Luke 12-13

[wolfpurplemoon]

So, you shouldn't fear someone who can 'merely' kill your body, because after that they can't do anything more to hurt you (that part's true). But you should fear the one with the power to throw you in to hell, after your death. As I've said before, no part of our concious mind can survive the death of our body, so it really is pointless to promise heaven or threaten hell to make people follow your religion.

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[zteccc.livejournal.com]

Chapter 12
The soul is a point of much discussion. It is loosely defined as the eternal will and consciousness of a person. Eternal because, in Christian belief, the soul never ceases to exist. Scripture supports this concept. When Elijah resurrected the widow's son (1 Kings 17:17-24) he asks God to let the child's soul (Hebrew nephesh) return to him. When Jesus is crucified, he tells a thief on another cross that they will be together in paradise (Luke 23:43). Revelation 6:9-10 has the souls of martyred saints as conscious and extant. These scriptures attest to the soul surviving death. Of course none of them carry the weight of the following examples:

Jesus resurrects a little girl (Luke 8:41-56). This was witnessed by many people. The event told of in the three gospels we've read so far describes a pressing crowd following Jesus. They didn't just turn away when he got to the home, they would have waited and seen the little girl resurrected who had been certified dead. There were his disciples, but also the girls parents, mourners, presumably even some who didn't follow Jesus and they all saw the girl live. Not only this, but it was the same girl, mentally and physically. If her consciousness, her will, her soul, wasn't eternal, then she wouldn't have been the same after being resurrected.

Jesus resurrects Lazarus (John 11:17-44). Certainly, if one thinks that the girl was perhaps just in a coma and not really dead, then we can consider Lazarus. He was dead and buried for 4 days. It is important to know that the Jews used to wrap the dead in linen and then coat the dead in spices, actually a paste made of water and spices and myrrh. The myrrh was sticky and would adhere the burial wrappings to the body, but would also seal off the air passages. It wasn't uncommon to use 75 pounds of spices, plus this sticky substance to coat the body. This encasement, including the linen, spices and myrrh would probably have been around 90 pounds of material on the dead person. If one were accidentally buried alive (e.g. in a coma), they would die within minutes because they wouldn't be able to breathe. Lazarus also had no water or food when buried. A person will typically die of dehydration in 2-3 days, so Lazarus buried for 4 days would have been truly dead. When Jesus resurrects him, he was the same person. There were many people there when Lazarus was resurrected and they saw it happen. The decomposition of the body for 4 days could have been reversed miraculously, but the soul returned as well making Lazarus the person that they remembered.

Finally Jesus resurrected himself. Literally hundreds of people saw Jesus after he was dead for three days.

If the soul weren't eternal, these things couldn't happen. Of course people simply deny the witnesses and say they didn't happen. That, of course, is anyone's right, but the apostles believed and went to their deaths believing.

Verses 6-7 God cares about you, don't fear.

Verses 15-21 Accumulation of material wealth is meaningless, we all die and the wealth isn't worth anything, we should instead focus on what is eternal (God, our souls, salvation).

Verses 35-40 Be prepared for the coming of God, you won't know when it will happen, so don't put off choosing to follow God.

Chapter 17
Verses 22-30 Jesus refers to the Narrow Door. Many people believe that there are many paths to Heaven. The Narrow Door suggests that this is not so. If there were other paths, people wouldn't have to crowd through the narrow door, but there is one path.

-- Jeff