Life And Death - From Moses To Jesus

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17 KJV)

But Adam went on to live till 930 years, far longer than any of us.

Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:60 KJV)

How can the dead bury their dead?

Actually, the Bible basically promise life to those who obey God and death to those who disobey.

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10b KJV)

The theme of life and death was developed throughout the Bible with more and more detail and we now know that death will be the last enemy to be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26).

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away. (Revelation 21:4 HCSB)

Adam was dead when he disobeyed God. The nice people who explain things to laymen like us (the theologians) define this as "spiritual death". Eventually Adam died physically. This was when his soul separate from his body. This is "physical death". Thus what Jesus was saying is really let the "spiritually dead" bury the "physically dead". Thus death is really separation, not a loss of consciousness. Spiritual death is separation of our spirit from God and physical death is the separation of the soul from the body.

To all humans, physical death is the death they see. It is this death that all religions address to. God does not care about physical death. It is spiritual death that is His concern. In the Law (or the Pentateuch), God does not even bother to distinguish between the two. Right down to Jesus, death was used to describe both condition without distinction.

Thus from the beginning (in the Law or Pentateuch), God laid down the most important definition of life, death and redemption. He promised redemption or life (Genesis 3:15, Genesis 22:13-14, Exodus 12:12-13) to those who believe.

History According to Evolution

In the beginning (about 13.7 billion years ago) there was a big bang. The big bang begat matter and energy.

Now this is the generation of matter. Matter began as particles. Particles begat atoms and molecules. Atoms and molecules begat stars. Stars begat planets and among them, the planet earth.

Now this is the generation of planet earth. Right conditions on earth allow molecules to begat DNA. DNA begat cells. Cells begat multi-cellular organisms, among them were apes. And apes begat humans and humans invented religion.

Now this is the generation of religion. At first humans are ignorant. There were many things in nature they did not understand and could not control. They were fearful and invented a new concept called god, which they believed were in control of those things. They worshipped these gods and brought them offerings, hoping that these gods would then return them some favors. However, as knowledge increase and power over the nature grew, these polytheistic gods became too small to be respected.

Then Pharaoh Akhenaten in Egypt invented monotheism by forcing every Egyptian to worship Aten. Moses learned monotheism from the Egyptians and made Yahweh Israel's only God. At first Yahweh was just a tribal God of Israel. As Israel's political fortune sunk, they compensated by making Yahweh bigger and bigger, until He became the creator of heavens and the earth. During the time of Babylonian exile, myths about the origins of Israel, filled with miracles, were written into the Old Testament. Then came Jesus and more myths and miracles were added and these were called the New Testament.

Now the White Europeans were more evolved than other humans. Their knowledge in science and technology increased greatly. Many mysteries were solved and they made the forces of nature their servants. They discovered evolution and the big bang and realized that God is not required for the creation and functioning of the universe. Everything can be explained by science. Thus atheism was invented. In future, as knowledge increases and the need for gods to explain mysteries decreases, monotheism and polytheism will become extinct, like the dinosaurs.

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (Romans 1:21-23 NASB)

But the Bible tells us that it was monotheism that came first, then degenerated into polytheism and atheism. Evolution thrives in ignorance. As knowledge increase, evolution will become harder and harder to explain. Eventually, it will be proven scientifically that evolution is simply impossible and then it will become extinct, like abiogenesis.

British Promises In Middle East (1915-1918)

The British

1. promised Hussein, the Sharif of Mecca, that it would support an independent Arab kingdom under his rule, stretching from Damascus to the Arabian peninsular in return for fighting the Ottomans (McMahon-Hussein correspondence 1915);
2. entered into a secret with France to divide the Middle East into spheres of influence in the event of an Allied victory but placing the Holy Lands under an international control (Sykes Picot agreement of 1916);
3. promised prominent Jews in Britain that the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine would be looked on with favour by the British (Balfour Declaration 1917);
4. agreed set up and recognize indigenous governments in Syria and Mesopotamia (Anglo-French Declaration 1918).

Promise 1 and 4 were partial kept. Hussein became the King of Transjordan. Promise 2 and 3 result in today's Israel, Jordan, Syria and Iraq.

All these things were not accidents. These events will eventually leads to the establishment of God's Kingdom.

Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. (Daniel 2:45 KJV)

Using Einstein's Theory of Relativity to Reconcile the Six Day Creation with Science

There is this website "Six Days | SixDay Science" that try to reconcile the 6-day creation with the age of the universe using Einstein's theory of relativity, that is, time is relative to the observer's motion. Thus from God's view point, which is the universal cosmic clock, the time taken is 6 days. But since God stretched the universe, the time of the universe is changed. This website claimed that the universal cosmic clock is the cosmic microwave background. This is an interesting way to reconcile the six day creation and the age of the universe and perceived by scientist. This website also has a link to another website that list 26 statements in Genesis 1 that can be tested against current scientific understanding about the creation of the universe and the development of life on Earth.

Coming Events - Updated 2017

1. Kings of the north and kings of the south (Daniel 11:36-45)
2. Egypt (Isaiah 19:16-22)
3. All the tribes of Israel restored (Deuteronomy 30:1-10, Isaiah 11:11-13, Jeremiah 3:18,  Ezekiel 37:15-28, Hosea 1:11)
4. Israel's wars with inner circle of neighbors (Psalm 83:4-8, Isaiah 11:14-15)
5. Israel's wars with outer circle of neighbors, Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38:18-39:8)
6. Rise of the new world power and the beast (Daniel 2:42-43, Daniel 7:7-8, Revelation 17:12-13)
7. The rapture (Matthew 24:36-44, Luke 12:39-40, 1 Corinthians 15:51-53, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 16:15)
8. Seven years of tribulation, the Great Tribulation (Daniel 9:27)
9. The Second Coming of Christ (Revelation 19:11-19, Matthew 24:29-31, Luke 21:25-28, Zechariah 14:4, Acts 1:11-12)
10. The beast and false prophet cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20-21)
11. Satan cast into the Bottomless Pit (Revelation 20:1-3)
12. First Resurrection (Revelation 20:4-6)
13. The Millennium (Isaiah 65:19-25, Revelation 20:4-6)
14. Satan released (Revelation 20:7)
15. Gog and Magog again (Revelation 20:8-9)
16. Satan cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10)
17. The Last Judgement / Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15)
18. New Heaven, New Earth, New Jerusalem (Isaiah 65:17-18, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 21:1-22:6)

No one knows when Christ will come again. (Matthew 24:36,42, Luke 12:40, Revelation 16:15)