Saturday, December 29, 2007

Changing my mind

Fairly recently, I did a post on Soul Sleep. Today, I was listening to John's gospel, and I heard a better argument against it than any of the rubbish ones I see banded around.

Jesus said "...Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."
John 8:56, NIV

Would that we knew our Bibles better!

1 comment:

Speaker for the Dead said...

A couple things...

In the Apostles' Creed reference to the "resurrection of the body," the Greek word for body is not σαρξ ("sarx," which supposedly means "flesh") but σωμα ("soma," which supposedly implies the entirety of the person). (I'm not a Greek scholar, so I can't say for sure.) So if the soul resurrects, then it must be asleep in some way, I guess. Of course, what the Apostles' Creed says matters more to some than to others...

Also, having read John 8:56-58, it seems more plausible to me that Abraham had a vision (while alive) of Jesus' time than that Abraham saw it up in heaven because his soul wasn't asleep. If you notice, the Jews ask in verse 57 if Jesus has seen Abraham, to which Jesus (in one of the coolest responses in the Bible) responds, "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." So I'm not so sure.