Category Archives: News

Bible study: Was the resurrection body of Jesus spiritual or physical?

One of the leading naturalistic attempts to account for Jesus’ death, empty tomb, post-mortem appearances, and the early proclamation of the resurrection is that the disciples had individual and group hallucinations. In this case, the New Testament authors would not have meant that the resurrected body of Jesus was physical. But is that what they recorded?

Here’s a quotation from my friend Eric Chabot, from his blog Think Apologetics. He explains why Paul’s use of the word “resurrection” to describe what the other witnesses saw means bodily resurrection.

He writes:

The two words are used for resurrection in the New Testament “anastasis” (rising up) and “egersis” (waking up), both imply a physical body. Furthermore, the use of the word “opethe” (the Greek word for appeared) shows the Gospel writers did believe that Jesus appeared physically. “There you will see (opethe) him” (Matt. 28:7); “The Lord has risen and has appeared (opethe) to Simon” (Luke 24:24). When they used “opethe” here, it means that He appeared physically to them.

OK so all the words they used for resurrection imply a physical body.

But what about the word for body. Do they imply a physical body?

Yes:

So when Paul gives his list of appearances in 1 Cor. 15, the issues becomes whether the appearance to him is the same as it was to the disciples. There is no doubt the post resurrection body of Jesus (after the ascension) had to be somewhat different than the body the disciples saw. Also, whenever the New Testament mentions the word body, in the context of referring to an individual human being, the Greek word “soma” always refers to a literal, physical body. Greek specialist Robert Gundry says “the consistent and exclusive use of soma for the physical body in anthropological contexts resists dematerialization of the resurrection, whether by idealism or by existentialism.” [9] Furthermore, in N.T. Wright’s The Resurrection of the Son of God shows that the Greek word for resurrection which is “anastasis” was used by ancient Jews, pagans, and Christians as bodily in nature.

What about the nature of Paul’s appearance? Was that a hallucination, or seeing some objective reality? Did the people with Paul see or hear anything?

Eric Chabot writes this in another place:

The Bible says, “they heard” the same voice Paul did ” (Acts 9: 7). But they “did not see anyone ” (Acts 9: 7). Notice Paul was physically blinded by the brightness of the light. One way or the other, the experience involved something that was external to Paul. It wasn’t something that was the same thing as a vision that Paul talks about in 2 Cor. 12:1. Furthermore, the phrase “he let himself be seen’” (ōphthē , aorist passive, ), is the word Paul uses in 1 Cor. 15:7 to describe of his own resurrection appearance as the other ones in the creed.

Paul didn’t get a bodily resurrection appearance, but he got an objective appearance that people nearby could see (as a bright light) and hear. His appearance, coming 5-8 years after the appearances to the disciples, should not be seen as overriding their appearances, which were appearances of the bodily resurrected Jesus.

If you want to read something a little more challenging, I found a paper from the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) from their journal, where it talks more about soma and anastasis. If you want a bit of a challenge, download the PDF and read it. It’s by Kirk R. MacGregor and the title is “1 Corinthians 15:3B–6A, 7 And The Bodily Resurrection Of Jesus”.

Texas surgeon facing 10 years in prison for exposing trans surgeries on children

When Christians are assessing which of the political parties is more moral, abortion is obviously a big issue. After all, if a person resorts to murdering an innocent person to avoid consequences for their own behavior, that’s pretty immoral. But do you know what else is pretty immoral? Inflicting harm on children that exposes them to severe mental and physical pain, and permanent disabilities.

Here’s a recent article from Christian Post:

A Texas surgeon, who is potentially facing 10 years in prison for having leaked information exposing Texas Children’s Hospital for allegedly continuing to perform trans procedures on minors despite claiming otherwise, said his ordeal has convinced him of God’s providence.

Dr. Eithan Haim, 34, told The Christian Post that he feels God is with him in his battle against the U.S. Department of Justice, which slapped him earlier this month with four felony counts after he “obtained personal information including patient names, treatment codes and the attending physician from Texas Children’s Hospital’s (TCH) electronic system without authorization,” according to a DOJ press release.

Haim reportedly leaked such records to journalist Christopher Rufo last year because the hospital told the public it had paused such procedures after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott labeled them child abuse, though Haim uncovered documents that showed otherwise.

I thought his explanation about what is going on in society was very interesting:

Haim believes every major institution in the U.S. has been “captured by this ideology” that endeavors to elevate narcissistic, selfish desires above objective reality and that anyone attempting to expose such things risks being attacked.

