{"id":2672,"date":"2008-05-04T10:20:00","date_gmt":"2008-05-04T10:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/ascension-of-christ\/"},"modified":"2012-05-19T19:58:41","modified_gmt":"2012-05-20T00:58:41","slug":"ascension-of-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/05\/ascension-of-christ.html","title":{"rendered":"Ascension of Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>What tickles me about the resurrection and ascension of Christ is the blatantly supernatural element of it all. \u201cCome now,\u201d the modernists say in their measured and rational tones, \u201cmust we believe that it was necessarily a crudely physical phenomenon? Surely the resurrection and ascension stories are beautiful tales told so that the dead Lord\u2019s disciples might believe that their friend had spiritually risen and ascended\u2026that his beautiful teachings somehow survived his physical death and that they would, as it were, remain enthroned forever in glory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/div>\n
This modernist teaching is gnosticism\u2013a religion that is all spiritual truths and\u00a0ethereal\u00a0ideals, and the fruit of gnosticism is that the physical realm doesn\u2019t matter. What really matters is the spiritual realm. The result of thinking that the physical realm doesn\u2019t matter is that people therefore do whatever they like in the physical realm. They may respond (according to their personality type) with decadence or\u00a0detachment. The may become either a connoisseur or a consumer. It doesn\u2019t really matter\u2013either way they don\u2019t really believe that their response to the physical world makes a bit of difference eternally.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Belief in the physical resurrection and ascension, on the other hand, reminds us every moment that what we do with the physical world has everlasting\u00a0repercussions. What I do with my body affects the state of my soul. What I do with my possessions affects my everlasting destiny. What I do with the world\u2019s resources impacts my\u00a0spiritual\u00a0life. If I believe in the Virgin Birth, the Incarnation, the Resurrection and the Ascension, then this created world matters. Matter matters.<\/span><\/div>\n

\n<\/span><\/div>\n
In this I rejoice, for if Christ is lifted up, he will lift up the whole of the created order to share in his redemption\u2026and that means me too along with this funny, rubbery, deaf, hairy-in-the-wrong- places, increasingly pear-shaped, lustful, gluttonous, body of mine.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What tickles me about the resurrection and ascension of Christ is the blatantly supernatural element of it all. \u201cCome now,\u201d the modernists say in their measured and rational tones, \u201cmust we believe that it was necessarily a crudely physical phenomenon? Surely the resurrection and ascension stories are beautiful tales told so that the dead Lord\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAscension of Christ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What tickles me about the resurrection and ascension of Christ is the blatantly supernatural element of it all. 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