October 2008 – blogONE

Grey Christianity: Christian Suffering

Today’s sermon was something that should have hit home to many Christians, and seekers alike. The scriptural background was Judges 2:6-13 which reads:

6 After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance. 7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.

8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.

10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

I think the main point of the sermon is after the jump.

As a Christian, there is a certain aspect of life in which we believe there should be no fear in death, since through death we would be freed from the constraints of this broken world and eventually get to Heaven. There is common belief amongst everyone, through phrases such as “They’re in a better place now” when someone we love passes on, that they are already in another place. This is not true, for they are simply resting (1 Cor. 15:20-24, Rev 20:5 ??). There are better Bible references for this, I just can’t find them at the moment, but my understanding and belief is that when you die you are simply resting, or sleeping. However, when your physical body dies, your soul no longer remains constrained by our understanding of time. In theory you could be dead for centuries but in your “slumber” have only felt it to be a minuscule amount of time.

This post is not going to talk about the aspect of death, and whether someone who is saved through Christ automatically enters Heaven upon death.