According to a new study, the more intelligent a person is, the more likely he/she would be turn away from religion.

Study: “Most extant explanations (of a negative relation) share one central theme —the premise that religious beliefs are irrational, not anchored in science, not testable and, therefore, unappealing to intelligent people…”

Editor’s note: All of this actually goes to prove the eminent practicality of Catholicism, which is based on Jesus Christ – an actual historical person – plus faith and reason – including the entirely logical premise that anyone who claims to be God and subsequently raises himself from the dead in order to prove it – most likely IS precisely who he claims to be!

Recovering the theological significance of Sunday is fundamental to rebalancing our lives.

For Christians, Sunday, the Lord’s Day, is a special day consecrated to the service and worship of God.  It is a unique Christian festival.  It is “the day the Lord has made” (Ps. 117 (118):24). Its nature is holy and joyful. Sunday is the day on which we believe God acted decisively to liberate the world from the tyranny of sin, death, and corruption through the Holy Resurrection of Jesus.

The primacy of Sunday is affirmed by the liturgical practice of the early church. St. Justin the Martyr writing around 150 AD notes that “it is on Sunday that we assemble because Sunday is the first day, the day on which God transformed darkness and matter and created the world and the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead (First Apology, 67).” Sunday has always had a privileged position in the life of the church as a day of worship and celebration. On Sunday the Church assembles to realize her eschatological fullness in the Eucharist by which the Kingdom and the endless Day of the Lord are revealed in time.  It is the perpetual first day of the new creation, a day of rejoicing.  It is a day for community, feasting and family gatherings.

Read more

The late historian Dr. Warren Carroll explains what happened in Jerusalem the day Jesus rose again from the dead.

The word “perfidious” in the old Good Friday liturgy referred to the rejection of God’s Son the Messiah by the Jews who called for his crucifixion. He had given them proofs of who He was, but they closed their eyes and ears to them.

Though it may be counter-productive to make this point in today’s age, this willful blindness to the truth is spectacularly evidenced by the Sanhedrin when they received the report of Jesus’ Resurrection from the Roman guards at His tomb.

There were 16 guards on duty, only 600 yards from Pilate’s government house and residence; they were certainly not all asleep, for sleeping on watch by a Roman soldier was punishable by death.

If the Sanhedrin believed their report, they knew a miracle had happened.

If they disbelieved it, why did they not denounce them to Pilate and have the apostles arrested for stealing Jesus’ body, either with the complicity of the guards or because of their negligence?

But the Sanhedrin did neither, instead bribing the guards to say that Jesus’ disciples had stolen His body while they slept, and promising to protect them from Pilate. They must have known or at least guessed the truth, and yet refused to believe.

In any case, the expression “perfidious” cannot logically apply to Jews apart from the circumstances of the crucifixion…

Recommended study: CATHOLICISM – explained

Many people think
Catholicism sounds too good to be true.
But, they don’t really know God.
– Doug Lawrence –

C A T H O L I C I S M – explained

FREE Download  C A T H O L I C I S M  – explained  (PDF)
(Single 8.5X11 page, two sides)

Obtaining Eternal Salvation In and Through
Our Lord, Jesus Christ and his Holy Catholic Church – PDF

Today’s Question: Are Catholics right that bread and wine at Communion becomes Jesus’ actual flesh and blood?

Melchizedek, Manna, Passover, Last Supper

Today’s Question: Are Catholics right that bread and wine at Communion
becomes Jesus’ actual flesh and blood?

Answer: Certainly! Jesus is the (Passover) Lamb of God. Jesus is also the one time, once for all, perfect and atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Faith in the power of the original Passover (protection from death) required the application of the blood and that the Passover lamb be consumed, precisely as God directed.

Faith in the power of the Christian Pasch – Easter – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – our divine “Passover” from death to life, requires the (worthy) consumption of the body, blood, soul and divinity of “The Lamb of God”, Jesus Christ, who becomes sacramentally present on the holy altar, for our good, for the good of the Church and of the whole world.

What was prefigured in the old, is beautifully and very powerfully fulfilled, in the new.

