Mark 12:18-28
Jesus and the Sadducees and Pharisees
18 Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19 “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20 Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21 The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22 In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23 At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”
24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25 When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26 Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’[d]? 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
Acts 23:6-10
The Sadducees Do Not Believe in the Resurrection
6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee,descended from Pharisees. I stand on trial because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.” 7 When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8 (The Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things.)
9 There was a great uproar, and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously. “We find nothing wrong with this man,” they said. “What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10 The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.
I have listened to many Christians debate different atheists on many different subjects...Sometimes I feel that the believers win the debate or do a better job than the atheists...And other times in some debates the atheists make some very valid points...Do you think that their are believers who are just so good at debating than others, that they could always convince the opposing belief to change their minds?...My answer to this question is a resounding no...No one, not even the World's Greatest Debater (maybe with the exception of Jesus or God, and Jesus had a difficult time convincing some that He was Divine) can convince everyone that there is a God, or convince others that there is such a thing as the resurrection...
One day a Pharisee heard Jesus debating with some Sadducees...I would bet that Jesus is an excellent debater...He can make His point and then move on to the next item of discussion with great authority and wisdom...He was often a debater on the subjects He understood so well...He knows a thing or two about the resurrection...The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection or a resurrection...We can read what He tells us in the debate on the resurrection...A Sadducee ask Him a question about Mosaic Law in an attempt to learn more about or test Jesus on the resurrection and Jesus answered Him correctly and authoritative...The debate went like this...“Teacher,” the Sadducees said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother...Now there were seven brothers...The first one married and died without leaving any children...The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child...It was the same with the third...In fact, none of the seven left any children...Last of all, the woman died too...At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”...Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?...When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven...Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I AM the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?...He is not the God of the dead, but of the living...You are badly mistaken!”...
Jesus makes the point to those debating Him that the Sadducees do not know the Scriptures...Nor do they know the power of God...And God is currently alive and living...So in a debate, one needs to know the Scriptures thoroughly and they also need to know the power of God...I might say, I think that the Sadducees were bright and intelligent people...Most likely they had read the Scriptures...Then they heard the correct and proper answer to their question on the resurrection...Yet, they still did not believe in the resurrection...Something the minds, thoughts, or their beliefs -kept the Sadducees from believing in the resurrection...After all, they heard the proper answer from One who knows some mighty important things about resurrections...
No matter what the answer was, even though Jesus answered correctly about the resurrection the Sadducees remained in their belief...They continued not to believe in the resurrection...We see this years later after Jesus' death, and St. Paul tells of the Sadducees and their continued non-belief in the resurrection...St. Luke writes, in the Acts of the Apostles, that the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and that there are neither angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees believe all these things...So even after Jesus explained to the group of Sadducees about the resurrection, they still could not believe in the resurrection...And this now is in spite of, and even after Jesus died and had resurrected...Jesus appeared to more than five hundred men and over a period of forty days, according to St. Paul and St. Luke...Yet, they still did not believe...Real belief comes from the heart and the mind and many Sadducees could not comes to grip with Jesus' thoughts and spoken word on the resurrection...What could Jesus spoke to convince them of the resurrection?...What could another debater said to them to get them to believe that God can resurrect men and women?...What could have changed their wrong belief?...Do we ever get stuck in belief like the Sadducees and fail to hear the correct and proper things?...