Keith&Co.
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This element of the Resurrection always confused me. That when they met Jesus, post-mortem, he looked different.
Why would they specify this?
You don't see this in modern stories. No matter how convincing the fake death was, or the real death before the regeneration or whatever, people always recognize the actor when they step back in the room. Lots of screaming, maybe accusations, "You're supposed to be dead!" or "I watched you die!" and so on, but no 'Do i know you?'
Someone suggested that Jesus made himself look different, because there were people that wanted him dead, or dead-er, anyway. But that's kinda stupid. Because apparently he still had the HOLES from the nails and the spear in his side. The first Stigmata. Kind of hard to claim that's from walking into a door or cutting yourself while shaving.
So, why bring this up, multiple times, in the narrative? Especially from an atheist point of view, that it's just a tale being told, how does this add to the story?
But i was reading the memoirs of a forensic anthropologist. She talks about the fourth dead body she ever saw (after a few dissections), but the first corpse of a person she'd known in life. Her uncle. And weirdly, she didn't recognize him in the casket. Seems to be a common occurrence in her experience. a lot of people's faces are drastically different in death. Less animated. Looking at some of the people around me, those with ready smiles, or near-permanent scowls, i can accept this. Mr. Brown, at peace, will not look like Mr. Brown any more.
I haven't experienced this, Grandpa looked like Grandpa. But Dr. Black has argued with colleagues who are surprised when relatives don't recognize their dead.
Which got me to wondering, maybe it was just accepted by the authors of The Books that death changed your looks? Maybe everyone knew this, it was an established meme. Not in terms of muscle tone or blood pressure going away, just 'you die you differ.'
So the change in appearance for Risen Jesus was a specific detail to make it clear, he didn't just hide for three days. He died, and did the reverse-death-mask thing.
A detail to make the death scene more authentic against the contemporary understanding of death's effects.
Why would they specify this?
You don't see this in modern stories. No matter how convincing the fake death was, or the real death before the regeneration or whatever, people always recognize the actor when they step back in the room. Lots of screaming, maybe accusations, "You're supposed to be dead!" or "I watched you die!" and so on, but no 'Do i know you?'
Someone suggested that Jesus made himself look different, because there were people that wanted him dead, or dead-er, anyway. But that's kinda stupid. Because apparently he still had the HOLES from the nails and the spear in his side. The first Stigmata. Kind of hard to claim that's from walking into a door or cutting yourself while shaving.
So, why bring this up, multiple times, in the narrative? Especially from an atheist point of view, that it's just a tale being told, how does this add to the story?
But i was reading the memoirs of a forensic anthropologist. She talks about the fourth dead body she ever saw (after a few dissections), but the first corpse of a person she'd known in life. Her uncle. And weirdly, she didn't recognize him in the casket. Seems to be a common occurrence in her experience. a lot of people's faces are drastically different in death. Less animated. Looking at some of the people around me, those with ready smiles, or near-permanent scowls, i can accept this. Mr. Brown, at peace, will not look like Mr. Brown any more.
I haven't experienced this, Grandpa looked like Grandpa. But Dr. Black has argued with colleagues who are surprised when relatives don't recognize their dead.
Which got me to wondering, maybe it was just accepted by the authors of The Books that death changed your looks? Maybe everyone knew this, it was an established meme. Not in terms of muscle tone or blood pressure going away, just 'you die you differ.'
So the change in appearance for Risen Jesus was a specific detail to make it clear, he didn't just hide for three days. He died, and did the reverse-death-mask thing.
A detail to make the death scene more authentic against the contemporary understanding of death's effects.