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From: aeq@pucc-h (Jeff Sargent)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Jesus vs. the big D
Message-ID: <1259@pucc-h>
Date: Tue, 25-Sep-84 10:27:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: pucc-h.1259
Posted: Tue Sep 25 10:27:53 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 27-Sep-84 06:09:46 EDT
References: <1107@ihuxi.UUCP>
Organization: Tucumcari Divinity School
Lines: 47

From Russell Spence (ihuxi!russ):

>> "Jesus looked Death in the eye, and Death blinked first."  [my .signature]

> I've seen this on Jeff's sign-off line a couple of times now, and every
> time I saw it, it bothered me.  To me, Jesus and Death do not belong in
> the same universe....Death (with a capital D. you know the scythe wielding,
> black robed skeleton) is something of a mythical or symbolic symbol.

Sorry this put you off.  I got it from a sermon I heard a few weeks ago; I
don't know if the preacher originated it himself or got it elsewhere.  He
was merely using this statement as a (clever, fresh, and powerful, I thought)
way of affirming the victory Jesus has already obtained over death (small "d")
and Satan.  It was indeed symbolic.

> Is Death just one of God's angels?

No; the Bible records that God's angel *caused* the deaths of numerous people
(e.g. the Assyrian armies attacking Jerusalem), but this does not necessarily
mean that that angel does that as a full-time job.

Actually, in Revelation, there is a little phrase "death [I think it's a small
'd'] and hell were cast into the lake of fire."  I am not going to claim any
great skill at interpreting the Book of Revelation in detail!

> The passage seems to imply that Jesus is fighting Death.  Not just our
> physical or spiritual death but an entity named Death that seeks to steal
> our souls.

One of your other questions was "Is he [Death] in league with Satan?"  Jesus
is fighting Satan, an entity that seeks to steal our souls and bring us to
spiritual death -- or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that He helps
us to fight Satan; Jesus Himself already defeated him by rising from the dead.

> There seems to be confusion of symbols here (possibly on my part).  Christians
> should be careful of this kind of confusion (at least one person, me, was
> confused) because it may alienate some people and it causes a misunderstanding
> of Christ's true message.

Gee....  Here we try to state the true message in a new and arresting way, and
it causes confusion.  A pity.  However, after this article, I will come up with
a new .signature; Paul indicates that one should not cause another to stumble.

-- 
-- Jeff Sargent
{decvax|harpo|ihnp4|inuxc|seismo|ucbvax}!pur-ee!pucc-h:aeq
"Jesus looked Death in the eye, and Death blinked first."