Time and Eternity

The Apostle Paul looks forward in time ...


Php 3:13 Brothers, it is clear to me that I have
not come to that knowledge; but one thing I do,
letting go those things which are past, and
stretching out to the things which are before,
14 I go forward to the mark, even the reward of
the high purpose of God in Christ Jesus.


and gives us a glimpse of his past...


Php 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in
the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he
hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I
more:


5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of
the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;


6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church;
touching the righteousness which is in the law,
blameless.


7 But what things were gain to me, those I
counted loss for Christ.


Scripture tells us where we came from and where we are going. Perspective is everything.Knowing the times we live in provides context.Modern perspective errs because the focus is almost exclusively on present time. It's the trap of existentialism, from which there is no escape.


"No Exit is a 1944 existentialist play by Jean-
Paul Sartre, originally published in French as
Huis Clos (literally, In Camera). English
translations have also been performed under the
titles In Camera, No Way Out, and Dead End. Huis
Clos was first performed at the Vieux-Colombier
in May 1944, just before the liberation of Paris
in World War II. [1]


The play features only four characters (one of
whom, the Valet, appears for only a very limited
time), and one set. No Exit is the source of
perhaps Sartre's most famous quote, "Hell is
other people." "


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Exit


Given the time context of the existential, is itany wonder that he would want to believe that'Hell is other people'? There is no referenceto time and eternity. They only have here andnow. But, just because you don't want to
believe something, doesn't mean that it's notreal. So even if they think that hell is inthe here and now (their only frame of reference)scripture teaches clearly there is a place
called 'hades' and a place called 'limne pur'.The former, a holding cell for those destinedfor the latter, the fiery sea of eternaldamnation, where the unregenerate will dwellforever. It's worse than Sartre imagines.


It's curious how thought progresses, or
regresses, depending on how you see it.Nietzsche lost sight of G-d. His student,
Sartre, lost sight of Hell. Nothing much
changed in the world of their experience. Itwas they who moved away from the truths of lifethat they did not want to accept.


Rom 1:14 I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to
the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the
unwise.


15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach
the gospel to you that are at Rome also.


16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:
for it is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and
also to the Greek. -------17 For in it there is the revelation of the
righteousness of God from faith to faith: as it
is said in the holy Writings, The man who does
righteousness will be living by his faith.


18 For there is a revelation of the wrath of God
from heaven against all the wrongdoing and evil
thoughts of men who keep down what is true by
wrongdoing;


19 Because the knowledge of God may be seen in
them, God having made it clear to them.


20 For from the first making of the world, those
things of God which the eye is unable to see,
that is, his eternal power and existence, are
fully made clear, he having given the knowledge
of them through the things which he has made, so
that men have no reason for wrongdoing:



21 Because, having the knowledge of God, they
did not give glory to God as God, and did not
give praise, but their minds were full of
foolish things, and their hearts, being without
sense, were made dark.


22 Seeming to be wise, they were in fact
foolish,


23 And by them the glory of the eternal God was
changed and made into the image of man ...
One thing to remember about 'now'.


IIcor 6:1 We then, working together with God,
make our request to you not to take the grace of
God to no purpose.


2 (For he says, I have given ear to you at a
good time, and I have been your helper in a day
of salvation: see, now is the good time; now is
the day of salvation):