“So if someone within those institutions is willing to tell the truth, it shines a light on their own degradation, which is why they try so hard to destroy those people,” he said. “Because if they can destroy the one person who’s telling the truth, who’s shining the light, then they can reestablish the balance where everyone’s degraded. But once you have one person who’s going to speak the truth, who’s willing to stand up, it will inevitably inspire others to do the same thing, too. And the process becomes exponential.”

The article quotes Texas senator Ted Cruz expressing his concerns about anti-Christian bias within the Department of Justice, but everybody already knows that there are two systems of justice in America. One for Democrats, and one for the enemies of the Democrats.

I did want to add a quick point about what is really evil on the Christian worldview. Today, many people assume that Christianity is a religion of love, and you just have to love everyone, and never judge. And they think you can be a good Christian by doing that. We’ve turned not rocking the boat into a virtue. I’ve heard so many adult Christians excuse themselves from truth-telling exactly along those lines. “You just have to love everybody, what’s the point of getting into disagreements with people”.

So, what does Christianity really say about right and wrong? Well, here is an interesting passage with the words of Jesus about that.

Matthew 18:6-9:

6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!

8 If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Here’s a picture of a millstone.

I don’t think this passage is a warning just for Christians. If I were a non-Christian, and read this passage, I would immediately understand that God does not want me to interfere with children who are seeking God. So, even if I didn’t want to follow Jesus like a Christian, I would know “well, I have to be careful about doing things that could cause children to turn away from God”. And a lot of non-Christians know this intuitively. I used to work with an atheist software developer who was very concerned about making life difficult for people who were either coming towards God, or who were taking their faith seriously.

A lot of people today are so unaware of what the Bible teaches, that they think being “good” means “loving everyone” and “don’t judge”. They think that God, if he exists, would want us all of us humans to feel good, and to always get along with everyone. Well, tough news for them. Following God – obeying God – does not make Christians feel good, and it does not make non-Christians like us. You can see it in the story of Jesus, who obeyed God, and did not feel good and people did not like him. I am not sure how we got to the point where Christianity is seen as a kind of Disney fairy tale, but when you actually read the Bible, you understand that you are not supposed to do anything that keeps kids from Jesus, and you’re not supposed to punish Christians like this medical doctor who stand up for God and his purposes in the world. It’s worse than murder to punish an authentic Christian for his decision to obey God.

You would think that in America, even secular leftists would have some shame about this and say “well, we are going to live with our girlfriends but we’re not going to abort babies. We’re also not going to mutilate kids, because that would probably cause them to turn their backs on God”. But sadly, we don’t live in a world where secular leftists know that. They think “I’m a good person. I follow my own made-up morality, and so of course God is going to think I’m a good person”. Just because you feel good now, and people like you now, don’t make the mistake of thinking that’s the criterion for avoiding the millstone. Read the Bible, that’s the standard you have to meet.

Hate speech: Democrat party Biden incites violence: “put Trump in a bullseye”

I collected together a few articles below connecting the Democrat party and the Biden administration to the attempt on Trump’s life. Each article makes a different point that was significant to me.

Democrat party’s attempt to take away Trump’s security detail: (Daily Caller)

Months before the shooting at former President Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson introduced a bill in April that would have removed Trump’s Secret Service detail.

The Disgraced Former Protectees Act was introduced by Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson of the House Committee on Homeland Security in April, with the bill aiming to remove “Secret Service protection for those who have been sentenced to prison following conviction for a Federal or State felony,” according to a press release from April. In light of the shooting at Trump’s rally, the importance of the Secret Service protection given to former presidents was demonstrated for all to see.

Biden hate speech inciting violence against Trump: (Politico)

A defiant President Joe Biden insisted to his donors on Monday that he is “done talking about the debate” and implored the party to ignore any further distractions and direct its attention back to Donald Trump.

“We need to move forward. Look, we have roughly 40 days til the convention, 120 days til the election. We can’t waste any more time being distracted,” Biden said in a private call with donors Monday, according to a recording obtained by POLITICO.

“I have one job, and that’s to beat Donald Trump. I’m absolutely certain I’m the best person to be able to do that. So, we’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye,” Biden said.

Biden says that Trump is a threat to democracy: (Toronto Sun)

Just two weeks earlier, Biden told supporters that Trump was a threat to America’s existence.

