Previous posts summarised
This blog is about living forever and before I continue I will recap what the previous posts were all about.
It is with Adam and Eve that the concept of living forever was explained to humanity. Adam and Eve taught us that disobedience to our maker gets us in big trouble, so much so that they were both thrown out of the garden of Eden as a result of their disobedience.
God gave Sarah and Abraham a son in their old age and this made both of them laugh. Abraham was blessed because he obeyed God. The same with Noah and Joshua and Caleb.
How to obtain ongoing happiness is linked with living forever because it is in the giving and in the losing, not in the getting nor obtaining in this world, that happiness and eternal life are achieved. This is also addressed on my page God Hath Made Me To Laugh! There are some great links on this page with regards to happiness.
The greeting of Living Forever is a royal one and I pray for all my readers to be living forever.
Beats me, why Americans stand a better chance to get to heaven, but it appears to be, at least, mathematically correct.
The never ever give up address is one of my favourite talks given by Naval Admiral William H. McRaven at the University of Texas at Austin. I believe that, to achieve anything in life that’s worth achieving, we’ll need to apply the tenacity spoken about by the Admiral. I’ve fought for my life and begged for my life to be restored to me and God is good and is answering my prayers and I’m so stoked that I want you all to know about it and laugh with me.
The thank you and dedication post as well as the, Why A Blog On Living Forever? posts explains who I am talking to about living forever and you’re very welcome to listen in.
Our baptism story relays our attempts to get baptised and what Jesus says about being born again.
If there is a church heaven then people who hang out with their church buddies may already be living in paradise and the rest of us will just have to figure out what the go is for us. According to scripture, obedience to God is closely related to living forever.
Who are the children of Israel? According to the bible, the children of Israel are those who consciously choose to align themselves with the Creator of heaven and earth. Those who purposely and deliberately choose to follow his guidelines are considered blessed.
The Samaritan story as told in the bible and relayed in the post, Is it possible to live forever? tells us in clear language that eternal life, according to Jesus, is linked with God’s Law and love and we’ll get into more detail about that later.
My story, I Thought It Was a Little Angel, talks about one of my personal experiences with depression and I learned from that episode in my life that despite our very best efforts, society hasn’t really got a handle on illnesses such as depression. Sometimes society’s methods works and often they don’t. God’s method has proven to be foolproof for my family and myself.
The story which has been voted the funniest religious joke of all times highlights the hypocrisy of religious people when it comes to loving each other.
Jonah’s story shows us that God cares about those who do their own thing as much as He cares about those who profess to follow Him. That is exactly what made Jonah so mad, the fact that God is merciful to all and not just to the religious few.
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Jewish people are excellent record keepers
Jewish people are excellent record keepers. In fact there is not a nation comparable when it comes to chronicling the history of a people. The bible or TORAH as the Jewish people call it, is this history book. The bible records in minute detail the birth of the Jewish nation within a certain time frame and contains in depth documentation of the genealogy of the Jewish nation. If you don’t believe me check out the Books of Numbers in the bible which lists endless names and lineage of the Jewish people.
Why does any of this matter in the context of living for ever?
I tell you why this matters. It matters because within the first few chapters of the bible we are told why no-one automatically receives eternal life. The bible is the only history book on the planet earth which explains how this happened.
It was not always so. In the days of the garden of Eden, both Adam and Eve took living in paradise for granted as if it were their birth right. When they refused to obey God however they were thrown out of the garden of Eden, so that they would not automatically live for ever. From this we can see, that eternal life is not for free. There is a price. What price? The price is obedience. You have to follow what God commands you to do.
Church heaven
If your church tells you that all you have to do is believe and have faith .. I’m telling them to pull the other one. Maybe you’ll go to church heaven if you follow their doctrine. If you like your church buddies you’re already living in paradise and all is good.
If you’re like me however, and the church threw you out because you decided to follow the bible and refused to sign up for church doctrine, then simple faith on its own won’t get you there. Not according to my bible.
Sorry to be the one to burst your bubble. But I think that eternal life is not something to be mucking around about. It is something I take seriously.
Noah’s Ark
Adam and Eve and Joshua and Caleb aren’t the only people showing us where obedience or disobedience gets us.
The majority of American people believe that Noah’s ark is a true story and literally happened. And up to nearly a third of non-believers agree with those sentiments. What about Noah? Noah also taught us that GOD loves obedient people.
At some stage early on in our history humanity had so lost the plot that GOD decided to destroy his creation altogether. It was only because of Noah that he decided to keep a handful to try again. Eight people were saved because of Noah’s obedience to GOD. The rest of humanity was wiped out because of their disobedience.
GOD loves the obedient
When people say that GOD loves us all no matter what … nah, not according to the bible I’m reading. God loves his obedient children and He patiently waits for the disobedient to (re)turn to Him. From reading His Word as well as personal experience I know that he continuously nudges us in the right direction. But if people don’t want to play by the rules … eventually, He’ll pull the plug.
That is what the bible tells us according to Adam and Eve, Noah and his family and Joshua and Caleb.
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all rights reserved copyright myemmanuel 2014