Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Do you really think your kids are going to live a better manifestation of Christian lives if they know they distinction between heaven and paradise? I seriously doubt it. It's a detail.
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I have a somewhat different take. I think these distinctions are important. I think they were important to the writers and hearers (the NT was largely orally disseminated, at first. Few actually had access to written texts). If they were not important, they wouldn't be there in the record, as such.
But today, after 2,000 years, it is hard (for me) to recreate all of this with the certitude which I see displayed elsewhere. What I think important for our children is that they see us earnestly pursuing the reality of these words together in a spirit of gentleness and peace, and not crossing swords over distinctions. If we tell our kids, "this is how it is", then they will either become mindless robots who repeat what we say as if it were the truth ("Bruther Lee says"), or they will find inadequacies in our arguments and reject it whole cloth.
Better, I feel, that we pursue, and invite others to join us in the pursuit. "The kingdom", "Heaven", "paradise", and the role of "the overcomers" are distinctions worthy of our careful attention. But 1) it bugs me when people oversimplify things and treat it as if "it were so", and 2) I am aware that I do the same, and must allow the Lord to come in our conversation, with His gentle rebuke: "O foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!"