Debates on the Resurrection

I am currently taking part in two debates on the resurrection at Debate 1 and Debate 2

People are invited to register and comment.

Paul trashes Christian belief in the resurrection of the flesh

Paul's belief was that it was in the very nature of flesh to be destroyed.

A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his flesh, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8

Once more, Paul scoffs at the idea that flesh will be resurrected and have eternal life. The nature of flesh is that it will be destroyed and brings destruction with it.

Paul regarded it as foolish to wonder how corpses will be restored, and he would have scoffed at the stories in the Gospels of a resurrected Jesus made of flesh and eating.

Has NT Wright , the Bishop of Durham, ever been to a magic show?

I have been to a magic show.

You know how some of these tricks go.

The magician makes something solid go through the wall of a box, and then he at once invites the audience to see that what went through the wall of the box was made of perfectly solid material that they are quite familiar with.

What does the magician hope to prove to the audience by that examination of the material? That a magic trick had occurred of course!

Jesus does the same thing in the Gospels. He enters a locked room and at once invites the disicples to see that what went through the wall of the room was made of perfectly solid material that they are quite familiar with.


What does Jesus hope to prove to the disciples by that examination of the material? That a miracle had occurred of course!

So far, so obvious.

But remember Jesus denies being a spirit when he does that in Luke's Gospel, and Paul says Jesus did become a spirit in 1 Corinthians 15.

So Christians like NT Wright are forced to conclude that when Jesus showed the disicples that the material that had passed through a wall was the same solid material they were familiar with, he was not proving that he was really Jesus by showing that a miracle had occurred.

No, Jesus was proving that he was made of a material that *could* pass through walls. A 'transphysical' material.

Hasn't Wright ever been to a magic show? When the magician gets the audience to examine the material, it is not to prove that the material is one which can pass through walls. Otherwise there would be no trick!

Jesus proved he was Jesus by 'proving' that he was not made of a material that could pass through walls. It took a miracle to do that, and who could do miracles? Only the real Jesus, of course.

To make the Bible non-contradictory, Wright is willing to contradict his Lord and Saviour by denying a miracle of Jesus, and by contradicting all common-sense readings of the scenes in the resurrection.

In reality, the Bible contradicts itself. Paul says Jesus became a spirit (pneuma). The Gospels deny that.