Resurrection

Bible

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The Holy Women at the Tomb of Christ (detail).
circa 1597-8.
Oil on canvas, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

The resurrection is the single most important event in world history: Jesus's victory over death and the grave. Through Christ and his victory over death, all can have victory through Him. Liberal Christians tend to interpret the Resurrection symbolically and doubt its historicity, while atheists deny it outright, which arguments are countered by Christian apologetics and the transformational effects of faith in Christ.

Resurrection is the act of coming back from the dead. Jesus' body laid in his tomb until the 3rd day, when Jesus rose again. His body was not like it had been before, being now able to walk through walls and appear suddenly among His disciples. He could also keep Himself from being recognized however He wished. Jesus stayed on the earth after his resurrection until His ascension.

At the Last Judgment all of the dead will also be physically resurrected and judged according to their works.

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Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. — 2 Corinthians 5:9-10

”

See Revelation 20:11-15 and Matthew 25:31-46; Daniel 12:2-3 and 1 Corinthians 15:12-58.
Compare Matthew 7:21-27 and James 2:14-28.

Protestantism as a form of Gnostic Christianity

Relativist interpreters emphasize that "the true value of the Gospel" lies primarily in its profound psychological and emotional impact, in the telling of the story, without the necessity of it being factually and historically true, as a powerful means of causing spiritual transformation through personal identification with "the struggle and triumph of the mythical Jesus invented by Paul and the Gospel writers and the developed tradition of Christianity". The Historical-grammatical method (Literal hermeneutic) of orthodox catholic biblical hermeneutics directly contradicts this approach.

The "myth" assertion that the story of Jesus is an archetypical iconic pattern for personal insight and development—being profoundly "awakened" and transformed by being dynamically engaged and absorbed in the telling of the story—is a prime element of gnostic initiation and Cosmic Humanism, which is in direct opposition to the grounded reality of the Christian mysteries. See

• Joseph Campbell & The Hero's Journey - Odyssey Online. Antioch University, Santa Barbara (odyssey.antiochsb.edu)
• Excerpts from Myth and the Movies, Stuart Voytilla, by Christopher Vogler (tlu.ee) pdf (9 pages)
• Does Jesus follow Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey? (asyourpoetshavesaid.com)
• Are the Gospels a Myth?, by Fr. Dwight Longenecker - Strange Notions: The Digital Areopagus—Reason. Faith. Dialogue (strangenotions.com) They only seem to be, but they are not a myth.—see Fallacy of analogy.
• Are The Gospels Mythical? by Rene Girard (firstthings.com) Some people insist that they are, in spite of evidence to the contrary.

Author Philip J. Lee, Against the Protestant Gnostics shows that Gnostic tendencies are being taught alongside Christian orthodoxy, and that the Reformation at its heart fostered the inherent Gnostic tendencies toward a disdain for authority and the physical nature of things, and the Gnostic disdain of the sacraments and disdain of the doctrine of the physical resurrection of the body, and a sola scriptura reading of scripture sola spiritu with the hope of a bodiless spiritual-only salvation forever in heaven after death, through a direct "personal relation with Christ" (as a cosmic spiritual entity) and "knowing Jesus" by the "chosen elect". He demonstrates how these teachings of Gnosticism have wormed their way into Christian teachings, particularly in North American Protestantism. Pastor and author Peter Dietsch, in summarizing Lee's book, says, "In both the Old and New Testaments, the knowledge of God is not self-discoverable. God has revealed Himself in and through a community (His people, the Church), therefore He may be known only through that community."

See also

• Historicity of Jesus
• Resurrection Sunday
• Resurrection of Jesus Christ
• Easter
• Jewish Biblical way of interpretation: a solution for New Testament understanding
• Corporal and spiritual works of mercy
• Eternal security (salvation)

External links

• I Believe...in the Resurrection of the Flesh
• Resurrection Sunday
• Christ’s Resurrection: The Historical Record, by Steve Byas, The New American
• Resurrection—No Doubt About It, by Tim Chaffey, Answers in Genesis
• Even Caesar Confirmed the Resurrection, by Henry B. Smith, Jr., Answers in Genesis