Monday, April 07, 2014
The afterlife -- Old Testament versus New
The hope for a life after death among the ancient Hebrews was very down to earth. There were many religions in the ancient Near East which were much more fancy -- religions that said we live on as spirit beings after the death of our bodies. The ancient Hebrews rejected that. Their hope was for a resurrection of themselves in their original bodies at the time of the coming of the Messiah -- when the earth would be returned to its original Edenic condition. They envisaged living in a new Eden.
Their scorn for belief in an immediate life after death is eloquently expressed in Ecclesiastes 9: 5-7, 10.
5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest
That's pretty final. Only a miracle can offer something after that.
Isaiah 45: 18
For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited
Isaiah 65 17
For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isaiah 65:20ff
21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.
So, a pretty terrestrial hope for the future.
And, surprisingly, the New Testament recorded that hope too:
James 4:13-14
For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."
And have you ever thought what you are saying when you pray as Jesus taught:
Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done ON EARTH, as it is in Heaven
Again the hope is for a future Edenic Kingdom on earth, not some airy-fairy life in heaven.
St Paul, however, rather upsets the applecart by preaching a version of the old Eastern beliefs that he knew well from his pre-conversion life.
1 Corinthians 15: 6
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15: 42-44
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1 Corinthians 15: 50-53
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.
But Paul was still not preaching an immediate spiritual life. As a good Jew, he looked forward to the day of judgment as the day on which resurrection takes place. Note in verse 6 he speaks of Christ's followers who have died as "asleep". They are not enjoying a new life in Heaven.
What Paul appears to have added is the idea that the Christians of his day were special. They only would undergo a spiritual transformation on the last day. And he expected that day imminently. Some early Christians would need to be resurrected and some would still be alive. So those alive would be transformed rather than resurrected.
But you still believe that you have got a soul inside you which is immortal and flits straight off into the spirit realm when your body dies? That's a pagan doctrine, I am afraid. I could quote text after text but in both the OT and the NT the soul is quite mortal:
Ezekiel 22:27
27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
Matthew 16:26
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Psalms 146: 3, 4
3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
As John 3:16 says, eternal life has to be earned (by believing). It is not automatic. The alternative is death pure and simple.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
See you at the Resurrection?
Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).
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5 comments:
Depends. Those things, to my understanding, are quite true. Save the last bit.
Before Christ, a man who died did not go to heaven or hell. Those that did not deserve it did not descend to hell, but heaven was not open to them. I'm not sure about the hellbound, but without Christ to judge, perhaps there was no movement. Now that heaven is open, those selected do go. Though, I do believe all souls go to heaven, it's just that not all souls remain there. The judgment happens there, or thereabouts.
Further, while heaven is open, there is the problem of purgatory. And, none get flesh until all have been judged and the old earth has passed away in fire. So, there is a time of spiritual existence.
As to the notion of hitting a spiritual existence being this or that? My second death, I saw... something. Never mind the details. And while it could have been oxygen deprivation, I don't believe it. I do believe I hit spiritual existence immediately.
Further, from my understanding, my church does believe we are judged upon death. I was, pretty much, at best weakly faithful at the time of that death. Since I wasn't in heaven, or hell, and understood that, if it took a billion years, I would get to heaven... and wanted that very much, that I had been sent to purgatory. Heard whispers of hell, a very sad place, very sad. And I could "see" heaven, right over there. But the gates were closed to myself and those with me. Still, we prayed quite happily, knowing we would enter some day.
Jesus on the cross stated, "hodie mecum eris in paradiso", (Today you will be with me in Paradise)..Please spare me the placement of the comma and all other foolish interpretations of man !!
Jesus did not speak Latin
Ah, there was that too. Of course, some will try to argue that the day in the life of God is as a thousand years, without noting that God had come to flesh, and was only in his early 30's. *grin*
The bible is difficult to know. Even having literally read the NT x 6 and the OT x 3, I just can't pull it all in, ever, all at once. But a lively, or even simple friendly, debate, brings more and more pieces out.
For people who have read, or read but without belief, it is very easy to stretch things, conflate this with that, in spite of them being two very different... areas. When you tell your friend, for example, to go blow. That is... quite different than when you tell your enemy to do so, and more so an enemy who has the upper hand versus one that doesn't.
Truth is, I depend, even then, on some of the greatest minds. St. Thomas Aquinas, G.K. Chesterton, William F. Buckley, Jr., and probably others I did not know as such but who had influence on me. And I probably ought to read more. Understanding isn't a destination, merely a long, faulting, failing journey that will never see perfection in our lifetimes. Still, worth the purchase price.
Just woke up, mind is flailing around trying to... figure something out, from what I read. Pardon me.
JR: you are a master of the obvious.
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