“Donald Trump is a genuine threat to this nation. That is not hyperbole. He’s a threat to our freedom. He’s a threat to our democracy,” Biden said, adding that he wouldn’t let Trump destroy America just before the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

The corporate news media tried to cover for the Democrat party: (Daily Caller)

Multiple corporate media outlets initially did not report that shots were fired at a campaign rally featuring former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.

[…]Screenshots of corporate media sites showed that they did not initially report the shots in their headlines.

“Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after popping noises heard at his Pennsylvania rally,” a headline from NBC News said, according to a screenshot posted on X by Drew Holden.

“Trump whisked off stage in Pennsylvania after loud noises rang through the crowd,” a Los Angeles Times headline read, according to another screenshot Holden posted.

CNN tried to portray it as Trump’s fault: “Secret Service rushes Trump off stage after he falls at rally.”

Congerssman Steve Scalise, a previous victim of Democrat domestic terrorism, spoke up in the Wall Street Journal:

House Majority Steve Scalise (R., La.,) who was himself seriously injured during a shooting in 2017, criticized Democratic leaders’ political rhetoric in his statement Saturday night. The shooter in the 2017 attack, who was killed by police, had belonged to several anti-Republican groups and volunteered for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign. There was no immediate information Saturday about who the shooter was or the motivation behind the attack.

“For weeks Democrat leaders have been fueling ludicrous hysteria that Donald Trump winning re-election would be the end of democracy in America,” Scalise said in a statement. “Clearly we’ve seen far left lunatics act on violent rhetoric in the past. This incendiary rhetoric must stop.”

Time will tell about whether this case is similar to the plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan: (Washington Times)

Defense attorneys wanted jurors to see more communications between FBI handlers, undercover agents and paid informants who had fooled Fox and Croft and got inside the group. They argued that any plan to kidnap Whitmer was repeatedly pushed by those government actors.

But at the 2022 trial, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker greatly restricted the use of certain text messages and audio recordings under his interpretation of evidence rules.

“Trials are about telling your story, giving your narrative, trying to persuade,” Croft’s appellate lawyer, Timothy Sweeney, told the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which posts audio on its website.

“When you’re denied the ability to use the rules of evidence where they benefit you, that is an unfair trial. … This case needs to be reversed and sent back for a new trial for that reason,” Sweeney said.

He might have Judge Joan Larsen on his side. She was the most aggressive on the three-judge panel, at one point seeming incredulous with the government’s stance on an important legal precedent at play in the appeal.

“Oh, come on,” she told Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler. “Really?”

Larsen said defense lawyers wanted jurors to see that “government informants were just pounding” Fox and Croft.

“Make a plan, make a plan, make a plan – you’re just sitting around. You’re all talk, you’re no action, make a plan,” she said. “Surely that’s relevant.”

That article is from June 2024, so we are still waiting on answers in that case. Given what we know about the FBI’s involvement in pushing the Steele dossier to influence an election, and the statements of elite national security people denying that the Hunter Biden laptop was real, anything is possible. Don’t count on Democrats to have any morality, they’re atheists, and atheists cannot rationally ground morality. When objective morality goes against their self-interest, they choose their self-interest. That’s why 100 million people died as a result of godless communism in the last century. These people are not like William Wilberforce. The Christian worldview comes up with “free the slaves” and “let the babies live” and “adults should stay married and love their children”. The atheist worldview comes up with “anybody who threatens my power has to be arrested, tortured and sent to a forced labor camp to die of starvation”.

Certainly it looks like the Biden administration Secret Service acted strangely. They either failed to do their jobs, or they intentionally did not do their jobs. Was this a consequence of Democrat DEI policies or typical government incompetence, or was this similar to the case of FBI agents vowing to stop Trump from becoming President?

“[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page texted Strzok in August 2016.

“No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded.

This isn’t the first time that violence like this has been committed against Republicans by Democrats. After all, if your most sacred belief is in abortion, then any kind of violence is possible. Abortion is the act of murdering an unborn child that you created with your own actions, in order to avoid having to lose your happiness. The people who have them value reckless, irresponsible sex more than they value taking responsibility to care for the most innocent and needy human beings. If that’s your core view, then anything is possible. You literally have no morals. And those are the types of people who are running federal law enforcement today. They focus on pre-dawn raiding the homes of peaceful pro-life demonstrators, while ignoring gun violence against Republicans from their allies in the Democrat party. That’s what sin does to a person.