I'm Catholic, Ask Me Anything (for non-Catholics)

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Why does the Resurrection mean that Jesus resurrected Himself, being G-d? Couldn’t G-d have resurrected Jesus, the man? Or is that what Christians claim?
 
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Pup7 said:
What is a Church Doctor, and how does a saint get to be one? (I think it’s saints only, right?)
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A Catholic Church Doctor is a SAINT who made exceptional contributions in the areas of Faith beliefs and understanding;

FROM FATHER HARDON’'S CATHOLIC DICTIONARY

DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH. A title given since the Middle Ages to certain saints whose writing or preaching is outstanding for guiding the faithful in all periods of the Church’s history. Originally the Western Fathers of the Church, Gregory the Great, Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome, were considered the great doctors of the Church. But the Church has officially added many more names to the original four, including Sts. Catherine of Siena (1347-80) and Theresa of Avila (1515-82):

Easter Blessings
Patrick
 
But, if one doubts Jesus’ divinity, could G-d have resurrected Jesus, the human Messiah?
 
Jesus was fully human and fully divine (G-d), so yes he was not resurrected by Him.
 
Jesus said That he who sees Him has seen the Father; and that the Father and Him are one. I explained the concept of the Trinity to you in the last forum.
 
Thanks for your reply and good wishes, and a Blessed Easter to you! One more question: why would miracles per se, even a resurrection miracle, have persuaded the Jewish people, given that Moses cautions the people in Deuteronomy to beware of any who perform miracles and work wonders if they should lead the people away from the G-d they have known? In other words, in Judaism, miracles were not meant to be taken as a sign of divinity or even righteousness, but were held suspect. Any learned Jew would have known that during this period.
 
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Not at all.

First of all, Christianity (as you know) arose out of Judaism. How Christians came to understand Jesus as God derives directly from Jewish tradition. Christianity really arose out of unique circumstances in a unique time in Jewish history. When Jesus was preaching, you had a bunch of Wisdom and Apocalyptic traditions up in the air, and the early Christians certainly took advantage of these ideas.

From the start, Jesus was identified as the earthly manifestation of divine Wisdom, as we see in the writings of Paul as well as in the Synoptic Gospels. Wisdom was seen as having been with God from eternity (Proverbs 8), and as a perfect emanation of God himself (Wisdom 7), having been given complete power by God (Wisdom 7). Jesus was a Wisdom teacher, and he was thought to be a sort of earthly incarnation of Wisdom. In Hellenistic Judaism, Wisdom was known as the “λόγος” (the Word), which the Gospel of John employs having been written by a group of Jewish Christians in diaspora.

The belief about his resurrection fueled things even more, because in the resurrection, whatever was thought of Jesus before was now significantly heightened. In his resurrection, he came to be seen as the risen Lord of the world, seated at the right hand of God, having been given the same glory as God. In the earliest writings, Jesus was seen as Son of God because of his resurrection, and by the Gospel of John he was seen as the Son of God even before his incarnation. In Philippians 2:6-11, Paul quotes and early creed which is thought to have been composed many years before. In it, Jesus is envisioned as divine Wisdom, being equal to God, and becoming incarnate as a man who subsequently is rejected by his nation and raised to glory as Lord of the whole universe. For early Christians, Jesus was given his exalted status to the right hand of God in his resurrection.

Jesus also seems to have made some pretty significant claims about his own self. First, he identified himself as the “Son of Man”, a concept which was already established in Second Temple Judaism (see 1 Enoch and the Book of Daniel). Jesus certainly saw himself as the final prophet, the one who was going to establish God’s Kingdom on earth, the one who was going to be king and judge everyone by their acceptance or non-acceptance of the Kingdom of God.

Now, to make some further remarks on the title “Son of God.” It was meant in two ways:
  • The first was clearly Messianic, and heavily influenced by Psalms 2 and 110
  • The second was Jesus’s own claims. Jesus did claim to be the Son of God, there is little doubt about this. It’s attested to in all our traditions, and Christians would have hardly kept the Aramaic phrase “Abba” (which is what Jesus referred to God by) if he hadn’t claimed some kind of filial relationship to God.
The idea of Jesus being equal to God is derived from Judaism, certainly a unique time and place in Judaism, but it really was a culmination of Wisdom traditions being connected to Jesus, the ultimate conviction of resurrection which heightened his status, and some of his own claims about himself. I can refer you to some books that go in deeper to this if you need.
 
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In Catholicism the resurrection is called ‘the first glorious mystery’, it cannot be fully explained.
 
You misunderstand the resurrection, you’re looking at it from an improper lens. The resurrection was not simply another miracle, no; instead, the resurrection was seen a cosmic event, something that would have been world shattering and transforming. In his resurrection, Jesus was seen as having been given a heightened status by God as King of the cosmos, he was seen as having been vindicated and exalted by God as Lord.
 
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Your question implies that many Jews were converted. That is not the case. Most 1st century Jews rejected Christ. And this was predicted by the Bible and by Jesus himself. Christian converts came mainly from the ‘Gentile’ nations.
 
Resurrecting from the dead in a glorified body after being crucified and tortured to death three days before was convincing. after all only God has authority over death. But Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies of the suffering Messiah, and performed countless miracles, restoring sight to the blind, limbs and even resurrecting dead people. Notice all the miraculous and supernatural things that were occurring in the Old Testament. Those miracles and supernatural events continued; even today. let me ask you. Why do you think the Chosen People were chosen? for what purpose? Chosen for what?
 
meltzerboy2 said:
Why does the Resurrection mean that Jesus resurrected Himself, being G-d? Couldn’t G-d have resurrected Jesus, the man? Or is that what Christians claim?
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Shalom!

1st the physical body that Jesus “assumed” {was born with was that of a true MAN like US in every-way but sin}. Jesus was unique in having at the same time a human body BUT two perfect natures: his perfect human nature & His Perfect Divine Nature.

When He died on the Cross He have up his human body. When He rose from the DEAD, Jesus did so in His Resurrected and GLORIFIED Body {as will all of humanity at the End Times}. READ Jn. 20: 19-20; Jesus appeared to them in a LOCKED room through the locked doors.

The GLORIFIED BODY does not have the limitations of the human body.

John.10: [30] I and the Father are one."

“G_D” is a Trinity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit; so the Resurrection was FROM God the Father; OF God the Son BY God the Holy Spirit. That said what ever one wants; ALL desire; what One does; ALL do.

Catholicism teaches that the Risen Christ remains True MAN and at the same time TRUE GOD. Hence it is Really, Truly and Substantially that Jesus {God & Glorified man} are actually in Catholic Holy Communion. Amen!

Peace my friend,
Patrick
 
Read the New Testament. 3,000 Jews converted in one single day; including priests and Pharisees. most rejected Christ the last week leading up to the crucifixion; but after the resurrection Christianity spread like wildfire
 
By 70 AD when Jerusalem was destroyed there were over half a million Jews there and no Christians. So I’d hardly call it a mass conversion in relative numbers.
 
True, but 3,000 people in one day, at a time when the new Christians were being dragged to prison, stoned to death and persecuted, as evidenced by Saul of Tarsus, was the beginning of a massive spread of the faith.
 
By 68-70 A.D. the first persecution of Christians had begun under Nero.
 
That wa s by the Romans. the apostles were persecuted right after the resurrection. the first martyr, St. Stephen, was stoned to death, as witnessed by Paul
 
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