I got a call from Dan's brother Tom. Tom told me that Dan took his life a couple of nights ago. I will miss Dan. Though I cant say we were close, we used to be. We grew up together. We did things together. We were school mates and weekend friends. We partyed and played, camped and hiked. We made the most of our early years. We both went on to do our own things. He got married and had a boy and a girl and moved to BC. I got married, had a boy and a girl and stayed put in Erin Township.
So today, the family and friends are just trying to piece things together. The big question is always WHY? I understand that Dan had been depressed for a while. I dont know the particulars but I feel bad for my buddy and his family. I feel bad that Dan felt that his only hope or chance of peace was in taking his own life. I feel bad for the family, wondering if they failed him. Maybe they are angry at him or possibly ashamed.
I will remember Dan fondly. I will remember him for they way he was, before the world took its toll on him. Bye Dan. I hope your pain is gone.
I am sorry to hear of the tragic loss of your friend. Few things are sadder to hear of than someone who has endured the utmost depths of hopelessness and of the family left behind who must pick up the pieces of their lives knowing he saw this as his only solace. I pray for their strength to overcome this loss.
ReplyDeleteOur Christian understanding of life after death is so maligned that it's a wonder it offers any comfort at all.
Eric Clapton wrote “Tears in Heaven” after the tragic death in 1991 of his 4 year old son, Conor who fell 53 floors from the window of his mothers New York apartment. In the song, Clapton muses as to whether or not his 4 year old son would even know him if he saw him in heaven as described by the lines “Would you know my name if I saw you in heaven?” and “Would you hold my hand if I saw you in heaven?”
I shed a tear each time I hear this painful lament of a heartbroken father who’s lost his young son. Not for the son he lost but for him who takes no comfort in believing his son is in heaven. And I am angry at the inadequacy of our teachers to understand God’s wonderful plan that should have given him all the comfort he needed.
Christians believe that if we’ve lived a good life and fought the good fight we go to heaven to spend eternity with Jesus. Our loved ones who died before us are in heaven waiting to receive us when our time is up.
In the case of Eric Clapton his young son must embark on this quest ahead of him. Remember, his most precious son was 4. This would be easier to imagine if your son was 4 now, but try to imagine if you can. After falling 53 floors he would find himself where? In a tunnel with a bright light at the end of it? At a large gate facing St. Peter? On a cloud? Remember, he’s 4. Is he at peace or terrified out of his mind? What does he want the moment he’s out the window? Is it different than what he wants 10 seconds after he’s died?
Describe it to me as you would teach it to a Sunday school child.
and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He *said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
ReplyDelete(Revelation 21:4-7)
I beleive that because I have accepted Gods gift of grace through Jesus Christ and earnestly seek Him, that when I die, I will be one with Him. To me it is an unimaginable joy and preveledge to spend eternity with God. I beleive that being with God will be a true warmth and joy and much better than this shit hole called earth.
So to a child, I would say, that we were made by God so that some day we would return to Him to complete our lives. I would ask the child to think of all the awesome things like ice cream and sandboxes and mommys hugs and I would ask the child to multiply that feeling by a gazzillion. That is what being with God will be like. Death is nothing to fear.It is only a stage in life. Ask the caterpillar who spins himself a web and dies to himself to emerge as a beautiful butterfy.
I don’t believe that when we die we go to heaven. I believe God has a far more wonderful plan in mind.
ReplyDeleteI believe that terrified, 4 year old Conor Clapton will not wake up after his terrifying fall in heaven with Jesus but will wake up to the immediate security and crushing arms of his father and mother. That the mother in bed dying of cancer, surrounded by her grieving family and friends will close her eyes and open them again to the same faces and get out of bed to hug them all with tears of joy. And that your friend Dan, who died sad and alone will immediately blink to the kisses and hugs of his children, look over their shoulders and see the friend he hasn’t seen in 17 years standing in line for his turn at an overdue embrace. Jesus will be in line behind you. In all of these, the praises of God will sing out louder than you could possibly imagine.
I believe the bible is telling us that those who have died before us still wait to be raised to life, that the only one to have been raised from the dead and remain so is Jesus. I believe that when those who have died are to be raised again, that they will be raised in reverse order to when they died. That the first faces we’re to see when we are raised to life are the faces of those we leave behind and that together we will go to greet those who left during our lifetime. The first faces we see won’t be our parents, but our children! Can you imagine a thing more worthy of a loving God than that?
