Heart Disease and Cancer are relentless since November 2021 the family has been meeting the challenges and ravages of the human body.
With each month the growing catalogue of health issues has invaded time spent on the Good News of Gods Kingdom. Things got worse in November/December 2022 and have spiralled.
February 2023 begins the period of medical and surgical interventions when yet another round of treatments will interrupt the posting of content.
Facing the Spectre
Surgery and Treatment are really a sticking plaster, slowing the process of aging and death they give us little hope. Once this round of surgery is over there is another to follow. Eventually leaving so little of the original in situ we all become the $6million Dollar. There is an inevitability of Genesis 3: 19 “In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Adam bought corruption and death when he opted for independence from God. Once we became independent our opportunity for unending life with out corruption disappeared. The Apostle Paul goes into great detail about tthe need for a ransom, and the Apostle John emphasised that the price that we estranged humans need to pay is a corresponding ransom, yes something beyond all of us collectively.
So when the spectre of death looms what are we facing, Psalm 146: 3 “Do not put your trust in princes Nor in a son of man, who cannot bring salvation.4 His spirit goes out, he returns to the ground; On that very day his thoughts perish.” We die, death is the opposite to life, just as sleep is opposite to being awake.
Are we tormented? Can we torment others? Note the words of Ecclesiastes 9: 4 “There is hope for whoever is among the living, because a live dog is better off than a dead lion.5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten.6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they no longer have any share in what is done under the sun.”
Churches confuse the Christians by discussing Greek Philosophy for example the immortality of the soul, the bible does not teach this as many authoritative works highlight (Study the origins of doctrines and images). It makes it plain, we die because we sin, not as a punishment but as a consequences of a decision made by our ancestors.
We find that easier to understand these days, I have never enslaved or exploited anyone of any race or creed but I am described as White Privileged and a Beneficiary of Colonial exploitation. Those who read British Social History know this is far from the truth. The Reform Acts of 1884 and 1918 gave males regardless of property status and female property owners over the age of 21 and 30 respectively the right to vote, this disparity was rectified in 1918. The disenfranchise poor in 1914 became the cannon fodder of Europe, the same continued in 1939. The Social Struggle continued through the 1940s to 1983 with legislation that opened the right to buy. These individuals broke the the Colonial yoke and yet today they are tarnished with the Colonial brush of shame. Why? Because they inherited it.
We inherit, sin, sickness and death. There is nothing to pin our hopes on if we look at science and medicine. The very people (scientists and politicians) who led progress now condemn ordinary people for using those inventions, the motorcar, pesticides and so many any other tools of progress.
The inconsistency of Humanity, I saw a wonderful quote this morning “If scientists say there is evidence of intelligent life on Earth why haven’t they been able to find it?”
I wrote an essay once about a man who was alone, in his isolation he became afraid of the things he did not know so he decided to protect himself and he built a wall. It encircled his property and inside he ensured he had what he wanted. Every year he added to the size of the wall by digging out the ground underneath his feet, his only resource, eventually he used up his resources, just before he died he looked up at his wall and realised he had built his own prison cell and death chamber.
Humanity has done that so unlike the man with his wall we need to find someone who will intervene on our behalf, our hope is based on the fact that we have found that person in Jesus Christ the son of God of whom John the Baptist said John 1: 29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said: “See, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Hope has become our anchor in times where sticking plasters won’t do, humanity wants equity of outcome, well the bible promises just that with the words recorded at John 17: 3 “This means everlasting life, their coming to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”
So we remember as we face trials and the inevitable pressures that Hebrews 13: 5b ” For he has said: “I will never leave you, and I will never abandon you.” 6 So that we may be of good courage and say: “Jehovah is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
It may be a few weeks before I post again but be confident that my hope is in Jehovah, the future of humanity is safe and millions alive today will never need to die because Jesus paid the price for us to enjoy Life in Paradise Forever.
Good News 