I Corinthians 15
Submitted by Forgiven on March 19 2000 12:52:55
In reply to What if There Were no Heaven? submitted by Ford Prefect on March 19 2000 10:04:15
|
Offers the statement 'If there is no resurrection... your faith has been in vain' v12/14 and 'If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied' v19 This is the faith of the church in the New Testament and down the ages - the adjective Christian must mean something theologically (cf CS Lewis Basic Christianity). Elsewhere in the thread Ford enquires: I've read the last paragraph of your post several times and still get the feeling you're describing a more of a business proposition than a loving relationship. Perhaps you can clarify this for me. Challenging comment - though one that can be supported biblically in terms of the concept of baptism as being dying to self and letting God live in us. I'm not sure if this is actually out of the bible - I can't find it - but it goes something like 'Becoming a Christian is to give up what we cannot keep (i.e. our life in this world - we're all going to die) to gain what we cannot lose (i.e. everlasting life with God)'. If it sounds like a legal transaction, then the same can be said of marriage. There is an element of that in it, and at hard times when there isn't a lot else to cling to when the pressure is on, that's part of my way of coping with a (local) church that has not shown a lot of real care over the years. The answer to your original question - how would act differently if there was a hope of resurrection - is that I would probably have got involved in the gay life style and caught AIDS, or with a lot more boys and got dumped in jail and committed suicide. So its a bit important to me :-) Hope all that makes sense. Incidentally I think I remember Rex admitting to being a Brit - it would be interesting to make closer contact. But even this degree of contact is amazingly importan just at the moment - I'm currently going through a difficult time with my church for various reasons only partially to do with nature of this board - so I'm feeling even more isolated than usual. |
Follow ups: