The Resurrection

Yes another chop-full-of-fun-topic: the Resurrection.
(For those of you who don't know, that's Resurrection of of Christ.)
I read this book recently about the the subject so I thought I'd write some thoughts I had on the subject. The book was a debate between two ministers (well one is an ex-minister. Guess which one!) One took the conventional position that to claim to be Christian you are required to believe that Christ rose from the dead in the flesh three days after his Crucifiction. The other says that it doesn't matter.

When I first started reading it was - of course it matters! That's THE central teaching of Christianity! But as I read on my view changed. I find myself agreeing now with the second man.

(Most) Christians I think realize that His Resurrection cannot be proved. The idea is that it requires faith. In other words if I have faith that God is all-powerful, and if He truly is all-powerful, than something like the Resurrection is not so unreasonable. Which is fine I guess, but this opens up a bigger issue: what is faith?

I think many people tend to see faith as just a stubborn belief of something regardless of empirical facts. If this is all faith is than whats the difference between believing in aliens and believing in God. Well, I guess some would argue that there isn't, but I think there is a big difference. Faith is not just about believing that something happened or not. Its not about probability. Its about how you live your life. Its about trust and gratitude.

Is whether the Resurrection, or His miracles for that matter, REALLY happened even important? Before we ask that question we need to ask why did it even happen? What does it mean?

If I just believed that the even happened and do not take what it means to heart, I wouldn't be a very good Christian. That's the difference between religion and aliens. Believing in aliens (I do believe in them by the way...) stops at believing that they exist. It doesn't alter the way I live my life. I don't place trust or hope in them, I don't thank them for my own existence, and the can't save my soul.

Believing in God means that I place complete trust in Him and that He is the Lord of all creation. So... in that sense it IS completely reasonable that He became human and rose from the dead. But so what? He could have come down as a three-legged dwarf and commanded everyone eat their hair. But He didn't. What He did means something.

Personally I do believe it happened. Why not? But I no longer think its important. The stories of the Bible there to show us a world that you can't just express as facts and statements. The Resurrection story expresses many things: God's unconditional love for us, the union of body and soul, and leaving behind our old life to live a new life with God.

The Bible says a lot of things. Do I believe all of them REALLY happened? No. Do I believe that the human race started with Adam and Eve? No. But I also don't believe its just an enjoyable story. It tells us something important about ourselves - that we are by nature weak, and something about God - that He created the world and we owe Him thanks.