The word Paradise is used infrequently in the Bible. Jesus tells the thief on the cross that they will be together that day in Paradise, and Paul says in 2 Corinthians that he had a powerful out-of-body (maybe!) experience in Paradise. Paradise is a Persian word describing a cool, relaxing garden in an arid climate, and it looks like Jesus is using this word to describe the intermediate state to promise the thief on the cross that after death - but before the resurrection - his spirit will be in a comfortable resting place with Jesus himself. This corresponds to the place Christians typically call “heaven”, as in “going to heaven when you die.” Although this usage amongst contemporary Christians is common, the Bible never says Christians go to heaven when they die. Instead, the biblical language of “heaven” describes the realm of God - a realm which overlaps and interlocks with our human realm in the person of Jesus. In other words, heaven is a reality Christians are experiencing already, but not yet completely.

Chuck and Aaron also discuss the notion of “soul sleep” - a concept describing the possible unconscious state of believers in between their earthly deaths and the return of Jesus. Since Paul describes this state as “better” than life on earth, and as a “being” with Jesus, Chuck and Aaron both lean toward understanding this intermediate state as a conscious presence of the human spirit with Jesus while the human body remains on earth awaiting the final resurrection.

And the idea of Purgatory - common in Roman Catholicism - has no attestation in the Bible. However, the Reformers’ teaching against it by (rightly) insisting that the spirits of dead Christians are immediately with Jesus led to an unfortunate overemphasis on the intermediate state and an underemphasis on the resurrection of the dead, which they didn’t emphasize since they shared this belief with their Roman Catholic opponents.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep134.

Those who have not grieved deeply are often disturbed during the holidays by those who have, since the latter sometimes seem to refuse to participate in the jollity of the season. This notion—that the joy, lights, and merriment of Christmas ought to raise the spirits of those who have lost loved ones—betrays a shallow view of grief, which cannot be alleviated by mere happiness.

In addition, Christmas is frequently a reminder of Christmases past where the lost loved one was present.

Because of this, Christians should be aware of two things: first, the presence and power of the grief some experience at the holidays, not becoming frustrated at it or ignoring it. Second, they should be willing to walk with those who grieve, not in an attempt to make them feel better, but as a way to model and embody the presence of the God who grieves with and walks with us.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

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Everyone knows that it’s not possible for a virgin to get pregnant. Many have considered this impossibility as the open-and-shut reason for disbelieving in the biblical teaching of the virgin birth of Jesus. Others though, have seen this impossibility as the whole point of the story: if God exists, and he has decided to become a human being in order to save the world, then doing something radically impossible to make that happen seems like the kind of thing God would do. But what does the virgin birth mean? It can’t be the necessary ground of Jesus’ sinlessness, since Mary herself contributed her humanity to Jesus’ birth. Instead, it’s best to see the virgin birth of Jesus as an exemplary instance of God’s grace. He breaks into humanity purely of his own volition, for his own purposes, to display his own glory, and to act in love toward his own people.

Hosts: Aaron Mueller and Chuck Rathert

Subscribe to the show at https://cacg.saintjamesglencarbon.org.

To comment on this episode, visit https://saintjamesglencarbon.org/cacg-ep132.