Tnsahay Mootan: The Resurrection of the Dead
If you proclaim Christ as King but do not believe in the resurrection of the dead you are not a Christian (you might be a Sadducee). You have strayed from the right path of Orthodoxy and revealed your inner apostate. In no uncertain terms, The Holy Apostle Paul says to the people of Korinthos, in his first holy epistle to them
So if the message that is preached says that Christ has been raised from the dead, then how can some of you say, "There's no resurrection of the dead"? If there's no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn't been raised either. If Christ hasn't been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless. We are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, when he didn't raise him if it's the case that the dead aren't raised. If the dead aren't raised, then Christ hasn't been raised either. If Christ hasn't been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins, and what's more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever. If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else.
He expounds further on the beauty of Christ's bestowal of life unto us. He tells us that the death wrought by Adam's ancestral sin is flipped on it's head by the life of the resurrection of Christ. One man's error fixed by one man's proper functioning. He says furthermore, that our journey to the next life, whether we are alive or dead, will change us into purely non-decaying spiritual beings. The erudite Holy Apostle Paul did not just tell this to Corinthians - a constant theme of his testimonies is the life to come, unto the ages of ages.
The Holy Apostle Paul, wily as ever, sows discord in the Sanhedrin so that he can proclaim the resurrection of the dead. (The Acts of the Apostles 23:1-11)
The Holy Apostle Paul tells the Jews converted to Christianity that our faithful father Abraham knew God had the power to resurrect the dead, and so Abraham blithely rendered Isaac unto Him.
and he reasoned that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense he received him back from there (Hebrews 11:19)
Jesus, of Nazareth, uses the ecumenical* books of Moses to prove that God revealed the resurrection of the dead ages before the Word was made flesh. He told Moses, in that moment, that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God did not mention rotting corpses for admiration and awe, but the names of immortals whom serve Him. (Gospel of Mark 12:18-26)
The pinnacle of the reciting of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (Prayer of Faith) in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church is sung with splendiferous melodies across the globe. Some Eritreans and Ethiopians read the prayer in Tigrinya, others in Amharic, but all sing the last line in Ge'ez.
And we believe in the resurrection of the dead, and the life to come, unto the ages of ages, AMAYN.
WENIHSAYFO : TIHNSAAY : MOOTAN : WEH HYWOTEH : ZEH YHMES'IH : LEH ALEMEH ALEM : AMAYN ::
Post Scriptum:
To listen to this last part fastforward and pay attention with full focus and fear of the Lord to 1:28:00 - 1:28:18 of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OReqeJ-q6Kw
* The people trying to make Jesus stumble were Sadducees. They were one sect of Jews that believed in nothing outside this world ie... angels, demons, resurrection. They were however, like all Jews, believers in the five books of Moses (the Pentateuch). These include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Knowing this, Jesus uses the book of Exodus, that the Sadducees consider Holy, to rebuke them.
If you are still interested in this topic, please see the works of the Patristic fathers references on a different blog, the argument of Athenagoras the Christian Philosopher, and sift through the patristic writings here.