The Resurrection

     There is perhaps no belief that Christians hang onto more tightly than their belief in Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Some of them, in fact, will claim that because of their belief in the resurrection, they do not care about any scriptural problems you may show them. Judaism obviously approaches scripture differently. Once again, careful study reveals several problems that are found with the resurrection story as well.

• Even if someone is resurrected, that does not necessarily qualify them for being the Messiah. The Prophet Elisha resurrected a child and Jesus himself allegedly resurrected Lazarus. Does that qualify Lazarus as the Messiah?

• The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, each gave their own account of the resurrection with major discrepancies. Christians will try to use the discrepancies to bolster their case, saying that totally consistent stories would suggest collusion. Yet, by doing so they must conclude that their stories were then eyewitness accounts. However, none of the Gospel writers were eyewitnesses. If they instead relied on the "Holy Spirit" for their information, why would the "Holy Spirit" give four different accounts?

Below is a chart comparing their accounts of the resurrection.

That Jesus has inspired many people to become better people is wonderful, yet every religion can make this claim. That he has atoned for our sins, that he is the only path to a relationship with G-d, and is the key to eternal life cannot be validated objectively, but are based purely on faith. Besides not portraying the Messiah as a human sacrifice who would die and be resurrected, Jewish scriptures never spoke about a "second-coming". The changes that are to occur when the Messiah comes are all very tangible and verifiable. Since Jesus fulfilled nothing that we required of the Messiah we cannot accept him as such.