Stephen M. Miller "When we die do we become angels?" for Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Stephen M. Miller "When we die do we become angels?" for Wednesday, 12 February 2014
DANCING WITH GABRIEL. Do dead humans morph into angels? Some Christians wonder. I for one feel as though I could rock the angel look. 
IT’S THE BIBLE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.
It comes from a group of teenage girls in a church confirmation class. And it’s reported by Christina Smith Wise who gets a free book for passing the question along to me. (Note to readers: The deal’s still open. Send me a question. If I use it in my blog, you get a book, too. Did I mention that it’s free? I even pay the postage.)
Here’s the question:
When we die do we become angels?
Yes, we do.
At lease in a sense.
Like angels, we’ll no longer make whoopee at the end of life as we know it.
And yet, we call it heaven.
By whoopee, I mean sex.
None of that in the Great Beyond.
Actually, I’m not 100 percent sure. But I’d be tempted to bet on it, based on something Jesus said:
When God raises people to life, they won’t marry. They will be like the angels in heaven.
Jesus // Matthew 22:30
Jesus was answering a trick question from a group of Jews who said they didn’t believe in life after death. These Jews were the Sadducees. And the fact that they didn’t believe in a resurrection is why they were “sad you see.”
They asked Jesus a hypothetical. It went something like this:
Let’s say a serial widow works her way through seven husbands. Who’s she married to in heaven?
The Message paraphrases Jesus’ answer this way:
“You don’t know how God works. At the resurrection we’re beyond marriage. As with the angels, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God.”
Huh?
In the context of marriage and sex, I find that paraphrase a little, I don’t know: awkward, squirmish, or pardon-me-while-I-leave-the-room-to-make-an-important-phone-call (and never come back).
Ecstasies and intimacies with God?
Jeepers, dude, you’re creeping me out. How about we say that another way?
Any other way.
What about saying we live in a physical world and the afterlife is a different dimension, new and improved? We don’t know much about what it’ll be like, but for now we call that dimension “spiritual,” a word we invented so we can talk about something we don’t know what we’re talking about.
One thing the Bible does seem to teach pretty clearly is that in a sense we’re already living in that spiritual dimension, at least partly. That’s because God’s Spirit is with us, in this body that houses our spirit, too. Someday, we’ll be free of this body. We’ll get an upgrade. That’s what the Bible seems to teach.
With that upgrade, perhaps relationships and intimacies will look and feel a lot different than they do here. Better, I would expect. I’d be disappointed otherwise. And I’d say so. As in, “God, can we talk?”
Back to the question about us becoming angels.
I doubt we’ll actually become angels. They seem to be created beings, as the Bible tells it. The Bible also seems to report different kinds of angels. Yet most of those reports show up in extreme visions reported as poetry. So I’m not sure we should take them literally enough to build a corporate infrastructure for heavenly beings that shows which angels go where and where we humans fit in.
What does it matter if we get to heaven and find out we’ve got that angelic glow about us, or that we’re a different class of creature altogether?
Here’s what matters to me:
“Jesus said…’There are many rooms in my Father’s house….I am going there to prepare a place for you. After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am,’” (John 14:1-3).
“Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them,” (Revelation 21:3).
I just had a funny thought. Well, it’s funny to me.
We’ve got a lot of political leaders stonewalling the immigration problems that most Americans seem to agree we need to tackle. I think it would be a wonderful thing if, when they get to heaven, God greets them by saying:
“Mi casa es su casa.”
The post When we die do we become angels? appeared first on Stephen M. Miller.
More to read:
Buz
The Bible, on Super Bowl 2014
Why is it so hard to go to church?
Slow Moses
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Genesis, plain and simple
ZOOKEEPERS. God to Adam and Eve: “Take charge of the planet. Govern the fish, the birds, and every life form around you. They are your responsibility.”
DON’T BEAT ME UP for doing this…for messing with the Bible.
I do it as a fun devotional, in my spare time.
