[goldstategop]

The idea of resurrection came to the Jews via the Zoroastrians. Ezekiel is the first figure in the Hebrew Bible to mention it but there he uses it in the sense of national rebirth. Later, the idea was extended by the time of Daniel to include individual resurrection as well. And of course the motif found its way into Christianity in the idea of the resurrection from the Cross. Eschatology or the "last things" does not presuppose we will all sleep forever. One day death will be abolished and we all awake and we will live again. Death in fact is unscriptural - see Isaiah who says God promises us, "I will wipe away the tears from all faces and death will be no more." We were meant to live forever but the moment we gained the knowledge of sin, we were fated to die. Let God mercifully pardon our transgressions so we may be bound up in eternal life in the Garden Of Eden.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[Frank Sheed]

Ping

[PetroniusMaximus]

***The idea of resurrection came to the Jews via the Zoroastrians.***

Not according to Jesus...

"The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, saying, ...

But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God... And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead, but of the living."

(That's from Exodus 3:6 - Moses' era, but there are earlier examples.)





***Later, the idea was extended by the time of Daniel to include individual resurrection as well.***


Really?

"For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another." - Job 19

[DouglasKC]

The idea of resurrection came to the Jews via the Zoroastrians. Ezekiel is the first figure in the Hebrew Bible to mention it but there he uses it in the sense of national rebirth.

I'm not in agreement with that interpretation of Ezekiel 37. The physicality of the chapter is overwhelming. Flesh and sinew being added to bones, graves opening, etc.

Death in fact is unscriptural - see Isaiah who says God promises us, "I will wipe away the tears from all faces and death will be no more." We were meant to live forever but the moment we gained the knowledge of sin, we were fated to die. Let God mercifully pardon our transgressions so we may be bound up in eternal life in the Garden Of Eden.

I agree with this mostly. God promised death if Adam and Eve ate of the tree. Satan lied and said we would live.

[dangus]

Before you credit the Zoroastrians with creating the concept of a resurrection, I suggest you read the Psalms of King David.

"All who sleep in the earth will bow low before God; all who have gone down into dust will kneel in homage."
(Psalm 22:30-31)