The Apostles knew that to be (literally) true, as did the entire Church of God, right up until the Protestant revolt, of the 15th century, when things took a decided “turn” for the worse.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, through the “work” of the Catholic Ministerial Priesthood, the bread and wine becomes the glorified and resurrected body and blood of Jesus Christ; because it’s obvious that’s what God had always intended and because JESUS SAID IT DOES.

As for the Mass: the first Mass (The Last Supper) anticipated Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross, so predates the Book of Revelation. But, the Book of Revelation speaks of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which beautifully ties all of this together.

Every Mass we attend and every Communion we receive, here on earth, serves to prepare us for this coming, glorious, total fulfillment in Jesus Christ and it does so in a most profound, truthful and beautiful way.

We have God’s word on it!

QUESTION: Christians, If god didn’t sacrifice himself to himself to bypass a rule he made, then what did he do exactly? (REPOST)

ANSWER:

Jesus resolved a “structural” problem that occurred as a result of Adam being swindled out of his God given earthly dominion by Satan, the devil.

As a result of Adam’s fall from grace, Satan managed to enslave Adam and all of his offspring under an evil dominion, based on the power of death.

God permitted such a thing because Adam was properly and completely educated (warned in advance) by God and should have known better. Once Adam lost everything to Satan, there was no (natural) way of reversing (restoring) things. Hence, God stepped up to right the wrong.

True God and true man, Jesus is the sinless, fully authorized and fully qualified “kinsman redeemer” – the only one who has the supernatural power, as well as the “natural right” to step in and redeem mankind from perpetual slavery to Satan, sin and death. But it would not be easy and it would not be accomplished the way most would expect.

Because Jesus is God – and because Jesus is also a sinless man, Satan had absolutely no power (the power of death or otherwise) over Jesus – so Satan and his minions (the corrupt Jews and the pagan Romans of the time) had absolutely no authority to put Jesus to death.

They went ahead and crucified him anyway, even though they should have known better. They had been warned, all the way back in Genesis 3:15.

Jesus permitted it to happen, since when Jesus died on the cross, Satan’s evil dominion over mankind and the earth was forfeit and mankind now had a (perfect and sinless) new leader – the resurrected Jesus Christ, the Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords – the one who Satan had absolutely no power over.

Now, all power on earth and in heaven (as well as everywhere else) was awarded to the New Adam – the resurrected Jesus Christ – fully God and fully man – who had effectively “crushed the head of the serpent” – freeing mankind from the power of perpetual death and hell – just as he promised, so long ago – and who, by his glorious resurrection, proved all that I claim here and more.

God the Father was pleased, freely bestowing grace, peace, divine adoption, protection from eternal death and much, much more, on all who choose to swear faithful allegiance to his divine son, Jesus – something that is typically accomplished through water baptism, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as through faithful membership and regular, consistent participation in the work, worship, sacraments and devotions of the only Church that Jesus Christ ever personally founded, authorized, empowered and perpetually guaranteed, for the purpose of our salvation – the Holy Catholic Church.

Asked and answered on Yahoo Answers

Jesus Christ, a blood red moon, darkness at mid-day … and much, much more.

And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be confounded forever.

And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Moreover, upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will pour forth my spirit.

And I will shew wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood: before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come.

And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved: for in Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord hath said, and in the residue whom the Lord shall call.  (Joel 2:27-32)

************

Unto the end, for the morning protection, a psalm for David. O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.

O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me. But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel. In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them. They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him. (Psalms 22:1-8)

************

I set the Lord always in my sight: for he is at my right hand, that I be not moved. Therefore my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced: moreover, my flesh also shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to the end. (Psalms 16:8-11)

************

And going out, he went, according to his custom, to the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. And when he was come to the place, he said to them: Pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

And he was withdrawn away from them a stone’s cast. And kneeling down, he prayed. Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done.

And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.  (Luke 22:39-44)

************

And the people stood beholding. And the rulers with them derided him, saying: He saved others: let him save himself, if he be Christ, the elect of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, And saying: If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.  (Luke 23:35-37)

Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over the whole earth, until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? That is, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:45-46)

************

And on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled back from the sepulchre. And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

And it came to pass, as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men stood by them, in shining apparel. And as they were afraid and bowed down their countenance towards the ground, they said unto them: Why seek you the living with the dead?

He is not here, but is risen.

Remember how he spoke unto you, when he was yet in Galilee, Saying: The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words. (Luke 24:1-8)

************

And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming: and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire: and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost: and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.

Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these that speak Galilean? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all astonished, and wondered, saying one to another: What meaneth this?

But others mocking, said: These men are full of new wine. But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you and with your ears receive my words.

For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day: But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (saith the Lord), I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

And upon my servants indeed and upon my handmaids will I pour out in those days of my spirit: and they shall prophesy. And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood and fire, and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord to come. And it shalt come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:1-21)

Today’s Question: Are Catholics right that bread and wine at Communion becomes Jesus’ actual flesh and blood?

Melchizedek, Manna, Passover, Last Supper

Today’s Question: Are Catholics right that bread and wine at Communion
becomes Jesus’ actual flesh and blood?

Answer: Certainly! Jesus is the (Passover) Lamb of God.

Jesus is also the one time, once for all, perfect and atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Faith in the power of the original Passover (protection from death) required the application of blood and that the Passover lamb be consumed, precisely as God directed.

Faith in the power of the Christian Pasch – Easter – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – our divine “Passover” from death to life, requires the (worthy) consumption of the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, which becomes sacramentally present on the holy altar, for our good, for the good of the Church and of the whole world.

What was prefigured in the old, is beautifully and very powerfully fulfilled, in the new.

The Apostles knew that to be true, as did the entire Church of God, right up until the Protestant revolt, of the 15th century, when things took a decided “turn” for the worse.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, through the “work” of the Catholic Ministerial Priesthood, the bread and wine becomes the glorified and resurrected body and blood of Jesus Christ; because it’s obvious that’s what God had always intended and because JESUS SAID IT DOES.

As for the Mass: the first Mass (The Last Supper) anticipated Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross, so predates the Book of Revelation. But, the Book of Revelation speaks of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, which beautifully ties all of this together, in the most profound, truthful and beautiful way.

Asked and answered today on Yahoo! Answers. Edited for clarity and content. 

Today’s Question: Did Jesus tell us to keep the (old) law?

Question: Did Jesus tell us to keep the (old) law?

Answer: Prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Old Law remained fully in force. Afterwards, by the power of Christ, the New Covenant and the Church replaced the entirety of the Old Law, which never had the ability to save a soul.

If the Old Law/Old Covenant had been sufficient, the “New” Covenant would not have been necessary; Nor would Christ’s perfect and atoning sacrifice on the cross, for the sins of the world. 

Jesus also spoke about the folly of attempting to put new “wine” into old wine “skins”. This is precisely the type of thing to which he was referring.

The sole governing authority of the New Covenant is the Holy Catholic Church, which was given the Power of Binding and Loosing, as well as the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, by Christ himself.

Only that which the New Covenant Church authoritatively decided to readopt or re-adapt (from OT times) made the transition from old to new. Nothing else.

Conclusion: The Holy Catholic Church remains the sole governing authority under the New Covenant, as well as the primary channel of God’s grace on earth, with Jesus as its’ head and the Holy Spirit as its’ constant Advocate and Spirit of Truth.

Grace – not Law – now, mercifully reigns – in and through Jesus Christ, our Divine Redeemer – in God’s “New” and “Better” order of things.

That’s how Jesus set things up for us. He knew what he was doing. He’s God!

Asked and answered today on Yahoo!Answers. Edited for clarity and content.

A question about the possibility of divine justification, prior to Jesus’ perfect and atoning sacrifice, on the cross.

Question: In the Gospel of Saint Luke, Chapter 18, verse 9, we read the story of The Pharisee and the Tax Collector. In verse 14, it goes on to say that the Tax Collector went home justified, by God. I thought that prior to Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross, nobody was ever justified, by God. What am I missing?

Answer: Prior to Jesus’ atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind, God provided many types of opportunities for man to give God thanks and praise and to offer up imperfect forms of animal (and other) sacrifices to God, for various good purposes and intentions.

