resurrection of the body

Tombs in the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem, between the Mount of Olives and the Old City.   Visitors place small stones on top to mark their visits.   

Does the resurrection of the body matter?  A tangent prompted a bit  by some thoughts and questions over at dead apostle,  what exactly do Christians understand/ believe about all of this? Life/ death/ soul/ body.   

At sol cafe there is one section of Matthew's gospel left in the discussion series - death & resurrection.  Perhaps we  will look at this a bit more closely.

cs lewis:  "You do not have a soul.  You are a soul, you have a body." 

Comments

[Poul]

Joe are you being rhetorical with your question? I am assuming that you are given the CS Lewis quote. Absolutely the resurrection of the body matters. Jesus was not a ghost after the resurrection, he possessed a glorified body. We were created for the earth, we are made of dust, part of the earth. We are not human without a body. To many Christians these days are gnostic in their understanding of creation and its relationship to spirit. We humans are God's image within his palace temple, which is this wonderful planet upon which we live. I can't wait until I get to experience it after redemption. Can you imagine how amazing redeemed Shiraz or Pinot Noir will taste with redeemed tastebuds, not to mention the golden drink of the Scots!!

[Joe]

Not entirely rhetorical - the questions are (in my context) genuine and your post prompted me to raise them. Part of what I am assuming is that there are a variety of people who drop by this blog, and with whom I interact. Some are Christian, some are not.

There are some folks for whom this idea of bodily resurrection/christian notion of "afterlife" is new; others for whom a view of "heaven" is coloured by hollywood/pop culure etc.; some who claim that there is no bodily resurrection - whatever that may look like; and those who have never really looked at the whole topic, preferring instead to look at what God requires of us "in this life."

My main point is that these are important things, and since at sol cafe we had tentatively talked about doing an evening on this topic of death/resurrection, I find myself asking what is the best way to look at this topic, and what does it all mean? Part of the question is addressed to Christians (such as yourself) and other parts are addressed to those who are not. I think you raise a few excellent points in your comment, upon which foundation I will build another post!

[Chuck]

Philippians 3:20-21,

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

[jason]

There are many things that have drawn me to Christian faith at different points in my life, but it is the resurrection of the body - both Christ's and ours that is yet to come - that emplores me to hold firmly to my faith.

1 Corinthians 15:12-14 & 17-19

12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith... 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

I find myself draw to 1 Corinthians, chapter 15 in particular because it cuts to the heart of the matter.

As Paul stated a little bit later in Verse 32, "If the dead are not raised,
'Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.'"

I would argue that Christianity, without the resurrection, has no soul.

[Winston Pei]

For me, it was an epiphany only discovered in recent years, this whole resurrection of the body thing. What an amazing thought, the body in which my soul resides rid of the pimples, bad teeth, and oversized jaw, walking around in this world equally rid of any evil and excrement.

It has made me wonder, though, why even in Christian circles it is Christmas more than Easter that is celebrated... at least so it seems to me. I would think that if there was one holiday on which to focus most of our energies and joy it would be Easter. Wherefore the carols? the pageants? Or maybe it's just 'cause I was raised Baptist, and Northern Baptist at that.