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Luke 7:11-16 (Gospel reading on the 18th Sunday after Pentecost)
Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain;
and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. And when
He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being
carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a
large crowd from the city was with her.
When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, "Do
not weep." Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who
carried him stood still. And He said, "Young man, I say to you,
arise." So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He
presented him to his mother. Then fear came upon all, and they
glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen up among us"; and,
"God has visited His people."
Not many people today can say that they have seen such wonders. We read
and hear these scriptural accounts of Christ raising people from the dead
and sometimes wonder if they actually happened, or are just "nice stories"
to help us deal with loss and death. Many of us who have lost people whom
we love may not feel that "God has visited" us. We read this passage and
the other accounts of times when Jesus raised people from the dead
(Jairus' daughter -- Mt 9:23-26, and Lazarus -- Jn 11:1-46) and sometimes
wonder why He came so late. Why didn't He prevent these people from dying
altogether?
These miracles were Christ's way of telling His disciples, and those with
whom He came in contact what was to come. These miracles were not the
eternal resurrection. The widow's son, like Jairus' daughter and Lazarus,
eventually died again after living out their earthly life. Later Christ
Himself would suffer death at a young age, and be carried away by His own
mourning mother in order to destroy the power of death by His own death.
When we lose someone, we are given a choice. We can either stop and
abandon hope in our sorrow and loss, or we can face it with the knowledge
of what Christ did in this reading. As the widow was following her son's
body off to his tomb, she knew that because of the laws of the time, as a
widow with no other sons, she would end up poor and homeless. It is into
this situation that Christ, the very Son of God, came and showed her, the
crowd, and his disciples, that God is right there with them even when it
seems completely hopeless. When Jesus raises this son from the dead, He
reassures us that death is not how it's "supposed to be" and that God is
there to make it right. We are not meant to die, but to live and through
Him be raised again to a new life that is eternal.
Regardless of the hope we have in the Resurrection as Christians, however,
we still mourn the loss of our loved ones. Our grief helps us to realize
how much we take for granted: how we take our very life for granted,
neglecting what we should be doing with it and forgetting how easily it
can end; and how we take the people in our lives for granted. Grief
enables our hearts to reflect on the joys we shared as well as the
failures and mistakes we made in the way we treated them. We begin to
realize how we fail to recognize others as true gifts of God.
When we face death, we may not see Christ walking up to raise people
from the dead. We can, however, be assured of two things:
Perhaps before, we did not fully realize the gift He had given us.
Indeed, we can live our whole lives without realizing how much God gives
and has given us. We who live in the flesh are the ones who need to be
raised from spiritual death, and it is those who have gone before us into
Christ's rest that show us the way. It is for these reasons that even
though we pass through the pain of grief and loss, we can say with
confidence that, "God has visited his people."
Something to think about
It could be that movie makers have finally accomplished with camera and
computer what the great painters have been able to do for centuries. What
Dreams May Come is a combination of fantasy and American popular theology
that takes us through an afterlife in the artistic styles of Monet,
Renoir, Degas, Delacroix, Baro, and Hieronymus Bosch. Visually speaking,
the movie is a breakthrough. Some will say the visuals are taken to such
an extreme that the plot suffers. Others will surely be enchanted.
On the up side:
On the down side:
FYI: For those of you who didn't know (including some
of us here at YO-Mail), the movie is based upon the 1978 book by Richard Matheson
-- an even more interesting read.
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youth@oca.org
In the attempt to try and keep these issues from getting too long, we are
postponing our article on "Christianity, Homosexuality, and Politics"
until our next issue.
See you then!
Q.
(from CH from MA)
If God could destroy hell (which, supposedly, He can), would He?
If the answer is yes, it implies that there would no longer be a
reason to act in a good Christian fashion, and that all moral codes
would be as well rewarded as others (seeing as there would be no place
but heaven to send those who die). It takes the element of free
choice out of life and removes the purpose of such things as the ten
commandments and the sermon on the mount.
This is clearly not an acceptable solution.
If the answer is no, then it implies that God wants some people to go
to hell. It can be compared to God leaning over the rail of a boat
with an infinitely large pile of life preservers and drowning people
in the water all around the boat. The drowning people are those who
stand before the dread judgment seat of God, and God can choose which
of them He saves. There's plenty of space in heaven for all, so it's
not that He has to be choosy.
Given the choice between saving someone and not saving them, we've
been taught always to save them. Why is it okay for God to condemn
them, to withhold salvation from them and say "All these people are
okay, but not you!" It seems like a really mean thing to do to
someone: condemning them to eternal torment. Definitely not something
that the loving and forgiving God that we're told He is would do.
The only possible answer, if something of a cop out, is to say that
God doesn't choose your fate when you die; you choose it during the
course of your life. But then, why is there such a thing as "the
dread judgment seat of God"? Is it only like a show trial, because
your fate was sealed at the moment you die? Clearly it's God (or some
representative of God, i.e., Peter at the Pearly Gates) that judges
you. God's all powerful: he could save you, if he wanted to. Why
would they condemn anyone instead of saving everyone they could (which
is everyone, no shortage of space in heaven).
