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Keisha Merchant

Reflections of the Heart 2

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    What is the reflection of the “Christ” and the theories therein.  I suppose you could create a science around this chapter alone.  It is a struggle between science, psychology and all the theologies that describe the universe and mysteries of death of the body.  Our bodies stop working after a “disturbance” to its functions.  What happens in the process of these dysfunctions?  How can we explain these abnormalities that we have made into a “normalcy” of life and death with our bodies we call a collective soul. 

    In my research, I have found that I am only an expert due to research and study that I cannot brag or boast that the scriptures show us the riddles of life.  It is within insight and experimentation that we have come to this age to know of technology or some would say knowledge of God. 

    Before our present moment, like Job, we would have an experience with God to understand the mysteries of the universe, as a medical practitioner, some experts would say, it is through the sciences we’ve learned to juggle time.  But in this reflection, it is within these scriptures we can delve deep into the mysteries of what this inspirational poem mean to the eyes of people in population of society and culture.

    I am someone who tests and challenge the examination and evaluation of our understanding, translation and interpretations of the scripture, so I will try to be gentle with the teachings of inspiration and perspective.  I know that the populations at large have begun to dip into “ghost findings.”  Before the new translations, the old use to believe in ghosts, actually, in the Church they had called God’s Holy Spirit once upon a time, Holy “Ghost” until it began to disturb the mental ill patients that could not wrap their minds around ghosts and goblins from faith and spiritual concepts of the known and the unknown, so the word began to shape around the beliefs of those weak in heart, mind, and spirit of hallucinations, paranoia, and other factors that cross the lines of fantasy, fiction and reality to what we can “comprehend” of our present moment.  It is within other faiths that outer body experiences, spirits, and presences, or some would call good and evil forces that “rabbis” have developed through some novels of the “Force be with you” as some form of clarities that we are energy, and energy never dies just changes direction and locations.

    But in these studies, the scriptures can be distorted, and changed from one understanding to the next.  Yes, you wonder what are my own theories on the shape shifting of life and death, and beyond.  As the concept of energy, atoms, and particles of Einstein, we can conclude by many thinkers that we are just a moment in time, to really understand the concept of resurrection, restoration, regeneration, and atoms reshaping and shifting, would be beyond our years.

    Safe journeys, and enjoy the passage, as a literature, poem, or Holy Scripture, but to me, eternal gateways to opportunity to choose life.

    The Resurrection of Christ

     1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

     3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

     9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

    The Resurrection of the Dead

     12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

     20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he "has put everything under his feet."[c] Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

     29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
       "Let us eat and drink,
          for tomorrow we die."
    [d] 33Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

    The Resurrection Body

     35But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

     42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
          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.

     50I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."[g]
     
    55"Where, O death, is your victory?
          Where, O death, is your sting?"
    [h] 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

     58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

     

2 comments
  • Keisha Merchant
    Keisha Merchant ...thank you...:) mother nanhi...blessings~hope you visit again soon...
    March 26, 2010
  • <i>Deleted Member</i>
    Deleted Member POWERFUL and COMFORTING. Thank you. Mother NANHI.
    March 26, 2010 - delete