Looking for God: an Ongoing Tale - The last lunch
“So, the last time we talked, you mentioned something about being in the church you've started checking out.” Mitch seems more eager than usual to lead off this lunch hour conversation with Tamara. He, a former college chaplain, and she, a student, have been meeting over lunch since the beginning of the year.
“I remember you saying something about how the speaker that Sunday talked about the death of Jesus and his coming back to life. You asked me about how important the resurrection is to the Christian way of looking at the world.”
“Sure, it is important for Christianity. Jesus died. He came back to life. It's elementary.”
“What do you mean, ‘it's elementary?'”
“Well, if these things didn't happen, it's hard to see how Christianity would have taken off. Jesus was executed by torture. He was buried. And within three days everyone began seeing him again. His grave was empty. Without these things, there's no Christianity.”
“That's the usual way of looking at it.”
“What do you mean, ‘the usual?'”
“I mean that alternative ideas exist about what ‘resurrection' means. It could mean that the spirit of Jesus continues to live in people, the spirit of caring for the weak, of love for others. His body did not rise, but his teachings live on.”
“So, you mean Jesus didn't really come to found a church, a community of people who accept the amazing things God did. He came to found the something more like the Kiwanis Club or the Girl Guides or a school of social work? How can Christianity claim some kind of unique status if Jesus did not die and then return to life?”
“I see that you have been doing some homework.”
“The early Christians had no military victories such as the ones that started Islam into motion. For the early Christians it was all dislocation, frequent imprisonment, and on many occasions, torture. I don't see why anyone would endure those things for some fog-bound ‘spiritual resurrection' of the kind you suggest might be the case.”
“Ok, I was just raising what some people have been saying in case you hadn't thought about it. Anyway, this is the last lunch for a while.”
“Right, sorry to give you a hard time. I've just been doing a lot of reading and it's helped clarify my thinking. I think this summer I'm going to keep doing more of that, reading and talking to people, I mean. Maybe we can talk next year about other stuff, and some of the ideas I've run across.”
“Great. Let's have lunch and call it a year.”
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
“I remember you saying something about how the speaker that Sunday talked about the death of Jesus and his coming back to life. You asked me about how important the resurrection is to the Christian way of looking at the world.”
“Sure, it is important for Christianity. Jesus died. He came back to life. It's elementary.”
“What do you mean, ‘it's elementary?'”
“Well, if these things didn't happen, it's hard to see how Christianity would have taken off. Jesus was executed by torture. He was buried. And within three days everyone began seeing him again. His grave was empty. Without these things, there's no Christianity.”
“That's the usual way of looking at it.”
“What do you mean, ‘the usual?'”
“I mean that alternative ideas exist about what ‘resurrection' means. It could mean that the spirit of Jesus continues to live in people, the spirit of caring for the weak, of love for others. His body did not rise, but his teachings live on.”
“So, you mean Jesus didn't really come to found a church, a community of people who accept the amazing things God did. He came to found the something more like the Kiwanis Club or the Girl Guides or a school of social work? How can Christianity claim some kind of unique status if Jesus did not die and then return to life?”
“I see that you have been doing some homework.”
“The early Christians had no military victories such as the ones that started Islam into motion. For the early Christians it was all dislocation, frequent imprisonment, and on many occasions, torture. I don't see why anyone would endure those things for some fog-bound ‘spiritual resurrection' of the kind you suggest might be the case.”
“Ok, I was just raising what some people have been saying in case you hadn't thought about it. Anyway, this is the last lunch for a while.”
“Right, sorry to give you a hard time. I've just been doing a lot of reading and it's helped clarify my thinking. I think this summer I'm going to keep doing more of that, reading and talking to people, I mean. Maybe we can talk next year about other stuff, and some of the ideas I've run across.”
“Great. Let's have lunch and call it a year.”
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
