I enjoyed this read immensely! I had the paradigm shift several years ago of eternity being the within the present and that allowed so much freedom in living moment by moment for me. I love your connection to the Lords prayer. That is exactly it! I've got a podcast teaching coming out of the first triad of the Lords Prayer this Friday. Thankful to follow you Christina!
I had enjoyed Screwtape Letters but didn't really pay such close attention to the 15th one.
Nevertheless, God is good, and along the way of my spiritual growth I came to the sudden realization that our eternal lives began at our conception, created of love from our parents and God infusing our soul into the mix.
So our life here is like being at the eternal life concert listening to the pre-headliner warm up band. Of course we are active participants, not just spectators (a truth some Christians need to understand that better).
A fun consequence of this is my speculation and musings about our afterlife. Is it as simplistic as two destinations, Heaven filled with the untreated eternal light and Hell replete with unquenchable of fire?
Does St. Peter act like a cosmic Court Clerk and Jesus sit on a throne of Judgement like Ceaser turning a thumbs up or thumbs down for our particular judgement?
I recall Jesus saying in scripture (Jn 12;47-48) the He does not judge or condemn, but His words do. So as we accept and live by His words, so we will also in eternity.
It's almost like we are creating and shaping our own plaster mold here in this life that gets cast in bronze for eternity.
Sidebar: People often think if eternity as "timeless" and conclude wrongly that there is "no" time in eternity. But really it is "all time" wrapped into a single existence.
We usually assume that our eternal life will be an order of magnitude greater in "experience" than this life. I wonder if we get to experience all the good and bad effects of our life actions, the joys, willing sacrifices, praises of God, lies, etc in our eternal life at 1000x intensity, including the experiences of those we helped, loved, cheated. Lied to, etc. It might be like a multidimensional experience of our words and actions not only from our own perspective but the consequential experiences of others that resulted from them, excluding of course the sins forgiven us by Jesus when we offer them to him with a contrite heart.
So when I buy a flavored protine drink and piece of fruit for the homeless begger in the supermarket parking lot and give it to him out of kindness, perhaps his gratitude is cast into my eternal life experience as well into my bronze "room" among many rooms in Heaven.
Consequently all the experiences and damaging consequences of mean, thieving, abusive and narcissistic, etc., people get to live 1000 fold those experiences and consequential experiences of those they abused in their own particular hell. Which, of course, would be eliminated by the blood of Jesus should they offer those sins to Him with a contrite heart.
Perhaps.🤔
Sorry for such a loooong comment. Hope you enjoyed it a bit.
Gosh! Fr. Paul! That idea of cast bronze is stunning. I wish I had more to say, but I might need to chew on this for a while. The topic of eternity is so endlessly (pun intended) fascinating, and you’ve brought up some perspectives that I’ve never considered. Thank you!
I enjoyed this read immensely! I had the paradigm shift several years ago of eternity being the within the present and that allowed so much freedom in living moment by moment for me. I love your connection to the Lords prayer. That is exactly it! I've got a podcast teaching coming out of the first triad of the Lords Prayer this Friday. Thankful to follow you Christina!
So glad you’re here, Morgan!!! 😍
Greetings, again, Christina.
I had enjoyed Screwtape Letters but didn't really pay such close attention to the 15th one.
Nevertheless, God is good, and along the way of my spiritual growth I came to the sudden realization that our eternal lives began at our conception, created of love from our parents and God infusing our soul into the mix.
So our life here is like being at the eternal life concert listening to the pre-headliner warm up band. Of course we are active participants, not just spectators (a truth some Christians need to understand that better).
A fun consequence of this is my speculation and musings about our afterlife. Is it as simplistic as two destinations, Heaven filled with the untreated eternal light and Hell replete with unquenchable of fire?
Does St. Peter act like a cosmic Court Clerk and Jesus sit on a throne of Judgement like Ceaser turning a thumbs up or thumbs down for our particular judgement?
I recall Jesus saying in scripture (Jn 12;47-48) the He does not judge or condemn, but His words do. So as we accept and live by His words, so we will also in eternity.
It's almost like we are creating and shaping our own plaster mold here in this life that gets cast in bronze for eternity.
Sidebar: People often think if eternity as "timeless" and conclude wrongly that there is "no" time in eternity. But really it is "all time" wrapped into a single existence.
We usually assume that our eternal life will be an order of magnitude greater in "experience" than this life. I wonder if we get to experience all the good and bad effects of our life actions, the joys, willing sacrifices, praises of God, lies, etc in our eternal life at 1000x intensity, including the experiences of those we helped, loved, cheated. Lied to, etc. It might be like a multidimensional experience of our words and actions not only from our own perspective but the consequential experiences of others that resulted from them, excluding of course the sins forgiven us by Jesus when we offer them to him with a contrite heart.
So when I buy a flavored protine drink and piece of fruit for the homeless begger in the supermarket parking lot and give it to him out of kindness, perhaps his gratitude is cast into my eternal life experience as well into my bronze "room" among many rooms in Heaven.
Consequently all the experiences and damaging consequences of mean, thieving, abusive and narcissistic, etc., people get to live 1000 fold those experiences and consequential experiences of those they abused in their own particular hell. Which, of course, would be eliminated by the blood of Jesus should they offer those sins to Him with a contrite heart.
Perhaps.🤔
Sorry for such a loooong comment. Hope you enjoyed it a bit.
Peace and Blessings
✨️🕊🙏🎊✨️
Gosh! Fr. Paul! That idea of cast bronze is stunning. I wish I had more to say, but I might need to chew on this for a while. The topic of eternity is so endlessly (pun intended) fascinating, and you’ve brought up some perspectives that I’ve never considered. Thank you!