Searching Sabbath 09: The Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ

Here it is: this week’s Searching Sabbath. There’s a lot to wrestle with here in what I think is really the FIRST fundamental belief — how we view the role of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. I understand why the SDA fundamental beliefs put the Bible as belief #1 (because, as I’m learning more and more in exploring this, what you believe about Biblical inspiration really shapes all the rest of your beliefs). But to me it seems obvious that the heart of Christianity is what you believe about Jesus.

There’s so much to say here and I’ve only scratched the surface in the video above by talking about Penal Substitutionary Atonement and some of the different views people hold on Jesus’ death and resurrection and what it means for us. I didn’t even get to talk about whether those who don’t explicitly state belief in Jesus can still be saved by His sacrifice and death, which is a huge issue when we think of faithful godly people in non-Christian religions. Nor did I get to touch on the fact that it’s hard to hold the “life, death, and resurrection of Jesus” in balance. So many Christians seem to emphasize one of those (in the case of conservative evangelicals, usually His death) at the expense of the others. N.T. Wright’s work has been really influential in helping me think about what Jesus’ life means. It was more than just a prelude to the Crucifixion!

As always, I’m very interested to see what emerges in comments. So far, my post about Jesus as “God the Son” has had the most active comment section of any of these, so I’m hoping some people will want to continue that discussion in comments on this week’s topic.

For anyone who’s been enjoying my conversation with Ed Dickerson about Genesis and Creation, Ed has posted a new video here. However, I won’t get around to posting a “Sunday Supplement” until next  Sunday — I haven’t had time yet to finish watching, absorbing, and formulating a response. Stay tuned for more!!