humidity 300% well OK 100%
63 degrees 6:41 a.m. sinus tearing me up. Good day for a CAT scan of them.
Soul Searching ahead
I did get a response from Pastor David. I probably could get an appt. with
him to ask such questions but email is easier right now.
He answered: The
common saying has lots of scriptural foundation.
Those who go to heaven will see the others who
go to heaven.
Almost all the biblical pictures of hell seem
to be isolated individuals, but heaven is almost always pictured in corporate
terms.
There's not a lot of descriptive details on heaven
all in one place in the Bible, but scattered references here and there
that we can put together.
There are a number of places in the Bible where heaven is portrayed as a banquet of one sort or another. Banquets are always a party with lots of people present.
Revelation gives a number of peeks into heaven
and then the completed kingdom of God.
All of those are pictures of God's people in
community.
Multitudes singing God's praises (Rev.5:13; 15:2f)
A multitude with Jesus (Rev.14:1-5)
A heavenly banquet or marriage supper (Rev.19:9),
never and isolated, individual affair.
The images of God's people in the completed kingdom
of God at the end of Revelation (ch.21-22) are all corporate images, not
individualistic at all.
The holy city, New Jerusalem all together (NOT
one by one) portrayed as a bride adorned for her husband
He ended with what he was
quick to pick up as he knew what I had been taught for years about knowing
Jesus for Eternal life.
If he's in heaven, you'll see him again.
And as to that big question nagging at you, just
remember that God knows what was in his heart better than you or me, and
God is perfect in his judgment and his mercy.
This same question nagged at me when my dad died. My dad was in church for my brother's baptism and my wedding, period. As a child when he went he was teased about his overalls and I think he said his only pair of shoes. He never went back. I knew he believed in God as he often spoke of protecting God's earth and he was certainly a good steward of it.
I have always felt when our time comes God is there to recieve, but I don't really believe in predestination or that a loving God would take a child. (To many little ones have gone on from abuse and a loving God was not the cause, man was.) Besides if God has planned exactly when I am to die why should I look both ways before crossing a street?
I have never feared my death but was not prepared for our sons. My faith isn't shaken but I grasp at time for answers and need to write as I'm feeling. I know many wish I would just get back to my old way of writing and I've probably lost a lot of readers. No one likes to see someone hurting and how many times can one say "I'm sorry"? It just helps to know people are still understanding. It doesn't help when they call you on the phone to tell you what you should do. I have more times of peace than tears now. I will get there.
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