Seeing a way off the ship of death

What Do You See? – The Gospel Coalition Blog

Like Ezekiel, we step into the pain and death of humanity with eyes wide open, but we must not stop there. We believe that bones can live. Crazy as it sounds---indeed, "foolish," according to the apostle Paul---it is true. The most tentative and enfeebled preacher possesses power to speak life into dead bones. Why? Because Jesus Christ swallowed up death. The Savior who shed his blood and rose victoriously from the grave. He is the true ship to which Lawrence points.
The apple has already fallen, thunderously upon the earth, but the last Adam has fallen with it. Therefore, we need not cower naked in the last branches of the tree of life. We need not build little boats with oars, gathering little dishes and accoutrements fitting for a departing soul. We need not collect little cakes and wine for the dark flight to oblivion. We need not fear the flood, for the Savior has poured himself out as an atoning sacrifice. This is what we see, and, because it is so marvelous, we joyfully proclaim it to the world.

 Nothing much to add to my response:

Speaking of atheism (as this article does), I think one of the problems with the "problem of evil" argument is that it focus too narrowly on the temporary suffering of this life and ignores the eternal life in which "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" (Revelation 21:4). This is not to ignore the horribleness of death (especially of eternal spiritual death), but to remember that whatever pain we feel here and now will be replaced by a much greater joy- if only we repent of our wrongdoing and ask God to heal us.
And that is our way out.
And the way out for all that want to choose it.

It's already 4:47* AM and I haven't wished y'all a happy Christmas!

Just where are my manners?  I must rectify this immediately, if not sooner.

HAPPY

HAPPY

JOYFUL
JOYFUL

CHRISTMAS!

Wishing you and yours the Happiest of Christmases... Christmasi... Christmice....  Oh, well, y'all know what I mean (I hope)!

*Official posting time was recorded as 4:49, but what do they know?

Ascension-uating the positive

Amplify’d from Rediscovering the Ascended Life of Jesus - The Gospel Coalition Blog [See this Amp]

If 25 percent of the New Testament has the ascension of Christ as its central event and theological emphasis, why is this the most overlooked doctrine in modern evangelicalism?

While the Bible links the ascension and Jesus' ruling in heaven, I don't think it's absolutely vital for a Christian to recognize such a link as long as he or she accepts both Biblical truths, a point I tried to convey in my response:

I would think the answer to the opening question would be fairly obvious. While most Christians believe that Jesus ascended and believe that He rules in heaven, they don't directly connect the two in the same way they do the crucifixion and the atonement or the resurrection as confirmation of Jesus' teachings. IOW, they see them (Jesus' ascension and Jesus' ruling in heaven) as two consecutive, separate "events". Furthermore, while the ascension might suffice to show that Jesus had (and continues to have) divine favor, this had already been established with the resurrection. Thus, it shouldn't be too difficult to see why some people might consider it as redundant and RELATIVELY (sorry for typing in all caps here, but I wanted to make sure that no one could possibly miss the distinction between "unimportant" and "relatively unimportant" that I am making here) unimportant.

The art of Revelations

Art from the RevelationApp, a digital graphic novel of The Book of Revelation by Chris Koelle.
Link courtesy of Tim Challies.

Sartre was wrong: Hell isn't other people, but one's decision to reject God's love

jesus the radical pastor | exploring the life and mission of the 1st century Jesus for our 21st century » Blog Archive » LOVE MEANS NEVER SAYING THE WORD "HELL"

A friend of mine remarked that the new defintion of God’s love means unconditional, endless tolerance and affection. Sweet, but so much wishful thinking. Discounting the perichoresis of the Trinity, the hard edge of love that compelled Jesus to voluntarily lay down his life for sinners is considered ‘bad parenting’ by God the Father, even divine child abuse. You can read it in many popular expressions of the new, soft, fireless, judgmental-less love. I think many of these new "God is love" proponents learned their definitions of love from Sesame Street rather than from the biblical text. What I think they mean when they say "God is love" is "God is nice."

In response to a comment the author added near the end of the post ("I’m totally open to exploring all current ideas about judgment, hell, gehenna, hades, lake of fire and separation from God forever."), I wrote the following:

My own belief on the matter is that the "punishment" in Hell is the undeniable knowledge of the God's love and the price He paid through the blood of His Son to redeem us.  I don't think there is a torment that God could possibly add to the realization of the unrepentant of how callously he or she has rejected such a gracious offer that could make that person's suffering any worse.

It's the end of the world as we know it (or maybe not), and I feel fine (either way)

So when do I think Jesus is coming back?  Well, maybe not today.  Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of my (after)life, although I reserve the right to add the following proviso: God's view of "soon" might differ from yours or mine.  One should not mistake my tone as disinterest in the subject when I have a great concern over the final destination not only for me, but for my fellow human beings as well.  Instead, it is based on the following realizations:

• God has His own timeline regarding the end of the world, and nothing I or anyone else can do can change it;
• others have to decide for themselves whether or not to follow God and however much I or anyone else might be able to influence another's choice, it cannot be forced; and,
• I can see one of two scenarios occurring: first, I die before Jesus returns and either my name is written in the Book of Life or it isn't or, second Jesus returns before I die and either my name is written in the Book of Life or it isn't  Ultimately, the second part of either scenario (whether my name is written in the Book of Life) is of far greater importance to me than the first (whether I'm still alive when Jesus returns).

A related myth is that fundamentalists look forward to the end of the world and the punishment of sinners with anticipatory delight.  Like the issue of theocracy,  while such a view might be held by some fundamentalists, it isn't held by all of them.  Speaking for myself, I think heaven is going to be one big party with the theme "the more, the merrier".