Philosophers and Pessimists

When it comes to talking about the hereafter, I like the words of St Paul:

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, What God has prepared for those who love him. (1Cor 2:9)

Resurrection is not some natural right that we are given. It is a remarkable gift from the grace of God. Gratis!

Some Greek philosophers believed that we are, by nature, immortal spirits. The human body and life on earth are but crude prisons that we endure like caged eagles. For them immortality is our right, which is restored at death as we escape to our true element.

Pessimists on the other hand said we die like any animal and that is it. Look at Ecclesiastes and you will find this emphatic despair.

But Christianity said two things:

To the pessimists Christianity answers: "No! You are wrong. There is a gift of life after death." Death does not snuff out the candle of our soul.

To the Greeks: "No you are wrong. The body is not a cage; it is a good gift to be used in this life. Death is real to be sure but it is not an escape, a loophole by which we escape the sentence of living on earth. God gives us the gift of life: Earthly life and Resurrection life: Both are Gift! Both are Grace!"

Source: Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com. Adapted from a sermon by Australian Pastor Bruce Prewer. (from an email from eSermons.com received 11-05-07)