Shalom Aleichem...
Reflections is a weekly Christian Teaching Ministry. Each week we will talk about the Bible and lessons we can put to use in our daily life. We will try to, on a weekly basis, provide to you stories, thoughts, and just easy ways to live your life on a straight path.
THIS WEEK'S TEACHING....November 25, 2019
Aloha Everyone, Terry and I pray you all have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving:)
Over the next several weeks, I want to finish up the year with some questions I have been asked and give you all an insight into what other Christians and non-Christians have on their minds.
Beginning with this one from a patients family I am ministering to....
What happens to Christians and non-Christians, after death?
Within the Christian faith, there is a significant amount of confusion regarding what happens after death. Some hold that after death, everyone “sleeps” until the final judgment, after which everyone will be sent to heaven or hell. Others believe that at the moment of death, people are instantly judged and sent to their eternal destinations. Still others claim that when people die, their souls/spirits are sent to a “temporary” heaven or hell, to await the final resurrection, the final judgment, and then the finality of their eternal destination. So, what exactly does the Bible say happens after death?
First, for the believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that after death believers’ souls/spirits are taken to heaven, because their sins are forgiven by having received Christ as Savior (John 3:16, 18, 36). For believers, death is to be “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8; Philippians 1:23). However, passages such as 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 describe believers being resurrected and given glorified bodies. If believers go to be with Christ immediately after death, what is the purpose of this resurrection? It seems that while the souls/spirits of believers go to be with Christ immediately after death, the physical body remains in the grave “sleeping.” At the resurrection of believers, the physical body is resurrected, glorified, and then reunited with the soul/spirit. This reunited and glorified body-soul-spirit will be the possession of believers for eternity in the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 21-22).
Second, for those who do not receive Jesus Christ as Savior, death means everlasting punishment. However, similar to the destiny of believers, unbelievers also seem to be sent immediately to a temporary holding place, to await their final resurrection, judgment, and eternal destiny. Luke 16:22-23 describes a rich man being tormented immediately after death. Revelation 20:11-15 describes all the unbelieving dead being resurrected, judged at the great white throne, and then being cast into the lake of fire. Unbelievers, then, are not sent to hell (the lake of fire) immediately after death, but rather are in a temporary realm of judgment and condemnation. However, even though unbelievers are not instantly sent to the lake of fire, their immediate fate after death is not a pleasant one. The rich man cried out, “I am in agony in this fire” (Luke 16:24).
Therefore, after death, a person resides in a “temporary” heaven or hell. After this temporary realm, at the final resurrection, a person’s eternal destiny will not change. The precise “location” of that eternal destiny is what changes. Believers will ultimately be granted entrance into the new heavens and new earth (Revelation 21:1). Unbelievers will ultimately be sent to the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15). These are the final, eternal destinations of all people—based entirely on whether or not they had trusted Jesus Christ alone for salvation (Matthew 25:46; John 3:36).
DID YOU EVER WONDER???
Family Man
1. Children are not pets.
2. The life they actually live and the life you perceive them to be living is not the same life.
3. Don't take what your children do too personally.
4. Don't keep score cards on them - a short memory is useful.
5. Dirt and mess are a breeding ground for well-being.
6. Stay out of their rooms after puberty.
7. Don't worry that they never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.
8. Learn from them; they have much to teach you.
9. Love them long; let them go early.
Finally. You will never really know what kind of parent you were or if you did it right or wrong. Never. And you will worry about this and them as long as you live. But when your children have children and you watch them do what they do, you will have part of an answer.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE...A TEACHING
Our journey through the Bible continues this week with...Abraham’s Legacy
Genesis 24-27
In his search for the truth Abraham found a covenant with God. He therefore has a legacy to pass on. It consists of the awareness of a single, incorporeal God of all humanity, who is directly involved in human affairs. This is the great legacy that Abraham’s descendants, all the way through the Prophets and Jesus, as well as those who wrote the scriptures, have worked hard to preserve. If all the nations of the earth are to be blessed on account of Abraham, they must receive his message.
