TIME AND ETERNITY

25
Jul

Time flies and all things pass.  Glory fades and the young become old. This is the cycle of life.  So why do so many of us live with our eyes fixed on this passing world only, rather than the life everlasting to come? We are so preoccupied with worldly pleasures and concerns we ignore our eternal destiny. The Christian message says that we must keep our eyes fixed on our heavenly reward, not on temporal and fading joys

          Mankind falls into error when considering “life and death” and applying these two nouns. We call `life’ the period which, born of our mothers, we begin to breath, eat act, move and think.  And we call ‘death’ the moment when we cease doing these things. But Holy Scripture says human life begins when a soul is created at the moment of conception. The Thought of God enters the woman’s womb .Scripture also says that death occurs when the soul leaves the body. Human life differs from other things that exists because humans are the only part of creation that have an immortal soul. Animals, plants, and micro-organisms exist, but not in the spiritual sense. While man has a material makeup like all other physical life, no other animal can reason, study causes have goals, purpose and various forms of artistic expressions. God given eternal life is infused into the very essence of man not just as an embryo with a beating heart, but is given “life” according to the Creator’s Thought ,in His own image and likeness a future citizen of heaven, hopefully.

          Life does not begin with existence and does not end with the physical death of the body. Life, human life, never ends because the soul never dies but passes on to eternal bliss or punishment to be reunited with the body at the end of time and the final judgment. That is why we say that no one has a “right” to destroy an unborn life or any life unjustly. No violent or medical procedure can abort a soul. Eternal life is a Gift of God. To destroy a life that God created is a rejection of God’s Gift. We should ponder this fact seriously because the fate of our souls depend on making the right decision.

          “…before I formed you in the womb I knew you (JEREMIAH 1:4-5)

“For you Lord, created my inmost being. You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”(Psalm 139:14)

          Our religion, Christianity, founded on a set of doctrines revealed in Holy Scripture that testifies to our spiritual and physical nature. The essential composite nature of man, especially his spiritual part, cannot be measured or quantified like other parts of the physical universe. This spirit world is mostly inaccessible to our five senses and therefore is mostly esoteric or hidden. Our religion teaches that mankind’s existence, to a large extent, consists of an eternal struggle between good and evil tendencies in and outside of ourselves that roam the world unseen. There are, needless to say, many variations on this good vs evil reality. Our nature and intellect seeks to know the truth which is God-given wisdom combined with human knowledge. Therefore, we must be united to God as the fulfillment and final end of our journey here on earth. Without faith in the one true God any God or idol will do. The false gods of human reason, devoid of wisdom bring confusion, violence, hatred, depravity and are the source of many of the problems we face today. Without faith in our Creator, Redeemer, and Revealer of all Truth. man will never find happiness in this life or the next. Our times are troubled but not without hope.

          All true Christians and Christian organizations like the Knights of Columbus, pray that the whole world come receive the salvation that Jesus’s sacrifice obtained for us. All we have to do is free ourselves from the slavery of sin. We need to ensure the burdens of this life do not destroy the divine life to come. And if someone says, “You Christians don’t always practice what you preach”, we say yes that is true, but don’t lose Jesus on account of Judas.

SK Wendell Jeanpierre   Lecturer.  August,2022