What are we going to do for all of eternity?

[TheCatholic]

You seemed to be suggesting that we wouldn't have bodies. So, my point is that we will, as Scripture clearly shows.

I am alweays fascinated at the criteria people use for choosing which scripture to take litteraly and which not to.

Not to go off-topic, but here is an example: When Jesus took bread and said "This is my body", most people in this forum will do backflips to explain that away. I take it litteraly as the plain words of the text suggest - I believe in Transubstantiation - but most here would not, you included I am assuming.

So please do not tell me what the scriptures do and do not say, because there are plenty of places where you guys explain aweay the plain text of verses too.

 

[Free]

You seemed to be suggesting that we wouldn't have bodies. So, my point is that we will, as Scripture clearly shows.

I am alweays fascinated at the criteria people use for choosing which scripture to take litteraly and which not to.

Not to go off-topic, but here is an example: When Jesus took bread and said "This is my body", most people in this forum will do backflips to explain that away. I take it litteraly as the plain words of the text suggest - I believe in Transubstantiation - but most here would not, you included I am assuming.

So please do not tell me what the scriptures do and do not say, because there are plenty of places where you guys explain aweay the plain text of verses too.

So does Jesus have a body of "flesh and bones"?

 

[cyberjosh]

For the longest time I didn't believe that Jesus in his Risen state had any corporeal parts of the human body, and infact I thought it sacrilige to suggest otherwise, and then one day my Dad drove home to me the fact that Jesus is still the "Son of Man", as also seen in future prophecies of Christ in Daniel. As it turns out the view of a 100% spiritual/incorporeal Jesus is a docetic/semi-docetic view. I have since been corrected from such an incorrect view of Christ.

 

[shad]

What are we going to do for all of eternity?

I cannot imagine what we do for eternally but it must be good because Jesus died for us to get it.

.

 

[cyberjosh]

In addition I don't see how a Catholic could in any way deny the corporeal form of Christ when they hold to Transsubstantiation.

 

[TheCatholic]

In addition I don't see how a Catholic could in any way deny the corporeal form of Christ when they hold to Transsubstantiation.

I never denied that Christ rose bodily from the dead and rose bodily into heaven. My doubts were concerning your statement that "ultimate destiny of the believer is not a disembodied existence in a "spiritual" realm, but rather embodied existence - legs, arms, hands, stomachs...." I am always wary when end-times scriptures are read too litteraly. Overly-litteral readings have caused some people to deny hell and get into that whole 1000-year reign & lake of fire jazz.

If you are interested in the "official" line, read sections 1042 thru 1050 here: http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm#VI

 

[elijah23]

No. The Lord will find fun things for us to do.

For example, I will get my fill of buttered popcorn and orange juice, go exploring with the dog I grew up with, sing and play my guitar, go to church, fiddle with my computer, and watch TV.

 

[Drew]

You seemed to be suggesting that we wouldn't have bodies. So, my point is that we will, as Scripture clearly shows.

I am alweays fascinated at the criteria people use for choosing which scripture to take litteraly and which not to.

Not to go off-topic, but here is an example: When Jesus took bread and said "This is my body", most people in this forum will do backflips to explain that away. I take it litteraly as the plain words of the text suggest - I believe in Transubstantiation - but most here would not, you included I am assuming.

So please do not tell me what the scriptures do and do not say, because there are plenty of places where you guys explain aweay the plain text of verses too.

You are not really engaging the issue here. I suggest that every reasonable person would agree that some texts are to be taken literally and some not. Each case needs to be addressed on its own merits.

In respect to the physicality of the world to come, consider this from 1 Corinthians 15:

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"[e]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we[f] bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

Huge problem here – people read “spiritual†and they super-impose non-physical on it. This is an hugely common error and it certainly is understandable given our Greek (Platonistc) heritage. Although I will not argue the point here, for Paul, the term “spiritual†simply does not denote immateriality. If you can get beyond this, much will fall into place.

