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NASB | 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are [even here and] now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be [after His coming]. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will [as His children] be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is [in all His glory]. |
Subject: Actual bodies in heaven? |
Bible Note: Fellow seekers, my point is that even in Paul’s discourse, his point is that to be absent from the body is not about “going somewhere”, it is about “being somewhere.” He doesn’t say, “To be absent from the body is for our spirit to rise through the atmosphere, go past the planets and stars, and go to a place where God is, far removed from this earth.” He says that to be absent from the body is to BE PRESENT with the Lord. It’s not about going, it’s about being. The problem is, we need to discuss how language works. As some of you have demonstrated, yes, there are Bible verses that say that God is not here with us, that he is somewhere else. I concede that point. But I also counter with the fact that there are Bible verses that say that God is everywhere present, that he is here with us, that Jesus promised to never leave us, that nothing can separate us from God. The problem with the language is that it grew out of superstitious beliefs about “where” God was. First, he was envisioned to be just beyond the clouds. When mankind couldn’t locate him there, we then moved him to outer space. When we got to outer space and couldn’t locate God there, now we have moved him so far away that, for all intents and purposes, he has abandoned us here until we die. Is this what Jesus taught? Why did Jesus teach that the kingdom of heaven is within us if it is really out past Alpha Centauri? Why did Jesus say that he would never leave us if he is really “not here” and sitting on a throne in Ursa Minor? Why did David say, “Where can I go from your presence?” if he knew good and well that God was in Andromeda? Christianity sometimes works so hard to assert the literal understandings of anthropomorphic language about God that it asserts, as has been said in these threads, that God is NOT here and that the only way to be with him is to die! Is this what Jesus taught? Is this the “whole counsel of God’s word” or is it just picking out the few verses that back only ONE view. As Christians, we should be able to discuss ALL the different views presented in the Bible and then leave it to our own God-given consciences to decide what we think. |