Oh come on. Where's the fun in that? Most Christians I talk to in person have never heard of it. My guess is that it's not something that is broadcast from the pulpit much any more, since it's so phantastical and a little ridiculous.
It wouldn’t make much sense to include this in the writing if it weren’t true, would it ?
It would if Matthew were a parable, a morality tale, or embellished to get the point across.
The point was, that Heaven rejoiced and the dead on Earth rose for a time to join in the celebration. If it's a constructive myth, then it makes sense.
How have people continued to believe the Bible is all true, after thousands of years of scholarship ?
Probably because for the first few thousand years the repercussions for NOT believing it were dire, and ranged from being a social outcast to death. I'd say there are many Christians now who don't believe everything to be literally true, including many that I know, although I also know a lot of Christians consider that "unchristian".
I'll leave it to the believers to figure out who the "real Christians" are though.
I had a friend who had a severe crisis of faith and ended up being against total Biblical literalism because he truly worried about his Hindu friends being flayed in Hell for all of eternity. He was close to having a Jerusalem Syndrome episode; drove him nuts. Another reason I'm glad I'm free of it. The burden that true believers put on themselves is fascinating and depressing.
Having no excuse for rejecting God’s Word, in the end, they will get exactly what they asked for, eternal separation from God.
If eternal separation from God means I return to the same state that I was in before I was born, then I would choose that most likely. If Heaven is a place where your family is irrelevant, and you live for trillions of years constantly and repeatedly praising the Creator, then I wouldn't want to go. It's sounds like going to church and never being able to leave.
No thanks. I'll take going back to where I was prior to birth. The lack in Christianity of a third option for eternity makes me feel like it's a racket.
It must be divine intervention, because I was THIS CLOSE to posting Ecclesiastes 9:11 in my response to the other guy who mentioned random chance:
...but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Maybe time and chance aren't that unbiblical after all.