Yesterday my wife’s grandfather died. He was an older gentleman, about to celebrate his eighty-ninth birthday in a couple of months. He struggled with his health as you would expect from someone that age. Yet his death came quickly, and somewhat unexpectedly.
My wife was notified on Wednesday afternoon that it was looking bleak, so we made a quick trip from San Antonio to the Westlaco area. She was able to say good-bye since he lived for almost twenty-four more hours after we arrived. I didn’t have the opportunity to meet him in person when he was alive. It was planned that I would do so at his birthday party. We did talk via Skype once, though it was difficult because of his age, health, and our language barrier (his first language was Spanish). Unlike the rest of the family present this man’s death didn’t feel like a direct loss. I grieved for my wife and her family, but I didn’t know the man who had died.
That said, it is impossible to watch someone die without it impacting you. It may be fair to say that I am a bit obsessive about the question of death. Death is the great question for me. It has shaped my life choices, my educational pursuits, my vocational goals, my religious commitments, and my worldview. In other words, I tend to live with an awareness that I have a ticking clock like all of us do, and I want to make sure that my years, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds were used wisely. Of course, sometimes this is paralyzing, because it makes it hard to relax, to “be present”, to develop virtues like patience and gratitude. Yesterday as I was present as this man’s death it hit me again that my clock could stop ticking at any time.
What will be said of my life? Will I be remembered fondly? Will it be said that my life changed other’s for the better? Will I see my wife, (future) children, and friends again or when I close my eyes is that “it”?
What happens when I close my eyes for the last time? What happened to my wife’s grandfather yesterday? Many of the family, committed Pentecostal Christians, talked about how he was reunited with “Grandma”, his wife in this life. Is that how it works? If he aware in some disembodied state where he can recognize and communicate with people he knew in his body?
I confess, I am a Christian because of the doctrine of the resurrection. It provides a great hope for me. It doesn’t provide “answers”, per se, because I can’t prove that Jesus was resurrected, and I can’t prove that there will be a great eschatological resurrection, but I do hope this is true.
Resurrection is what gives me peace when I think of the many people who die every day, many living lives of difficulty, hardship, and struggle for survival. What do I make of their existence? I don’t know, but I hope that if there is a deity anything like the one presented by Christianity, that this deity is just, that this deity is love, and that resurrection is this deity’s great equalizer.
Whether my grandfather-in-law is aware, “in heaven”, conscious in some sense, knowingly awaiting the great resurrection, I don’t know. Whether this great resurrection will happen, I don’t know. I hope. I believe. If the Apostle Paul was correct that the resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the end of death, and if his taunt “O Death, where is your victory?! O Death, where is your sting?!” (1 Corinthians 15:55) is justified, then it is possible that the “human story” make sense. If it isn’t true, then Paul was right anyways, because he said, wisely (in 15:19), “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Death’s sting is felt to this day, but I hope that Paul is a prophet, and that his “already, but not yet” boast against Death is vindicated.
__________
Interestingly, I have been reading V.S. Ramachandran’s The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human. This has led me to ask myself a lot of questions about the connection between the concept of “soul” and what we can “see” by monitoring brain activity, our physical signals for consciousness and being. I realize that neuroscience has not been able to explain many aspects of human existence. We don’t know fully why we are conscious beings in the sense that we are when juxtaposed with say dogs, snakes, and bugs, but we do know we are different. We can see the physical side of things. It is the metaphysical that remains a mystery to me.
In For Faith and Clarity: Philosophical Contributions to Christian Theology edited by J.K. Beilby, there is a chapter titled “Philosophical Contributions to Theological Anthropology” by William Hasker where he discussed the concept of emergent materialism (no, this has nothing to do with emergent ecclesiology) where, “…certain complex objects have properties and causal powers that do not exist in their simpler constituents and cannot be predicted on the basis of the properties manifested by those constituents.”[1] He uses the example of machinery that generates magnetic force or other “non-physical” realities as an analogy for how the brain may generate what we call “the soul”, and somehow that “force” exists even when the machine stops working. If this is true, then somehow God the Father must preserve this force that makes me, me and you, you. Then at the resurrection this force, called soul, is reembodied, forever. I hope.
