Two Homes, Two Destinies

Making Too Much of Bones

The cartoon made the point that one could not distinguish between sinners by looking at their skeletons.  In doing so, it glossed over the reality that sin must be forgiven; never excused.

A great deal has been said about the bones of man, recently. Certainly, bones are of great concern for man. However, we care only a little for the bones of man, as Christians, or for the flesh, skin, organs, even the brain: for all of these will die, be buried, and return to the dust from which these things were all made. Yes, it is true that these bones will be raised again at the last judgment.

Nevertheless, our principal concern is with the spirit of man: for God breathed into man the spirit of life and man became a living soul. Well, all animals have souls (Nephesh), don't they? Of all the animals, man (both male and female) is special; man is marked with the image and likeness of God Himself. So when the Son of God becomes man by adding to Himself a complete Human nature, something Cosmic is going on; an event so enormous that it shakes every star and planet in the universe. When Jesus is born of Mary, the stars and planets paid attention and worshipped: angels sing, shepherds bow, kings march forth. And when Christ is crucified....

This spirit of man, this immaterial aspect of man is capable of doing something that angels and animals cannot do. Man can sin. Worse yet, man is capable of suppressing the truth, and denying that he has sinned. Still more deceptive, man is capable of being an atheist. And man is capable of sweeping all of this under the table, with the words, "It is my genetic tendency, my DNA strand made me do it."

Frequently, man desires to embrace such folly, and yet claim the name of Christian. This just won't work. Such a person is no Christian at all. God is not deceived by such antics, neither is He mocked by them.

A Christian follows Jesus, and that always carries a price. For those who follow Jesus, He has prepared an eternal home. God's destiny for men and women is that they might become Christ-like, god-like. This takes a lot of hammering, but God is well able to do it. God has in mind the perfection of the image and likeness of God in man. What an enormous gift. This too is Cosmic.

Nevertheless, there will always be those who reject such a gift. Tragic. They follow the counsel of fallen angels, or demons. God has also prepared an eternal home for these angels: namely Hell, which is more accurately described as the Lake of Fire. Men who follow fallen angels, will follow them right into the Lake of Fire. How can one convince such men that this is a bad idea: an idea so bad that God has spent the whole course of human history persuading men not to do this, not to follow demons, not to see themselves as mere bones.

What a shame. Those who only look to bones can never comprehend the glory God wants to give to sinful man. What a shame.