I don't 'hang around' First John to much, but I guess I ought to....if it means getting new clarification like this article and idea. Like many of you folks, my mind is like a sponge, and now that I am retired with decent benefits I have the time and desire to search out these nuggets of gold, choice bits of information that bring everything together for easier understanding.
We are a very special 'group' called the "Church" who will get special treatment after we are resurected!! And we don't want to even think about the consequences --hell. We are not perfect now, but that doesn't get us an excuse to keep 'walking on the wild side' --chasing everything evil just to see how close we can get to the flame [like a moth to a candle] before we singe our wings... 'Time has been sufficient' to work out the bad things from our lives -- and get with the program now!! We are now grown up with no more excuses to run with the herd and get their diseases and fleas, etc. Now is the time to draw near to the Lord, and help others see the Light of the World, Jesus and His Armies, who are waiting in the wings to come down and 'clean house.'
Just because we don't feel the pain of hunger, PTSD, war, famine, disease or the 3rd world, doesn't mean it's not happening in the other half of the world! I know this well, for I lived in one of those places back in 1968-1970, Vietnam !! They were plowing with water buffaloes, with a very smiple life, and then we came with jets and refrigerators...and death... to try and contain the Viet Cong... but no history lesson today, friends. But I degress, as my wife always tells me.
With all the hub bub and excitment of the presidential election in America now, the woes of the world are temporarily shoved on the back burner, and time is flying by at a jet speed to something BIG. I am ready for both eventualities RIGHT, or left type of Gov't -- but the same thing will happen in the end.... The End of the World AS we know it... and all of God's prophecies will and must come true! I already voted like I said before, for the RIGHT man, although not a Christian in the technical sense, but still a 'good man.' But 'GOOD' doesn't get you into heaven!! Being Saved by the ransom blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and confessing this, will get you [us] into HEAVEN! Hey, I don't even describe myself as being a so-called, "GOOD MAN." After I get to heaven I will be safe in saying that I finally made the grade. Smile!
Warm Regards.
Tom Schuckman
Will We Always Be Physical Beings?
Q. I understand that man is created in God’s image, meaning that man has an eternal spirit. Wouldn’t that mean the angels were also created in God’s image? What is the difference then between man and angels if, after temporarily inhabiting physical bodies, man then becomes a spirit being? Or does man become a physical being again inhabiting a physical place?
A. I think there’s a sense in which the angels can be said to have been created in the image of God. In Hebrew they’re called B’nai ha Elohim, which means sons of God. Like the angels man was created with eternal life, intellect, and agency (the power of choice). Unlike them, redeemed man will spend eternity as a physical being, where the natural state of angels is spiritual. The New Jerusalem, where the Church will live eternally, is a physical location, visible from Earth, and designed for habitation by physical beings. The leaders of Earth, also physical beings, will bring their splendor into it (Rev. 21:24).
Jesus demonstrated this clearly. On His first post resurrection appearance to the disciples, they were all frightened, thinking they had seen a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:38-39). Then He showed them His hands and feet and asked for something to eat.
His example is all we understand about our next life, but believing in a bodily resurrection is one of the basic tenets of our faith. John explained it this way. “What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears we will be like Him” (1 John 3:2). Since He is a physical being, that means we’ll be physical beings.
A. I think there’s a sense in which the angels can be said to have been created in the image of God. In Hebrew they’re called B’nai ha Elohim, which means sons of God. Like the angels man was created with eternal life, intellect, and agency (the power of choice). Unlike them, redeemed man will spend eternity as a physical being, where the natural state of angels is spiritual. The New Jerusalem, where the Church will live eternally, is a physical location, visible from Earth, and designed for habitation by physical beings. The leaders of Earth, also physical beings, will bring their splendor into it (Rev. 21:24).
Jesus demonstrated this clearly. On His first post resurrection appearance to the disciples, they were all frightened, thinking they had seen a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have” (Luke 24:38-39). Then He showed them His hands and feet and asked for something to eat.
His example is all we understand about our next life, but believing in a bodily resurrection is one of the basic tenets of our faith. John explained it this way. “What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears we will be like Him” (1 John 3:2). Since He is a physical being, that means we’ll be physical beings.
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