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Importance of the resurrection
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Many Christians avoid discussions on the afterlife simply because they have absolutely no clue what the future holds. This is a common excuse that Christians give, that nobody can possibly know what is going to happen. However, I believe that this gives Christians easy, reconcilable way of taking the lazy route, not actually giving much thought to the future. Both Christians and non-Christians consistently look to the future to motivate themselves to perform in the present. For example, a student looks to the future where he knows there is a possibility to graduate, which gives him motivation to write a paper for Core 150. While Christians can certainly focus on the past and doing good in thankfulness to what Christ has already done for us, it is vital for us to understand the future in order to be better stewards on this Earth. While interacting with the main themes of N.T. Wright’s Surprised by Hope, this paper will take a look at how Christians have …show more content…
Wright notes that none of the gospels mention what the resurrection means for our future. They never say anything about how life after death is now possible because of the resurrection. It is not as though his follows breathe a huge sigh of relief knowing that they are now saved and rest back on the principle of being “saved by grace, though faith”. Rather, they are excited and begin to spread the gospel throughout the world. They see a renewal of their mission to go and usher in the kingdom of God. Wright obviously has a passion for the resurrection and devotes a significant portion to the word “resurrection”. According to Wright, “resurrection in its Greek, Latin, or other equivalents was never used to mean life after death … resurrection was used to denote new bodily life after whatever sort of life after death there might be.” This, again, narrows the focus on the fact that the resurrection can be used for us to understand how this world could be
In the book Cycle of Hope, Tricia Downing went from a competitive cyclist to a paraplegic in a matter of minutes. After spending the summer competing in multiple cycling races, Downing is back home enjoying the sunny autumn day riding her favorite route with her friend, Matt. Together, they go for a bike ride sightseeing and appreciating the beauty of the city. As they reminisce about their enjoyable summer, a car appears out of nowhere, and crashes into her. After landing on her back, Downing recalls that something feels terribly wrong; consequently, this woman becomes paralyzed from the waist down. The author uses the strength, courage, and determination learned as a competitive athlete to overcome her disability.
‘What are we to make of Christ?’ There is no question of what we can make of Him, it is entirely a question of what He intends to make of us. You must accept or reject the story,” (Lewis, 8).
What is the meaning of resurrection? Is it a reality or fantasy? The curiosity about the meaning of resurrection has been explored in the two films: Vertigo, and Graduate. However, the two films give the sense of the resurrection in different views (Bungard 44). The film, Vertigo is concerned with whether there is life after death. Whether we live in the real world before we die or we live the real world after death. The film, Graduate tries to explain the meaning of resurrection by comparing the life of a character, the dream he has in life, how he goes against the principles of his vision and then later fights hard to recover it.
Jenkins, Phillips. The Lost History of Christianity. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2008. Print. Phillips, Jonathan.
“Hope.” Oxford Companion to the Bible, ed. Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan, online. Internet. http://www.oxfordreference.com, accessed January 15, 2014.
What happens when we die? What happens in the end times? Questions like these have been asked countless times by the Christian community and, like many other things in the Christian faith, there has not always been a clear answer. Will things play out as described in the book of Revelation? What does the promise of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ offer to us in the “end times”? I had the opportunity to consider some of these questions while sitting at the wake for one of my great aunts who had passed away suddenly from a severe stroke. Those present were certainly in a stage of mourning her loss, but there was also a strong feeling of joy and hope. This seemed to come from everyone observing all of the many young (even newborn) children who ran about the space pladying with one another, each oblivious to the reality of the room’s purpose and present state. When reading William J. La Due’s The Trinity Guide to Eschatology, I found myself drawn to the section on Jürgen Moltmann’s eschatology of hope. I believe that, like Moltmann, in the end God will save everyone, all creation and all humanity, as a fulfillment of God’s promise through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
On July 27, 2004, Barack Obama made arguably his most important speech, “The Audacity of Hope”, at the Democratic National Convention Keynote Address. These conventions are for political parties to announce a winner for nomination. All the way through his piece, Obama focuses on connecting Americans and himself to the audience. In fact, at the time, Barack Obama was a US Senate candidate for the United States president, and in making this speech, was offered a window for raising his popularity. Throughout “The Audacity of Hope” speech, Barack Obama implements three main devices to raise his political popularity: repetition, abstract language, and structure.
The resurrection of Jesus is a topic in Christian Apologetic that confirms the faith of a believer. Groothuis submits, “Of all the world’s religions Christianity alone purports to be based on the resurrection of its divine founder. No other religion or worldview makes such an audacious and consequential claim. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus himself predicts his own betrayal, death and resurrection.”1 The Bible reveals the importance of the resurrection in Corinthians 15:14-17, “And if Christ wasn’t raised to life, our message is worthless, and so is your faith. If the dead won’t be raised to life, we have told lies about God by saying that he raised Christ to life, when he really did not. So if the dead won’t be raised to life, Christ wasn’t raised to life. Unless Christ was raised to life, your faith is useless, and you are still living in your sins.”
Many Christians believe that when a person dies, they enter into complete oblivion - a state of non-existence. They remain in dormancy. At the time of the second coming of Jesus, the dead are resurrected and judged. Those who had been saved while on earth will be given special bodies and go to Heaven unlike the unsaved who will go to Hell for eternal punishment (Robinson).
Verstraeten, J. Scrutinising the Signs of the Times in the Light of the Gospel. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2007.
Most cultures generally share a universal belief that there is some form of an afterlife. In the gospel of Matthew, the idea of life after death is shown through the teachings of Jesus. Since Jesus is considered to be the Son of God, he preaches that once the body of a human has died, their soul continues to live on. Although they are physically dead on Earth, the spirit of the person moves on to the next life. Jesus says to his followers “I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:29). His Father’s kingdom refers to the notion of heaven, where all souls gather after their death on Earth. The Christian belief in the gospel of where the soul goes after death is very different from the Greek view portrayed by Homer.
Theologians have been stuck on this topic as well. Without the Resurrection, the Christian’s faith
Socrates and Christians both believe that you should anticipate death and prepare for it. But Socrates’ view on death is far different from the view that Christians have in the fact that Socrates states that you will become nonexistent when you die. On the other hand, Christians believe that your soul lives on in either Heaven or Hell. Socrates view in not accurate because your soul lives on in Heaven or Hell, it doesn’t just become nonexistent, your soul lives forever.
Hope theory defines Hope as; an individual’s perceived capacity to apply agential thinking and find motivation to implement strategies for achieving goals. Snyder’s research investigated cognitive thinking and the brain’s purpose of anticipating and comprehending causal sequences, proposing that cognition forms the foundation of hope; a way of thinking, including important contributions from emotions. Goals, agency and pathways are central concepts in Hope theory, emphasizing enduring, cross-situational, situational goal-directed thoughts, or a combination of the three. Goals include positive “approach” goals and goals that may prevent or delay negative goal outcomes, varying in duration, from short to long term. Agency thinking, a motivational
In the New Testament salvation Christ brings order to the world by initiating the reign of God on earth. Jesus unveils the Father and follows through with God’s plan. The four Gospels are the prime teachings in Scripture. They include the foundation of our faith. The Gospels deliver the bodywork for the Church. They teach us about how take advantage of our time on earth and how lives are meant to be lived. The Gospels contain the story of salvation and the truths about Christ. I think It is very important for us to make the most of our lives, we only get one life to live. Therefore, life is meant to be lived and cherished. Things happen that may change people lives drastically and it is up to us to make the most of what we have and to never ever take anything for