(11/06/2015) Alway Delivered To Death?

Today, life experience  for Christian believers is described as forward-looking due to its focus upon the word of GOD.  The primary work among disciples of Jesus is that of prophecy:  to comfort, edify, and exhort; the primary products include faith, gratitude, hope, joy, and longsuffering.  It is in contrast to the preeminence of eternal life that death or fear have place with the chief concerns of the church.   Acknowledging and burying the dead, hallowing (we say, consecrating or sanctifying) ground for the internment of believer remains, and pastoral counseling to survivors of the deceased may appear as expressions of divine love and respect, both in place of and in addition to preaching and solemn worship.  One of the many fighters using the ID “Anonymous” at “Yahoo! Answers” posted the following:


Is religion nothing more than a thing that helps people deal with the thought of and experience of death?

Have you seen dead people before? They cannot: see, touch, think, remember, talk, walk, etc. That's the reality of death.

Update:  Enlighten me if you have a better explanation.


THE GOLDEN ARROW:  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:  for they shall be filled.  Blessed are the merciful:  for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart:  for they shall see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers:  for they shall be called the children of God.  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake:  for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad:  for great is your reward in heaven:  for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.  (Matthew 5:  6-14, KJV)


THE DOUBLE DAGGER:  Eternal Life Not Afterlife? (08/11/2015); The Return to Dust? (06/14/2015); Death, Forgiveness, Sin and Spirit? (05/28/2015); Death is a Divine Tool (09/15/2014); A Sleep and a Second Death (09/16/2014); Death Has Been Transformed (05/09/2013); Loving the Enemy? (05/10/2013)


“Anonymous”, for the followers of Jesus Christ, ones faith with other inseparable aspects of the divine nature (e.g., holiness, righteousness, truth, wisdom, wrath against sin) centers in divine operations whereby mankind undergoes permanent change, and is prepared for transformation to continue as an immortal, incorruptible companion to divinity.  Through baptism (death of ones inborn spirit; rebirth from divine DNA, so to speak), believers and disciples of Jesus spoken of as “born again,” must “grow up,” and mature again meeting the same life challenges as all others upon the earth.  Included are aging, bereavement, disease, disappointment, frustration, injustice, isolation, and persecution.  While themes of its teachings go all the way back to the Creation of heaven and earth, and every believer is to experience covenant and personal relationship with Deity, the spirit content of a Christian believer is “forward-looking” as a focus upon expectations for the fulfillment of things spoken from divinity as proclamations, promises, and prophecies.  Consider again the following verses from the Bible:

(1.)  2nd Peter 1:  2-4, King James Version (KJV):  2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,  3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:  4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:  that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

(2.)  Hebrews 12:  14, KJV:  14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

(3.)  2nd Corinthians 4:  11-14, KJV:  11 For we which live are  alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.  12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.  13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;  14 Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.

There is far more to be said, correctly applied, and spiritually apprehended.  (For example, (4.)  1st Corinthians 15:  50-54, KJV:  50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.  51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:  for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.)  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.


THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC