Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16

Author(s): Ramesh S Betai, Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 79

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Here let us see what Bible tells regarding resurrection. The New Testament has more to say on the resurrection of the dead than the Old Testament, because it brings the climax of God's revelation on this point in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. According to Scripture, physical death is a termination of physical life by the separation of body and soul. Life and death are not 'opposed to each other as existence and non-existence', but are opposites only as different modes of existence. The Soul of the thief on the Cross went to heaven with Christ. The Bible teaches that the soul of the believers at death enter an intermediate place and remain there until the day of resurrection. Paul writes to the Philippians that he has a "desire to depart and be with Christ."78 And Jesus gave the penitent malefactor the joyous assurance-"To-day Shalt thou be with me in paradise."79 And to be with Christ is also to be in heaven.
According to Scripture there will be a resurrection of the body, that is, not an entirely new creation but a body that will be in a fundamental sense identical with the present body. God will not create a new body for every man, but will raise up the very body that was deposited in the earth. At the same time Scripture makes it perfectly evident that the body will be greatly changed. Christ's body was not yet fully glorified during the period of transition between the resurrection and the ascension; yet it had already undergone a remarkable change. Paul refers to the change that will take place, when he says that in sowing a seed we do not sow the body that shall be; we do not intend to pick the same seed out of the ground. Yet we do expect to reap something that is in a fundamental sense identical with the seed deposited in the earth. While there is a certain identity between the seed sown and the seed that develops out of it, yet there is also a remarkable difference. Thus the resurrection of the dead is explained.
Conclusion:
Dr. Radhakrishnan is undoubtedly one of the greatest thinkers of this century. He is not merely a scholar, a historian of Indian thought, but also a thinker who can handle concepts as concepts, whether Indian or western. His great contribution lies in his interpreting Christianity. Besides his books, 'Easterns Religions and Western thought', 'Heart of Hindustan', his interpretations regarding Christianity are scattered in his lectures: The Jowett lectures given on March 18, 1930 at the Mary Word Settlement, London. I, Series on Comparative Religion given at Manchester College, Oxford, on Oct. 22, 1929; Sermon delivered at Manchester College, Oxford, Nov. 1929; Beatty Memorial lectures Series is published in a