I know this is different than what has been taught to us since we were children and what we in turn teach our children. But like Santa Clause, we teach that the resurrection of those who have died is not a future event but an event that preceeded us. But I invite you to recall and test each loss you’ve ever experienced or heard no matter how benign or heinous and consider the difference in the joy and praise of this understanding of God to what we’ve all heard.
Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover season when Nicodemus, a Pharisee, went to visit him one night…
ReplyDeleteJesus says the following…
John 3:13 – No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
And…
John 8:21 – Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.”
But, look what John also writes…
John 14:2 – “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
3 – “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
Jesus will receive you to himself when he comes. Where will he be "when he comes"? It won't be in heaven.
Jesus after dividing the fishes & loaves amongst 5,000 followers, walked across the Sea of Galilea and was talking with his disciples in Capernaum…
John 6:39 – And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.
40 – For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
Jesus continued…
John 6: 43 – Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves.
44 – No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.
Mary understood the resurrection at the last day…
John 11:23 – Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 – Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
26 – And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
John writes, long after the death of Jesus, the following…
John 1:18 – no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father he has declared him.
John 6:46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.
1 John 4:12 – No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
Peter, speaking on the day of Pentecost, having received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, rose up and preached to those assembled…
Acts 2:34 – For David is not ascended into the heavens but he saith himself, the lord said unto my lord, sit on my right hand,
35 – Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’
Some may say this is now…
John 5:25 – Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.
And Christ did raise Lazarus from the dead! – John 11
But the hour for the rest of us is still coming…
John 5:28 – Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice
29 – and come forth— those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
…at the resurrection, on the last day.
Paul, circa 57-59 A.D., at his hearing before Felix the Governor in Jerusalem…
Acts 24:14 – “But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets;
15 – having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.
Many years after the death of Jesus, Paul still sees the resurrection as a future event.
A prayer in Peter’s letter to the pilgrims of the Dispersion…
1 Peter 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 – to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 – who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Paul, Silvanus & Timotheus write to the church of the Thessalonians…
1 Thessalonians 1:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?
Paul, in writing to Timothy…
1 Timothy 6:15 – …He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
16 – who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
In Paul’s letter to the churches in Corinth, he writes the following…
1 Corinthians 15:20 – But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 – for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 – for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 – but every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
Christ spoke to his disciples in Judea, beyond the Jordan, concerning the gift of eternal life…
Matthew 19:30 – but many that are first shall be last and the last shall be first.
And in a parable…
Matthew 20:8 - So when evening had come, the Owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’
Matthew 20:16 - So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.
Paul, Silvanus & Timothy write to the church of the Thessalonians…
1 Thessalonians 4:13 - But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
14 – For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
15 – For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 - For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 – Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
18 – Therefore comfort one another with these words.
Those who are "caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" aren't staying in the air. Jesus will arrive all the way back. Those "caught up" will make the last leg of the journey to earth with Jesus and "thus shall always be with the Lord", not in the clouds.
Hebrews 11:12 – Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.
13 – These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
39 – And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
Paul’s message to the Corinthians…
1 Corinthians 15:51 – Behold, I tell 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 trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
John in his vision at the island of Patmos…
Revelations 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 – But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Death as understood in the Old Testament…
2 Chronicles 32:33 – Hezekiah rested with his ancestors; he was buried at the approach to the tombs of the descendants of David. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. His son Manasseh succeeded him as king.
Daniel, having received a vision of the end time, was told by the angel of God…
Daniel 12:13 “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.
King David writes…
Psalm 115: 17 The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor any who go down into silence.
Ezekiel’s vision in the valley of the dry bones…
Ezekiel 37:12 – Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 – Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.
14 – I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it,” says the Lord.’ ”
The New Testament carries on the analogy of sleep…
1 Corinthians 15:6 – After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
Even after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we still sleep at death.
Revelation 5:9 – And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 – And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign……on the earth.”
So, heaven or resurrection, what does it really matter what we believe?
We will all be with God and that's what really matters.
Right?
In Peter’s letter to the churches in Ephasus, Peter instructs us…
Ephesians 4:11 – And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 – for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 – till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
…while providing this word of caution…
Ephesians 4:14 – that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
Paul in his letter to Timothy…
2 Timothy 2:16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.
17 - And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,
18 - who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.
