A common sentiment heard at funerals, spoken in an effort to bring peace to the hearts of those left behind, is that the departed loved one has gone on to be with Jesus and is now enjoying the afterlife in the heavenly paradise, looking down upon us.
The apostle Paul appears to tell us here that something better than our current lives, namely being in the presence of God, awaits us after death, when we depart from our bodies.
A Bible student must be careful about the study techniques he uses to gain knowledge of God and divine things. It is a common temptation to “read into” Scriptural texts a pre-determined idea that we merely want to be true.
The story of the thief on the cross is one of the most widely cited texts to support this idea of life after death.
A number of Paul’s writings are perplexing to Bible students. His language and imagery tend to differ from that of other biblical authors, and on the surface he sometimes appears to hold a different theology than his contemporaries.
The theme of Hebrews is keeping Christians of Jewish descent from returning to Jewish traditions by explaining how they were all fulfilled in the life and death of Jesus Christ.
Many churches today routinely recite the Apostle’s Creed as part of their worship services. This is a standard recitation of fundamental beliefs supposedly carried down from the apostolic days.
When evaluating Bible texts, it is always important to consider the entire context of the argument being made.
A commonly cited text from Philippians chapter 1 seems to imply that we immediately go to God’s presence when we die.
Jesus Christ foretold persecution many times. He warned His hearers that persecution would accompany the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. In Revelation, He warns future generations of the persecution they would face because of their faith in Him.
The key to understanding the texts from Genesis 35 and 1 Kings 17 is to know how the Bible defines a “soul.”
One of the most powerful stories in the Gospels is that of Christ’s transfiguration. In the sight of Peter, James, and John, Jesus temporarily shed His earthly form and allowed them to see His divinity.
The story of the witch of Endor, found in 1 Samuel 28, tells a sad tale of the results of disobedience toward God.
When Adam was created, God created his body from the elements from the ground. We know today that this is indeed correct: the human body is made up of various elements, 99% of which is oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. But elements are not enough. You can have the exact conditions for life, the exact elements, in the right amounts, but you still won’t have life.
There has been much debate in the Christian world over the true meaning of the story of “the rich man and Lazarus,” spoken by Jesus. The various arguments tend to boil down to a single issue: Is the story a true tale of the characters involved, or is it a parable?