In any event, we are here told (verse 49) that we will bear the likeness of the risen Jesus. So to believe that our ultimate future does not involve embodied “physicalityâ€, you need to believe one or the other of the following:

1. Jesus was not raised physically;

2. The resurrection bodies that we are promised will be “done away withâ€.

I doubt that any orthodox Christian will not want to sign up to either of these. Jesus clearly had a physical body (responding to (1)) and it would be decidedly odd for Paul to describe our getting resurrection bodies, if these are then going to be taken away from us (responding to (2)).
I find it exceedingly strange that so many otherwise orthodox believers believe in a disembodied future – there simply is no Biblical case for this.

 

[TheCatholic]

Again, I think sections 1042 thru 1050 at this link is far more of an accurate explanation: http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm#VI

 

[toddm]

Aren't we going to get rather bored after about 15,000 years?

You seriously think that being in the presence of the Almighty for eternity will get boring???

 

[Orion]

Aren't we going to get rather bored after about 15,000 years?

You seriously think that being in the presence of the Almighty for eternity will get boring???

Apparently, it isn't enough for some beings.

Besides, no one on earth knows what even one millisecond "in god's presence" is like, so I don't see how anyone can state how it would be, one way or the other.

 

[veteran]

God already gave us a picture to go on about His Eternity.

Isa 65:17-25
17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and Mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the LORD.
(KJV)

In Isaiah 45:18, God said He created this earth to be inhabited, i.e., lived upon. And it will be. The meek shall inherit it.

Our Lord gave us many examples of what the resurrection body will be like, even using His Own transfigured Body as an example. Even though He told Thomas a ghost has not flesh and bones like he saw Him have, that was for Thomas' sake He did that. We know a flesh body like today cannot enter a room with closed windows and doors like our Lord Jesus did when He suddenly appeared in the midst of His disciples after His Resurrection.

In Gen.18 Abraham fed the angels that appeared to him at his tent door. One of them was the Angel of The Lord. They ate man's food, just like our Lord Jesus ate fish and honeycomb in His Resurrection Body. Paul even said for us to be mindful to entertain strangers, for some have entertained angels unaware. That means in reality, God's angels look just like men. And our Lord Jesus said in Matt.22:30 those of the resurrection are as the angels of God in heaven. And remember, it was angel's food (manna) which the Israelites ate in the wilderness for 40 years.

Paul further taught that as we have put on the "image of the earthly", we shall all also put on the "image of the heavenly" (1 Cor.15). He said there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. The spiritual body is a type body of incorruption. It does not die like our flesh. It is a type body of the heavenly dimension. It can be touched and feels just like flesh (like Thomas touched our Lord's Body). It can walk upon and live upon the earth. It's simply not a type body of this earthly dimension, yet it can manifest and live upon this earth. It is an eternal type body, yet it CAN still be destroyed by our Heavenly Father, for the devil and his angels have never been born in the flesh, and it's not written they ever will be, yet it is written they will be destroyed and perish forever. For the redeemed, they will never be subject to death ever again.

In Luke 12, our Lord Jesus told us to not fear those who can kill our flesh body, and there's nothing more they can do. But to fear Him Who after one is killed, That has power to cast into the lake of fire (in that verse "hell"= geena, a word used for the valley of Hinnom, a symbolic parallel to the "lake of fire" of Rev.20).

Isaiah 65 even gives us different picture of how animals will be. The lion eating straw, and the wolf laying down with the lamb is a picture of no more carnivours (meat eaters; National Geographic's study of today's wildlife won't fit how God's creation is going to manifest in that time).

 

[glorydaz]

We'll have a new heaven and earth, and glorified bodies.
God created us for fellowship with Him, and we'll behold Him face to face.
We'll also have fellowship with our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
We will know one another and won't be arguing doctrine, so I see a wonderful existance...one that we can not even imagine. Peace and righteousness forever sounds perfect to me. :amen