Ansar Al-'Adl
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Friday, March 25, 2005
The Paradox Of The Resurrection
by Ali Ataie
We are told in the canonical Gospels that Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples in the Upper Room after the alleged crucifixion and resurrection. Was he a ghost or a physical body at this point? You probably don’t see the relevance of such a question but I will assure you that this is the crucial issue that needs to be answered.
The entire religion of Christianity is centered on the event of the crucifixion. -- This event that happened on one day, almost 2000 years ago, for three hours. If this incident is refuted then the resurrection becomes impossible and the entire belief system of Christianity is in vain.
I once asked a Christian, "After the resurrection, if a group of blood-thirsty Pharisees saw Jesus, would they be able to kill him again?" His immediate answer without any hesitation was "No, of course not!"
But why? Was not Jesus raised physically by God according to Christian dogma? If he was resurrected in the body then he had EXACTLY the same physical composition as he had before. Therefore if the Pharisees so desired, they could flog and crucify him all over again.
"No," he said, "You see Jesus is now resurrected into his power and glory, he is eternal. Besides, scripture says 'ordained unto all men is to die ONCE, then the resurrection’ (Heb 9:27).
Therefore Jesus cannot die twice since that would be a contradiction in the Bible. He is a physically resurrected yet eternal body.”
The fallacy of such a belief is quite obvious. Either Jesus was physically resurrected from the dead and he became susceptible to physical needs such as food, drink, sleep, etc. OR his body was resurrected into a spiritual form and is now eternal -- no longer susceptible on physical needs.
Here’s the bottom line: Christians cannot have it both ways. If Jesus was raised immortal, he CANNOT be a physically resurrected body.
Take Lazarus as an example. This man was PHYSICALLY resurrected from the dead by Jesus by the leave of God. Where is Lazarus now? Dead. Therefore he actually died twice. This contradicts the passage from the book of Hebrews that our Christian friend quoted earlier.
The orthodox Christian teaching is that the resurrection of Jesus was of the same type as that of Lazarus. Yet in the same breath Christians make a point that Jesus is eternal while Lazarus is dead! If Christians continue to maintain that the post-resurrected Jesus is eternal, then they are also saying that he is spiritualized, a SPIRIT!
Immortality is an attribute of spirits. Physical bodies however, die in all cases. The Christian at this point must either agree that there is clear contradiction in his Bible, or admit that Lazarus’ resurrection was the exact same type as that of the Christian Jesus, namely, physical yet transformed (spiritual). So what is the solution? It’s a lose/lose situation!
This is also precisely what the Jews at the time of Jesus believed about the resurrection. Jesus says himself “In the resurrection men and women do not marry, they are equal unto the angels” (Matthew 22:30).-- Meaning that resurrected bodies become spiritualized and eternal.
When Herod heard of Jesus performing miracles such as quickening the dead, healing the lepers, and casting out demons, he comments "This is John the Baptist back from the dead, THIS IS WHY these miraculous powers are at work with him." In other words, John is a resurrected body that can perform miracles that are supernatural in nature because HE IS supernatural in nature.
Paul agrees: “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?... There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: IT IS SOWN A NATURAL BODY; IT IS RAISED A SPIRITIAL BODY. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” – I Corinthians 15:35-44.
Back to the Upper Room: Luke narrates: “And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (24:36). Notice the reaction of the disciples in the next verse: “But they were terrified and affrighted, and SUPOSSED that they had seen a spirit” (24:37). Why did the disciples suppose that Jesus was a spirit or ghost when he looked no different than before?
They thought he was a ghost because they had heard from hearsay that the Master was hanged on a cross and dead and buried for three days. The Gospels tell us that at the most crucial juncture in the life of Jesus "ALL of his disciples forsook him and fled." There wasn’t a single eyewitness among them who was present at the proceedings at Golgotha three days earlier. The author of the Fourth Gospel, realizing this problem, falsely places John the Beloved disciple at the foot of the cross.
