We Shall Be Changed

I Cor 15:54 So when this corruptible shall

have put on incorruption, and this mortal

shall have put on immortality, then shall

be brought to pass the saying that is

written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave,

where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the

strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to G-d, which giveth us

the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye

stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in

the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know

that your labour is not in vain in the

Lord.

Here's a comment from Wesley:

58 Be ye steadfast - In yourselves.

Unmovable - By others; continually

increasing in the work of faith and labour

of love. Knowing your labour is not in vain

in the Lord - Whatever ye do for his sake

shall have its full reward in that day. Let

us also endeavour, by cultivating holiness

in all its branches, to maintain this hope

in its full energy; longing for that

glorious day, when, in the utmost extent of

the expression, death shall be swallowed up

for ever, and millions of voices, after the

long silence of the grave, shall burst out

at once into that triumphant song, O death,

where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy

victory?


His comment on verse 55 says, 'Hades
literally means the invisible world...'
The invisible world that he refers to is a
world that our mortal bodies are not able
experience. If you know the physical
concept of the electromagnetic spectrum,
then you realize that our eyesight is
limited to detect a narrow range of that
spectrum. In other words, there is alot,
even in this physical world, that we cannot
see. It seems to me that it would be a
burden to be able to see a larger segment
of the spectrum, because then it would
require even more energy to process the
input. It's the same with our ability to
hear. Can you imagine of you had to listen
to a large slice of the spectrum? It is
possible with electronic devices to hear
more of the spectrum, but it sounds like
noise, unless it's processed. Our physical
senses are limited to only a narrow range
of perception. It's a good thing. But as
a child, I thought that x-ray vision would
be really cool, like the superheros had.
Now, I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't want
that ability.


I'm thinking that it might be the same with
the ability to see into the invisible
'world' that the scriptures mention here.
The world were 'hades' is -- the word
translated 'grave' in verse 55. Can you
imagine? Who would want to live here, if
we were always having to view a place that
was infinitely better, but beyond our
reach? It would be a life of even greater
torment than it already is. It would be
alot like the poor folks who live in a
third world hell hole, who have a TV to
look at and it must seem either like the
greatest fantasy, or a painfully severe
dose of the reality of the wretchedness of
their own sitution. In other words, this
life would be absolute hell, if it were
within our ability to 'see' into the other
world.


In one of his messages, Stowell said that
he suspects that one reason that the Bible
doesn't say alot about heaven is because if
we knew what heaven was like, we'd be
jumping off buildings to get there. I'm
inclined to strongly agree with his view.


We don't have the ability to see into the
invisible world, what we do have is holy
scripture. Scripture provides a glimpse
into the unseen world, the places that we
are not able to experience with our
physical senses. That was the ability that
was lost when Adam sinned. And on the
subject of the age of the earth, did you
ever notice that there is no reference to
time, before the fall, outside of the days
of creation? As far as I can tell, there
is no way to know the length of time that
Adam lived in Eden. If that's the case,
then Ussher's chronology would only be able
to go back to the date of the fall, rather
than day one of creation.

Gen 5:5 And all the days that Adam lived

were nine hundred and thirty years: and he

died.

The question in the back of my mind is,
does this time begin from the day of
Adam's creation, or does it begin from the
day of Adam's fall? Another way to look at
it is to ask whether the ageing process
began before the fall. Do the days of 5:5
begin with the initiation of the ageing
process, or do they begin from the day of
his original creation? Then, there is the
observation that Adam was created at an
advanced apparent age. He was not created
as a helpless baby. That's one reason why
looking at the earth to determine age needs
to take into account the factor of apparent
age. There is no way to know the physical
effects of the fall of man.

Gen 2:16 Yhwh G-d commanded the man,

saying, "Of every tree of the garden you

may freely eat:

17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in

the day that you eat of it you will surely

die."

Verse 17 says 'the day that you eat of it
you will surely die'. But on the day that
they ate of it they were kicked out of the
garden. Wesley comments:

GE 2:16 Thou shall die - That is, thou

shalt lose all the happiness thou hast

either in possession or prospect; and thou

shalt become liable to death, and all the

miseries that preface and attend it. This

was threatened as the immediate consequence

of sin. In the day thou eatest, thou shalt

die - Not only thou shalt become mortal,

but spiritual death and the forerunners of

temporal death shall immediately seize

thee. See note at "Ge 2:17


The process of sin and death was initiated
on the day that Adam fell. Would that be
the beginning of current earth time?
The fall carries with it a whole raft of
implications that are not spelled out
explicitly.


Php 3:12 Not that I have already obtained,

or am already made perfect; but I press on,

if it is so that I may take hold of that

for which also I was laid hold of by Christ

Jesus.

13 Brothers, I don`t regard myself as yet

having laid hold, but one thing I do.

Forgetting the things which are behind, and

stretching forward to the things which are

before,

14 I press on toward the goal to the prize

of the high calling of G-d in Christ Jesus.


Since I'm out of time for today, I'll
forget the things which are behind for now.
Besides, people might ask, what difference
does it matter about Adam and earth's age
and the fall? Simple. It gets at the
nature of original sin. And unless there
is comprehension of the nature of original
sin, there simply is no need for a savior
and Jesus becomes irrelevant. That's why
it's a central doctrine to christian faith
and that's why there is such vehement
opposition to this doctrine on the other
side of the fence. It's all about Jesus.
Get on the bus.


Here's an example from the day's featured
stories on Yahoo.

--->
Sports Video Jan 30, 2008

Ancient city discovered
Ruins of a 7,000-year-old city are found in
an Egyptian oasis. » Details

What's the oldest city in the world?

445-million-year-old horseshoe crab Skull
fossil called 'greatest discovery'
--->

Almost every day, without noticing, we get
a full indoctrination into evolution.
There really is no way to know how old
these items are, and I suspect that in
some cases there is scholarly disagreement
with these published dates, but you will
never hear about it here. Their greatest
effort is to reinforce the doctrine of an
earth billions of years in age. If you
can recognize that one technique of
propaganda, you won't have such a hard time
accepting the doctrines of holy scripture.


There are not billions of years of earth
history and Jesus is going to return sooner
than you think. That's what scripture
says. Which reminds me that if the case
was true that there were millions of years
in the history of man, where are all the
bodies hiding? Take for instance this
supposed 7000 year old 'city' in Egypt.
Where are the burial sites? And provide
evidence to support the 7000 year claim
without ambiguity. I'm a sceptic, thank
you.