Read it in parts. Take a coffee break between each number or your head'll explode
#1
Well, if we're gonna talk about it, here are the summaries of what I know resurrection-wise:
-6th to 9th hour darkness over the land
-Jesus cries out "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabach-thani?"
-people say he's calling out to Elijah
-sponge with vinegar offered
-people say to leave him alone and see if Elijah rescues him (they most likely misunderstood the Eloi part as it was thought Elijah would save people in time of great need; thus, the wait and see attitude)
-Jesus gives up his spirit with a loud cry saying "Father, into your hands I commit your spirit........it is finished" and dies
-at that moment, curtain of the temple torn in two (showing the end to the old Hebrew mediator ways), earthquake, rocks split, bodies of holy people raised to life, and the centurion says "Surely this man was the Son of God"
-people beat their chests in anguish and the ladies mentioned later watch from afar
-Sabbath coming up so Jews ask Pilate to take down bodies. Other guys legs busted to kill 'em faster, Christ's were left intact because He was all ready dead. However, His side is pierced by a spear (giving us our Wolfenstein sequel
) and blood and water flow out.
-Joseph of Arimathea (accompanied by Nicodemus) asks Pilate for the body of Jesus. Pilate asks the centurion if He's dead, he says that He is, and Joseph gets the body. He wraps it in clean linen cloth, puts on some of the burial spices, places Him in his new rock tomb, rolls a big stone in front of it, and goes away. Mary the mother of James (not Christ's brother James) and Mary Magdalene sit there and watch the process.
-day after Preparation day, Pharisees tell Pilate to put up guards around the tomb to prevent 3 day prophecy by Christ Himself (Mt. 16:21). Pharisees put a seal on the door and place the guards.
-Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome (not Christ's mother--she was probably staying with John), Joanna, and "the others with them who told this to the apostles." The others being Susanna and others as outlined in Luke 8:1-3. Anyhoo, they're gonna go to the tomb and put on more spices to finish the burial procedure (it was done in a hurry due to the Sabbath)
-they wonder who's gonna roll the stone away (easy to set, hard to open........gravity can be a pain sometimes
)
-angel coming down causes an earthquake, rolls away stone, gives the woman the message (Mt. 28:5-7), they see tomb is empty, Jesus appears and tells them to go, they run back to tell the disciples that Jesus is gone, John beats Peter to the tomb running, they see tomb is empty, everybody leaves except Mary Magdalene, Jesus appears to her, she doesn't recognize Him at first, He tells her to tell the disciples He'll visit them.
-guards bribed to tell disciples stole Christ
-appearances
-Great Commissions and the ascension
Mt. 27:48-66, Mt. 28:1-20, Mark 15:33-47, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 23:44-56, Luke 24:1-53, John 19:28-42, John 20 -21:25
#2
I think the general gist of Jesus' teachings were this:
1). "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment."
2). "And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Laws and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Mt. 22:37-40
#3
Both the need to go through someone else and the icons were abolished because Christ became our mediator directly to God and He was the ultimate sacrifice so we no longer need any. He didn't preach so much on those subjects--He preached love (feeding people, healing people, how to interact with people, etc.).
Yes, the church is important, but it's not really about the building. See all the various references Christ made to the church as his bride. The people are the church, not the building. Jesus got mad in the temple because the people had forgotten that the temple was there so that they could have a place to have a relationship with God. They had made it a place of business instead of a place of worship.
#4
I think you're wrong on the resurrection being added. The resurrection was needed to fulfill Ps. 16:10. If Christ didn't fulfill all the requirements of the Old Testament, He wouldn't have been the Messiah. That's the whole basis of the debate between Judaism and Christianity (Jews say He didn't fulfill 'em and vice versa). Christ's resurrection was also essentially in the fact that if He were dead, so would our faith be dead. Sin would have triumphed. Christ needed to rise for us to have a reason to believe in Him. If He didn't arise, the sin of the world He took on would have beaten Him. The resurrection shows the triumph over sin. The resurrection being "added" seems to be the Pharisees' plot successfully convincing someone.
Without the resurrection it all would have just been suggestions and a bunch of touchy-feely advice. His resurrection cemented the fact that He triumphed over sin and was part of the 3 in 1.
If I was gonna believe in some dude who said a bunch of stuff and then died never to return, I woulda picked Stalin, Lenin, Chi, or some other guy. It woulda made my life a lot simpler. Listen to a bunch of uplifting sayings and then go on a violent spree for $hits and giggles. The whole love thing can be a real pain in the @$$. Yet another reason I should have been a jew...........but I digress.
#5
Christ always said that there was a head of the church. See the story about the grape vines in John 15:1. God is the gardener (head honcho), Christ the vine (our relation to the gardener), and the people the branches (we bear fruit for the gardener). Those who don't are trimmed; those that do are pruned.
If you're trying to show that Christ promoted a lack of organization in the church you may wanna look at Philipians 1:1, 1 Timothy 1 and 1 Timothy 3. Elders and deacons are layed out pretty good.
#6
When ya flesh out the ideas, I'd like to hear 'em. I try to give everyone a chance to air out their ideas on things. It sometimes leaves me up 'til 5 in the morning answering, but whatever
I might disagree, but I like hearing other people's ideas.
Heavy discussions suck when you're tired. Excuse any spelling mistakes, etc. Point 'em out and I'll correct 'em. G'night.
) Christians werent christians for some time yet, they were just Jews with differing ideas at the time of Jesus and for some time after. It isnt until 120-150 AD (Thats as clear a date as I can find right now)that christians are referred to as christians. But thats just a minor point and not really significant.