Was the Resurrection a literal or metaphorical event?

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Zadeth said:
As the title asks.

Was the Resurrection a literal, physical event or could it have been purely spiritual and/or symbolic?
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Why not interview

1 Corinthians 15:6
Then he was seen by more than five hundred brethren at once: of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep.

What your really asking is:

Is there A basis for Christianity?

IS the Bible TRUE?🤷
 
It’s really a question of a tradition-based ‘evidence chain’ rather than “attested historical fact”.

The real reason for my raising it is that it’s a pretty common argument that ‘whatever’ must be true because people would not have died for a ‘lie’ - except that there’s not exactly a lot of evidence that they died for anything.
 
Catechism

scborromeo.org/ccc/p122a5p2.htm

The condition of Christ’s risen humanity

645 By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his Passion.509 Yet at the same time this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills; for Christ’s humanity can no longer be confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father’s divine realm.510 For this reason too the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign freedom of appearing as he wishes: in the guise of a gardener or in other forms familiar to his disciples, precisely to awaken their faith.
 
Another great text from Pope Benedict XVI April 2009

“Consequently, it is fundamental for our faith and for our Christian witness to proclaim the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth as a real, historical event, attested by many authoritative witnesses. We assert this forcefully because, in our day too, there are plenty of people who seek to deny its historicity, reducing the Gospel narrative to a myth, to a “vision” of the Apostles, taking up and presenting old and already worn-out theories as new and scientific. For Jesus, of course, the Resurrection was not a simple return to his former life. Should this have been the case, in fact, it would have been something of the past: 2,000 years ago someone, such as, for example, Lazarus, was raised and returned to his former life. The Resurrection is placed in another dimension: it is the passage to a profoundly new dimension of life that also concerns us, that involves the entire human family, history and the universe. This event that introduced a new dimension of life, an opening of this world of ours to eternal life, changed the lives of the eye-witnesses as the Gospel accounts and the other New Testament writings demonstrate; it is a proclamation that entire generations of men and women down the centuries have accepted with faith and to which they have borne witness, often at the price of their blood, knowing that in this very way they were entering into this new dimension of life… This is the victory of Easter, our salvation! And therefore we can sing with St Augustine: “Christ’s Resurrection is our hope!”, because it introduces us into a new future.”
 
Lily_Bernans said:
When someone is tortured, as Christ was, the body secrets something, and I can’t remember what, that causes the blood to remain red as well.

The fact that the blood stains, and I firmly believe they are blood stains, indicate that the nails were driven through the victim’s wrists, further indicates that the Shroud is not a forgery. Until modern times, people thought the nails had been driven through Christ’s palms, but tests with corpses show that this would not hold a body on the Cross. The nails were driven through the wrists. Any medieval forger would have most certainly indicated that the nails had been driven through the palms since that’s how all the artists depicted the crucifixion in medieval times.

The empty tomb, by itself, proves nothing. The real proof is the changed life of the apostles. Prior to the first Easter, they were hiding in fear, afraid that they, too, might be arrested and crucified or imprisoned. After Easter morning, they proclaimed the gospel of Christ fervently, and all but John died a martyr’s death rather than renounce Jesus’ Messiahship.

Edit: I meant to reply to your post on the Shroud, but no harm done.
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I believe the Shroud is real but why do some saints have stigmata in their palms?
 
po18guy said:
Please accept the following in the spirit in which it is offered. To paraphrase the incredulity of Yeshua: “How long have you been here (CAF), and you still do not understand?” We know that the truth of a matter is established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. Thus, we have the three eyewitness Gospels of Matthew, Mark (testimony of eyewitness Peter) and John. As well, Peter bears witness in his letters. Luke compiled the testimony of eyewitnesses. There were numerous eyewitnesses to His death, the preparation of His Body for burial by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the 500+ eyewitnesses as recorded by Saul (Paul) to His resurrected body. Peter, Thomas, Nathanael of Cana and two others witnessed the miraculous catch and Him in His resurrected Body eat fish on the shore of the Sea of Galilee/Tiberius. Thomas probed His wounds, the eleven witnessed His eating of food in the upper room, and life eleven were witnesses to His ascension to the Father. If these were fantastical tales without foundation, how would so many come to belief? They had both seen and heard of the miracles.

The cynic may say that these are fables, but the Romans Josephus and Pliny the Younger recorded at least some of these historical events. The believing eyewitnesses were often put to death for their witness of Christ, just as the Hebrews were put to death for their practice of the faith under the Seleucid kings, as recorded in the Book of the Maccabees.

If the point you are making is that all of this testimony is in the past, then Judaism is also little more than fables. We cannot and must not say that.
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Mark wasn’t an eyewitness himself, though, right?
 
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May I ask what purpose does Jesus’ glorified body serve for him in heaven?

Thankyou for your considerations 🙂

.
 
