3 myths about the resurrection
1. Jesus did not just make appearances after death, his body was fully restored
The resurrection of Jesus was physical, bodily. He did not rise from the tomb in a ghost-like state. His body was fully restored.
Yet according to a 2017 BBC-commissioned poll, almost one in 10 people who did not identify with any religious affiliation surveyed said they believed in the story of Easter but that it has "some content that should not be taken literally."
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Nine percent of non-religious people believe in the resurrection, only one percent of which indicated they believed in it "literally."
The survey also showed a quarter of respondents who identified as Christian said the resurrection did not happen.
The notion that Christ was ghost-like in his resurrected form is perhaps based in thinking that it would have been impossible for him to appear before them "suddenly" as a physical body when his disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, as is explained in John 20:19.
But then, "as he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side," the next verse explains.
"Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have,” the gospel of Luke recounts Jesus' word when he appeared to disciples after revealing himself to the men on the road to Emmaus.
More recently, a newer BBC poll found that "fewer than half of Christians in the UK think Jesus actually died and rose again for the forgiveness of their sins."
"Just 46 percent of people who identified as Christians said they believe this key tenet of the Christian faith," the survey found.
