The Resurrection Of The Dead...Continued from page 4

All these approaches are directly contrary to the Scriptures. There is no annihilation. You are an everlasting person. You are not just absorbed into nature. There is no reincarnation. This completely defies biblical teaching. You'll not find any talk about reincarnation in the Bible. That's pagan, not Christian thought. I am amazed how many Christians have absorbed contemporary thinking about reincarnation. It's time that we rule this out as a possibility. Your speculations may produce many things. However, they will not produce confidence and hope. In my forty-one-plus years of ordained ministry, I have presided at hundreds of funerals and memorial services.

You can tell the difference between the funeral of a believer in Jesus Christ from one who is not. Sorrow? Yes, in both cases. For the nonbeliever, it's the sorrow of emptiness. It's downbeat. Gloom. Questions. The uncertainty takes over.

Some of those along whom I've stood at the time of death have been highly intellectual individuals who would rationalize away the biblical concept of life and death. When confronted with the departing of a loved one, their philosophy bred no hope. There is sorrow. It is the sorrow of despair. The future is one big question mark. There was no hope. No joy was present. They sorrowed as those who had no hope.

There is a second kind of sorrow. This sorrow has hope. It understands. It is humbled by the events of life. It is aware of its own human limitations. This sorrow accepts the Christian faith. This person believes in Jesus Christ. He claims His promise. He sees Jesus as the first fruits of all who died. He lives with a great joy, knowing that Jesus Christ offers an immortality of life.

Visit Rome. Walk through those miles of underground tunnels called catacombs. Look at the little meeting rooms in which the early Christians gathered for worship. View the symbols inscribed on the walls. Remember the fact that thousands of these men and women met their death because of their faith in Jesus Christ. Do the catacombs stand today as a symbol of morbid depression? No! They stand as evidence to the fact that you can live and die with hope, even joy, as did those early Christians who were willing to give their lives for Christ. Jesus was their first fruit. Jesus was the Second Adam.

If Jesus was not raised, and we will not be raised, not only are we to be pitied, we are basically wasting our time.

Paul writes, "And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour? I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you ? a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord. If with merely human hopes I fought with wild animals at Ephesus, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised, 'Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.'" (1 Corinthians 15:30-32).