General Redefinition of Resurrection in Baha’i Literature Redefinition of Jesus’ Resurrection
The Empty Tomb
General Redefinition of Resurrection in Baha’i Literature:
“According to the Baha’i teaching the Resurrection has nothing to do with the gross physical body. That body, once dead, is done with. It becomes decomposed and its atoms never be recomposed into the same body.”1
“The Day of Resurrection is not a day of twenty-four hours, but an era which has now begun and will last as long as the present world-cycle continues. It will continue when all traces of the present civilization will have been wiped off the surface of the globe.”2
“An important part of the Bab’s teaching is His explanation of the terms Resurrection, Day of Judgement, Paradise and Hell_He definitely declared that these terms have no real meaning apart from this; and that the prevalent ideas regarding the resurrection of the material body, a material heaven and hell, and the like, are mere figments of the imagination.”3
“the Day of Resurrection is also the Day of Judgement.”4
“a day of Resurrection in which the spiritually dead are raised to new life, in which the Reality of the Divine Religions in renewed and re-established, in which appear ‘new heavens and new earth.'”5
“Behold how the generality o mankind hath been endued with the capacity to hearken unto God’s most exalted word the Word upon which must depend the gathering together and spiritual resurrection of all men.”6
Redefinition of Jesus’ Resurrection:
Baha’i author George Townshend believes that Christians have so utterly misunderstood the Bible that he wrote,
“Even His resurrection was made physical, missing the point entirely.”7
`Abdu’l-Baha redefines the Christ’s resurrection,
“we say that the meaning of Christ’s resurrection is as follows: the disciples were troubled and agitated after the martyrdom of Christ. The Reality of Christ, which signifies His teachings, His bounties, His perfections and His spiritual power, was hidden and concealed for two or three days after His martyrdom, and was not resplendent and manifest.No, rather it was lost, for the believers were few in number and were troubled and agitated. The Cause of Christ was like a lifeless body; and when after three days the disciples became assured and steadfast, and began to serve the Cause of Christ, and resolve to spread the divine teachings, putting His counsels into practice, and arising to serve Him, the Reality of Christ became resplendent and His bounty appeared; His religion found life; His teachings and His admonitions became evident and visible.
In other words, the Cause of Christ was like a lifeless body until the life and the bounty of the Holy Spirit surrounded it. Such is the meaning of the resurrection of Christ, and this was a true resurrection. But the clergy have neither understood the meaning of the Gospels nor comprehended the symbols.”8
“As to the resurrection of the body of Christ three days subsequent to His departure: This signified the divine teachings and spiritual religion of His Holiness Christ, which constitute His spiritual body, which is living and perpetual forevermore. By the ‘three days’ of His death is meant that after the great martyrdom, the penetration of the divine teachings and the spread of the spiritual law became relaxed on account of the crucifixion of Christ. For the disciples were somewhat troubled by the violence of divine tests. But when they became firm, that divine spirit resurrected and that body-which signifies the divine word-arose.Likewise the address of the angels to the people of Galilee, ‘That this Christ will return in the same way and that He will descend from heaven,’ is a spiritual address. For when Christ appeared, He came from heaven, although He was outwardly born from the womb of Mary. For He said: ‘No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven.’ He said: ‘I came down from heaven and likewise will go to heaven.’ By ‘heaven’ is not meant this infinite phenomenal space, but ‘heaven’ signifies the world of the divine kingdom which is the supreme station and seat of the Sun of Truth.
To be brief: The mysteries of the Holy Books are many and require explanation and elucidation. I hope thine insight will be so opened that the divine mysteries may become manifest and clear.”9
“We do not believe that there was a bodily resurrection after the crucifixion of Christ, but that there was a time after His ascension when His disciples perceived spiritually His true greatness and realized He was eternal in being. This is what has been reported symbolically in the New Testament and been misunderstood. His eating with His disciples after resurrection is the same thing.”10
Who raised Jesus from the dead? The New Testament explains that it was the Father, Jesus Himself, and the Holy Spirit who resurrected Him. The Baha’i redefinition of the resurrection does not answer to this fact nor does it take it into account (see John 2:19-21, 10:17-18; Acts 2:24, 17:31; Romans 1:4, 4:24, 8:11; 1st Thessalonians 1:9-11; 1st Peter 3:18). Note that to say that the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit resurrected Jesus is not a contradiction but rather, proof for the doctrine of God’s triune nature.