Jesus sets them at ease: “Why are ye troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a SPIRIT hath no flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet” (24:38-40).
Jesus is essentially saying, “Why are you scared? Can’t you see that it’s me, Jesus! Look at my hands and feet, I’m the same person. Do spirits have flesh and bones like this?” The disciples, however, were still very doubtful so Jesus asks them, “Have ye here any meat?” And they gave him a piece of a “broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took [it], and did eat before them” (24:41-43).
What does eating prove? It proves that he is the SAME physical Jesus.
This act of Jesus proves that he is NOT a resurrected body. Since resurrected bodies become spiritualized they no longer need food, drink, sleep, etc. as stated earlier. A body that eats also needs rest. A body that rests becomes vulnerable to attack. This takes us back to the original question: If Jesus were spotted by the Pharisees can they kill him again?
If you say no, then you are deluding yourself. He is not spiritualized and thus NOT resurrected. Yet Christian apologists such as Norman Geisler and Abdul Saleeb continue to refer to Jesus as being in a “transformed body,” meaning the same body but now immortal, unworldly, spiritual!
They are making the same mistake that the disciples made. He is NOT transformed. He is the same Jesus in all respects. Joshua McDowell similarly says that the body of Jesus had passed “right through his grave clothes and into a new existence.”
What DID happen to Jesus then?
As recorded in the Synoptic gospels, a group of Pharisees came to him and asked, “Master would that we have a sign from thee?” In other words, perform a miracle for us so that we can see that you are the one we are waiting for. Jesus responds, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after signs, no sign shall be given unto it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
I asked my Christian friend "How was Jonah in the belly of the whale, dead or alive?" "Alive" he said. "And how was Jesus in the heart of the earth?" "Dead!" he responded. This contradicts Jesus (See the article “The Sign of Jonas” on this site for a more detailed explanation).
The only logical conclusion that we can draw from all of this is that Jesus was never killed by the Romans but escaped death by the grace and mercy of God. He himself says "God would grant you whatever you ask Him” (John 11:22); “Would any father among you give his son a serpent when he asks for a fish” (Matt. 7:9-10)?
Yet when Jesus with “sweat like blood” asks, “My father remove this cup away from me, yet not as I will but as thou will,” God ignores him and instead has his beloved “only begotten son” spat upon, mocked, beaten beyond recognition, flogged down to his bowels, nailed to a cross between two thieves, and sent to Hell for three days. And this they call love?
The Solution:
The Qur’an also mentions Jesus’ God-given power to raise the dead: “And I heal those born blind, and the lepers, and I quicken the dead, by God’s leave” (Qur’an 3:49). Allah also tells us of the Prophet ‘Aziz: “Or take the similitude of one who passed by a hamlet, all in ruins to its roofs. He said: ‘Oh! how shall Allah bring it (ever) to life, after this its death?’ but Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him up again” (Qur’an 2:259).
As Muslims we believe that both of these aforementioned resurrections were purely physical. Therefore, we can conclude that in GENERAL, resurrected bodies become spiritualized. But God can do what He wills, and if He wants to raise someone from the dead in exactly the same form physically, then He certainly can. “Exactly!” the Christian will say, “that’s what happened with Jesus.” Let’s examine this claim.
There are only three possible explanations for Jesus’ physical appearances after the “resurrection.” The first possibility, known as the Doomsday resurrection, maintains that Jesus was raised in a physically “transformed” body identical in nature to that in which we are all raised on the day of general resurrection at the end of time.
This would make Jesus immortal and spiritually oriented. This was also precisely the type of body that the disciples thought Jesus was raised into in Luke 24. Again, Jesus corrects them by stating that he was NOT a spirit, but the same Jesus. He then eats to further prove that he is not spiritually but rather PHYSICALLY oriented.
