20 results for tag: death
Q&R with Brad Jersak – “Do people who die just sleep or are they in God’s presence?”
Question 1:
Do you think when a person dies they just sleep or do they go to be in God's presence?
Response:
When someone dies, we know that they are are in God's presence, since Paul says, "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8) and they join the "cloud of witnesses" with Christ on "Mount Zion" along with all those "spirits of righteous men and women made perfect" (Hebrews 12). They are part of the great multitude who worship at God's throne (Revelation 5). We know from these passages that at the very least, those who died "in Christ" are now with Christ and are alive and conscious, as we see with ...
June 2024
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Ed Dunn 8 Decades Later – pg. 2
Steve Brown The Father Never Leaves Us – pg. 5
Stuart Segall Navigating Grief – pg. 6
One Day in May – by Ed Dunn
We walked slowly into the funeral home together amidst a shower of cold rain and gray ash. Following him in, I can still see the collection of raindrops and ash making a paste on the shoulders of my father’s black pinstripe suit. My best friend, Tim, had died after being struck by a car a few days earlier. He died while delivering newspapers from the back of a bicycle on his early morning paper route. We were there, on that bleak day in May, to express our sorrows, to pay our last respects, and to say goodbye to Tim.
A few days earlier, I had learned the pure joy of experiencing the natural intersection of blind chance, sport and self-disc...
Q: Has the Resurrection made Death our friend? (pt 4/4) Brad Jersak
This article completes our series on the question of whether or not Death is now our friend (click here to begin at part 1). So far, we've seen that while we must all pass through a process of dying that culminates in the event or moment of death, the resurrection of Christ radically changed the nature of death itself. It is no longer a destination or destiny to be feared in some dreary grave or gloomy underworld. Death in that sense has died and dying is a transition into the joy of the Lord.
In this article, we explore surrender: a posture towards disease, dying and death:
What if we never have to ...
Jesus’ Resurrection made Death our friend (pt 3/4) Brad Jersak
In this post, part 3 of our series asking if Death is now our friend, we will discuss Dying.
Unlike death, our defeated foe, dying is an inevitable reality we can come to accept:
Dying is not the same as death. Dying is a process prior to death. In our previous posts on death, we suggested a distinction between death as a moment or event that we all experience and death as a defunct destiny or destination that we need no longer fear.
To that distinction, let's add two more important clarifications:
We can now regard the event or moment of death as part of the dying process.
And we can treat ...
Q: Has Jesus’ Resurrection made Death our friend (pt 2/4) Brad Jersak
In this post, we will explore how Christ and the NT as a whole describe a fundamental shift in the nature of death in two essential ways as a result of Jesus' resurrection.
(CONT'D from Part 1, which is posted HERE).
How have the death and resurrection of Christ fundamentally changed the nature of death itself?
a. One approach is to say that death itself has changed. Death used to mean “consigned to the grave” (whatever that meant) but then with Paul, death came to mean “present with the Lord.” Death as our destiny shifts radically with Christ’s conquest of hades and the emptying of ...
Q: Has the Resurrection made Death our friend? (pt 1/4) Brad Jersak
QUESTION: Has Christ’s resurrection made death our “friend”?
RESPONSE: I have reservations about calling death a friend. But I think it's worth doing an autopsy on death to explore the way Christ’s work changed not only our relationship to death, but changed the nature of death itself.
I want to ask first, how is death not our friend, then how it might now be our friend and finally, how might we talk about death.
So first, and easiest, why is the statement “death is our friend” not true? Most obviously, in 1 Cor. 15—dubbed “the resurrection chapter”—Paul calls death an enemy, and in fact, the last enemy to be destroyed, ...
November 2023
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Articles:
60 Years Later... If JFK Could Talk – pg. 1
The Love of Thanksgiving – pg. 2
Should We Fear God? – pg. 5
A Sickness Unto Death – pg. 7
Quotes & Connections – pg. 8
Q&R: Romans 6:23 – What ‘death’ is this?
Question:
I have often heard people quote this verse only partially and then to imply that death is a metaphor for a place of eternal conscious torment and their justification for hell. I know death represents an end of physical life, but what are the other aspects that Paul is trying to convey metaphorically, especially in light of the rest of the verse?
Response:
Thank you for that all-important question.
First of all, I'm thrilled that noted how half the verse (Romans 6:23) is so often excised in order to create a misreading that actually distorts the gospel. Let's do the due diligence of at least recalling the whole verse and ...
May 2023
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Articles:
Stretch Marks of a Mother's Love – pg. 1
One Day in May – pg. 2
The Kingdom in a Person – pg. 5
Grieving Nels – pg. 6
Prodigal Sons – pg. 7
Quotes & Connections – pg. 8
Q & R: After Easter: Is Death Now Our Friend? Brad Jersak
Question:
I read that because of Easter, death can now be our friend. What do you think? Here is the actual statement:
"Easter is God’s 'victory over death.' Death is no longer the curse that it was. It is no longer the power that rules. It is no longer the enemy to be feared. But here’s the twist. In doing so, Jesus also reclaims death and befriends it – not death in its perverted form, but death in its state of grace. Jesus reclaims death as a natural blessing to the rhythm of life and shows us that it is possible to befriend ...
A Matter of Life or Death
Our freely-given relationship with God is literally a matter of life or death. As we prepare to remember his death and celebrate his resurrection, we turn our minds and hearts to Jesus, who is the author and finisher of our faith.
https://www.ptm.org/mp3/FreeDwnld/RCWR370.mp3
What does the Afterlife look like for Unbelievers? – Greg Albrecht
Question:
I’ve been reading your site for a few days. I have read your beliefs that God does not punish anyone or turn away from them beyond letting them experience the natural consequences of their actions. In particular, you use the term “hell” to describe depravity and awful environments that humans cause on this earth by turning away from God. You reject the concept of hell as an afterlife of eternal torment for those who did not accept Jesus’ work before their death, and you assert that these unbelievers experience an “afterlife” in which they see God more clearly and still have the opportunity to turn and be welcomed into ...
April 2022
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Brad Jersak: The Cross: God's Eternal Mercy Seat – pg. 2
Laura Urista: Trimming the Roses – pg. 5
Richard Rohr: The Saving Power of the Cross – pg. 6
Greg Albrecht: The Meaning(s) of the Cross – pg. 7
August 2020
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Greg Albrecht: Destroyed But Not Defeated– pg. 3
Brad Jersak: Grace Is the Real Offense– pg. 7
Blair Baker: Keep Shining – pg. 10
Jonathan Foster: My Soul Is Like a Chiminea – pg. 11
Brad Jersak: With Hope for All, Why Share Our Faith? -pg. 15
July 2018
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Articles:
Ashes to Ashes – pg. 1
The Center of the Gospel – pg. 2
When Your Time Comes – pg. 5
Between Eeyore and Pollyanna – pg. 7
Quotes & Connections – pg. 8
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When Your Time Comes
Download or Read the Article:
When Your Time Comes
Mar-Apr 16
Articles:
Beatitudes--Part 2 - page 1
Death Swallowed Up - page 2
The Cross as Conquest - page 5
All Is Vanity - page 7
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