Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: BVAUGHAN@pucc.princeton.edu (Barbara Vaughan) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Poll concerning Jesus's resurrection Message-ID: Date: 26 Sep 90 07:02:48 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 28 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , correll@brahms.udel.ed >In article howard@53iss6.waterlo >>I look at the resurrection story and what has grown from it. I don't need a >>verification of that event to justify the changes that have occured as a resul >>of the story. > >Christianity is more than a collection of stories. Foundational to the >nature of Christianity is the idea that God's power is available to us >to transform our lives. With or without the resurrection, this is an >inspiring concept, but without the resurrection there is no evidence >that the concept is true or something we can actually count on in real >life. However, the most convincing proof of that promise is when we accept it on faith and find that our lives ARE transformed. I think it was the experience of the transformation of their lives that convinced the first Christians of the truth of the Resurrection, not the Resurrection that convinced them of God's ability to change their lives. If the Resur- rection is 'only' a story, then it is a story that developed and was accepted because people whose lives had been transformed couldn't explain the miracle of the transformation except by the miracle of the Resur- rection. If you read the Acts of the Apostles, you can feel the awe and wonder of people who experienced God's power in their lives; this is mentioned again and again as a miracle, more often than the Resur- rection itself. Barbara Vaughan