"The Resurrection of the Dead"

These two passages are really interesting to read when considering the importance of writing and texts in sacred communication, and the role that they plays as a prompt for ritual behavior. The first passage ponders life without the resurrection of Christ. The second passage negates the first, in claiming that Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, and for this reason, those that seek and follow him and the Word of God may find life in Christ once they have reached mortal death. In short it outlines the life a follower of Christ and how in doing so this follower will achieve salvation.
What is especially noteworthy in this excerpt is the very first line of the first passage, "But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" (line 12). The basis of an entire religion, and really, social institution is that the savior of man, Christ, was resurrected from the dead at which point he joined his father in heaven. But why do Christians believe this? Because the bible says so. And the bible says so because it was first preached, that Christ did in fact die and live again in an eternal paradise as followers of him will also do. The excerpt is a perfect example of how an oral tradition or myth was passed among the people and eventually put into text. Without the Bible, it is hard to believe that Christianity would have grown to the extent that it has. While the oral spread of myth works to great extents it cannot reach the magnitude and consistency of text.