In summary, the bible teaches that…
No one has ascended to heaven.
In death we sleep until the resurrection of men, beginning at the final coming of Christ.
The only human being to be raised from the dead to a spiritual form and alive in that state today is Christ.
We are to be raised to life in reverse order to that in which we died.
The idea that the dead are already alive originated from Hymenaeus and Philetus and is still taught to our children in Sunday school.
wow..thats a lot of work you did.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about heaven, I think about being with God and not a physical place. For my definition of heaven would be a place where we would be with God.
I have read these passages and that would mean that I would have to wait for Christ to come and get me. I'm OK with that. I dont really care where I end up physically or for how long. It doesnt really change anything for me because I trust that he will receive me.
Maybe it'll be like waiting around in a bus station for 300 years.... waiting for His plane to land. I remember waiting at the bus station for 4 hours to see the queen. I caught a glimpse of her and she waved at me. It was well worth the wait. I waited 24 hours for the birth of my son. I guess I'm gonna have to lie in the cold ground for a bit. Sometimes things are better, the longer you wait!
I was actually hoping for a rapture thing so that I would not have to deal with the death aspect.
That work has been a few years in the making. Some time ago I set out to read the entire New Testament from front to back. I’d only done it by book or in pieces until then and in no particular order. And while I was doing this I’d come across passages that I found interesting that I knew I’d want to come back to at some future time. Each verse that struck me as interesting got moved into a single Word file. But I found the topics that I felt the passages applied to were quite varied. So I started to separate them out and created PowerPoint files as repositories by subject such as Heaven, Understanding, Baptism, Born Again, etc. I found in the process the ability to focus my study. So my last post was the result of my multi-year Heaven study.
ReplyDeleteI know what’s at the heart of your statement and I agree, “Better is one day in your courts than thousands elsewhere”. But on the bus station analogy, I have to believe that when you die you will have no concept of the passage of time, that your resurrection will be in the blink of an eye to you. The question will be, will you open your eyes to just your children, or to your children and their children's, children leading to the return of Christ?
Until that day we have a book and the Holy Spirit to guide and comfort us. And the more we seek to know God, to draw nearer to him, the stronger our connection to the Holy Spirit becomes, a connection which God will then use to draw nearer to us. This search for God and understanding of Him are echoed in the words, “seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.”
But working against us is Satan who works against our efforts to build a relationship with God by playing on our frailties. A being who tries to weaken or break our connection to the Holy Spirit. A being that clouds and distorts our understanding of the beauty of what God plans for us as written in the pages of the bible, and God allows complacency to live in us and cloud our understanding as it is written, “Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:10, Matthew 13:15, John 12:40 & Acts 28:27)
So, how our list of compromised doctrines grows, doctrines we teach our children in Sunday school and skirt around in sermons without addressing directly. Our ministers will tell us that the sabbath is still the seventh day of the week if you ask them, but if you want to call Sunday the sabbath, they won’t correct you. Our ministers will tell us that Jesus was not born on December 25th if you ask, but if you want to sing “Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day” they won’t correct you. My wife says, “Well he was born on ‘A’ Christmas Day, we just don’t know which one. But this is the day we celebrate Jesus birth.” A minister said, “It’s never wrong to celebrate Jesus” and “Jesus never stopped people from worshiping him.” They’ll put images of Jesus with long brown hair in front of our children and tell them Grandma’s in heaven but will concede that the image is probably false and that heaven is more of a concept then a place if pushed, and that now or later is really irrelevant, but will let you believe what you want without correcting you. I am stunned at the coerciveness of the justifications for all this I hear. It would make a used car salesman blush.
When I suggested on another blog that ministers simply preach to you what is pleasing to your ear, a crazy person said of Jesus, “I would say he separated the truth from lies.” Point that statement at all of this and show me Jesus! What this tells me is that truth is whatever you want it to be because it is irrelevant.
I know that last statement is rather harsh. But I feel better for having said it. I also appreciate your patience when I rant and more than that your willingness to try to see what I see even if it doesn’t make sense or feel right.
While I do truly believe that the truth really isn’t necessary today, the day may come when the knowledge of what is true will be necessary. If the truth were necessary, God would reveal it plainly. Right now, the confusion is necessary to his plan.
“Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” (Isaiah 6:10, Matthew 13:15, John 12:40 & Acts 28:27)
Thank you Don!