Yesterday, i wrote a piece about how important the resurrection of Jesus Christ is to my beliefs and the way i live my life.
But at St Johns yesterday, Benjamin the Priest read this passage from edgy theologian Pete Rollins talking about why he denies the Resurrection…
And i have to say, i wholeheartedly agree…
At one point in the proceedings someone asked if my theoretical position led me to denying the Resurrection of Christ. This question allowed me the opportunity to communicate clearly and concisely my thoughts on the subject, which I repeat here.
Without equivocation or hesitation I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think…
I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system.
However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed.
We have to remember that in the story Jesus tells of the Good Samaritan, it could quite as easily have been titled ‘The Bad or Non-practicing Levite or Priest or christian’ as it was the religious people, the ones expected to live out their faith in a moment that counted, who walked on by and went as far as deliberately crossing to the other side of the road.
It was Billy Graham who famously said, ‘The greatest cause of atheism in the world today is christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, and then walk out of the church and deny Him by their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.’
How are you denying the resurrection today? How am i?
Let’s commit to living lives that practice what we preach as we feel the Holy Spirit’s nudge towards the things and the people God cares about.
I have always wondered why people say, “oh but Jesus died for my sins”. He died then for everyone’s sins. So if a fireman runs into a burning house and saves a child, but dies isn’t that the same thing or similar then? How can he have died for my sins when I was not even born yet? It is as though a fireman says he’ll rescue one child, but all future kids will be rescued even though it does not make sense.
If he died for everyone’s sins, then how is it different from a man who chooses to go up in a rocket to Mars to save humans from a disease? For example if he had this disease himself and had to be quaranteend. Also the time gap is about 2000 years, so how is it relevant.
Also if he is God or a the son of God, then how is it a sacrifice as he himself made humans who sin?
I am battling with all of this as its quite confusing and reading the Bible just makes me more confused as there are lots of contradictions. One on hand it says do this and then people say its out of context.
Can you explain it to me.
hey Barry, thanks for commenting – sorry my site was down for a while and then i was… you ask some important questions and i think that’s good. i’ve been a follower of Jesus for a really long time and there is still a bunch of stuff i’m not sure about – but for me the stuff i do feel sure about is more than enough…
In terms of God creating people who sin – there is a big difference from God making people to sin and God making people who sin – if God created beings that didn’t have a choice in the matter and sinner by design well then that would make no sense at all – but the way i see it God created us with choice so that if we choose to follow or worship Him then it means something [if He created beings who worshipped Him by design that’s not really worship] but also it means that we can choose not to worship Him and reject Him and do our own thing… i think we see this displayed in children – for those who have children, your children can totally choose against you, to rebel and reject you and leave and yet you will probably still love them and do everything you can to get them back because you are their parent… i imagine that relationship mirrors somewhat the relationship with God – no matter how much He loves us, some of us are still going to turn our backs and walk away – some may return and make peace as a lot of us do, but some may keep walking forever – that is parenting and it’s tough…
The fireman analogy is comparing two very different things so i don’t think it works – because God is outside of time and judgement for sin is something that is going to happen right at the end of time as we know it, it’s very different to a time-and-space related story. If sin/rebellion with God has a cost to it [our spiritual death or separation from God] then it makes sense that God can create a way for that wage to be paid which was done in Jesus coming to earth [representing both God and man in that He was both human and of God] – it is harder for us to get our heads around cos it is not a natural every day occurance we can relate to, but it still does make sense on a bigger scale.
i think there are definitely things to hold in tension in the Bible but i have not seen so many contradictions that can’t be well explained to me through people that read the bible in the original language it was written and understand the context of the day it was written into – sometimes reading the bible can be like someone unearthing a Shakespeare for the first time and trying to read it and make sense of it in today’s context – of course it won’t make sense… but once we understand the language and the context it was written to and even some of the systems it was written into then it makes sense – we have to treat the bible that way as well and read it well… if i were you i would go through the gospels [matthew, mark, luke, john] which is the story of Jesus and then the book of Acts which is the story of the early church and ask God to reveal Himself to you through that…
All the best and don’t stop asking
love brett fish