Servant19 said:
.
May I ask what purpose does Jesus’ glorified body serve for him in heaven?
Thankyou for your considerations 🙂
.
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** FYI: Our friend Servant19 is a member of the Baha’i Faith which, for all of its fine attributes, does have one failing:
Baha’i theology postulates that Jesus’ corpse did not disappear (vanish) from His tomb as stated in the Gospel of Matthew.
Instead Baha’is believe that His corpse is still buried somewhere in the Jerusalem area.

I like and respect Mr. Servant but I have noticed that his “questions” are often leading and may be intended to trap the unwary responder. **
 
jeffrey_erwin said:
** FYI: Our friend Servant19 is a member of the Baha’i Faith which, for all of its fine attributes, does have one failing:
Baha’i theology postulates that Jesus’ corpse did not disappear (vanish) from His tomb as stated in the Gospel of Matthew.
Instead Baha’is believe that His corpse is still buried somewhere in the Jerusalem area.

I like and respect Mr. Servant but I have noticed that his “questions” are often leading and may be intended to trap the unwary responder. **
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Thankyou Jeffrey

I sincerely am not attempting to trap anyone.

I personally feel that there is a divinely revealed purpose for everything which has God at its Source.

If there is any guidance in Catholicism as to what we intend to do with our glorified bodies and of course what Jesus is doing with His Blessed Glorified Body, I would appreciate the learnings offered 🙂

.
 
Servant19 said:
I personally feel that there is a divinely revealed purpose for everything which has God at its Source.
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Is there a divine purpose for everything which has God as its source? Yes, I can agree with that.

Is there a divinely revealed purpose? No, that doesn’t seem to follow. I would assume that you’re saying that this ‘revelation’ has been made to mankind? If so, how do you reach that conclusion?

Blessings,
G.
 
Gorgias said:
Unless you’re saying that no one actually ‘saw’ him (because he didn’t really rise from the dead), then this is irrelevant. The question is of the resurrection itself as a historical event, and not post-resurrection appearances. You can doubt the appearances, but that doesn’t cast doubt on the resurrection, per se. (In other words, despite the claims of conspiracy theorists, the fact that we only ‘saw’ the moon landings on TV doesn’t infer that the moon landing didn’t happen. The truth of that claim stands on its own, not on the claims of those who assert they saw it happen.) Now… you can ask how we might know that the claims of the resurrection are true, if there aren’t eyewitnesses of ‘real’ post-resurrection appearances, but that’s a different question as well…
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I have a close friend. He is intelligent. He is a wonderful man. He thinks that the moon landing is fake.

It comes down to whether or not we trust the writings of the apostles. I have determined that they were intelligent men. They were honest men (otherwise they would not have written about the Samartan woman at the well). They were not crazy. They changed from ordinary people to men of great bravery. I trust that they wrote down or taught verbally what they knew and believed to be the truth. I have no reason to doubt them.
 
Gorgias said:
Is there a divine purpose for everything which has God as its source? Yes, I can agree with that.

Is there a divinely revealed purpose? No, that doesn’t seem to follow. I would assume that you’re saying that this ‘revelation’ has been made to mankind? If so, how do you reach that conclusion?

Blessings,
G.
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Thankyou Gorgias 🙂

All I am proposing is that God did not create anything for a purposeless existence.

Sure there is many a thing in creation that has a purpose which is not revealed in Scripture, such as bacteria for example, however the interconnected purpose of these things is being given profound meaning by science.

In religion, we have a body and a soul and the purpose for both had been well described from religion to religion.

I am simply asking what purpose does a glorified body serve?

Blessings to you too dear friend, and thankyou for your kind consideration 🙂

.
 
Servant19 said:
Thankyou Gorgias 🙂

All I am proposing is that God did not create anything for a purposeless existence.

Sure there is many a thing in creation that has a purpose which is not revealed in Scripture, such as bacteria for example, however the interconnected purpose of these things is being given profound meaning by science.

In religion, we have a body and a soul and the purpose for both had been well described from religion to religion.

I am simply asking what purpose does a glorified body serve?

Blessings to you too dear friend, and thankyou for your kind consideration 🙂

.
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This is one of the many many many questions I hope to have answered. The most mysterious of all questions though is: “Why did Christ love us enough to die for us.”

I have no idea why He would do that. I can only be grateful that He did.
 
Kaninchen said:
It’s really a question of a tradition-based ‘evidence chain’ rather than “attested historical fact”.

The real reason for my raising it is that it’s a pretty common argument that ‘whatever’ must be true because people would not have died for a ‘lie’ - except that there’s not exactly a lot of evidence that they died for anything.
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I find it somewhat interesting that no one has mentioned the conversion of Paul. “Something” had to have happened to make him do a complete 180 literally in a moment. Paul’s Letters are also the oldest Christian writings we have.

What caused his conversion? He claims he saw the resurrected Jesus.

I don’t see any other better explanation for his radical change.
 
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