Season 5 Podcast 23, Argument for the Existence of God, Episode 28, “His Many Mansions.”

Season 5 Podcast 23, Argument for the Existence of God, Episode 28, “His Many Mansions.”Having imperfections on earth is the price of mortality.  Without mortality we could not comprehend or appreciate immortality.  The principle of opposition is necessary. If we don’t know sorrow, we can never know joy.  God does not create his children like cars on an assembly line, each product just like the one before. We are free agents to choose for ourselves. On earth we are in a malleable stage.  There will never be another experience like earth. God created us so that we could create ourselves. The children’s writer Lloyd Alexander called us “A Great Perhaps.”  We are now determining what we will be like forever. Every decision we make on this mortal earth determines who we shall become in the eternities.  When man creates, he controls the end product. Quality assurance it is called. When God creates, he endows his creations with the power to become whatever it is they wish to become.  The Holy Scriptures are a guideline to eternal progression.  We may choose to follow those guidelines or not. We may follow the enticements of God which lead to liberty and eternal life, or we may follow the enticements of Satan which lead to captivity and eternal damnation. When we think of damnation we automatically think of hell, but really it merely means the end of progression. It is true that there is a hell where some will be punished for their sins, but the only real damnation is the end of progression in an eternity of open opportunity. A mortal body is perfect for mortal earth, but only a resurrected immortal body can give us the freedom we need in heaven where there is no end to progression.  Imagine sitting idle for eternity.  If you want a good description of hell, there could be no greater damnation than eternal idleness. There will be a huge variety in heaven.Paul introduces the doctrine of three heavens or three separate degrees of glory in 1 Corinthians 15: 40-41: 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. The only distinguishing characteristics of resurrected beings are light and glory.Light and glory translate to truth and power.  The greater the light and glory, the greater the truth and power. The greater the truth and power, the greater the freedom.  Paul uses light and glory to describe his vision of Christ to King Agrippa: “At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. … And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” Speaking of the transfiguration we are told that Christ “…was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him..” (Matthew 17:2-3)  John the Revelator, who also saw the resurrected Christ in vision, tells us, “And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength..”  (Revelation 1:13-16)