Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site pucc-h Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!CS-Mordred!Pucc-H:aeq 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."