Here goes.....
. There is a lot to respond to....
Yes, I understand what you mean, but that is just the point. Jesus did not use mythology to get his points across....but he did use metaphor. "Death" for example is used metaphorically by Jesus.
A man responding to Jesus' invitation to be his follower said he would first have to bury his father. There was no indication that his father had already died but the suggestion was that he would be free to follow Jesus more fully after his father had passed away. But Jesus said, "let the dead bury their dead and you keep following me"......how do the dead bury their dead? What was Jesus really telling this man?
People were said to be "dead in their trespasses"....we know that these people were physically alive.....but spiritually dead.
When you analyse the details of this particular parable, particularly according to the fact that Jesus was preaching to Jews, they had to understand what he meant.....and since they had no scriptural teaching of heaven and hell....that thought would never have entered their mind. The idea of immortal souls going to heaven or hell came much later from Christendom's apostasy. (Borrowed from pagan Greek ideas)
Jesus said it was not always granted to people to grasp the full depth of his illustrations, so unless the disciples specifically asked for an explanation...(which the apostles often did)....they would not get the full import of all of them. It showed that they were not just passive listeners but genuinely wanting to understand.
Do you recall a time when Jesus spoke about "eating his flesh and drinking his blood"? His Jewish audience were at once stumbled and left in disgust. Jesus did not call them back but asked his apostles if they were going to leave as well? Peter said "Lord whom shall we go away to? You have the sayings of everlasting life".....so Jesus gave them the explanation of what he meant. These are lessons in teaching and response.....sometimes we react before we have waited for the explanation. Not everything is as it appears.
Jesus wasn't talking to a vision....he was part of the vision. It was Jesus who said it was a vision...remember? Jesus had been anointed with holy spirit and had powers that no other human had at that time. He was fulfilling a promise. The three apostles were granted a rare privilege of seeing Jesus as their glorified King.
Actually Jesus did not recall any of his former life until his anointing after his baptism. Before that he was just Jesus the carpenter's son. He had no special abilities except perhaps his sinlessness and what that would have meant in mortal flesh. e.g. his perfect immune function would have meant that he never got sick and his perfect physical skills would have been remarkable....his optimal brain capacity would have meant exceptional intelligence and ability to retain knowledge, as the teachers at the temple soon realised when he spent three days with them. But he had no recall of his former life until Jehovah opened up the heavens to reveal it all. He spent 40 days in the wilderness coming to terms with this revelation and no doubt receiving instruction from his Father to aid him in his difficult course.
Paul said that Jesus was "the firstborn from the dead"....but he was not the first one resurrected. That privilege belongs to Elijah who raised the son of a widow long before Jesus came to the earth. So, how was he "firstborn from the dead"? He was the first human to be raised in a spirit body. His anointed ones would die the same death and experience the same resurrection. That is what it meant to be "baptized into his death".
The only ones chosen to rule with Jesus in heaven were his disciples. The "new covenant" was made with them and the foundations of "heavenly Jerusalem" (God's kingdom) are the 12 apostles.
Those who died before Jesus will have positions of authority in the earthly part of the kingdom, just as they did before. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob formed the nation of fleshly Israel from whom the Messiah came. They all looked forward to the coming "seed" and what he would accomplish. Their faith was sustained by God's promises for the future. (Hebrews 11)
Paul mentioned physical bodies and spiritual bodies. It is not a difficult thing for the one 'recreating' a person to give them a body that will be sustained in the realm where they are assigned. In order to dwell in heaven, Christ's anointed ones have to be raised in an appropriate body. Fleshly bodies cannot exist in a spiritual realm. The anointed ones longed to be free of their ailing fleshly bodies and to be given new spirit bodies unshackled by the sin that weighed them down. This "glorious freedom" is what they longed for. Those who will live on earth will also get to experience life without the burden of sin and death. That is really something to look forward to. (Revelation 21:2-4)
That is correct. Each one will be a 'recreation' of their former self. For those who died thousands of years ago, there would be no body to resurrect, not to mention those eaten by other creatures (sharks, crocs or lions) God must of necessity recreate them, instilling all their memories and personality so that they will recognise themselves and so will their loved ones.
What if satan is not making someone conscious outside their body, but implanting thoughts and visions in their head at a very vulnerable time? The demons are all around us and their intent is to deceive....how better than to muddy the waters about death? The idea of an immortal soul makes the teaching of the resurrection, redundant.
That is their agenda....to suggest to you that we don't really die, when God said we would. Satan is a liar and an opportunist.
Could satan plant that movie in her head? I believe he could.
The Bible says that "satan transforms himself into an
angel of light" and the one common thing that those who experience NDE's see is "the light". He is a mimic. I see the connection....do you?
It does when you understand his agenda. We were created to live in paradise....it has a natural appeal. The devil is a deceiver and he uses mimicry as bait to attract the uneducated and easily led. I believe that describes the majority of people in Christendom. It did when I was part of it. They blindly accept things without questioning them. We should question every teaching and research the words and their original meanings. We have so many resources available these days.
