liz3564 wrote:In speaking with several mainstream Christian friends, this is what they believe. This may or may not be the official standing of their churches...just what they, themselves, have come to believe:
Jesus is God incarnate. He took the form of a man and allowed himself to be killed and resurrected to atone for our sins.
Jesus and God the Father are one and the same. He took the form of a man, and chose to have a body, but no longer has need of one. Because He is God, he can always appear in the form of a man if he chooses to.
Hank Hannigraff of CRI fame teaches Jesus has a body and will always have a body and calls him the forever God man. Hank is about as Christian as one can get.
He can't very well return for his alleged second coming without those marks on hands and feet to show the faithful. He's got to have the body he left earth with as proof of identity.
liz3564 wrote:In speaking with several mainstream Christian friends, this is what they believe. This may or may not be the official standing of their churches...just what they, themselves, have come to believe:
Jesus is God incarnate. He took the form of a man and allowed himself to be killed and resurrected to atone for our sins.
Jesus and God the Father are one and the same. He took the form of a man, and chose to have a body, but no longer has need of one. Because He is God, he can always appear in the form of a man if he chooses to.
So where did Jesus put his resurrected body after he got through showing off with the resurrection thingy. Back in the tomb? LOL
He hung it on the nail just inside the pearly gate. :-P
The LDS church is somewhat unique to God having a body, but what exactly does that mean? As a student of Metaphysics, I have learned that there are basically two different views on body (brain) vs mind (spirit). Dualism purports that the mind and body are separate (and this is technically what is required for a belief in immortality), whereas the differing view of materialism says that everything is material, and that mental states (thoughts, concepts, etc.) are purely physical materials--things that happen in the brain. To hold this view, it it generally accepted that when the body dies, so does all mental activity, and arguments for a "soul" are harder to claim.
Orson Pratt, in particular, was a theologian who is well known for his views on what is sometimes called material dualism. This is the view that all things are matter--including the soul/spirit (thought the spirit is different from the [mortal] body). In this way, people and God have "spiritual bodies" which are material embodiments of some sort of matter or intelligence--but such matter cannot be perceived through ordinary sensory means--only through "eyes of the spirit."
It's really a very unique view--some may argue somewhat incoherent--and I'm still not sure how to understand the doctrine.
See: Orson Pratt, "Absurdities of Immaterialism" at <http://web.archive.org/web/20020602093506/http://www.kingdomofzion.org/doctrines/kraut/reprints/Absurdities_of_Immaterialism.txt>
and
Kevin K. Winters "A Critique of the “New” Mormon Materialism?" at <http://www.angelfire.com/az3/LDC/Review_of_Moreland--Short.doc>
Jersey Girl wrote:What's this? Someone actually asking what MC's believe? Wow...
Do mainstream Christians believe that Jesus God has a body or not?
Yes.
I’m skeptical of this categorical response. Absent any consensus on what main stream Christianity is, this response is questionable.
The Roman Catholic Church might well be regarded as main stream Christian. It differs from Protestants and their many interpretations of this issue/subject.
To argue for a body begs the question of where and under what circumstances that “body” exists. What are the multiple claims required here for this contention?
To argue that God has a body and that Jesus has a body is to argue for two bodies. Christian mythologies are not in agreement about this.
I assume they think he bodily resurrected. But if Jesus has a mammal body now then so does God the Father since according to trinitarianism they are one.
No, you don't understand MC trinity doctrine.
And just what is that? You don’t articulate any detail. Such detail is critical.
(of course, the Holy Ghost is God too in this picutre but nobody seems to care--he's the odd man out).
Tell that to LDS apologists. Okay, this is about MC's. I'll shut up for now on that.
If Jesus God no longer has a body then what was the point of the resurrection? Showing off?
No, showing the way. And I disagree that MC doctrine agrees that Jesus God no longer has a body.
What’s your documentation for the disagreement on the point? I’m skeptical that you can point to any unified mythology on the point.
Jersey Girl wrote:What's this? Someone actually asking what MC's believe? Wow...
Do mainstream Christians believe that Jesus God has a body or not?
Yes.
I assume they think he bodily resurrected. But if Jesus has a mammal body now then so does God the Father since according to trinitarianism they are one.
No, you don't understand MC trinity doctrine.
Oh really? I notice you didn't explain it (I think I know why).
If Jesus is God and Jesus has a body then God has a body.
Isn't there a very simple logic here? (transitivity)
Perhaps you can explain trinitarianism in such a way as to get around that logic. My guess is that is will either incorrect (see below) or inconsistent nonsense.
I hope you don't go for modalism or the 3 leaf clover analogy (a.k.a. the three headed monster).