How to make sense of the Christian believe in an embodied afterlife?
Christians, as I understand it, believe that (some) humans gain eternal life with a new, "glorified" body. I find this very hard to imagine. If we will have bodies then it means we will do things in this afterlife. If we will have legs then we'll walk places, climb mountains, swim in lakes, etc. If we have mouths then we'll converse, eat, etc. We'll never die too, I presume; in which case what will happen to us if we fall off one of said mountains? Will we not break our (glorified) bones and suffer?
And this state of affairs will last for all of the rest of eternity. Can any Christian clarify this idea for me, make it more imaginable? The idea of my life now extended for all of eternity does not, on the face of it, sound very attractive. And I have a perfectly fine life, but surely, after a while, life just becomes a bore and death is a welcome release? Even if we are healthy all our lives. It makes far more sense to me to believe in some sort of unembodied, spiritual afterlife, it's the embodied aspect of the Christian vision that troubles me.
THE BATTLE AXE: The Image of GOD? (10/10/2013)—Except as he appears using the incarnate person of Jesus Christ, GOD, who is pure divine spirit, does not bear the likeness (the Scriptures say, similitude) of any material thing that exists. This includes angels, animals, clouds, fog, mankind, mist, sacred beasts, smoke and steam. All sentient beings know the presence of GOD through divine operations and sacred events in the same way humans know the presence of the wind by recognizing its effects (e.g., a puff of air against our face, branches of a tree stirred by an unseen force, clouds moving as though pushed, the lifting of a kite). No celestial appearance of GOD and divine Spirit ever has been revealed or shown to created beings and living creatures through direct sense experiences of hearing, seeing, tasting, touching, etc. The living may apprehend, contain as vessels, and display the divine nature. GOD and divine presence are emanated to be received as affirmations and awareness using divine substance such as faith, holiness, joy, love, sacred law, and truth. Lacking discernment (ability to recognize spirit content; skill at using spiritual things to recognize other spiritual things), many confuse divine spirit with elements generated by the flesh such as dreams, fantasy, fear, imagination, animal instinct, and intuition. Godliness (we say, godlikeness) must be experienced as pure being, and understood through the process of ones active spirit content. (See Deuteronomy 4: 5-13, Romans 1: 16-23, 1st John 4: 7-15 and 3rd John 1: 11, KJV.)
THE GOLDEN ARROW: Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them. O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD. (Psalms 115: 1-18, KJV)
THE DOUBLE DAGGER: The Return in Glory? (07/04/2013); Desire for Love? (07/05/2013); The Place for Eternal Life? (01/06/2013); Therefore There Was Trust (01/07/2013); Does Everyone Go To Heaven? (10/28/2012); An Earth to Fix A Heaven? (05/18/2013); What’s The Way Out? (04/20/2013); A Kindness to Mary? (04/21/2013); After We Die? (10/04/2012); Life and Death (09/26/2012); Mob Rule and Violence (09/27/2012); A Man in Heaven? (09/23/2012); Aliens? (09/24/2012)
Edward, to make sense of Christian belief, become a Christian! Foremost among the many keys to understanding the revealed things of GOD for Christian believers is that a person puts aside usual frameworks of carnal being that dominate awareness. Included are ones appetite (e.g., hunger, thirst, sexual craving), sense (e.g., hearing, seeing, tasting, touching), operations of mind (e.g., desires, emotions, memories, self-interest) as well as the frameworks of time and space. We say, believers must be born again from divine DNA, so to speak. They then must endure the “growing pains” and meet the challenges of new life in Christ. One must realize their potential to acquire the divine nature and internalize as their own divine processes and sacred purposes in place of the finite human nature. This is done through exchange and fellowship with other believers, giving, prayer, study of the holy writings, unselfish service, and worship.
GOD is a spirit who exists as pure divinity, and is immortal. What we might call the content of GOD is such inseparable, invisible substance as faith, forgiveness, gratitude, holiness, humility, joy, longsuffering, love, wisdom, and wrath against sin. Believers receive divine content from the very person of GOD that prepares them to be perfected and transformed at the coming of Christ. As you know, there is a vast array of created beings and living creatures that we understand are mortal (e.g., animals, insects, plants); and there are otherwise invisible and unseen lives that continue within the spheres of sacred presence (we say, heaven). Included there are angels, blessed elders and sacred beasts who nonetheless are not incorruptible (sin was first revealed among the angels before being spread to the earth), are not mortal, yet are not immortal.
There is much for us to learn from Scripture and the imparted, indwelling Spirit of Truth available through the ministry of Jesus Christ. (For example, the place for mankind’s eternal existence will be the earth made new. The tree of life will continue before GOD as a device to provide healing (should there be any broken arm). We are to learn to delight in GOD, now, so that then a very different endless pleasure may be ours. Despite the destruction and removal of all sinners, judgment and wrath against sin will continue as aspects of divine person. In place of lust and passion, believers receive boldness, creativity, industry and zeal. There is never a dull moment in Christ.) I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according to your faith. Jesus is coming.
THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC
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