SKEPTIC'S
ARGUMENT: "With great trepidation,
I allowed myself the thought that the resurrection
of Christ didn't accord with science. Death,
by definition, is a permanent and irreversible
biological state. Later, that quiet tremor became
a defiant reality testing rallying cry, as I
boldly said: 'I believe that Jesus Christ was
killed, period.'"
KEVIN WILLIAMS,
B.SC.: "I came to a similar conclusion
myself about the resurrection of Christ in that
he probably did not rise bodily from the grave.
All the visitations of Jesus after his death
described in the Bible can be interpreted as
being the phenomenon known today as
after-death communications (ADCs). As a
very liberal Christian, I don't see any need
to believe in resurrection (or any religious
dogma for that matter) to live a spiritual life
of loving other people. In fact, the
concept of resurrection
did not originate with Christianity or Judaism
but by the ancient Persians. This fact usually
comes as a big surprise to Christians when they
learn about this.
"However, I do disagree
that there exists conclusive, scientific evidence
proving either way of the existence or non-existence
of an afterlife - especially when there is a
mountain of circumstantial evidence, albeit
mostly anecdotal, suggesting the possibility
of the survival of consciousness after death.
"From modern research
of after-death communications, it is apparent
that multitudes of people throughout history
have reported experiences of some form of visitation
by deceased loved ones. These are often very
subtle experiences spontaneously occurring in
a variety of ways including: suddenly hearing
a voice, smelling a fragrance, having a
lucid dream, experiencing
synchronicity,
or even full-blown
apparitions of the deceased. My entire family
experienced this phenomenon when
my mother was killed in a tragic car accident.
So because of my own experiences and related
research, it is apparent to me that the appearances
of Jesus to his disciples after his death were
ADCs all along. This doesn't mean Jesus didn't
actually communicate with his disciples in some
way after his death. It only suggests
there is a modern interpretation of these matters.
Even so, I see no advantage in knowing whether
Jesus' body died permanently, or resurrected,
or reincarnated. It has no special advantage
to me in my endeavor to live a spiritual life."
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