NY Times: Messiah Resurrection May Not Be Unique to Christianity
July 7, 2008 by Ryan
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Note: At first I was just going to put this on my “What I’m Digging” page or on Twitter, but I just kept writing and decided it needed to be a whole post.
Dominic Buettner for The New York Times
Some Christians will find it shocking — a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology — while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism,” Mr. Boyarin said.
The New York Times reports of a discovery of a tablet that predates Jesus Christ by decades and speaks of a Jewish belief that “a messiah will rise from the dead after three days.” What baffles me is how this could be shocking for Christians or “a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology.” This only confirms the idea that Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses and was in fact the anticipated Messiah.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
-Luke 4:17-21
Jesus is quoting Jewish scripture and claiming to be the Messiah. Understand that Christ left no room for Him to only be a “wise teacher” or even a “great prophet” like historians or researchers or other religions or even some Christian sects believe. He claimed to be the I AM of the Old Testament!
58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
59 Then took they up stones to cast at him…
John 8:58-59
14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Exodus 3:14
He claimed to be the Son of God! He is either exactly what He said, the Messiah and the Son of God, or He is a heretic.
For me it only confirms what I believe, that Jesus is the very Christ the Jews should have received.
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”- John 1:11
Christ at Thirty-Three by Heinrich Hofmann
The confusion, the shock, the controversy also confirms for me the need for another witness of Jesus Christ’s divinity and role as Savior. I believe that there is such a testament to stand as a witness, which I believe is the Book of Mormon. I have read it many times. I have prayed to know if it is true and I believe that it is. On its title page it states that it is for, “the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.” It confirms the truth of the Bible.
Go here for a free copy and you can also request to speak to missionaries about it.
This post has been much more “preachy” than others that I’ve done, but I don’t apologize for it. If you’d like to discuss this post, please comment and I’ll reply.
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Good information and very interesting. Thanks for providing the article