I don't like to pose sarcastic questions to folks who hold sincere, innocent beliefs but I really do have a hard time wrapping my head around the logistics of the conventional view of the state of the dead. If the soul goes to Heaven upon death, then what exactly is "the hope of the resurrection?"
Are there really a bunch of disembodied spirits floating around the ether jonesing for a body to live in? And if so, why has God been denying them this privilege (some for thousands of years)?
I never used to have a problem with this, until I started studying, thinking, and doing the math about it. There are so many passages in the Bible that suggest the dead are actually dead compared to the few that could be argued to indicate otherwise.
Sure, I acknowledge that a couple of those few passages, if read directly and without comparing to others, would suggest unconditional immortality. But Christians normally don't have a problem with going as far as to even virtually ignore a few verses in favor of others that support more widely accepted dogma.
Am I not seeing this situation clearly?
When all the pontificating, cult-calling, finger-wagging, and scholar citations are over, what are we left with from a "Thus saith the LORD?"
I really believe the devil went with "Ye shall not surely die" (Genesis 3:4) at the very outset and never looked back.
He knew he didn't immediately expire when he first took up the baton of rebellion and he knew he could, at least temporarily, presume upon the mercy of God and that perhaps Adam and Eve wouldn't get the memo that, already, their cells were beginning to necrotize faster than they could be replaced and that with God a
day (Genesis 2:17) is as a thousand years (Psalms 90:4, 2Peter 3:8) (beyond which they would, in fact,
not retain their animate vitality).
We really might have to put on our thinking caps if we're going to escape this part of the last great web of deception that, as we are told, if possible, will snare the very elect. This shouldn't be taken as questioning anyone's abilities or intentions because it certainly isn't meant to. However, we all might have to, at some point, internalize the likelihood that the devil has a few advantages over us with regard to cunning and sophistry.
And finally, I can't help but notice that these hotly contested subjects seem to attract a lot of assaults on people's intelligence. Perhaps I could be allowed two observations: (1) Men and women of very studious and brilliant traits have come down on either side of this question; and (2) rarely is anyone's position ever tied to the spiritual ramifications of their position on the question (which is where, in fact, it seems to me the bulk of concern should be). It seems to nearly always be a matter of intellectual integrity, especially to those who object the loudest.
In general, insults and using derogatory terms for sincerely held beliefs (which seems to be almost universally practiced—after a time, neutral terms that are used unkindly take on a negative connotation) never saved anyone from being deceived. Derision and ad hominem will not help to clear up this confusion.
:
(You know who you are. For your own soul's sake, at least pray for people before you scoff, per the spirit of Galatians 6:1.)