And so Abraham is very concerned about finding the right wife for his son Isaac. It must not be someone from the Canaanites among whom he was dwelling - they did not believe in the God Abraham found; they had their own tribal gods and would not have passed on his message. So Abraham directs his servant to go back to the land of his kinsfolk and find an appropriate woman - not just any woman, but one who specifically possesses the quality of compassion.
The servant finds such a woman: Rebekah, the daughter of Abraham’s nephew. It was love at first sight, and Rebekah became a comfort to Isaac after the death of his mother Sarah.
They have two children, Jacob and Esau. They are twins, but technically Esau is the eldest, and this proves signicant. The two could hardly have been more different, Esau the ruddy outdoorsman and Jacob the peaceable tent-dweller.
But Jacob also had a crafty side. With the collusion of his mother he deceives Isaac, by now blind and close to death, into bestowing upon him the special blessing meant only for the first-born son.
When Esau discovers that his brother cheated him, he becomes enraged and swears revenge. Rebekah finds Jacob first and tells him to flee.
How much sympathy should we feel for Jacob? Did he not bring his fate upon himself by deceiving his brother and cheating him out of what was rightfully his?
We need to remember that the transmission of Abraham’s legacy is more important than the interests of any one individual. Esau had already shown himself unfit for this transmission by taking Canaanite wives, which became a source of grief to his parents, and by his contempt for tradition, his willingness to sell his birthright for a pot of soup. Only Jacob showed any interest in the God of his father and grandfather, and so the true heir had to be Jacob.
Yet Jacob did act deceitfully, and still must pay the price.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou
Our journey through the Bible continues this week with...Abraham’s Legacy
Genesis 24-27
In his search for the truth Abraham found a covenant with God. He therefore has a legacy to pass on. It consists of the awareness of a single, incorporeal God of all humanity, who is directly involved in human affairs. This is the great legacy that Abraham’s descendants, all the way through the Prophets and Jesus, as well as those who wrote the scriptures, have worked hard to preserve. If all the nations of the earth are to be blessed on account of Abraham, they must receive his message.
And so Abraham is very concerned about finding the right wife for his son Isaac. It must not be someone from the Canaanites among whom he was dwelling - they did not believe in the God Abraham found; they had their own tribal gods and would not have passed on his message. So Abraham directs his servant to go back to the land of his kinsfolk and find an appropriate woman - not just any woman, but one who specifically possesses the quality of compassion.
The servant finds such a woman: Rebekah, the daughter of Abraham’s nephew. It was love at first sight, and Rebekah became a comfort to Isaac after the death of his mother Sarah.
They have two children, Jacob and Esau. They are twins, but technically Esau is the eldest, and this proves signicant. The two could hardly have been more different, Esau the ruddy outdoorsman and Jacob the peaceable tent-dweller.
But Jacob also had a crafty side. With the collusion of his mother he deceives Isaac, by now blind and close to death, into bestowing upon him the special blessing meant only for the first-born son.
When Esau discovers that his brother cheated him, he becomes enraged and swears revenge. Rebekah finds Jacob first and tells him to flee.
How much sympathy should we feel for Jacob? Did he not bring his fate upon himself by deceiving his brother and cheating him out of what was rightfully his?
We need to remember that the transmission of Abraham’s legacy is more important than the interests of any one individual. Esau had already shown himself unfit for this transmission by taking Canaanite wives, which became a source of grief to his parents, and by his contempt for tradition, his willingness to sell his birthright for a pot of soup. Only Jacob showed any interest in the God of his father and grandfather, and so the true heir had to be Jacob.
Yet Jacob did act deceitfully, and still must pay the price.
HAVE A SAFE AND BLESSED WEEK:)
Ho'omaikaʻi ka Pua iā kākou