Per a special request, I am posting the reasons that I don't believe that you can reconcile the teaching of the resurrection and the teaching that all non-believers will be destroyed at Armageddon. (With scriptual, bible-based (tm) notes.) Please don't kill the messenger guys!
Okay, part one, what do the Jews believe?
It is instructive to examine the teachings first of the Jewish faith. After all, when Jesus came, he did not refute the Jewish belief in the resurrection. For such a fundamental and central Jewish belief not to be emphatically denied speaks for its acceptance as a fundamental teaching of Christians as well.
In reference to the Hebrew teachings, let’s consider what “Wikipedia” says regarding the belief of the Jews concerning the resurrection as reflected by the Hebrew Scriptures:
“ The
There are three explicit examples in the Hebrew Bible of people being resuscitated from death:
The prophet
Similarly,
Elisha raises the son of the Shunammite woman ( 2 Kings 4:32-37 ); this was the very same child whose birth he previously foretold ( 2 Kings 4:8-16 )A dead man's body that was thrown into the dead Elisha's tomb is resurrected when the body touches Elisha's bones (
Additional passages in the Hebrew Bible traditionally interpreted as referring to resurrection include:
Ezekiel ’s vision of the valley of dry bones brought to restoration as a living army, which is commonly taken to be a metaphorical prophecy that the house of Israel would one day be gathered from the nations, out of exile, to live in the land of Israel once more. Most scholars, however, do not hold this to be referring to a belief in a future resurrection:"He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life."' So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life, and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.' "Therefore prophesy, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel." (
Samuel - "The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up." ( 1 Samuel 2:6 )Job - "Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh I shall see God" ( Job 19:26 ) Isaiah - "Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth Daniel 's vision, where a mysterious angelic figure tells Daniel, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt." ( Daniel 12:2 )Pharisees who, according to some Christian sources, believed in the future Resurrection, and the Sadducees who did not. The Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife at all. [1] Confirming such a dichotomy, according to Josephus , who was a Pharisee himself, the Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul and resurrection. (Josephus BJ 2.8.14, 3.8.5; Josephus Vita 2). The Sadducees, politically powerful religious leaders, took a literal view of the Torah, rejecting the Pharisees' oral law, afterlife, angels, and demons. The Pharisees, whose views became Rabbinic Judaism , eventually won (or at least survived) this debate. Although a minority in Karaite Judaism, some still do not believe in a Future Resurrection or afterlife. [2] The promise of a future resurrection appears in certain Jewish works, such as the Life of Adam and Eve , c 100 BC, and 2 Maccabees , c 124 BC. [3] Ezekiel 37:9-12 ) 2 Kings 13:21 ) Hebrew Bible refers to the term Sheol , which in traditional Judaism is translated simply as "grave" and is perceived as a transitory state. Critical views (see below) interpret it as a referring to a permanent, shadowy underworld. For biblical references to Sheol see Genesis 42:38 , Isaiah 14:11 , Psalm 141:7 , Proverbs 7:27 and Job 10:21-22 , and Job 17:16 , among others. Perhaps it is from Sheol, then, that the dead return. Elijah prays and God raises a young boy from death ( 1 Kings 17:17-24 )Views of Pharisees and Sadducees
Many modern scholars refer to alleged first century BC debates between the
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism holds belief in resurrection to be one of the cardinal principles of Rabbinical Judaism . Jewish halakhic authority Maimonides set down thirteen main principles of the Jewish faith which have ever since been printed in all Orthodox Siddurim(prayer books). Resurrection is the thirteenth principle:
"I believe with complete (perfect) faith, that there will be techiat hameitim - revival of the dead, whenever it will be God's, blessed be He, will (desire) to arise and do so. May (God's) Name be blessed, and may His remembrance arise, forever and ever."
[4]The
Talmud makes it one of the few required Jewish beliefs, going so far as to say that "All Israel have a share in the World to Come...but a person who does not believe in...the resurrection of the dead...has no share in the World to Come." ( Sanhedrin90a).
The second blessing of the
Amidah , the central thrice-daily Jewish prayer is called Tehiyyat ha-Metim ("the resurrection of the dead") and closes with the words m'chayei hameitim ("who gives life to the dead") i.e., resurrection. The Amidah is traditionally attributed to the Great Assembly of Ezra; its text was finalized in approximately its present form in about the First Century CE.
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism 's liturgy generally includes the traditional Hebrew text affirming belief in bodily resurrection, but its thinkers are divided. Many Conservative prayer books use an ambiguous translation into English that leaves open the possibility, but not the requirement, to believe in resurrection. [5]Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism
Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism reject Resurrection. Accordingly, they have modified the text to read m'chayei hakol ("who gives life to all"). In the new prayer book released by the Reform Judaism movement, they have returned the traditional prayer for the resurrection of the dead. [6]