jnelson@trwrba.UUCP (John T. Nelson) (12/08/84)
One thing we don't know, for instance, is in what way sin causes death. I have no problems rejecting the "death as punishment" theory (on the first death anyway); I'm not entirely convinced of any of the alternatives. To be able to answer this question, it seems to me, may require understanding of the working of the universe on a par with God's understanding. Sin causes death of the self. This is not the conventional death. It's death of what you are, the absence and unfulfillment of the abundant life that Christ promised. It is very easy to experience death without death of the body. The second death I take to refer to death after one's conventional demise on earth... but as you say, its a tuff call. - John