Re: Where are the dear departed? (was Re: [asa] Sin, animals, and salvation)

David Opderbeck wrote:
> David S. said: Unless one is doing meticulous exegesis, does it really
> matter?
>
> I respond: Maybe it depends what you mean by "meticulous exegesis."

Actually, it depends even more on what your interests are!

Obviously I got involved because I queried the language of "going to heaven." The issue of time and how it is experienced by God and ourselves (pre- and post-mortem) is just a flow on from that discussion. As I've suggested, there seems to be implied in the idea of an immediate "being with the Lord" the a post-mortem judgment immediate upon death. And this seems to stand in no small tension with the idea of post-resurrection judgment in the future.

I've said my piece on the original issue, but having gotten involved in the question of mortality, time, resurrection, etc, I'm now finding it a very intriguing question. And I'm having a not small amount of fun trying to work out what the problem is (if indeed there IS a problem - I'm not entirely sure about THAT yet!).

So at least one of my responses to the question "does it matter?" is the question "why does it have to "matter"? Can't it just be fun?"

That said, I was waxing lyrical about this topic at a weekend ISCAST meeting (ISCAST = "Australian version of ASA") and THEY found it to be very interesting, too. In the course of that discussion I suggested it might make for a rather light-hearted discussion or debate topic - to which one person responded that she knows people who are actually perturbed by this sort of question and it ought as a result to be taken quite seriously.

I have to say that this took me by surprise, but it does make clear that the issue matters to different people in different ways. Having previously found it an amusing intellectual distraction, I now have to consider the question seriously from a pastoral perspective. I have incentive to do so as I managed to get collared into presenting a cursory conceptual paper on the subject early next year (with a mathematician and physicist as respondents). Which means suddenly it's not so much fun anymore... :)

In consequence I shall be reflecting more on the topic and you all run the very real risk of being subjected to my manic rantings on the topic at a later date!

It also demonstrates that one never knows whether a question "matters" until one gives it at least a small amount of reflection. Even if one is only in it for the shear pleasure of it, one can still be surprised as to how practical ones' reflections on such apparent trivialities can turn out to be.

Blessings,
Murray Hogg
Pastor, East Camberwell Baptist Church, Victoria, Australia
Post-Grad Student (MTh), Australian College of Theology

To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.
Received on Mon Nov 24 18:24:33 2008