While none of those “forms” of worship (or even our best attempts at perfectly keeping the Old Law) had the power to destroy Satan’s power over man, or reopen the Gates of Heaven, they did serve to (imperfectly) please/appease God and impute a certain level of righteousness/justification to those who faithfully and correctly practiced them.

The souls of those who God considered to be “justified” in that manner, were supernaturally “marked” for eventual salvation, in Jesus Christ and subsequently detained in a special “place” in the afterlife – known (alternatively) as Hell, or “The Bosom of Abraham” – while they awaited the perfect and atoning sacrifice of our Holy Redeemer, on the cross, at Calvary.

Catholic Tradition informs us that Jesus escorted all those faithful souls to Heaven, while his dead body lay in the tomb, for three days and nights, awaiting his glorious Resurrection.

QUESTION: Christians, If god didn’t sacrifice himself to himself to bypass a rule he made, then what did he do exactly?

ANSWER:

Jesus resolved a “structural” problem that occurred as a result of Adam being swindled out of his God given earthly dominion by Satan, the devil.

As a result of Adam’s fall from grace, Satan managed to enslave Adam and all of his offspring under an evil dominion, based on the power of death.

God permitted such a thing because Adam was properly and completely educated (warned in advance) by God and should have known better. Once Adam lost everything to Satan, there was no (natural) way of reversing (restoring) things. Hence, God stepped up to right the wrong.

True God and true man, Jesus is the sinless, fully authorized and fully qualified “kinsman redeemer” – the only one who has the supernatural power, as well as the “natural right” to step in and redeem mankind from perpetual slavery to Satan, sin and death. But it would not be easy and it would not be accomplished the way most would expect.

Because Jesus is God – and because Jesus is also a sinless man, Satan had absolutely no power (the power of death or otherwise) over Jesus – so Satan and his minions (the corrupt Jews and the pagan Romans of the time) had absolutely no authority to put Jesus to death.

They went ahead and crucified him anyway, even though they should have known better. They had been warned, all the way back in Genesis 3:15.

Jesus permitted it to happen, since when Jesus died on the cross, Satan’s evil dominion over mankind and the earth was forfeit and mankind now had a (perfect and sinless) new leader – the resurrected Jesus Christ, the Messiah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords – the one who Satan had absolutely no power over.

Now, all power on earth and in heaven (as well as everywhere else) was awarded to the New Adam – the resurrected Jesus Christ – fully God and fully man – who had effectively “crushed the head of the serpent” – freeing mankind from the power of perpetual death and hell – just as he promised, so long ago – and who, by his glorious resurrection, proved all that I claim here and more.

God the Father was pleased, freely bestowing grace, peace, divine adoption, protection from eternal death and much, much more, on all who choose to swear faithful allegiance to his divine son, Jesus – something that is typically accomplished through water baptism, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, as well as through faithful membership and regular, consistent participation in the work, worship, sacraments and devotions of the only Church that Jesus Christ ever personally founded, authorized, empowered and perpetually guaranteed, for the purpose of our salvation – the Holy Catholic Church.

Asked and answered on Yahoo Answers

What … Who … Huh?

This is the key point, the Pope stressed: “Jesus is risen.”

But, the Holy Father continued, it is not always easy to understand. The Pope then recalled that when St. Paul spoke to the Greeks in Athens he was listened to with interest up to when he spoke of the resurrection. “This makes us afraid, it best to leave it as is.” Pope Francis said.

The Pope noted that “there are also the Christians who are embarrassed. They are embarrassed to confess that Christ is risen.”

…said Pope Francis there is the group of Christians who “in their hearts do not believe in the Risen Lord and want to make theirs a more majestic resurrection than that of the real one.” These, he said are the “triumphalist” Christians.

“They do not know the meaning of the word ‘ triumph ‘ the Pope continued, so they just say “triumphalism”, because they have such an inferiority complex and want to do this …

When we look at these Christians, with their many triumphalist attitudes, in their lives, in their speeches and in their pastoral theology, liturgy, so many things, it is because they do not believe deep down in the Risen One. He is the Winner, the Risen One. He won..”