The Baha’i redefinition is absolutely unacceptable because it was the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ that caused the disciples to pay with their very lives in order to spread the gospel. Let us remove this historical record from dusty black and white pages and view it for what it is-a real life occurrence.
To say that “the disciples were troubled and agitated after the martyrdom of Christ” is to say the least. These people, the twelve apostles in particular, had forsaken absolutely everything for Jesus. From the moment that Jesus called them to follow Him until He was crucified they went through a long process until they came to accept Him as the long awaited Messiah and to be God in the flesh. Although they had a concept of the Messiah that was biased by the natural Jewish desire of freedom from Gentile oppressors, they too hoped for a Messiah who was a conquering king and not a suffering servant.
We sometimes find them bidding for a high position in the Messianic Kingdom,
“Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask.’ ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked. They replied, ‘Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory'” (Mark 10:35-37).
“Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons. She bowed down in front of him to ask him for a favor. He asked her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Promise that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your kingdom” (Matthew 20:21).
At least two Messianic concepts were prevalent in Judaism, the suffering servant and the conquering king.
Talmud-Sanhedrin 98a,
“R. Alexandri said: R. Joshua opposed two verses: it is written, And behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven; [Dan. VII, 13] whilst [elsewhere] it is written, [behold, thy king cometh unto thee_] lowly, and riding upon an ass! [Zech. IX, 7]-If they are meritorious, [he will come] with the clouds of heaven; if not, lowly and riding upon an ass.”
Another outcome of such speculations is the two Messiah theory (in which there is some variations). Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver tells of this concept,
“the cruel king Armilius (Antichrist) will then arise_will wage war upon the Messiah ben Joseph_and Israel will be driven into the wilderness for forty-five days, where the Messiah ben Joseph will die. The Messiah ben David will then appear. The Jews will at first refuse to accept him, saying that the true Messiah had already appeared and been slain, but God will show them that he is in truth the Messiah. He will then slay Armilius.”11
The disciples never seemed to understand it when Jesus spoke of His own death, they hoped for high positions in the Messiah’s earthly kingdom. It is practically impossible to imagine how they felt when Jesus died. In the last days of Jesus’ time on Earth Judas had betrayed Him, Peter had denied Him, and all except John had deserted Him. On the road to Emmaus two of them said, “we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:21). Peter and some others went back to fishing (see John 21:3). They were trying to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.
These men were Jewish, God’s own chosen people, the apple of His eye. If Jesus was not the Messiah then these men had purposefully corrupted the covenant that God had made with them, they had corrupted the one true religion as specified to them, they had forsaken the only one and true God. This was no small matter by any means.
These men had absolutely no reason to continue preaching the gospel. If they had done so they would have been knowingly preaching a lie, as Paul stated,
“if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ_if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1st Corinthians 15:14, 17).
Paul summarizes the gospel message,
“By this gospel you are saved_Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1st Corinthians 15:2-3).
“Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2nd Timothy 2:8-10).
Note that Paul was a “Pharisee,” as opposed to a “Sadducee.” One of the differences between these two sects is that the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection while the Pharisees did believe in the physical resurrection. While Paul was being questioned before Ananias the High Priest he stated,
“Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged! And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees; and the assembly was divided. For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection-and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both” (Acts 23:6-8).
Thus, when we find Paul preaching resurrection we can know from the historical context coupled with Paul’s own autobiography that he is preaching the sort of resurrection which is denied by the Baha’i-a physical resurrection. Jesus sided with the Pharisees in this regard as seen in Matthew 22:32; Luke 20:38; Mark 12:27.The Sadducees also had an encounter with Jesus, He responded by stating,
“But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly mistaken” (Mark 12:26-27).
