Was Christ trying to deceive or rather, to teach a powerful lesson, when he appeared to His disciples in Luke 24 and allowed them to see and touch Him, and then watch Him eat? Here is an excerpt from that marvelous chapter of scripture with so many lessons for us:
33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,Some will say that our worship of this physically real Jesus, with a tangible body of flesh and bone and not spirit only, in Whose image man was created, and Who is the express image of His equally real Father in heaven, makes us non-Christian, for that real and living Resurrected Jesus whom we worship, lacks the metaphysical attributes required by the Neoplatonic philosophers who gave us the official creeds of the 4th and 5th centuries. If that means we worship a different Jesus--and that's exactly what it means to some of our most vocal critics who put the traditions of the creeds ahead of the living Word of revelation from God--then so be it, for the Jesus whom we worship is the Jesus of the Bible, and we invite all men everywhere to follow Him, to repent of their sins, and be baptized in His name to enter into a covenant of joy.
34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
43 And he took it, and did eat before them.
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Though we differ in our understanding of the Resurrection and in the nature of Jesus, rejecting some portions of the creeds of philosophers, we do not deny the Christianity of others who believe in Jesus, however wrong they may be about their understanding of Him and His Resurrection. But we encourage them to learn the truth, to learn more, and to add a greater fullness to the precious truths they may already have. Come and learn of Him, be baptized in His name, and receive the priceless gift of the Holy Ghost by those who are divinely authorized to do so in His church.
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