The Resurrection is not a Zombie Story
When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth
George A Romero’s 1978 movie Dawn of the Dead is considered a horror classic. The dead have dug their way out of their graves and are slowly lurching around as horrific zombies. They’re not quite dead. And not quite alive. When done right, zombies are very, very scary.
It seems these days that zombies are very popular. They seem to be every where in books and movies. So much so that they’ve even started invading classic literature. I’m not sure what Jane Austen would think if she was to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Zombies have even found their way into the Christian realm. Professor Farnsworth on Futurama would use the phrase “Sweet Zombie Jesus” as an exclamation.
There’s even the Stinque Zombie Bible Project, a website where people are encouraged to go through the Bible and add zombies to people’s favourite verses. For example, John 3:16 now reads For God so loved the world, that he made His Son a zombie, and whoever is bitten by the Son shall also become zombie and be undead everlasting.
Quite frankly all this zombie stuff is nonsense. Jesus was not, is not, and never will be a zombie
The resurrection is not a zombie story. When people talk of Jesus as a zombie, what they’re doing is trying to discredit and ridicule the Christian faith. They’re not taking the resurrection seriously. They’re turning it into a joke
The resurrection is essential to the Christian faith. It’s the thing that holds everything together. If Jesus did not rise from the dead as a fully alive person, then Christianity is a waste of time. We can’t treat the resurrection like a zombie story. It’s a story where the dead become alive. It’s the story that can bring you life.
Check out Matthew 28 and read what really happened on Easter Sunday.
Pop Culture Christ 
Interestingly in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion a whole army of the dead walk out of their graves:
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. (Matt 27:51-53)
However, there is of course a profound twist in the gospel story; the resurrected dead are in fact redeemed Christian saints, rather than evil undead, and they appear to the mortals as a declaration of Jesus’ victory rather than eat them in judgement!
What’s curious about those walking dead in Matthew is that we don’t get any follow up or further information. Did they die again? Were they fully alive? We just don’t know. I wonder why Matthew includes that account without elaborating.
Yes – It’s very intriguing! And only Matthew includes this event in his gospel account.
I think this post pretty much fills in the holes in Matthew’s account. Although it doesn’t explain why other accounts don’t talk about the undead army.
http://nogodsallowed.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/the-most-overlooked-part-of-the-easter-narrative/
You’re right, of course, the resurrection isn’t a ‘zombie story’ — a zombie Jesus would’ve eaten people, instead he wants us to eat him. BIG difference.
“If Jesus did not rise from the dead as a fully alive person, then Christianity is a waste of time.”
Actually no. True, a lot of it is a waste of time, but his teachings are still relevant even if he is not the son of a god. These teachings essentially boil down to don’t be a douchebag, respect other people, and try and find it in your heart to forgive people who have slighted you, however heinous. Pretty radical stuff for 2000 years ago.
You don’t need a supernatural act to agree with those principles, but I guess some people do to convince them that its worth adhering to.
It’s true that it’s not a zombie story. Jesus is in fact a vampire:
http://considertheteacosy.wordpress.com/2011/04/24/drink-from-me-and-live-forever-the-case-for-vampire-jesus/
LK: Nice, ethical suggestions for living are all well and good, but you don’t base your entire life around them. Especially if the rest of the things that teacher taught would have him committed. Someone who goes around saying that he can do stuff that only God can do and that he will die and rise again would be a complete whack job… unless he was telling the truth. Without a bodily resurrection, Jesus is a fruit cake who said some sensible things amongst a bunch of absolute rubbish.