Confusions about the state of the dead are the topic, today, along with more on whether the Bible is always positive. A “Yahoo! Answers” writer using the ID “in-cog-ni-t0” (Level 2 with 775 points, December 23, 2010) posted the following:
If all pain and suffering as we know it ends when we die…?
If all pain and suffering as we know it ends when we die, how then are we still connected to our loved ones who are living?
Many Christian/religious people believe all sorrow and pain ends when we die. Thereafter, we live blissfully in Heaven forever. That’s something that I will have to see for myself to believe because no living person can confirm it.
What causes a little confusion for me is when I hear people say “I know (insert deceased person’s name) is looking down on me. As a whole, this seems like an oxymoron to me because most pain and grief stems from loved ones.
So, am I to believe that a person dies, and their spirit stays connected to the family with no emotional association. Am I to believe, the spirit hovers over the living as they experience heartache and distress but has no sense of feeling? Or, is this just something we say to comfort ourselves?
THE BATTLE AXE: Scriptures and Sayings? (06/09/2013)— (6) The Bible is itself a sacred reality, and conveys the being and spirit substance of GOD. Just as death is to be understood as “natural” and “normal” for mankind, the acknowledgment of GOD and sacred actuality are to be natural and normal, requiring truth, rather than special ceremonies and ritual. Both the negative and positive accounts of Scripture are needed in order for mankind to receive the multiple levels of awareness, divine completeness, sanctification, and mature understanding that establish the new life in Christ. Even so, the process of life that unfolds is in accordance with divine content, rather than data and factual knowledge.
THE GOLDEN ARROW: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21: 1-8, King James Version)
THE DOUBLE DAGGER: Must We Really Die? (05/13/2013); Can GOD Die? (05/14/2013); Death Has Been Transformed (05/09/2013); Loving the Enemy? (05/10/2013); What’s The Way Out? (04/20/2013); A Kindness to Mary? (04/21/2013)
“in-cog-ni-to”, many long-time Christian believers also feel confused and uncertain regarding the Gospel teachings on death and eternal life. Often, it is not that they are ignorant of their Bibles; it is that they still condemn, hesitate to accept, and refuse to acknowledge the clear statements put before them as sacred truth. Even so, here are some points to consider that you may find useful for your further spiritual growth:
(1) Consciousness of GOD and of spiritual truth does not directly and immediately result from awareness that comes by the flesh, a set of mechanisms for continuing our physical being. Included in the flesh are appetite (e.g., hunger, thirst, sexual craving), sensation (e.g., hearing, seeing, touching), and mental functions (e.g., desire, fantasy, forgetting, imagination, recall).
(2) The holy writings teach that the dead lose all awareness that permits participation in the world, a set of mechanisms for continuing our emotional, psychological and social being. While the earth is the creation of GOD, the world is the creation of mankind. Included in the world are culture, family, language, money, politics, religion, science and technology.
(3) The comfort from GOD for those in bereavement includes proclamations, promises, and prophecies that pertain to the restoration of life to the dead (we say, the word of GOD, and hope). Many seek to claim the benefit of the divine truths, and the sacred hope that is the inheritance of believers without also submitting themselves to GOD by obedience, rebirth, repentance, reverence, service, and trust.
(4) The completion of mortality (we say, death) is not the completion of existence. We all know that there are many objects that have being that do not possess the peculiar spirit that is life (e.g., door knobs, floor boards, mirrors, stones). The holy writings teach that GOD uses death as a tool to continue Creation; and that resurrection is the divine tool for reuniting of body and spirit for deceased persons along with the aspects of their character, inner make-up, and integrity as human.
There is far more to be said, correctly applied, and spiritually apprehended. (For example, (5) Resurrection pertains to judgment, and the revelation of divinity among created beings and living creatures. Dead persons do not exist in the direct celestial presence; the eminent being of GOD makes it that all are alive before him for the purpose of righteous judgment. (The accused must be present for just and impartial hearing.) Presently, only GOD is immortal; the holy angels and sacred beasts of heaven are neither immortal nor mortal. Judgment of the wicked and the second death will eliminate all sin; and mortality will no longer exist. All humans will have been transformed to be immortal and incorruptible.) Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according to your faith.
THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC
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