Resurrection or Resuscitation?
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Creator: Ahmed Deedat
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Identifier: http://www.islamworld.net/res.html
Language: en
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Subject: comparative
Title: Resurrection or Resuscitation?
Created on: Thu Jan 24 10:35:10 -0500 2008
Updated on: Thu Jan 24 10:35:10 -0500 2008
Version: 1
Abstract: ... nt and your Bible scholars been playing with the "Word of God?" If God Almighty did not see fit to preserve Luke from error what right has anybody to add to or delete from words in the "Book of God?" What right have you to manufacture "GODS WORDS?" INTERPOLATIONS The translator's own addition of words in brackets can easily be pu into the mouth of St. Luke by merely removing the brackets, and by impli cation, if LUke was inspired by God to write what he did, then the inter polations automatically become the WORD OR GOD, which really is not the case. (More will be said on this subject in the forthcoming publication "Is the Bible God's Word?) I concluded my explanation with the words - "Your theologians of the day have succeeded where the alchemists of yore failed - of turning baser metal into shining gold." THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE At this stage the Reverend introduced irrelevancies into the discu- ssion and the subject changed. He made some claims which made me say, "You see, sir, you English people do not know your own language." (With apologies to my readers whose mother tongue is English). He quickly re- torted, "You mean to say that you know my language better than I do?" I said, "It would be presumptuous on my part to tell - an Englishman - that I understand your language better than you do." "Then what do you mean that we English people do not know our own language?" he demanded. I said again, "You see, sir, you read your Holy Scripture in your mother tongue, like every Christian belonging to a thousand different language groups, and yet each and every Christian lan guage group understands the facts, OPPOSITE to what he is reading." What are you refering to?" he asked. A GHOST I continued: "Do you remember the occasion when Jesus returned to that upper room after his alleged crucifixion 'and saith unto them, his (disciples), Peace be unto you' (Luke 24:36) and his disciples were ter- rified on recognising him?" He answered that he remembered that incident I enquired, "Why should they be terrified?" When one recognises one's long-lost friend or one's beloved, the natural reaction is to feel over- joyed, elated and one wants to embrace and kiss the hands and feet of the beloved. Why did they get terrified?" The Reverend replied that, They (the disciples) thought that they were seeing a ghost." I asked, "Did Jesus look like a ghost?" He said, "No." "Then why did they think that they were seeing a ghost when he did not look like a ghost?" I que- ried. The Reverend was clearly puzzled. I said, "Please allow me to ex- plain." DISCIPLES NOT EYE WITNESSES "You see, sir, the disciples of Jesus were not EYE-witnessess or EAR-witnesses to the actual happenings of the previous three days, as vouched for by St.Mark who says that at the most critical juncture in the life of Jesus, "they all forsook him and fled." (Mark 14:50). All the knowledge of the disciples regarding their Master was from hearsay. They had heard that their master was HANGED ON THE CROSS; they had heard that he had GIVEN UP THE GHOST; they had heard that he was DEAD AND BUR- IED FOR THREE DAYS. If one is confronted by a person with such a reputa- tion then the conclusion is inescapable; they must be seeing A GHOST. Little wonder these ten brave men were petrified." "To disabuse their minds from the fear that gripped them, Jesus rea- soned with them. He said, 'Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I my- self:' To put it in colloquial English, this is how he told them: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU FELLOWS, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I AM THE SAME PERSON - who walked and talked with you, broke bread with you - flesh and blood in all respects. Why do doubts enter your minds? 'Handle me and see,for a spirit has no flesh and bones as you see me have.' (Luke 24:39). In other words he is telling them: If I have FLESH and BONES, then I am not a GHOST, not a SPOOK and not a SPIRIT!" "Is that right?" I asked. "Yes," he replied. I continued that, Jesus is telling them, as recorded in this verse, in Basic English, that what the disciples were asked to HANDLE AND SEE' was not a translated body, not a metamorphosed body and not a resurrec- ted body, because a RESURRECTED body is a SPIRITUALISED body. He is telling them in the clearest language humanly possible that he is NOT what they were thinking. They were thinking that he was a SPIRIT, a RE- SURRECTED body, one having been brought back from the dead. He is most emphatic that HE IS NOT!" SPIRITUALIZATION "But how can you be so sure that the resurrected body cannot mate- rialise physically as Jesus had obviously done?" murmured the Reverend. I replied: "Because Jesus had himself pronounced that the resurrected bodies get spiritualised." When did he say any such thing?" enquired the Reverend. I answered, "Do you remember the incident as recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke, Chapter 20, where the learned men of the Jews- 'the chief priests and the scribes with the elders'- had come to him with a number of posers, and among them was one about a Jewess who had seven husbands in turn, one after another according to a Jewish custom, and in time all seven husbands and the woman too died?" The Reverend said that he did remember the occassion. I continued: "The trap that the religious heirarchy was trying to spring on him was; which one of the seven husba- nds was going to possess the woman on the 'Other side'- at the resurrec- tion ?- since they reasoned with Jesus that the seven brothers"had her". There was no problem while they fulfilled their obligation of trying to give her a child, because they had possessed her one by one in turn, and it was after the death of one that the other had taken her to wife. But since at the resurrection all seven will be brought to life simultaneous ly, there will be strife in heaven because all seven would want to get at her at the same time, specially if they had pleasure with her." "Jesus debunked their false notion of the resurrection, by saying that at the resurrection 'neither shall they die any more:' (Luke 20:36) meaning that the resurrected persons will be IMMORTALISED. They will not be subject to death any more, no more hanger or thirst, no more fatigue. In short, all the instruments of death will be powerless against the re- surredted body. Jesus continues to explain: "for they (the resurrected bodies) are equal unto the angles," that is, that they will be ANGELISED - spiritualised, that they will become spirit-creatures, i.e. SPIRITS; 'and the children of God, for such are the children of the resurrection.' (Luke 20:36) JESUS NOT SPIRITUALISED ... [Full Article...]
