The Greeks postulated the location of Hesperides—Islands of the Blessed—a region of felicity and plenty, where souls of good people went after death. They didn’t know the location, so they put it in unexplored geography. Since their discoveries stopped at the Canary Islands, they placed the Islands in the Vast Ocean beyond. However, when Europeans opened Atlantic and Pacific geography, no one found it anywhere they went either, however distant the places discovered: Ponce de Leon in Florida to Ferdinand Magellan in the Philippines.
It should have occurred to them, as by now to us: humans won’t find paradise anywhere on earth since it doesn’t exist within our constructs! Which doesn’t mean an after-life doesn’t exist or we can’t know where it exists or how it’s found. We’ve simply looked for it in the wrong places—whether the death pits of Sumerian Queen Shuh Ad; the terra cotta figures guarding the grave of Ch’n Shih Huang Ti; the pyramids of Egypt equipping dead Pharaohs with all possible resources for another life—or any of the earth-bound hopes and plans of mortals. Heaven – not Hesperides; with eternal life—not in any mortal’s image, does exist. In a PLACE where a PERSON dwells as the center of life beyond death: God in Christ the PERSON, New Jerusalem the PLACE:
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To be worthwhile, a future life must offer a TRUE resurrection, not merely immortality. Greek religion believed in a spirit-immortality, wandering forever in a dark underworld. The new, resurrected body God promises, with an equally new brain, PROVIDES:
Where we live forever and: never grow older. Where we powerfully exert our energies and: never weaken or tire. Where all mysteries are solved and: all secrets studied, explored and understood. Where our eyes: see all and miss nothing. Where our brains: retain all and lose nothing. Where our spirit grows increasingly: beatific and holy, luxuriating in the beauty of grace. It’s where we will:
It’s where:
It’s where:
It’s a life that’s:
Whose:
We know that “man born of woman is of a few days and full of trouble. He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure” Job 14:1-2. While Job spoke his despair of our mortality from pain he couldn’t escape, death and its graves had already, by his time, proved the truth of his words.
The many more deaths and deaths and deaths, with their graves and graves and graves since, hasn’t, and never shall, keep us from wanting more FROM life…like our inconsistency of:
Despite the medical practitioner’s forecast that 150 year-lifespans seem possible, all that medical advances have provided is better health, not perpetual life. And cannot yet surpass the lifespan promised by Moses in Psalm 90:10. And, true enough, Solomon, for all his wisdom, questioned the feasibility of human resurrection—Ecclesiastes 3:19-21, based on a lifetime of denying himself no pleasure he desired Ecclesiastes 2:1-11. Much later, philosopher David Hume expressed his refusal to live again by it being a “most unreasonable fancy.” Historian Will Durant revealed modern skepticism of a resurrection by a life of study without God. When you exclude GOD, even what you read will be dangerous to you. All three skeptics expressed a common ignorance: they know neither “the Scriptures” nor “the power of God”, as Jesus said in Matthew 22:29. For humanity as a WHOLE, rejecting the pessimism of the FEW, the question of life beyond death knocks, as Emerson said in another regard, “for answer at every heart.” End Part I The Wright Brothers first flight at Kittyhawk flew 120 feet over 12 seconds at maybe 30 miles an hour. The same day Wilbur flew 852 feet in 59 seconds. Our Century, 1900-1910, p. 32. The first traffic through the Panama Canal consisted of two canoes manned by Americans. Blockages still posed problems across the Isthmus. Our Century, 1910-1920, p. 53. The Modern Olympics, held in Athens, 1896, proved a flop. Only nine nations attended. The 1900 Olympics, held in Paris, again disappointed. Fifty-five athletes represented America. The 1904 games had St. Louis as sponsor. Badly organized. In 1908…finally…London hosted a better organized Olympics. Our Century, 1900-1910, pp. 50-51
The point to discipleship: success as a Christian depends on perseverance, not instant success. By inches, not yards; by yards, not miles. Defeat in any effort need not be final, if we learn something that helps vus better compete in the next challenge. “Never give up” proved Winston Churchill’s total address to a graduating class. “Never give up” remains our Lord’s encouragement when we try and fail in discipleship. His Perfection stands the difference between our effort and success. His grace always provides the link between what we want to be for him, but oftentimes are. His SUCCESS in perfection remains our HOPE in trying, but often failing. An attack blog because Satan has opened his ugly mouth on the TV media, spewing lies. You may have seen it. It scrolled across the TV with something about “hate you because you’re Jewish; because you’re black; because you’re Asian; because you’re homosexual or lesbian,” etc.
Not a word indicated, “hate you because you’re WHITE!” As if whites alone have prejudice? That’s the lie of the CRT! As if light-skinned blacks have no prejudice against dark-skinned blacks; and longer-term legals from Mexico-South don’t have prejudice against recently-arrived illegals. As if any comment on differences in family groups IS Prejudice. The whole idea is pure racism against the White race. Then, Satan’s biggest lie of all: homosexuality and lesbianism are nothing but social issues which tolerance can resolve. As if God has never declared both practices SIN! As if Jesus never denounced it. Just check his statement in Mark 7:21 with Jude 7 to see that the immorality condemned in Mark 7:21 includes homosexuality, as Jude 7 makes clear. Christians, don’t let society deceive you into thinking sexual identity IS NOT CLEAR in God’s Word. It is, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22. Christians, declare God’s WORD as the ONLY authority on sexual identity, and that as MALE and FEMALE—and nothing else, and nothing but. |
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