Judeo-Christian Tradition

1 Kings 17

Elijah Raises the Widow's Son

¹⁷ After this the son of the woman (widow of Zarephath), the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸ And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” ¹⁹ And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰ And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child's life^[b] come into him again.” ²² And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived

2 Kings 4

Elisha Raises the Shunammite's Son

³² When Elisha came into the house, he saw the child lying dead on his bed. ³³ So he went in and shut the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ Then he went up and lay on the child, putting his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. And as he stretched himself upon him, the flesh of the child became warm. ³⁵ Then he got up again and walked once back and forth in the house, and went up and stretched himself upon him. The child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.

2 Kings 13

²⁰ So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. ²¹ And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

Isaiah 25:8  

…he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 26:19

But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy—your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.

Matthew 20:18-19

“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”

Mark 16:2-7

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Luke 7

Jesus Raises a Widow's Son

¹¹ Soon afterward^[c] he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. ¹² As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴ Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” ¹⁵ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus^[d] gave him to his mother. ¹⁶ Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” ¹⁷ And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Luke 8

⁴⁹ While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler’s house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.” ⁵⁰ But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do no fear; only believe, and she will be well.” ⁵¹ And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Pete and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. ⁵² And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” ⁵³ And they laughed at him knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴ WBut taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” ⁵⁵ And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. ⁵⁶ And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

John 11

Jesus Raises Lazarus

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Acts 9

Dorcas Restored to Life

³⁶ Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas.^[d] She was full of good works and acts of charity. ³⁷ In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. ³⁸ Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” ³⁹ So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics^[e] and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. ⁴⁰ But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. ⁴¹ And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then, calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. ⁴² And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. ⁴³ And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

Acts 20

Eutychus Raised from the Dead

⁷ On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. ⁹ And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. ¹² And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

The Thirteen Principles of Jewish Faith

Maimonides

The great codifier of Torah law and Jewish philosophy, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon ("Maimonides" also known as "The Rambam"), compiled what he refers to as the Shloshah Asar Ikkarim, the "Thirteen Fundamental Principles" of the Jewish faith, as derived from the Torah. Maimonides refers to these thirteen principles of faith as "the fundamental truths of our religion and its very foundations." The Thirteen Principles of Jewish faith (as recorded in Maimonides' introduction to Perek Chelek) are as follows:

1. Belief in the existence of the Creator, who is perfect in every manner of existence and is the Primary Cause of all that exists.

2. The belief in G‑d's absolute and unparalleled unity.

3. The belief in G‑d's non-corporeality, nor that He will be affected by any physical occurrences, such as movement, or rest, or dwelling.

4. The belief in G‑d's eternity.

5. The imperative to worship G‑d exclusively and no foreign false gods.

6. The belief that G‑d communicates with man through prophecy.

7. The belief in the primacy of the prophecy of Moses our teacher.

8. The belief in the divine origin of the Torah.

9. The belief in the immutability of the Torah.

10. The belief in G‑d's omniscience and providence.

11. The belief in divine reward and retribution.

12. The belief in the arrival of the Messiah and the messianic era.

13. The belief in the resurrection of the dead.

It is the custom of many congregations to recite the Thirteen Articles, in a slightly more poetic form, beginning with the words Ani Maamin--"I believe"--every day after the morning prayers in the synagogue.

It explores how Maimonides’ commitment to integrity led him to a critique of the Kalām, to a complex concept of immortality, and to insight into the human yearning for metaphysical knowledge. Maimonides’ search for objective truth is also analyzed in its connection with the scientific writings of his time, which neither the Kalām nor the Jewish philosophical tradition that preceded him had endorsed.

A visionary thinker and prolific author, Moses Maimonides (1135/8-1204) writes on topics ranging from physics to Jewish Law, theology to politics, psychology to Biblical exegesis, and from philosophy to medicine.

Platonic thought: St. Augustine spoke of the soul as a “rider” on the body, making clear the split between the material and the immaterial, with the soul representing the “true” person.

Aristotelian thought: Kallistos, Bishop of Diokleia, Spirit and matter are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they are interdependent; they interpenetrate and interact. When speaking, therefore, of the human person, we are not to think of the soul and the body as two separable «parts» which together comprise a greater whole. The soul, so far from being a «part» of the person, is an expression and manifestation of the totality of our human personhood.[i]

For example, in dozens of NDE accounts, the dying person claims that, precisely during their emergency, they actually observed events which were subsequently confirmed. These observations may have occurred in the emergency room when the individual was in no condition to be observing what was going on around them. Sometimes, the data are reported from a distance away from the scene, and actually may not have been observable from the individual’s location even if they had been healthy, with the normal use of their senses.