[1] William Hasker, “Philosophical Contributions to Theological Anthropology”, in For Faith and Clarity: Philosophical Contributions to Christian Theology edited by J.K. Beilby, 253.
the archives near Emmaus 
Death is caught up in life, life is caught up in death. “In other words, I tend to live with an awareness that I have a ticking clock like all of us do, and I want to make sure that my years, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds were used wisely.”
Words to consider from Tobit 4: 3 And when he [Tobit] had called him [Tobias], he said, My son, when I am dead, bury me; and despise not thy mother, but honour her all the days of thy life, and do that which shall please her, and grieve her not.
4 Remember, my son, that she saw many dangers for thee, when thou wast in her womb: and when she is dead, bury her by me in one grave.
5 My son, be mindful of the Lord our God all thy days, and let not thy will be set to sin, or to transgress his commandments: do uprightly all thy life long, and follow not the ways of unrighteousness.
6 For if thou deal truly, thy doings shall prosperously succeed to thee, and to all them that live justly.
7 Give alms of thy substance; and when thou givest alms, let not thine eye be envious, neither turn thy face from any poor, and the face of God shall not be turned away from thee.
8 If thou hast abundance give alms accordingly: if thou have but a little, be not afraid to give according to that little:
9 For thou layest up a good treasure for thyself against the day of necessity.
10 Because that alms do deliver from death, and suffereth not to come into darkness.
11 For alms is a good gift unto all that give it in the sight of the most High.
12 Beware of all whoredom, my son, and chiefly take a wife of the seed of thy fathers, and take not a strange woman to wife, which is not of thy father’s tribe: for we are the children of the prophets, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: remember, my son, that our fathers from the beginning, even that they all married wives of their own kindred, and were blessed in their children, and their seed shall inherit the land.
13 Now therefore, my son, love thy brethren, and despise not in thy heart thy brethren, the sons and daughters of thy people, in not taking a wife of them: for in pride is destruction and much trouble, and in lewdness is decay and great want: for lewdness is the mother of famine.
14 Let not the wages of any man, which hath wrought for thee, tarry with thee, but give him it out of hand: for if thou serve God, he will also repay thee: be circumspect my son, in all things thou doest, and be wise in all thy conversation.
15 Do that to no man which thou hatest: drink not wine to make thee drunken: neither let drunkenness go with thee in thy journey.
16 Give of thy bread to the hungry, and of thy garments to them that are naked; and according to thine abundance give alms: and let not thine eye be envious, when thou givest alms.
17 Pour out thy bread on the burial of the just, but give nothing to the wicked.
18 Ask counsel of all that are wise, and despise not any counsel that is profitable.
19 Bless the Lord thy God alway, and desire of him that thy ways may be directed, and that all thy paths and counsels may prosper: for every nation hath not counsel; but the Lord himself giveth all good things, and he humbleth whom he will, as he will; now therefore, my son, remember my commandments, neither let them be put out of thy mind.
Pardon me for not saying this first, but condolences for your family.
Rick
Appreciated. Good words from Tobit!
I’m sorry for both your loss.
Appreciated, Andrew.
You might want to look at Martin’s book “The Corinthian Body” for input on the soul. He makes a very interesting point about the definition of pneumas in the time of the NT, which has very important implications for resurrection. His point is basically that for them spirit was simply the farthest point on the right of the spectrum of stuff. It was invisible, tasteless, odorless, etc. But, it was still real stuff, just like air or something similar. So, when Paul is talking about spirit vs. flesh he’s not talking about real vs. unreal, or normal vs. paranormal. He’s talking about stuff we deal with that has corruption mixed in (putrefication , etc.) vs. stuff that’s perfected. The resurrection body is a pneumas body (made out of perfected, heavenly material) not a sarx body (made out of things that smell or can decay). Coming back to the idea of a soul, my impression is that the idea of a body, soul, and spirit as some combination of normal and paranormal could not have occurred to Paul (those categories didn’t exist until the late Middle Ages), so though we might be fascinated by comparing modern research with anthropology defined in scripture, since they had a totally different categorical way of describing it we may never be able to truly answer the question of what Paul was trying to say in scientific terms.
