Posted on 04/13/2006 7:47:00 AM PDT by xzins
Poll: Most Americans Reject Resurrection of the Body
Thursday, Apr. 13, 2006 Posted: 9:13:14AM EST
The results of a recent poll interviewing more than a thousand adults show that most Americans do not believe in the resurrection of their bodies after death.
Some 1,007 adults were interviewed by phone from Feb. 19 to Mar. 3 by the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University and asked the question, “Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday?” Results indicate that out of those interviewed only 36 percent replied “yes” to the question while 54 percent said they do not believe in the statement and 10 percent remained undecided.
Poll findings have dismayed some theologians including the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., while other Christian leaders have expressed surprise and curiosity.
“I don’t know what to make of this,” said retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong, author of Resurrection: Myth or Reality, according to Scripps Howard News Service. “Maybe the old Greek idea of an immortal soul has taken over and the idea of a resurrected body has fallen into disrepute.”
Robert Wuthnow, director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University, displayed interest in the poll result saying that the findings may help in understanding America’s popular theology.
“This is definitely interesting. I haven’t seen a similar question asked before,” said Wuthnow. “In a way, though, it doesn’t surprise me. I can think of interpretations of the creeds that would suggest a spiritual resurrection rather than one of the physical body.”
According to the poll, 90 percent of Americans believe in God or a Supreme Being, with 65 percent indicating that they were “absolutely certain” that God exists. Seventy-two percent replied they believe in an afterlife with “some sort of consciousness” with 47 percent of being absolutely certain of this.
The poll also found that half of those who attend church recently said they believe they will undergo a physical resurrection compared to a quarter of those who have not attended service recently.
You have made in excellent point in your post #38...someone told me this a long, long time ago....that none of the languages in which the Bible was written used any punctuation...and in this sentence, the placement of the punctuation, changes the matter dramatically...
Paul's right. The physical body only supports and enables the spirit. Jesus and Lazarus needed the physical to walk in this world. The Father used a "burning bush" to appear to Moses. The physical body gets recycled as dust and will pass away.
"Of course, there are all those Barna surveys about the lack of a Biblical world view even among those describing themselves as born again. In that light, maybe 36% is actually a big number."
I can't remember whom, but one traditionalist/conservative/orthodox/faithful Catholic once said on another thread that by definition, they [faithful Catholics] cannot accept significant parts of what is considered as biblical worldview in Barna's surveys. The Barna definition smacks of the "evangelical Protestant theology" to them. The 36% result is from surveys done on the whole Christendom (not just Christianity) so you are bound to see results like this.
From what I read of orthodox parts of mainline Protestant churches (Anglican/Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian) the answer is pretty similar. What they consider as the Bible teachings seem to be a bit differrent from what Barna thinks as biblical.
Of course the truth of the resurrection of the body is in the Bible. But most churches today do not teach, let alone confess, foundational doctrines of the Christian faith. On nice thing about the Reformed churches is that by the minister preaching through the Heidelberg Cathechism every uear year, the congregation hears a sermon on the resurrection of the body at least once a year.
I think perhaps a misunderstanding comes from the fact that many view resurrection as the resussitation of a corpse when orthodox Christianity has never professed that. Resurrection is, of course, an ultimate mystery and part of God's inscrutible will. What it represents is a radical and mysterious transformation that somehow still retains continuity of the individual soul. In his post-resurrection appearances Christ represented an apparent physical continuity yet he was radically transformed. After all, he was walking thru closed doors,etc. An ancient church father was told by a Greek philosopher that from a rational perspective the notion of resurrection is absurd. The father replied, "I believe because it is absurd!" The fact is that it's a mystery of faith we can discuss but never begin to comprehend.
My hairline completely disappeared about 10 years ago. Can I have "this body" as it was at 21?
I'm hoping for age 18...back when I still had metabolism.
The whole of the "end times" will probably be just as recognizable to us as the form of Jesus' coming was to the Jews in His lifetime. Even the 12 (or 11) and his own mother were surprised, while still recognizing Him.
However, it will be a body that bears the imprint of Iscool.
It will be a body that is fully subject to the soul, which is to say the body of a god.
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