If Jesus was not resurrected and these men did preach the gospel, then this was the most elaborate and most malicious hoax ever perpetrated on the face of the Earth and in all of known history. If they did preach the gospel then they devoted their lives to something that they all knew to be a lie. In fact, with the exception of Judas who committed suicide and John who died of old age the other apostles and countless disciples would have been giving their very lives for a lie. Moreover, they would be responsible the blood of countless martyrs through the ages. They would have lived and died for a deception and they would have known that they could expect nothing but the harshest judgment and damnation after death. Surely at least one of them would have uncovered the conspiracy. Many people have died for something they believed in but they always believed that they died for the truth.Here is how the Apostles died,
“Peter-crucified; Andrew-crucified; Matthew-the sword; John-natural [although according to tradition he survived being boiled in oil first]; James, son of Alphaeus-crucified; Philip-crucified; Simon-crucified; Thaddaeus-killed by arrows; James, brother of Jesus-stoned; Thomas-spear thrust; Bartholomew-crucified; James, son of Zebedee-the sword.”12
The fact is that nothing but the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ could have caused these men to pay with their very lives in order to spread the gospel. Without the fact of the physical resurrection there is absolutely no way to substantiate the idea that “after three days the disciples became assured and steadfast, and began to serve the Cause of Christ.” Otherwise what is it that they became “assured and steadfast” of?
It is also interesting to note that “cloud” is redefined as well, `Abdu’l-Baha wrote,
“The cloud mentioned in the Holy Scripture is the human body, because it is a veil for them, like a cloud, which prevents them from seeing the Sun of Truth which is shining in the horizon of Christ.”13
The Bible states,
“We believe that Jesus died and rose again_we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words”” (1st Thessalonians 4:14, 17-18).
Regarding the two witnesses,
“the beast that comes up from the Abyss_and kill them…But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on” (Revelation 11:7, 11-12).
It seems that the Baha’i Faith have painted themselves into a corner again. First we point out that according to Baha’i interpretation “clouds” are not clouds, “the Lord” is not Jesus, “rising from the dead” is not rising from the dead. Now if we apply the Baha’i interpretation of “clouds” then the verse says that we will be caught up and meet the Lord in our bodies, this contradicts the Baha’i doctrine that states that there is no physical resurrection. If we apply the natural, contextual, plain interpretation, we learn that we will be caught up and meet the Lord while He and we are on/in clouds i.e., in the air.
We also note that the text defines who the Lord in the clouds is as Jesus; the same Jesus who walked the earth some 2,000 years ago. The gospel is literally built upon the physical resurrection, without it all of Jesus’ disciples would have repented of having followed a false Messiah and Jesus would be but a footnote in history, something to the likes of, “Forty years before the destruction of the Second Temple, there lived Yeshua, a Nazarene, a false Messiah who was executed for blasphemy.” Nothing could be further from the truth, and nothing but the physical resurrection could account for it.
The concept of a spiritual resurrection is utterly foreign to Jewish belief and Scripture, which understands resurrection to be physical. The Apostles never thought that Jesus had resurrected spiritually, they might have gone as far as thinking that Jesus might be a ghost or spirit, but resurrected in a non-physical manner, never!
“Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:36-39).
Rather, in hearing of Jesus resurrection Thomas demonstrates the historical context, which is the belief in physical resurrection, by refusing to believe it unless he could physically handle Jesus’ physically resurrected body.
“He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord_Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at my hands; and reach you hand here, and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing. And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!'” (John 20:20, 28).
The Empty Tomb:
One thing that the Baha’i do not seem to attempt to do is explain the empty tomb. As we consider this issue notice the differentiation made between David and Jesus; one died and stayed dead while one died and rose again.Of David it was said,
“Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day” (Acts 2:29).
Of Jesus is was said,
“And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption” (Acts 13:34).
The Romans:
Roman soldiers were ordered to guard the tomb. If the Romans had changed their minds and went from guarding the tomb to stealing Jesus’ body then when His disciples were turning the Roman world upside-down the Romans could have produced the corpse.
The Jews:
If the Jews stole His body they would have had to fight off Roman soldiers to get to it and they wound have had to break the Roman seal on the grave-both are crimes punishable by death. They would have had to find a way to move the huge stone that sealed the tomb. If they would have succeeded, they also could have dragged Jesus’ body through the streets in order to prove that Jesus was dead and dead for good.
