kriz@skat.usc.edu (Dennis Kriz) (03/25/91)
In my mind related to the question of "unforgivable sin" is the whole question of what heaven is going to look like. Consider if someone rejects or intentionally does harm to someone in this life. Now both people are dead, and Christ sees nothing particularly "unforgivable" with either, but there's a lot of unresolved pain left between the two. The person wronged actually has it easy ... presumably he/she has acquired over his/her life on earth a forgiving nature (or else he/she wouldn't be in there to begin with). But the other is left with the guilt of having harmed this person in this life and now face to face with him/her with Christ's arm over this person's shoulder... Perhaps we really can't fix all the wrongs that we may have committed in this life, but we can at least pray for the well-being of those we had mistreated (when we were not so "wise"). Trying to guess how "the community of heaven" would work, or how these kind of INEVITABLE encounters at the "banquet" or "wedding feast" would play out ... is actually quite fascinating to me. Anybody with any ideas?? dennis kriz@skat.usc.edu
st0o+@andrew.cmu.edu (Steven Timm) (03/27/91)
One probable encounter which will happen in heaven will be the apostle Paul meeting Stephen, whom he was instrumental in having stoned. My feeling is this; the living and reigning with Christ for a thousand years, (the millenium) is for a purpose. When Revelation 21 says that God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, this means initially that there *will* be tears. I think there will also be a necessary adjustment time, and even though heaven may be free of temptation and free of sin, people will have some emotional adjustment to do in a place where all is love. Steve Timm