Resurrection – Fact or Fantasy
Jesus debunked reincarnation when he told his hearers that he was from above or
from Heaven and they were from this world meaning that he existed before he
became man and they did not. This rejection of pre-existence implies a rejection
of reincarnation. See John 8:23.
The doctrine of resurrection teaches that one day our dead bodies will rise
again from the dead by the power of God and we will be alive again and there
will be no death anymore. Some believers in resurrection hold that our bodies
will be like what they are now except we will be perfectly healthy and happy.
On the other extreme are those who hold that the resurrection body will have
strange powers such as being able to change how it looks at whim, go through
walls, need no food or drink and glow with light. Why bother raising us at all
if we have powers like angelic spirits? It seems raising us is adding nothing.
It is thought that the doctrine teaches that even if we survive death as souls
we are not complete people until we get our bodies back.
Resurrection is then about the salvation or the restoration of the whole person.
The advantages of the doctrine are said to be these:
Resurrection implies that the body is sacred and that the body is necessary to
be a whole person. But the doctrine demeans our bodies as they are. It suggests
we need to be turned into magical bodies that can presumably turn into doves if
we will them to. A body that can waft through a solid wall is not a body as we
know it. A body to us means something solid and natural. The resurrection
doctrine does not honour our life of blood and sweat and tears and courage.
There is less magic with the doctrine of reincarnation than there is with
resurrection. It is more rational to believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation has
us returning in a real and normal body for a start!
The God who believers say will raise us doesn’t have a body by nature.
Christians believe that by nature he is spirit and doesn't need a body though he
became man in Jesus Christ. It would make more sense for God to make us as
beings that have bodies but don’t need them or to convert us into beings that
don’t need our bodies back at death. To believe in this perfect bodiless God is
really to indicate that the body is a mark of our inferiority. It is a negative
affirmation.
Resurrection by teaching that you need the body to be a proper person is
inferring that people with damaged brains who have lost their memories or people
who have lost the say the sense of sight, hearing and touch are not proper
people.
There is no evidence that anybody has come back from the dead. Suppose a miracle
such as somebody being turned into a frog or rising from the dead is reported.
What is more likely assuming the report is not down to lies or fraud? It is more
likely that some uncanny and strange coincidences have happened to make it look
like the miracle happened than that the miracle happened. Natural events are
very likely. Uncanny coincidences are very unlikely. Miracles are more unlikely
still. So it follows that though the uncanny coincidences may show some
otherworldly power at work there is no need and no right to assume a miracle.
The resurrection idea demeans. Reincarnation is so much better. The resurrection
idea can produce psychological problems in those who believe it.