Thank you Andre. For a while now I have been thinking about the cloud of witnesses, on a similar line to what you have shared here. Also, as you were speaking; the verse "In Him we live and move and have our being" was running like a tickertape in my mind, except that each time I was hearing: "In Him we live and breathe" !!! I suddenly 'felt', had a 'sense of' total saturation in Christ - a total immersion of living and breathing Him in an almost perceptible and tangible way!! Totally and utterly enveloped where there is no separation just Being and Oneness. So hard to put into words, but hopefully makes some kind of sense :). Roddy and I send our love to you both xx
Dear Andre, my dad passed away last night and your thoughts are very helpful at this difficult time. Thank you dear friend. Love to Maryanne. Mark& Fiona
Oh precious friends - may you experience the embrace of our Abba .. and ours, knowing that your dad is now part of that great cloud of witnesses, cheering you on.
Hey Andre, beautiful word by the way. The other day I was thinking about physics of all things and of how there have been geniuses in the past who can't figure out what they call spooky action from a distance. That one particle can affect another particle no matter how far away it is. Whether it's a million miles away or light years away. I was thinking that is all about perception. That time and space is really our perception and that it really doesn't exist. So there really is no distance or separation from God. Just like in. John 14:20 or all through the book of John and John 17.
Your idea of the body as a "filter" for our experiences is powerful. However, there’s an important point to consider here. When we see the body only as a filter, it can suggest, almost like Gnosticism, that the body is a kind of obstacle or limitation. Christian belief, though, holds that our bodies aren’t just temporary containers to discard but are actually a core part of who we are. The resurrection promises that our bodies will be renewed, not removed. If we lose the body without that hope of resurrection, we lose the filter that allows us to connect fully with others and with the world. The resurrection shows us that the body is a gift, meant to be transformed-not left behind. Rather than seeing the body as something that gets in the way, we can view it as a vital part of how we experience life. In resurrection, our bodies will allow us to experience even deeper love, life, and connection in God’s presence, without any of the limits we face now. I would think that a reflection on death from a Christian perspective would be deeply focused on resurrection as described in 1 Thess 4.
Hi Bertie. I can fully affirm that the body is a significant part of who we are, enabling us to experience our world from a unique perspective. There is a fascinating harmony that exists between limitation and creativity. It's the very limitation of my body that produces the uniqueness of my experience & perspective. And although the apostle Paul envisions that we will have another form of embodiment, he also thinks that some of the limitations will be transformed, writing: " For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life."
Very well explained, and with grace. On the subject of person who has passed; it might be postulated that the 'consciousness filter' (the body and mind) of their life has turned to dust, but the higher (soul) part of them, which always belonged to God, remains with Him? Therefore, is it reasonable to postulate, that when one 'speaks' (prays) to their deceased, that they are in fact speaking to God? I know this one thing, and this is my point; it is always God whom answers my prayers. I do not need to know more than this.
Thank you Andre. For a while now I have been thinking about the cloud of witnesses, on a similar line to what you have shared here. Also, as you were speaking; the verse "In Him we live and move and have our being" was running like a tickertape in my mind, except that each time I was hearing: "In Him we live and breathe" !!! I suddenly 'felt', had a 'sense of' total saturation in Christ - a total immersion of living and breathing Him in an almost perceptible and tangible way!! Totally and utterly enveloped where there is no separation just Being and Oneness. So hard to put into words, but hopefully makes some kind of sense :). Roddy and I send our love to you both xx
So beautiful Dawn!
Thank you so much Andre...very very inspirational...filled with hope! In HIM all things are held together!
Dear Andre, my dad passed away last night and your thoughts are very helpful at this difficult time. Thank you dear friend. Love to Maryanne. Mark& Fiona
Oh precious friends - may you experience the embrace of our Abba .. and ours, knowing that your dad is now part of that great cloud of witnesses, cheering you on.
Thank you, Andre, for this inspiring and eye opening meditation!
beautiful expressed, Andre, I agree with your view on death and eternity.
Hey Andre, beautiful word by the way.
The other day I was thinking about physics of all things and of how there have been geniuses in the past who can't figure out what they call spooky action from a distance. That one particle can affect another particle no matter how far away it is. Whether it's a million miles away or light years away.
I was thinking that is all about perception. That time and space is really our perception and that it really doesn't exist. So there really is no distance or separation from God. Just like in. John 14:20 or all through the book of John and John 17.
Another way of thinking about it… if time and space do exist, we are part of the One who saturates it all
thank you, Andre.
Your idea of the body as a "filter" for our experiences is powerful. However, there’s an important point to consider here. When we see the body only as a filter, it can suggest, almost like Gnosticism, that the body is a kind of obstacle or limitation.
Christian belief, though, holds that our bodies aren’t just temporary containers to discard but are actually a core part of who we are. The resurrection promises that our bodies will be renewed, not removed. If we lose the body without that hope of resurrection, we lose the filter that allows us to connect fully with others and with the world.
The resurrection shows us that the body is a gift, meant to be transformed-not left behind. Rather than seeing the body as something that gets in the way, we can view it as a vital part of how we experience life. In resurrection, our bodies will allow us to experience even deeper love, life, and connection in God’s presence, without any of the limits we face now. I would think that a reflection on death from a Christian perspective would be deeply focused on resurrection as described in 1 Thess 4.
Hi Bertie. I can fully affirm that the body is a significant part of who we are, enabling us to experience our world from a unique perspective. There is a fascinating harmony that exists between limitation and creativity. It's the very limitation of my body that produces the uniqueness of my experience & perspective. And although the apostle Paul envisions that we will have another form of embodiment, he also thinks that some of the limitations will be transformed, writing: " For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life."
We have a relationship with those who have taken another form.
Very well explained, and with grace. On the subject of person who has passed; it might be postulated that the 'consciousness filter' (the body and mind) of their life has turned to dust, but the higher (soul) part of them, which always belonged to God, remains with Him? Therefore, is it reasonable to postulate, that when one 'speaks' (prays) to their deceased, that they are in fact speaking to God?
I know this one thing, and this is my point; it is always God whom answers my prayers. I do not need to know more than this.
Maybe it's more of a buffer, a "fallen" filter, made heavy by it's connection to the matrix, the cosmos
“so that you don’t not live any longer in the fear of death”.
Death.....