New Humanist draws attention to a poll in the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph indicating that Jesus was the top dead person that those surveyed would like to meet if they had the chance, chosen by 1/3 of those polled.
No one seems to have noticed that, for conservative Christians at the very least, and for many moderate to liberal Christians as well, Jesus is not considered a dead person!
I find myself wondering how many of those who answered the poll in this way would also be among those complaining if their priest or bishop denied the resurrection...
Monday, June 8, 2009
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11 comments:
I have noticed that same thing elsewhere. I seem to find Evangelicals often who refer to Jesus almost exclusively in the past tense. "Jesus was meek." "Jesus was sinless." "Jesus loved everybody."
And yet I don't seem to recall Christians from any other area of the church who consistently speak of Jesus in the present tense. So while I don't think it is unique to Evangelicals, I do think you are on to something in the observation.
The results of this poll...
Jesus must be turning in his grave :-)
Jesus is not dead! He's just pining for the fjords! :)
The only reason he's still on that perch is that he was nailed on.
Huh?
What’s the difference between Jesus’ current status and what’s considered “dead” for normal folks (who, presumably, are in either Heaven or Hell)?
Are there no dead persons? What am I missing?
What you're missing is that, historically, Jesus was believed to have entered the life of the resurrection age, to have returned to bodily existence, albeit of a different sort than our present one. Christians emphatically did not think of Jesus as simply having died and "gone to heaven" in the way other dead people might.
Part of the confusion probably has to do with the decline in emphasis on resurrection as the mode of existence in the afterlife.
I might add that I didn't necessarily intend this post to be a criticism. To the extent that our views of the afterlife have changed, it may make perfectly good sense to rethink what we think happened to Jesus. Having said that, I suspect that those who answered "Jesus" on this survey hadn't given the matter that much thought... :)
JAMES
Christians emphatically did not think of Jesus as simply having died and "gone to heaven" in the way other dead people might.
CARR
Which other dead people?
Who in the Bible dies and goes to Heaven?
You're absolutely right that "dying and going to heaven" isn't strictly speaking a Biblical concept. Having said that, there is Paul's reference to absence from the body being equivalent to being present with the Lord, although that is really rather vague. But there are also extracanonical texts in which dead patriarchs (e.g. Abel) are encountered in the course of heavenly journeys.
And then there is Elijah, who went to heaven without dying first.
And Enoch
There's also the "great multitude" in Revelation 7, depending on how you read that text.
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