The Women:
The first disciples at the empty tomb, the first to report the fact that it was empty, were women (see Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). In those days a woman’s testimony was viewed as so utterly useless that it was not admissible as evidence in a court of law. If the resurrection were a myth or a fabricated lie, the writers of the gospels would have known better than to claim that women were the first witnesses.
The Wrong Tomb:
If the women went to the wrong tomb, if the men who came afterwards also went to the wrong tomb and if the Romans were guarding the wrong tomb, they could have asked Joseph of Arimathea who owned the tomb.
The Disciples:For the reasons related above, if the disciples had stolen the body they also would have had to fight off the Roman soldiers, broken the Roman seal, and moved the huge stone. They would have willingly died for a lie and would be responsible for dragging millions of Christian martyrs throughout history to the grave with them. In fact, charging that they stole the body, while it does not prove that they did so, does prove that the tomb was empty.That the disciples stole and buried the body is precisely what the Baha’i speculate,
“Concerning the location of the burial site of Jesus’ sacred remains, a letter dated 22 March 1982 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer states: Pilgrims have recorded in their notes oral statements made by `Abdu’l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi to the effect that the disciples hid the body of Christ by burying it under the wall of Jerusalem, and that it is now under the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The House of Justice knows of nothing in the Writings of the Faith, however, explicitly confirming these statements.”14
We aught to point out that simply stating that “the disciples hid the body” is far to generalized a statement and it actually creates more questions than it answers.For instance, the New Testament states that Mary Magdalene, Peter and John actually looked into the tomb and found it empty and yet, they are the ones who claim that they found the tomb empty and not that they had hidden or buried the body. In the 20th chapter of the Gospel of John we learn that Mary wept at the tomb and explained that she did so because “they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him” (v. 2) thus far she only knew that the body was not there. She saw Jesus but did not know that it was Him, perhaps because she was at the tomb “while it was still dark” (v. 1). “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, ‘Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away'” (v. 13-14).
Thereafter she realizes that it is Jesus. Obviously, she could not have hidden the dead body of the very person who stood before her and spoke to her. However, this may all be unnecessary since it appears that the above quoted statement is indicating that the Baha’i do not “officially” teach that “the disciples hid the body.”
Hallucination:
By definition, hallucinations are not real, they are mental experiences, and people do not share the same hallucination.
He Swooned:If He never really died then He fooled the expert Roman executioners; four of which had to sign a death certificate. They did not break His legs to kill Him because He was already dead (John 19:33). His heart was impaled and blood mixed with water came out (John 19:34), Jesus died of a broken heart. A doctor of 2,000 years ago simply could not mend a lacerated heart. There is no medical reason for believing that lying in a cool, damp cave resuscitated Him.
Even if He did resuscitated by natural means, He would have had to maneuver around 100 pounds of herbs and spices in order to unwrap Himself from His shroud. He would have had to walk on pierced feet, moved a massive stone with pierced hands, and fought off Roman soldiers.
He Was Not Buried:
John Dominic Crossan, co-founder and former co-chair of “The Jesus Seminar,” stated that crucifixion was feared because it “was not simply that it made you suffer a lot. It meant that you didn’t get buried. That’s what made it one of the supreme Roman penalties-lack of burial.”15 The problem with this statement is lack of evidence and the fact that the evidence we do have on this subject proves him wrong and proves the Bible right. In 1968 the remains of a crucified man named Yhohnn Yehohanan were found in an ossuary (bone box) at Giv’at ha-Mivtar in Jerusalem. This find proved many details of the biblical account including a large nail imbedded through the heel bone and still embedded into a piece the wood, broken shin bones and burial in a family grave.
In conclusion, the bottom line to all these options is that no competing burial story exists. Alternative options date from thousands of years later and are not backed by historical evidence of any sort but only by skeptical mythology. The Baha’i teaching on this issue is not only an attempt to discredit Christianity (however purposeful or unwittingly) but it is an ill fated attempt which leaves much to be desired, does not deal with various issues and is proved wrong by the Bible as well as historical evidence.
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