Christians run into trouble here when they claim that Jesus was physically resurrected yet immortal, but NOT spiritual. This argument is completely devoid of logic because, as stated earlier, immortality is an attribute of spiritualized bodies, not physical ones. If a Christian wants to say that Jesus was resurrected immortal, then he MUST also say that he was a spirit, yet Jesus denies this.
Unlike Luke, John mentions that the “doors were locked” when Jesus appeared to his disciples, seemingly materializing out of thin air! (John 20:19). Only a spiritually resurrected body can do this. So was he a spirit or not? Who is lying, John or Jesus?
A second possibility, known as the Earthly resurrection, asserts that Jesus was raised into the same exact physical body that he had been in before his death. This would make Jesus mortal and physically oriented. This type of resurrection is identical in nature to those of Lazarus mentioned in the Gospel of John, and ‘Aziz mentioned in Sura 2 of the Holy Qur’an. This would also mean that Jesus was subject to hunger, thirst, pain, fatigue, and death.
The burning question once again: Can Jesus be killed again? The Christian will say no. But why? He will answer, “Because he was immortal.” Ask him, “Do you mean he was spiritualized?” If he answers no, then remind him once again that ALL immortal beings are spiritualized. That is why “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). If he answers yes, then you’ve got him trapped because Jesus says: “A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39).
The third possibility, known as the Jonas resurrection, states that Jesus never died in the first place, but had escaped death as Ahmad Deedat says, “by the skin of his teeth.” This is the only way to reconcile Christianity’s 2,000-year parade of confusion and misguidance with regards to the dogma of the resurrection.
RECAP:
Jesus ------------------> Purely resurrected in the body (Lazarus)------------> not eternal, not spiritualized---------------->can be killed (contradicts Hebrews and Christian theology).
Jesus--------------------------------> Resurrected into eternity------------------------------>Spiritual, immortal---------------->yet Jesus says he's NOT a spirit! He eats to prove this.
Jesus-------------------------------> Neither killed nor resurrected----------------->not eternal, not spiritual--------------------->like Jonah. (This can only be the answer).
The Paradox Of The Resurrection
by Ali Ataie
We are told in the canonical Gospels that Jesus Christ appeared to his disciples in the Upper Room after the alleged crucifixion and resurrection. Was he a ghost or a physical body at this point? You probably don’t see the relevance of such a question but I will assure you that this is the crucial issue that needs to be answered.
The entire religion of Christianity is centered on the event of the crucifixion. -- This event that happened on one day, almost 2000 years ago, for three hours. If this incident is refuted then the resurrection becomes impossible and the entire belief system of Christianity is in vain.
I once asked a Christian, "After the resurrection, if a group of blood-thirsty Pharisees saw Jesus, would they be able to kill him again?" His immediate answer without any hesitation was "No, of course not!"
But why? Was not Jesus raised physically by God according to Christian dogma? If he was resurrected in the body then he had EXACTLY the same physical composition as he had before. Therefore if the Pharisees so desired, they could flog and crucify him all over again.
"No," he said, "You see Jesus is now resurrected into his power and glory, he is eternal. Besides, scripture says 'ordained unto all men is to die ONCE, then the resurrection’ (Heb 9:27).
Therefore Jesus cannot die twice since that would be a contradiction in the Bible. He is a physically resurrected yet eternal body.”
The fallacy of such a belief is quite obvious. Either Jesus was physically resurrected from the dead and he became susceptible to physical needs such as food, drink, sleep, etc. OR his body was resurrected into a spiritual form and is now eternal -- no longer susceptible on physical needs.
Here’s the bottom line: Christians cannot have it both ways. If Jesus was raised immortal, he CANNOT be a physically resurrected body.
Take Lazarus as an example. This man was PHYSICALLY resurrected from the dead by Jesus by the leave of God. Where is Lazarus now? Dead. Therefore he actually died twice. This contradicts the passage from the book of Hebrews that our Christian friend quoted earlier.
The orthodox Christian teaching is that the resurrection of Jesus was of the same type as that of Lazarus. Yet in the same breath Christians make a point that Jesus is eternal while Lazarus is dead! If Christians continue to maintain that the post-resurrected Jesus is eternal, then they are also saying that he is spiritualized, a SPIRIT!