Also, a similar question is whether it's good enough to say "Sorry"
when God says "You've lived a sinful life; what do you have to say for
yourself?" If you're honestly sorry when you stand before the dread
judgment seat of God, is that enough that our forgiving God who loves
all His children would spare you the eternal torment of hell? If so,
then it seems to remove the reason for having a hell just as surely as
the previous arguments do. Everybody, when before God, would make
some attempt at apologizing for any bad things they may have done at
some point in their lives. What happens then? (This excludes those
foolish enough to continue to defy God even when faced with His might
and presence.) Does God forgive (and admit them to heaven, even
though they only repented after they died)?
These are a few of my questions. Thanks.
A.
Whoa! Those are some loaded questions, CH!
You may be surprised, though, to find out how common they are. Each
of us who takes our Faith even somewhat seriously, wrestles with the
concepts of heaven and hell, and God's mercy and justice.
We are bombarded with all kinds of incorrect ideas and images about
what the Bible and the Church have to say about all this. For one
example, check out the movie What Dreams May Come which we reviewed in
this issue. Either from movies, music, television, or conversations
with others, we hear everything from "heaven is sitting on clouds
strumming harps" to "being saved means earning your 'wings' and
becoming an angel." Hell, on the other hand, becomes either "spending
eternity separated from God in a place where He isn't present" (which
is impossible -- if God is God, then He is, by definition, everywhere)
or a place that doesn't exist at all.
At the core of many of the misconceptions that people have about
heaven and hell is the idea that they are two separate geographic
locations. In this understanding hell is like a jail or penal colony
where God sends those whom He doesn't like, or who have broken the
laws and rules that God wants us to follow, and heaven is a kind of
"fantasy island." The Church's teaching on heaven, hell and judgment
is actually clearer, more consistent, and just makes better sense.
The Church teaches that there will be a final judgment when Christ
comes again. Rather than a court-like judgment where people are
either directed to the "up or down escalators," however, the final
judgment is simply being in His presence. The Church teaches that
everyone - whether they believed or even heard about God and Jesus,
will have to face Him, the One who is love. While in this life we are
able to live as if there is no God, no Christ, no Spirit, no Church,
when Christ comes again and we face Him, we will not be able to
pretend anymore.
For some people, whose entire lives were based on love, both for
Him and their "neighbor," this will be paradise. For people who
lived their lives without any love for Him and their "neighbor,"
who were only concerned with themselves, this will be a torturous
hell were there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Mt 8:21).
This won't be because He withholds salvation from anyone or
because of anything He does, but because of Who He is and how we
react to being near Him.
To help understand this, think back to a time you had to be with
someone you really did not like, versus a time when you were with
someone you really liked. One was a painful experience that felt
as if it would never end, and the other was a fun time that flew
by and was over too quickly. Imagine how much more the joy and/or
torment will be when we face God Himself and are basked in His
glory and love forever.
Thus it is the Church's spiritual teaching that God does not
punish us by some material fire or physical torment. God simply
reveals Himself as the risen Lord Jesus in such a glorious way
that no man can fail to behold His glory. It is being in this
Presence that is either a person's heaven or hell.
This is what we should be considering when we prepare for
confession or reflect on our lives: have we lived a life of love,
or have we lived a life of hate, self-love, and indifference? We
also need to be careful about what we mean when we say "love."
God's love is not romance and nice feelings. Rather, it is
patience, perseverence, self-sacrifice, joy, humility, etc. For a
good definition, check out 1 Cor 13:4-8a.
Many of the ideas in this answer were taken and rephrased from the
Spirituality volume of the Orthodox Faith Rainbow Book series (pages 196-197
in the paper version). If you want to check it out:
Next issue:
If you have a question, or know a friend who does, send it to us at
youth@oca.org. We'll give you a direct
and concise answer!
In response to our ongoing discussion about:
Nick Woog from MN writes:
Being Orthodox we are "unified"; however, the main thing that is
stopping us is jurisdictional conflicts. When different Patriarchates
have a bishop in the same city, this causes the greatest problem.
Another problem is that the Church of Constantinople does not
recognize us [the Orthodox Church in America] as an Autocephalous
Orthodox Church. There has to be some way to get around this
obstacle. I'm sure, like many others, we all have our own opinions,
ideas, and solutions that aren't appropriate for mass e-mails, and
part of me doesn't think it should be that way.
Regardless, we are Orthodox, we are united in that aspect, and only by
stretching our boundaries, going over to a nearby Greek, Serbian, or
Russian Church, will we ever be completely united as a community. I
also believe time is on our side, but only it will tell.
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From the Office:
Cyberpals are Coming & Tell Us about Life on Campus
Food for the Soul
"Lord, I know that, despite all the tragedy and suffering in the world,
You are with us. You constantly show us that you will not forget us and
that there is hope in the bleakest of times. Help me to see Your face in
the people around me, for it is You who put them there. Amen."
Movie: What Dreams May Come
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In the News
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Real Questions, Real Answers!
Hell and Judgement
Christians and Halloween
Readers Write ...
Another Word on Orthodox Unity in North America
How can we actively participate in helping to develop a single unified
Orthodox Church in North America where all Orthodox Christians of all
ethnic backgrounds witness to the Gospel of our Lord?