Today I read 1 Corinthians 15, which is a bit of a conundrum. There are several good things to talk about in this chapter and it's hard to narrow down what would be most beneficial for me to write about today. I will try and cover everything and we will see how it goes. The first thing I was impressed with is Paul tells them that he knows some of the people do not believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. This reminds me a lot of the argument that some people try and make that they think Jesus Christ was a great teacher but He was not the Son of God. Whenever I hear such a nonsensical statement I just smile and shake my head. I am reminded of what C. S. Lewis once said about it. I will not be doing a direct quote but will paraphrase. C. S. Lewis stated that it is impossible to view Jesus Christ as a great teacher but not the Son of God. It's really not possible. Jesus purposefully took that option away from us.
The reason is because Jesus claimed, multiple times that He was the Son of God. If this is true, then there is nothing wrong. However, if Jesus was not the Son of God, then He was a blasphemer of the worst sort, or perhaps mentally ill. We can only take Jesus at His word that He was what He said He was, the literal Son of God on earth, or He was a deplorable, despicable human being that should be shunned and everything He ever taught would have to be discounted. He was either for God, or for Satan. Those are the only 2 possibilities He left us with, on purpose I believe. I am quite confident that He purposefully did not leave it open that He was a great teacher but not the Son of God.
Likewise if we doubt His rising from the dead, then like Paul says our faith is in vain and it is all for nothing. Because if He did not rise from the dead, then neither will we and this whole life is pointless. I once lived with a missionary, he was not my companion but we lived in the same apartment for about 3 months. He was very logical about most things and he and I once got to talking about atheists. He told me the next time I met one that I should ask them what drives them to get out of bed in the morning. At first I just laughed and shrugged it off, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that he was right. If you do not have a hope in a future life after this one, then what is the point of this life at all? If this is all we get, how can anyone justify getting out of bed at all with the chance for death all around us? What drives people to do that which is good if not the hope for a better life after this one or love of God, or even fear of eternal punishment? Such people that don't believe in a better life or even another one whether it is better or not, I have no idea what motivates them to do anything. it is a mystery.
This chapter also contains Paul's famous question to the Saints in Corinth that doubt the resurrection in verse 29 where he asks them why do they perform baptisms for the dead if the dead rise not at all? He is using something that was common to the time and understood and accepted that needed no explaining because everyone knew what it was. It would kind of be like me giving an example using airplanes. I would feel no need to explain what an airplane is because they are so commonplace that everyone over 4 years of age knows what they are. But in 200 years if someone read my words they might not understand them because they might not still be using airplanes. But the early Saints did baptisms for the dead. Which means that they did proxy work for those who had passed on without a chance to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ for themselves, just as we do in this day and age in our temples. Non-members frequently want to know what we do in our temples that is so secretive. We are not shy about what goes on in our temples, but it is very sacred so we choose only to talk about it in certain ways.
I have mentioned in the past that in the temples we perform sacred ordinances for those who have passed on and for ourselves. This does in fact include baptisms for those who are deceased and have not had an opportunity to hear and accept the Gospel if they had been allowed to tarry and hear the Gospel in this life. It is more evidence of a loving and merciful God in my opinion.
The last part of the chapter that I like is the reference to the various types of bodies that we can have in the resurrection. Paul does not go into detail, but he does mention that there are more than just one type of resurrected body that we can receive in the next life. As a matter of fact, I am not sure how it works, but there are 3 different types of glory that we can inherit, so perhaps there are 3 different types of bodies we can receive too, I truly don't know. I do know that not all resurrected beings will receive the same reward though. And that is only fair, because not everyone lives the same kind of life. I am extremely uncomfortable with some kinds of people in this life and I can't imagine spending eternity with them at all. That, to me, would be hell. But that does not mean they are bad people. We just don't see eye to eye on most things and so I find them annoying or downright offensive. I am extremely grateful that there are multiple degrees of glory that we can inherit and that God has provided for almost all possible scenarios.
God is perfect and has prepared the perfect plan. We need to have faith in that and trust in Him that He will do right by us. He has not a hint of deception in Him. He is open with us and has told us all about His plan through His prophets and has made it perfectly clear to us what will happen to us after this life. All we have to do is read His words that He has provided to us and trust them. If we do that, then we have the potential to inherit any kind of life we want after this one. God loves us and has provided a place for each one of us according to our desires. He truly is merciful. Until tomorrow.
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