Link

Editor’s note: The Holy Father should be much more specific when he aims to “dis” entire groups of Christians. For starters, he might tell us precisely what and/or who he is talking about.

The term “Triumphalism” doesn’t even appear in the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia, so it can’t possibly be a reference to Pope Francis’ old fashioned, favorite target – the dreaded Pelagians!

What should we take away from this? Best guess: Always giving Christ the glory and the credit, because it the power of his grace … not anything we might do all by ourselves … which makes real victory possible.

It would have been nice if the Holy Father fully explained himself – but that would have required at least some preparation and an essential working knowledge of Catholic theology.

According to a new study, the more intelligent a person is, the more likely he/she would be turn away from religion.

Study: “Most extant explanations (of a negative relation) share one central theme —the premise that religious beliefs are irrational, not anchored in science, not testable and, therefore, unappealing to intelligent people…”

Read more

Editor’s note: All of which goes to prove the eminent practicality of Catholicism, which is based on Jesus Christ – an actual historical person – plus faith and reason – including the entirely logical premise that anyone who claims to be God and subsequently raises himself from the dead in order to prove it – most likely IS precisely who he claims to be!

Recovering the theological significance of Sunday is fundamental to rebalancing our lives.

For Christians, Sunday, the Lord’s Day, is a special day consecrated to the service and worship of God.  It is a unique Christian festival.  It is “the day the Lord has made” (Ps. 117 (118):24). Its nature is holy and joyful. Sunday is the day on which we believe God acted decisively to liberate the world from the tyranny of sin, death, and corruption through the Holy Resurrection of Jesus.

The primacy of Sunday is affirmed by the liturgical practice of the early church. St. Justin the Martyr writing around 150 AD notes that “it is on Sunday that we assemble because Sunday is the first day, the day on which God transformed darkness and matter and created the world and the day that Jesus Christ rose from the dead (First Apology, 67).” Sunday has always had a privileged position in the life of the church as a day of worship and celebration. On Sunday the Church assembles to realize her eschatological fullness in the Eucharist by which the Kingdom and the endless Day of the Lord are revealed in time.  It is the perpetual first day of the new creation, a day of rejoicing.  It is a day for community, feasting and family gatherings.

Read more

The seven traditional qualities of a resurrected body

Here we will allow our source to be the Summa of St. Thomas. You can click on each quality (in blue) to read more a the NewAdvent Summa online.

1. Identity – What this means essentially is that the very same body that falls in death will rise to be glorified. We cannot claim that we will get a different body, but rather, that our current body will rise and be glorified. St. Thomas says, For we cannot call it resurrection unless the soul return to the same body, since resurrection is a second rising, and the same thing rises that falls: wherefore resurrection regards the body which after death falls rather than the soul which after death lives. And consequently if it be not the same body which the soul resumes, it will not be a resurrection, but rather the assuming of a new body (Supl, Q 79.1).

This does not mean that the body will necessarily be identical in every way. As St. Paul says above, are current bodies are like the seed. And just as a seed does not have all the qualities of the mature plant, but does have all these qualities in seed form. So too our body is linked to our resurrected body causally and essentially though not all the qualities of the resurrected body are currently operative. Again, the Summa states: A comparison does not apply to every particular, but to some. For in the sowing of grain, the grain sown and the grain that is born thereof are neither identical, nor of the same condition, since it was first sown without a husk, yet is born with one: and the body will rise againidentically the same, but of a different condition, since it was mortal and will risein immortality. (Ibid).

Scripture attests that the same body that dies will also rise. Job said, And after my flesh has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another (Job 19:26-27). And to the Apostles, shocked at his resurrection Jesus said, Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have (Luke 24:39).

Hence the same body rises and so there is continuity. But there is also development and a shining forth of a new glory and capabilities that our bodies do not currently enjoy.

6 more

The late historian Dr. Warren Carroll explains what happened in Jerusalem the day Jesus rose again from the dead

The word “perfidious” in the old Good Friday liturgy referred to the rejection of God’s Son the Messiah by the Jews who called for his crucifixion. He had given them proofs of who He was, but they closed their eyes and ears to them.