Brian, my condolences to you and your wife. It’s good she could be there.
Your thoughts about death are very similar to mine. I have many of the same questions. Although, death has not shaped my life choices to the same extent as it has for you. The neuroscience book sounds interesting. I have a problem applying neuroscience to concepts like soul and conscious. I read an interesting book on the history of ideas about the afterlife in western religion. Life After Death by Alan Segal, if your interested.
Some have said that we were patterned after Jesus’ physical body since we were predestined, conformed to the image of His Son. Is the physical body really the image of God? Creation is the purpose for each life. Choice is opportunity that delivers or discounts the image of God. In the bungling, embarrassments and dirt of our common lives, the wisdom of God accomplishes the profound act of creation in His Image.
1Cr 1:25-31, Mat 5:5, Zep 2:3,
1Cr 15:42 So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
1Cr 15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Cr 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Cr 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit.
1Cr 15:46 Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Cr 15:47 The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven.
1Cr 15:48 As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly.
1Cr 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Cr 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Now the extremity that is to be like Jesus comes into focus. Are we made according to the physical body of Jesus?
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Jhn 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Jhn 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Jhn 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Or are we to be among those predestined to conform to the image of obedience that ultimately transforms flesh and death into the resurrection or transformation of/into the spiritual body that God has intended all along, the body that does not die?
Rom 8:19,23, Rom 13:11-14,
Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Jesus would not be distracted. Jesus offended authority and was a disruption because of His single minded purpose, His entire focus, to do God’s will. Clearly those who were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world were so identified because they have the opportunity to be holy and without blame in Him. Children of God in Him who are very different than the disobedient manner of the majority of human being. Jesus, “was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times” to recreate humans into the image and likeness of God. The identification of last times indicates the final act of the creation of human in the image of God. The purpose and glory of God exists before the foundation of this one world and times that accomplish creation of human being in the image of God, the creation process of man in the image of God. Jesus sacrificed Himself, the will of God once at the end of the world. The end of the world as perceived by the deathless without time, who are. The end of the world and last times declare that there will be no further changes. The plural times have continued through to our lives for whosoever will repent, change and accept Jesus.
Hbr 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
2Pe 3:3-12
We know the extremity that is to be like Jesus. Who we are now, what Adam and Eve chose, cannot accept the truth, or reconcile the condition of our separation from God except that the Spirit calls us. The human experience has produced lost beings. Erased from any relational memory of what those in the image of God were we barely discern God’s pleading to accept the role and existence human was and will be. We watch the drama of our own life yet do not turn the corner to arrive at the next level. The challenge of spiritual existence is unattainable for inherent ignorance of this presence. True human being must be revealed to those who seek reunion with their creator. Made in the image of God is how this occurs. Flesh cannot acquire that which cannot be touched or perceived.
2Cr 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
God’s disappointment and sorrow in the garden was the severing of His Spirit, the essence of God from Adam and Eve. God offers to “renew” the gift of the Holy Ghost. God is not limited by the impossible; He is the creator/recreator. Now is the time provided for His children to choose Him. Satan and all who practice denial of God believe a lie and the truth is not in them. Their choices that determine who they are separate them from God.
2Cr 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation.)
Tts 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
Tts 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Tts 3:6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
Tts 3:7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
2Cr 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2Cr 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Cr 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
Phl 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
Act 26:23 That Christ should suffer, [and] that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.
Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, [who is] the faithful witness, [and] the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Adam and Eve were more than an experiment of curiosity on an obscure world. Their creation in the image of God, the One Who is the center of all could not be hidden or secret. The garden of God adds more celebrity to these new creatures. Created in the image of the Supreme Being and placed in His garden Adam and Eve were among the jewels of God’s glory. This glory was grossly, obscenely interrupted. Creation is the performance of God’s anticipation. Human accomplishment is now inhibited chrysalis like to discover those hearts that align with the human being God is creating. We do not esteem our real purpose but utmost through the entirety of human being is the word of God. God is creating humans in His image. There will be human beings in the image of God to His glory.
Isa 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it.
Please pardon my first post, here is the reply adjusted to your requirements.
Some have said that we were patterned after Jesus’ physical body since we were predestined, conformed to the image of His Son. Is the physical body really the image of God? Creation is the purpose for each life. Choice is opportunity that delivers or discounts the image of God. In the bungling, embarrassments and dirt of our common lives, the wisdom of God accomplishes the profound act of creation in His Image.
1Cr 1:25-31, Mat 5:5, Zep 2:3, 1CR 15:42-50
Now the extremity that is to be like Jesus comes into focus. Are we made according to the physical body of Jesus?
Eph 1:4, 1Pe 1:20 , Jhn 3:5-7
Or are we to be among those predestined to conform to the image of obedience that ultimately transforms flesh and death into the resurrection or transformation of/into the spiritual body that God has intended all along, the body that does not die?
Rom 8:19,23, Rom 13:11-14, Eph 5:14, 1Ti 4:10, 1Pe 1:3
Jesus would not be distracted. Jesus offended authority and was a disruption because of His single minded purpose, His entire focus, to do God’s will. Clearly those who were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world were so identified because they have the opportunity to be holy and without blame in Him. Children of God in Him who are very different than the disobedient manner of the majority of human being. Jesus, “was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times” to recreate humans into the image and likeness of God. The identification of last times indicates the final act of the creation of human in the image of God. The purpose and glory of God exists before the foundation of this one world and times that accomplish creation of human being in the image of God, the creation process of man in the image of God. Jesus sacrificed Himself, the will of God once at the end of the world. The end of the world as perceived by the deathless without time, who are. The end of the world and last times declare that there will be no further changes. The plural times have continued through to our lives for whosoever will repent, change and accept Jesus.
Hbr 9:26, 2Pe 3:3-12
We know the extremity that is to be like Jesus. Who we are now, what Adam and Eve chose, cannot accept the truth, or reconcile the condition of our separation from God except that the Spirit calls us. The human experience has produced lost beings. Erased from any relational memory of what those in the image of God were we barely discern God’s pleading to accept the role and existence human was and will be. We watch the drama of our own life yet do not turn the corner to arrive at the next level. The challenge of spiritual existence is unattainable for inherent ignorance of this presence. True human being must be revealed to those who seek reunion with their creator. Made in the image of God is how this occurs. Flesh cannot acquire that which cannot be touched or perceived.
2Cr 4:4
God’s disappointment and sorrow in the garden was the severing of His Spirit, the essence of God from Adam and Eve. God offers to “renew” the gift of the Holy Ghost. God is not limited by the impossible; He is the creator/recreator. Now is the time provided for His children to choose Him. Satan and all who practice denial of God believe a lie and the truth is not in them. Their choices that determine who they are separate them from God.
2Cr 6:2, Tts 3:4-7, 2Cr 3:18, 2Cr 4:6-7, Phl 3:21, Act 26:23, Rev 1:5
Adam and Eve were more than an experiment of curiosity on an obscure world. Their creation in the image of God, the One Who is the center of all could not be hidden or secret. The garden of God adds more celebrity to these new creatures. Created in the image of the Supreme Being and placed in His garden Adam and Eve were among the jewels of God’s glory. This glory was grossly, obscenely interrupted. Creation is the performance of God’s anticipation. Human accomplishment is now inhibited chrysalis like to discover those hearts that align with the human being God is creating. We do not esteem our real purpose but utmost through the entirety of human being is the word of God. God is creating humans in His image. There will be human beings in the image of God to His glory.
Isa 55:11
Doug
Thanks for the lead.
Thomas
Appreciated, and thanks for the recommendations.