I try to take the Bible’s meaning and wrap it in words that folks outside the Christian faith could easily follow. Those are the people I write my books for: Bible newcomers and folks who aren’t Christian but who are curious about the Bible and Christianity.
Here’s Genesis, chapter 1. It’s a work in progress. If you have any suggestions, I’d appreciate your advice.
GENESIS // Chapter 1, Where life got its start
Day 1, Lights
1. Life began when God created the universe—everything on earth and in the sky.
2. Earth was shapeless and empty. Darkness cloaked the deep water. God’s Spirit cruised through the darkness, above the water.
3. God said, “Lights.” Lights came on.
4. God liked the light. He gave it a place, separate from darkness.
5. God called the light’s place “Day.” He put darkness in its place, too. He called it “Night.” Nighttime passed. Morning came. The first day was over.
Day 2, Living space
6. God said, “Open up some room. Put it in a dry place, sandwiched between water on the ground and water above.”
7. Done. God made a huge room. Then he parted the water. He put some on the ground, below the room. He put the rest above the room.
8. God called the huge room “Sky.” Nighttime passed. Morning came. The second day was over.
Day 3, Gardens
9. God said, “Water under the sky, flow into one place to make room for dry ground.” Done.
10. God called the dry ground “Land.” He called the wet place “Ocean.” God liked what he saw.
11. God said, “Land, grow a garden. Grow plants that make their own seeds. Grow trees that produce fruit, which make their own seeds, too.” Done.
12. The land grew a garden. All the plants made their own seeds. Trees produced fruit that made its own seeds. So each kind of tree had its own unique seeds. God liked what he saw.
13. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The third day was over.
Day 4, Sky lights
14. God said, “Sky lights. Hang them high. They will mark time, separating day from night. They’ll mark not only the days, but the seasons and the years, too.”
15. “These sky lights will light the room below.” Done.
16. God made two bright sky lights. The biggest and brightest lit the day [sun]. The smaller one lit the night [moon]. God made the stars, too.
17. God put these lights in the sky to brighten the earth
18. and to separate light from darkness, and day from night. God liked what he saw.
19. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The fourth day was over.
Day 5, Fish and birds
20. God said, “Life, fill the waters below and the sky above. Fish and other water-loving creatures, start swimming. Birds, fly above the ground in the big room I made.”
21. God created the sea creatures. Big, monster-size ones. Little cute ones. All kinds. Everything that lives and moves in the water. He did the same for every bird that flies. God liked what he saw.
22. God showed his approval with a blessing: “Make lots of baby swimmers and fliers. Fish and all swimmers at sea, fill the water with your babies. Birds, fill the sky.”
23. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The fifth day was over.
Day 6, Animals and humans
24. God said, “Land, produce animals. All kinds. Everything that moves on ground. Tame livestock. Wild, untamable animals. “
25. God made the animals. All kinds. Mild. Wild. Everything that lives and moves along the ground. God liked what he saw.
26. God said, “Let’s make humans. They’ll resemble us. They’ll be in charge of the planet:
fish in the water, birds in the sky, animals on the ground. Sky high to ocean deep, they’ll make the call about what happens on the earth.
27. God created a man who resembled him. A woman, too. Man and woman. They both resembled God.
28. God showed his approval with a blessing: “Have lots of children. Fill this world with your children and your children’s children. Take charge of the planet. Govern the fish, the birds, and every life form around you. They are your responsibility.
29. God said, “Take a good look at all the plants that produce seeds and all the trees that fill with fruit. They are your food.
30. They are food for the animals, too. For the creatures large and small, high and low—from birds that soar to creepy, crawly critters scurrying through the dirt. If it’s a green plant, it’s animal food.” And that’s the way it was.
31. God saw what he made and liked what he saw. He liked it very much. Nighttime passed. Morning came. The sixth day was over.
Steve’s Bible Translation, copyright 2013, Stephen M. Miller
For a comparison, try Genesis 1 in the popular New Living Translation. It’s the Bible version I use most often in the books I write.
The post Genesis, plain and simple appeared first on Stephen M. Miller.