In more evidential cases, the dying person reported their evidential observations during extended periods of time without any heartbeat. On rare occasions, no brain activity was present in the individual, either. Further, blind persons have also given accurate descriptions of their surroundings, even when they had never seen anything either before or since.

- Memorizing the 12 digit number on the top of an instrument during an operation

- Seeing an amputation and that all nurses were wearing white, except one who wore blue

- Seeing a man drop a pen in the next room and getting the name of the man who dropped it and the woman who stepped on it right.

Jesus’ Resurrection

Centerpiece of the Christian faith. Without it, Christianity is false. All the churches can close, and the congregants can go home.

1 Corinthians

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹² Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ¹⁵ We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.[ii]

1 Corinthians 15:22

“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”

The resurrection of Jesus is God’s power and victory over sin and death.

Humanity’s redemption came at a great cost to God and His sacrifice was perfect.

As with the parting of the Red Sea, the human response requires acceptance and utilization. God makes a way, one way, and we take it.

What has God made available?

Righteousness.

The Righteousness of God Through Faith

²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

How was it achieved?

Isaiah 53

3 He was despised and rejected^[b] by men,
a man of sorrows^[c] and acquainted with^[d] grief;^[e]
and as one from whom men hide their faces^[f]
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

⁴ Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

God used injustice and substitution to bring about mercy and grace. It was not the first time He used something unsavory to effect His purposes.

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk's Complaint

² O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
³ Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
⁴ So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.

The Lord's Answer

⁵ “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
⁶ For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.

The treacherous Chaldeans were going to be the Lord’s instrument of justice.

The greater good.

John 11 ESV

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”

Yes, but for their sins and eternal life, not for the sake of some nation-state.

We weren’t there. Have to take it on faith.

Historical evidences

Gary Habermas wrote a 5000 page book on the evidences that Jesus rose. Crucifixion has been deemed by historians as the “strongest, most readily defensible fact in the ancient world.”

• Jesus died on the cross in history.

• The Disciples truly believed that Jesus rose from the dead.

• Saul, the church persecutor was a standout Hebrew Pharisee, was changed by what he and others claimed to the Resurrected Jesus.

• The skeptic James, Jesus’s brother, though he did not believe at first did later in life.

Now, we come to the fifth fact. The fifth fact is not as widely attested to as the others. A recent study showed that historical critical scholars believe that the tomb was empty at a 3:1 ratio. That means that historical critical scholars, the folks that study these historical events all the time, believe that the tomb was empty at a 75% ratio.

First, everything happened publicly in Jerusalem. It is much more difficult to hide things in a crowded town like Jerusalem when the town is cram packed for an event like Passover, and when everything discussed was done publicly anyway.

Enemies of Christianity also said that the tomb was empty. Early critics of Christianity claimed that the Jesus’s Disciples stole the body of Christ (Matthew 28:12-13, Justin Martyer, Trypho 108, Tertullian, De Spectaculis 30). It is interesting that the Romans were having to make up stories about what happened to the body rather than taking people to see the full tomb. There is only one reason for this that makes sense: the tomb was empty.

There is also the testimony of women. In today’s day and time this seems strange, but women were not trusted then. If you were going to make up a story then you definitely would not have women as your eyewitnesses. You would most definitely make it up with men as the primary witnesses.

“Sooner let the words of the Law be burnt that delivered to women.” – Talmud, Sotah 19a

“But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex, nor let servants be admitted to give testimony on account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is probable that they may not speak truth, either out of hope of gain or fear of punishment.” – Josephus, Antiquities, 4.8.15

In fact, William Wand, a former Oxford University Church Historian said,

“All the strictly historical evidence we have is in favor of [the empty tomb], and those scholars who reject it ought to recognize that they do so on other ground than that of scientific history.”[iii]

Theological Treatises

Athanasian Creed

Belief focused on Trinitarian doctrine and Christology. Used by Christian churches since the early sixth century, It differs from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the Apostles' Creed in that it includes anathemas condemning those who disagree with its statements (as does the original Nicene Creed).

(known in Latin as Quicumque vult), whoever wishes.

Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith.

Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.

Now this is the catholic faith:

That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,
neither blending their persons
nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person,
the person of the Son is another,
and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.

What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has.
The Father is uncreated,
the Son is uncreated,
the Holy Spirit is uncreated.

The Father is immeasurable,
the Son is immeasurable,
the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/332555/jewish/Maimonides-13-Principles-of-Faith.htm

[i] https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/world/the-unity-of-the-human-person-the-body-soul-relationship-in-orthodox-theology/

[ii] https://ubf.org/sites/default/bible-study/manuscripts/1co15_12-34m.pdf

[iii] https://www.trinityalma.com/2017/03/evidence-resurrection-tomb-empty/