Immortality is an attribute of spirits. Physical bodies however, die in all cases. The Christian at this point must either agree that there is clear contradiction in his Bible, or admit that Lazarus’ resurrection was the exact same type as that of the Christian Jesus, namely, physical yet transformed (spiritual). So what is the solution? It’s a lose/lose situation!
This is also precisely what the Jews at the time of Jesus believed about the resurrection. Jesus says himself “In the resurrection men and women do not marry, they are equal unto the angels” (Matthew 22:30).-- Meaning that resurrected bodies become spiritualized and eternal.
When Herod heard of Jesus performing miracles such as quickening the dead, healing the lepers, and casting out demons, he comments "This is John the Baptist back from the dead, THIS IS WHY these miraculous powers are at work with him." In other words, John is a resurrected body that can perform miracles that are supernatural in nature because HE IS supernatural in nature.
Paul agrees: “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?... There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: IT IS SOWN A NATURAL BODY; IT IS RAISED A SPIRITIAL BODY. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” – I Corinthians 15:35-44.
Back to the Upper Room: Luke narrates: “And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (24:36). Notice the reaction of the disciples in the next verse: “But they were terrified and affrighted, and SUPOSSED that they had seen a spirit” (24:37). Why did the disciples suppose that Jesus was a spirit or ghost when he looked no different than before?
They thought he was a ghost because they had heard from hearsay that the Master was hanged on a cross and dead and buried for three days. The Gospels tell us that at the most crucial juncture in the life of Jesus "ALL of his disciples forsook him and fled." There wasn’t a single eyewitness among them who was present at the proceedings at Golgotha three days earlier. The author of the Fourth Gospel, realizing this problem, falsely places John the Beloved disciple at the foot of the cross.
Jesus sets them at ease: “Why are ye troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me and see; for a SPIRIT hath no flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet” (24:38-40).
Jesus is essentially saying, “Why are you scared? Can’t you see that it’s me, Jesus! Look at my hands and feet, I’m the same person. Do spirits have flesh and bones like this?” The disciples, however, were still very doubtful so Jesus asks them, “Have ye here any meat?” And they gave him a piece of a “broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took [it], and did eat before them” (24:41-43).
What does eating prove? It proves that he is the SAME physical Jesus.
This act of Jesus proves that he is NOT a resurrected body. Since resurrected bodies become spiritualized they no longer need food, drink, sleep, etc. as stated earlier. A body that eats also needs rest. A body that rests becomes vulnerable to attack. This takes us back to the original question: If Jesus were spotted by the Pharisees can they kill him again?
If you say no, then you are deluding yourself. He is not spiritualized and thus NOT resurrected. Yet Christian apologists such as Norman Geisler and Abdul Saleeb continue to refer to Jesus as being in a “transformed body,” meaning the same body but now immortal, unworldly, spiritual!
They are making the same mistake that the disciples made. He is NOT transformed. He is the same Jesus in all respects. Joshua McDowell similarly says that the body of Jesus had passed “right through his grave clothes and into a new existence.”
What DID happen to Jesus then?
As recorded in the Synoptic gospels, a group of Pharisees came to him and asked, “Master would that we have a sign from thee?” In other words, perform a miracle for us so that we can see that you are the one we are waiting for. Jesus responds, “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after signs, no sign shall be given unto it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
I asked my Christian friend "How was Jonah in the belly of the whale, dead or alive?" "Alive" he said. "And how was Jesus in the heart of the earth?" "Dead!" he responded. This contradicts Jesus (See the article “The Sign of Jonas” on this site for a more detailed explanation).
The only logical conclusion that we can draw from all of this is that Jesus was never killed by the Romans but escaped death by the grace and mercy of God. He himself says "God would grant you whatever you ask Him” (John 11:22); “Would any father among you give his son a serpent when he asks for a fish” (Matt. 7:9-10)?
