What happens to your body when you die ? What could different people believe about this ?

1. What happens to your body when you die ?What could different people believe about this ?

2. To distinguish between religious and philosophical reasons for the resurrection of the body To explain reasons for and against the resurrection of the body To evaluate why the body needs to be resurrected

3. What happens to bodies that are full of God’s spirit and sinless? Why? What evidence is there that sinless lives avoid the corruption of death? • We sin through our bodies. But our bodies are meant for holiness, for God. • If the body were holy, it would simply return to eternal life with God: what is of God, would return to God . Instead, the body dies and decomposes. It is corruptible, because it is sinful – lacking in God’s Spirit. • The bodies of great Saints do not decompose.This suggests that spiritualised (sinless) human bodies can escape the natural processes of death and decay.Link St Catherine Laboure died on 31st Dec 1876. When her body was exhumed 56 years later, it was unblemished. Her eyes were as blue as the day she died. Her glass coffin is still lying in state in a Churchin Paris, and she still looks as though she had died only yesterday .

4. Research a saint whose body was found incorrupt after a number of years in the grave. Summarise who they were/ what they did in life Describe what is surprising about their dead body now Discuss: does this evidence persuade you that sin is responsible for corruption/ decay.

5. Write out the 4 points in a 2x2 table. Put philosophical reasons on the LEFT, and religious reasons on the RIGHT. Which reason do you find most OR least convincing? Explain why **Do you think resurrection must include the resurrection of the body as well as the soul? • We are going to look at different reasons why Christians believe in the resurrection of the body: • religious reasons • philosophical reasons C Jesus rose from the dead in a glorified human body, witnessed by many. So Christians believe our human bodies will resurrect as well, through faith in Him. A Eternal life is a life of love, but spirits without a body can’t communicate: how would they recognise each other? So resurrection must include the resurrection of the body. D To be human, we need our body . If human beings do resurrect, it has to be with their bodies as well (or it wouldn’t really be a “human” being resurrected). B Jesus is God who became a human being. So human bodies are now forever part of God. Human bodies can’t just be forgotten about after death: they must resurrect.

6. What could you say against these arguments? Maybe you can have feeling or illusion of still being in a human body, so you still feel “like” a human being, even if you are just a spirit after death Argue against 2 of the points to show why we don’t need the body in resurrection. Some people say the human body does not resurrect because ... Even if Jesus resurrected... Even if spirits do need to recognise each other and communicate to be happy in eternal life Even if you do need a body to feel human... **Now explain what you think are the best arguments: do we need the body resurrect or not? Relig: Jesus rose from the dead in a glorified human body, so we will. Maybe there is a way spirits can communicate and recognise each other in a spiritual way without a body Relig: human bodies are now forever part of God, in Jesus, so they must also resurrect. Phil: To be human, we need our body Maybe it was only Jesus who could be resurrected because he was God, but we won’t. Phil: spirits without a body can’t communicate, so the body needs to resurrect

7. Bar-tat & the recycling of matter How does this song challenge the belief in resurrection of the body ? Add it to your “counter-arguments” column on your table. How could a Christian respond to this challenge ?

8. The body must be resurrected after death because without it… The body is corruptible which means…