Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!sdd.hp.com!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: davidbu@loowit.wr.tek.com (David E. Buxton) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Not Straight to Heaven - Re: Believers Life after Death Message-ID: Date: 10 May 91 07:06:32 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 23 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , dmp@iowa.epg.harris.com (Donald Patterson) writes: > Perhaps a simple way to reconcile the *seemingly* contradictory arguments > that have been posted on this subject: the moment we die, we leave space-time > as we understand it. That is, we are no longer *in* time. If this is true, > it would be perfectly proper to say we are with Jesus the moment we die, and > also that we all stand before the judgement seet of Christ at *the* `time' > . . . . . . This makes very good philosophical sense to me: It rules out the idea of a separated soul wandering around in heaven or hell. It rules out the possibility of a seance being with anyone but Satan or one of his agents. It rules that a dead loved one cannot return to tell me anything. It makes pointless the idea of praying to anyone who has died, to plead with them to negotiate with God for my present or future condition. And so we turn to Jesus whose wholeness is now in heaven without any *zap* of time warp. He (the Trinity) alone can draw near to us in the present. As you put it, we can see the 2nd Coming and Jesus return to give us immortality at the instant of death. Amen! That is my blessed hope. But of course, as with Paul, I would prefer to meet Him without having spent that zero of time in the grave. Dave (David E. Buxton)