More to read:
When we die do we become angels?
Buz
The Bible, on Super Bowl 2014
Why is it so hard to go to church?
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HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD VALENTINE'S DAY. I miss Linda. She's working a 3-night stretch of 12-hour shifts at the hospital. But we learn to make do, don't we?
Hi, RezChat
Up front, after the dog picture, an update from Karen Fitzherbert about her surgery yesterday. One-handed, she can't handle the Shift key while typing another key:
my surgery was a fast one.  god was healing the ligament so they recast it and sent me on my way.  I knew a praise was coming.  thanks for the prayers.  god is good. 
NEWSLETTER CONTENTS
Sunday's session: Robert Ladd
Class meeting: Next Sunday
Donuts & Cafe: Barbara Borgelt
Sunday's session: Mega faith
Robert Ladd helps us kick off a 3-week series about faith.
   He leads with "Abraham's insane faith," Genesis 22:1-18.
   Next two weeks:
   Twelve spies: 10 duds, 2 studs, Numbers 13:1-3, 17—14:1.
   The soldier who shocked Jesus, Matthew 8:5-13
   Here's the passage for Sunday, from the New Living Translation.
Abraham’s Faith Tested
22 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.
“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”
6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!
“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. 16 “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants[a] beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”
Footnotes:
22:17 Hebrew seed; also in 22:17b, 18.
Class meeting: February 23
Our class leader, Terry Bahadur, asked me to pass this info along to you.
   Sunday after next, the last Sunday in February, we'll have an abbreviated class session so we can have a brief discussion about the upcoming class year.
   The term for the elected class leaders ends in February. So we'll need to make decisions about the year ahead. 
   Here's the class mission statement that guides what we do. 
RezChat Bible Study mission statement:
Build a Christian community where non-religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians by studying the Bible, discussing their questions about the Christian faith, and putting their faith into action.
Here's a list of the teams that help us carry out our mission, along with the names of the current leaders, whose terms expire week after next.
Class leader, Terry Bahadur: 
1.    Make sure all the team leaders are leading their teams and fulfilling their ministry responsibilities
2.    Look for people with leadership potential and give them leadership opportunities that will help prepare them for a leadership position in Sunday school or somewhere else in the church 
3.    Arrange to send class e-mails updates about general class news and upcoming events
Curriculum team, Steve Miller
1.    Create a curriculum track of lesson topics for 12 months
2.    Arrange for discussion leaders to direct each class session
3.    Survey the class at least once a year for evaluation and for ideas about how to make the sessions more meaningful
4.    Create an atmosphere that encourages everyone to participate in class
5.    Find ways to engage the interest of people
6.    Try to make sure everyone sees how the study topic applies to our lives today

Publicity team, vacant as all get out for the second year in a row
1.    Create PowerPoint presentations to publicize the class (the slides are run before and after each worship service)
2.    Post signs to direct newcomers to the classroom
3.    Explore ways to make everyone in the church aware of the RezChat Bible study class
4.    Keep the RezChat promotional info on the church web site up to date
5.    Invite promotional ideas from others in the class

Hospitality team, Barbara Edwards
1.    Greet guests and introduce them to the class
2.    Fill out the attendance book
3.    Have first-time guest provide contact information
4.    Send first-time visitors a card or e-mail
5.    Contact class members who have been missing a week or two when no one knows why they have been absent 
6.    Contact class members who have been missing for an extended time
Social/missions team, Linda Miller (social); Rocks and Gary Tranbarger (missions)
1.    Plan regular socials, once every month or two
2.    Plan regular opportunities for the class to serve others
3.    Explore the possibility of a major mission trip for the class 
4.    Find ways to help class members connect with each other
5.    Invite class members to suggest ideas for socials and ministry
Be kind to your dog. Some days he's all you got. I know there's God, but he won't lick your face when you park it on the staircase.
Steve
Our mailing address is:
Stephen M. Miller
PO Box 2712
Olathe, KS 66063
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