Yet when Jesus with “sweat like blood” asks, “My father remove this cup away from me, yet not as I will but as thou will,” God ignores him and instead has his beloved “only begotten son” spat upon, mocked, beaten beyond recognition, flogged down to his bowels, nailed to a cross between two thieves, and sent to Hell for three days. And this they call love?
The Solution:
The Qur’an also mentions Jesus’ God-given power to raise the dead: “And I heal those born blind, and the lepers, and I quicken the dead, by God’s leave” (Qur’an 3:49). Allah also tells us of the Prophet ‘Aziz: “Or take the similitude of one who passed by a hamlet, all in ruins to its roofs. He said: ‘Oh! how shall Allah bring it (ever) to life, after this its death?’ but Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him up again” (Qur’an 2:259).
As Muslims we believe that both of these aforementioned resurrections were purely physical. Therefore, we can conclude that in GENERAL, resurrected bodies become spiritualized. But God can do what He wills, and if He wants to raise someone from the dead in exactly the same form physically, then He certainly can. “Exactly!” the Christian will say, “that’s what happened with Jesus.” Let’s examine this claim.
There are only three possible explanations for Jesus’ physical appearances after the “resurrection.” The first possibility, known as the Doomsday resurrection, maintains that Jesus was raised in a physically “transformed” body identical in nature to that in which we are all raised on the day of general resurrection at the end of time.
This would make Jesus immortal and spiritually oriented. This was also precisely the type of body that the disciples thought Jesus was raised into in Luke 24. Again, Jesus corrects them by stating that he was NOT a spirit, but the same Jesus. He then eats to further prove that he is not spiritually but rather PHYSICALLY oriented.
Christians run into trouble here when they claim that Jesus was physically resurrected yet immortal, but NOT spiritual. This argument is completely devoid of logic because, as stated earlier, immortality is an attribute of spiritualized bodies, not physical ones. If a Christian wants to say that Jesus was resurrected immortal, then he MUST also say that he was a spirit, yet Jesus denies this.
Unlike Luke, John mentions that the “doors were locked” when Jesus appeared to his disciples, seemingly materializing out of thin air! (John 20:19). Only a spiritually resurrected body can do this. So was he a spirit or not? Who is lying, John or Jesus?
A second possibility, known as the Earthly resurrection, asserts that Jesus was raised into the same exact physical body that he had been in before his death. This would make Jesus mortal and physically oriented. This type of resurrection is identical in nature to those of Lazarus mentioned in the Gospel of John, and ‘Aziz mentioned in Sura 2 of the Holy Qur’an. This would also mean that Jesus was subject to hunger, thirst, pain, fatigue, and death.
The burning question once again: Can Jesus be killed again? The Christian will say no. But why? He will answer, “Because he was immortal.” Ask him, “Do you mean he was spiritualized?” If he answers no, then remind him once again that ALL immortal beings are spiritualized. That is why “God is Spirit” (John 4:24). If he answers yes, then you’ve got him trapped because Jesus says: “A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have” (Luke 24:39).
The third possibility, known as the Jonas resurrection, states that Jesus never died in the first place, but had escaped death as Ahmad Deedat says, “by the skin of his teeth.” This is the only way to reconcile Christianity’s 2,000-year parade of confusion and misguidance with regards to the dogma of the resurrection.
RECAP:
Jesus ------------------> Purely resurrected in the body (Lazarus)------------> not eternal, not spiritualized---------------->can be killed (contradicts Hebrews and Christian theology).
Jesus--------------------------------> Resurrected into eternity------------------------------>Spiritual, immortal---------------->yet Jesus says he's NOT a spirit! He eats to prove this.
Jesus-------------------------------> Neither killed nor resurrected----------------->not eternal, not spiritual--------------------->like Jonah. (This can only be the answer).
Nice to see you here. I hope you'll share more of your thoughts with us.
I just post too much. :lol: