Values in Light of Eternity: The Language of Death

We often speak about death as an ending, or a cessation of life. I would wager that death as an end is what we are referring to in over 90 percent of the instances in which we talk about it. And it's understandable. Our most present example of death is physical death. And the most evident property of physical death is its physical effect, and the (apparent) cessation of consciousness. But according to Christianity, that is not the whole story. In fact, there is no instance in which a person ceases to exist in Christian theology. We must reformulate our language of death.

There are in general three types of death (I do not take credit for these categories or definitions, though I don't remember whose they are): spiritual death, physical death, and eternal death, also called Hell. In none of these deaths does a person cease to exist. Death is instead a separation, whether from the body or from God. Only the third is permanent. All of these deaths result from sin, and without sin we would not experience any of them.

Death as separation rather than cessation obviously has implications for how we live our lives. But what are they? We are all eternal entities, so there is really no such thing as death-as-cessation. An unbeliever suffers all three deaths-as-separation. Christians, however, are cured from one kind of death (spiritual), saved from another (eternal), and conquerors of the last (physical). Christ's atoning death on the cross turned the greatest fear of this world into the gateway to the next one. Death is no longer a punishment for sin, but a method of uniting with Christ (see Grudem, Systematic Theology, chapter 41). The separation of our spirits from our bodies becomes the uniting of our spirits with God. We therefore subsume death into Life.

To a Christian, there is no form of death over which we do not have victory. However, the absence of death-as-cessation means that what we choose in this life does not end at physical death, but carries on into eternity. While believers will be perfected no matter what they do in this life, this consequence means that non-believers are left to grow in their sin for eternity, as their faults and iniquities grow gradually larger and larger. It is obviously essential that they be saved and so be removed from death.

Christians, though, can be encouraged and say with I Corinthians 15:54-55, "Death has been swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?"

Examining Presuppositions of Kierkegaard's Existentialism

I originally posted this on the Rhodes Existentialism blog, found here. I decided to re-post it along with the comments it received.
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Perhaps I am not familiar enough with the school, but it seems to me that there may be an underlying presupposition to existentialist thought that I would like to examine. Why is the individual more important than the collective? Why is it important that we are free? Are we so sure that meaning must be created and not found? It seems that some people may, in their eagerness to rid themselves of Hegel and his System, swung to the opposite extreme and not considered the reasons for the assumptions that they make. Then again, perhaps I am simply missing an obvious point, or I have yet to come across it. I would appreciate any clarification.

I do, as a matter of fact, think that the individual is more important than the government, or the state, or most collective groups, because it is my belief that the individual will exist forever, and to the life of a single soul the history of states is a passing dream, but I would not be so quick to discount all collective interests. For me, the Christian church would be an instance in which sometimes (and perhaps many times) the interests or desires of an individual should be subjugated to that of the collective. Personal autonomy may be a good thing, but it is not the only thing, and our freedom is not for me our highest good.

But again, I have an extremely limited knowledge of existentialist thought, and would appreciate correction.

Values in Light of Eternity: Body Image

Paul says in Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." In light of the eternal duration of our lives, the extent of our present condition is so comparatively brief as to be virtually nothing. We must keep this in mind when evaluating what is truly important. We will begin with body image.

Society obviously places a great deal of emphasis on physical appearance and consequently gives some people unrealistic expectations about body image and their own self-worth. What this post will attempt to do is provide a new perspective on body image which will hopefully be of some help to those dealing with such issues.

The Bible tells us that the body is good, contrary to many other religions and schools of thought. God made us to be both physical and spiritual beings, and we will remain that way. The Christian hope is in a bodily resurrection, that is, physical and not only spiritual. We know that Jesus is the "firstfruits of them that slept," or the first sort of new Man. His body was a physical one, capable of eating fish, but it also exerted new power over the physical world. I Corinthians 15, and especially verses 35-58, tell us that the spiritual body will be perfect, incorruptible, glorious, and powerful.

In light of the point made above in Romans, we see that our current physical bodies are ephemeral-- fleeting and impermanent. The bodies Christians will have for the vast majority of their lives will be perfect and glorious ones. In essence, being overly concerned about the appearance or state of my current body is comparable to being overly concerned about food stuck in my teeth.

We must be careful, however. This realization should not lead us to abuse or misuse our bodies. The Bible says in I Corinthians 6:19 "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" We must care for our bodies as temples, but we must not make them gods.

Values in Light of Eternity: Introduction

As the mood strikes me, I will periodically post an installment in this series, Values in Light of Eternity. What this series aims to do is reconsider what we deem important in light of the fact that we live forever. Certain things will take on far more gravity, and some things which we think crucial now will seem trivial. As far as I am able, I will provide Scriptural backing for why we should reconsider these things.

The first installment will most likely be posted tomorrow, and will deal with body image and physical appearance.