Though it may be counter-productive to make this point in today’s age, this willful blindness to the truth is spectacularly evidenced by the Sanhedrin when they received the report of Jesus’ Resurrection from the Roman guards at His tomb.

There were 16 guards on duty, only 600 yards from Pilate’s government house and residence; they were certainly not all asleep, for sleeping on watch by a Roman soldier was punishable by death.

If the Sanhedrin believed their report, they knew a miracle had happened.

If they disbelieved it, why did they not denounce them to Pilate and have the apostles arrested for stealing Jesus’ body, either with the complicity of the guards or because of their negligence?

But the Sanhedrin did neither, instead bribing the guards to say that Jesus’ disciples had stolen His body while they slept, and promising to protect them from Pilate. They must have known or at least guessed the truth, and yet refused to believe.

In any case, the expression “perfidious” cannot logically apply to Jews apart from the circumstances of the crucifixion…

Doubting Thomas

He Is Risen!

Jesus Christ, a blood red moon, darkness at mid-day … and much, much more.

And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be confounded forever.

And it shall come to pass after this, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Moreover, upon my servants and handmaids in those days I will pour forth my spirit.

And I will shew wonders in heaven; and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood: before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come.

And it shall come to pass, that every one that shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved: for in Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem shall be salvation, as the Lord hath said, and in the residue whom the Lord shall call.  (Joel 2:27-32)

************

Unto the end, for the morning protection, a psalm for David. O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.

O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me. But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel. In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them. They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people. All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head. He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him. (Psalms 22:1-8)

************

I set the Lord always in my sight: for he is at my right hand, that I be not moved. Therefore my heart hath been glad, and my tongue hath rejoiced: moreover, my flesh also shall rest in hope. Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt fill me with joy with thy countenance: at thy right hand are delights even to the end. (Psalms 16:8-11)

************

And going out, he went, according to his custom, to the Mount of Olives. And his disciples also followed him. And when he was come to the place, he said to them: Pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

And he was withdrawn away from them a stone’s cast. And kneeling down, he prayed. Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done.

And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground.  (Luke 22:39-44)

************

And the people stood beholding. And the rulers with them derided him, saying: He saved others: let him save himself, if he be Christ, the elect of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him and offering him vinegar, And saying: If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.  (Luke 23:35-37)

Now from the sixth hour, there was darkness over the whole earth, until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying: Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani? That is, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:45-46)

************

And on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled back from the sepulchre. And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

And it came to pass, as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men stood by them, in shining apparel. And as they were afraid and bowed down their countenance towards the ground, they said unto them: Why seek you the living with the dead?

He is not here, but is risen.

Remember how he spoke unto you, when he was yet in Galilee, Saying: The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words. (Luke 24:1-8)

************

And when the days of the Pentecost were accomplished, they were all together in one place: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a mighty wind coming: and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

And there appeared to them parted tongues, as it were of fire: and it sat upon every one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost: and they began to speak with divers tongues, according as the Holy Ghost gave them to speak.

Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded in mind, because that every man heard them speak in his own tongue. And they were all amazed, and wondered, saying: Behold, are not all these that speak Galilean? And how have we heard, every man our own tongue wherein we were born?

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews also, and proselytes, Cretes, and Arabians: we have heard them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all astonished, and wondered, saying one to another: What meaneth this?

But others mocking, said: These men are full of new wine. But Peter standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke to them: Ye men of Judea, and all you that dwell in Jerusalem, be this known to you and with your ears receive my words.

For these are not drunk, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day: But this is that which was spoken of by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass, in the last days, (saith the Lord), I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy: and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.

And upon my servants indeed and upon my handmaids will I pour out in those days of my spirit: and they shall prophesy. And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood and fire, and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord to come. And it shalt come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:1-21)

Seven part series examines the facts surrounding the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Is it true? Did the Bible get it right? Are there other plausible alternatives? Wading through Flannery O’Conner, myth-spinning fishermen, Homer’s Iliad, legendary body-snatchers, a crucified Judas, the Battle of Waterloo, and hallucinating ghost-whisperers, I’ll seek to convince you, before Holy Week, that the Resurrection is not just a good story, but a literal, historical reality.

Visit the site