Donald wrote:
Let's start from the beginning. When the body dies, families tend to give it a proper burial, being Christian of course, knowing that the spirit of their loved one has left their body and enter salvation with Jesus.
But why would any Christian believe that?
Why would any Christian believe that a spirit can leave a body?
According to the story of Christ a physical body is absolutely mandatory. Jesus was resurrected in the flesh. Complete with all the wounds that had killed him. His physical body wasn't even miraculously healed. He was walking around with a whole in his body where he had been speared. For the Bible tells us so.
John 20:
[24] But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
[25] The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
[26] And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
[27] Then saith he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
[28] And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
So not only was Jesus resurrected in the flesh but he also retain all the injuries that had killed him. He also took that physical body back to heaven with him by magically ascending to heaven which must necessarily be physically located somewhere above the earth, probably even beyond the solar system. Maybe even beyond that galaxy. That's a long way for Jesus' to be ascending in a physical body.
Saints also were resurrected in their physical bodies:
Matthew 27:
[50] Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
[51] And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
[52] And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
[53] And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. bodies.
This verse also proclaims that these dead bodies were merely "sleeping".
According to these scriptures why would any Christian believe that a spirit could exist without a physical body? Clearly neither Jesus nor these saints could pull of magic that great.
If a Christian believes the Bible then they must believe that bodies in graves are merely asleep and that when they are finally resurrected they will be resurrected with the same injuries that caused their deaths. In fact, many Christians believe that Jesus still has the scars of the crucifixion to this very day in heaven.
So if this is the case, what happens to people who have been really badly mangled in their deaths, like in an airliner crash. Or people who have been burnt to a char? When they are physically resurrected like Jesus and the saints will they retain their physical injuries forever like the Christ did?
Donald wrote:
The loved one's soul can now rest in peace. This gives the impression that the loved one has been given dignity when it is put in the coffin and buried, as they wanted, because they deserve it. It's about respecting the deceased through an expression of faith and love.
That's exactly right. It gives an impression to the survivors, and is a tradition of respect and love. I can certainly understand this tradition. I buried my dog and placed flowers on its grave. I'm romantic like that too. I don't think a person needs to be a Christian to do that. In fact, there is evidence that even cave men started burying their loved ones along with lots of flowers and personal possessions. I'm quite sure they weren't Christians since Christianity hadn't been invented yet.
Donald wrote:
Why do you not think you deserve a proper burial when you die Suzy? I know you are atheist, we went through this before.
I personally think it's an unnecessary insult to imply that someone doesn't think they "
deserve" a proper burial just because they recognize that physical bodies do not contain sleeping spirits.
People can still conduct rituals of respect for Suzy after she's gone without idolizing her dead body. In fact, if you are respecting a dead body, then you're not really respecting Suzy anyway. You're just idolizing her body.
Donald wrote:
I heard a story you might respect. Two atheist individuals, who were together as a couple, had a child. The parents were totally against the Christian belief system of Jesus Christ and their hearts were solid as stone until something beautiful happened. Their little daughter, maybe 5 or 6 years old, had the ability of drawing pictures at a young age and drew an exquisite beautiful drawing showing the face of Jesus Christ with His long brown bread, and His long dark hair. When the parents saw their daughter's drawing, they were completely shocked and stunned at the beautiful picture their daughter drew. God knew the daughter would have atheist parents and gave the gift of art to the daughter to show the face of Jesus to the parents, perhaps hoping her parents would love the drawing and at the same time, love Jesus Christ. These parents then underwent a change of heart and conversion becoming devoted Christians of Jesus Christ and they are still Christians today.
Do you think this too can happen to you Suzy?
I would never be impressed by something like this. For one thing does anyone even know what Jesus looked like? No. Therefore to claim that this little girl drew a picture of "Jesus" is jumping to totally unwarranted conclusions. Maybe she was drawing a picture of a homeless bum she happened to have seen? Or maybe she saw George Carlin on TV and that's who she had drawn a picture of? He has a beard and is a divinely handsome man.
To rush off and become devote Christians just because a little girl drew a picture that someone thinks might represent Jesus is the totally wrong reason to believe in a religion anyway.
The only rational reason to believe in a religion is to read the doctrine of that religions and evaluate it whether or not it makes any sense.
All I can say is that if these "atheists" became "Christians" just because their little girl drew a really great picture of a bearded man, then these "atheists" were air-heads.
Not all "atheists" are necessarily the world's brightest people.
