Understanding Faith: Life After Death and Truth

"Historically classical Christian theology speaks of what we call the status intermediates or the intermediate State and that has to do with where we go immediately upon death as distinguished from our state after the final resurrection that is to say as the New Testament would indicate Paul says the depart is uh better than to stay he was more needful to stay here for us but to depart and be with Christ was far better and he certainly indicates that as soon as we die our souls go immediately into the presence of God and into the presence of Christ but in that particular intermediate State we're disembodied souls and we won't have our glorified bodies until after the coming of Christ and the great Resurrection where our souls will then at that point be reunited with our body so first Souls continued consciousness of our personal existence the instant we die we go into heaven in our soul State and then we await the final consummation of the resurrection of our bodies." [00:01:31]

"Well when we talk about the separation of church and state you know you know all the historical questions that came from Jefferson a letter wasn't in the Constitution or Declaration or anything but it was accurate in so far as there's a division of labor that the Bible makes clear that God ordains the church governs the church God also ordains the state and he governs the state a few years ago I was invited to speak at the inaugural prayer breakfast of the governor of Florida and on that occasion I said to the governor I said today is your ordination day that you've been ordained by God for this position of political Authority and you will be answerable to God for how you carry out this Mission so we distinguish between the Spheres of activity it's not the responsibility of the church to Bear the sword it's not the responsibility of the state to be giving the sacraments and all of that so there are different duties and tasks that are assigned between the church and the state." [00:15:00]

"Unfortunately in our culture today the Mantra of separ separation of state and church has come to mean something quite different namely the separation of state from God it's one thing to separate the church from the state it's something else to separate the state from God the state has declared its independence from God and wants to have its own authority rather than to be accountable to the things of God now you get a question like abortion and uh and the church speaks out against it and a lot of people scream about that saying this is a violation of church and state and so on and it's an un an unjust intrusion of the church into the political realm however when we speak to an issue like abortion which is the most significant ethical issue I believe this nation has ever had to deal with far more uh serious than even the Diabolical problem of slavery y but in this case we're not asking the state to be the church we're asking the state to be the state because the state's primary raise on debt it's primary reason for existence in its original creation by God primarily is to maintain protect and honor the sanctity of human life and when the state fails to do that it fails to do its task before God." [00:15:57]

"Now God commands us to seek after him God commands us to be perfect God commands us to be obedient in all things now the assumption is that that if God commands you to do something you must have the ability to do it this is what created the biggest theological issue in the the first four centuries of Christendom the issue between the monk Pelagius and Augustine over the question of whether we as Fallen human beings have the ability the moral ability to lead perfect lives Augustine had made a prayer where he said words that this effect o Lord command what thou wouldst and Grant what thou dust command and Pelagius took umbrage at that when he's saing why would you ask God to give you the ability to do something that he commands you to do obviously if he commands you to do it you can do it and aasa said no no no no no no before the fall we could do it but after the fall we don't have the moral capacity or the immoral ability to do what God commands now and even though we have fallen into that state of corruption and lost our moral ability to obey the command of God that doesn't excuse us that the command is still there." [00:20:35]

"Well Grace I don't believe in Soul sleep either but I think I think the tension that you've already indicated is resolved in this way historically classical Christian theology speaks of what we call the status intermediates or the intermediate State and that has to do with where we go immediately upon death as distinguished from our state after the final resurrection that is to say as the New Testament would indicate Paul says the depart is uh better than to stay he was more needful to stay here for us but to depart and be with Christ was far better and he certainly indicates that as soon as we die our souls go immediately into the presence of God and into the presence of Christ but in that particular intermediate State we're disembodied souls and we won't have our glorified bodies until after the coming of Christ and the great Resurrection where our souls will then at that point be reunited with our body so first Souls continued consciousness of our personal existence the instant we die we go into heaven in our soul State and then we await the final consummation of the resurrection of our bodies." [00:01:31]

"Well when we talk about the separation of church and state you know you know all the historical questions that came from Jefferson a letter wasn't in the Constitution or Declaration or anything but it was accurate in so far as there's a division of labor that the Bible makes clear that God ordains the church governs the church God also ordains the state and he governs the state a few years ago I was invited to speak at the inaugural prayer breakfast of the governor of Florida and on that occasion I said to the governor I said today is your ordination day that you've been ordained by God for this position of political Authority and you will be answerable to God for how you carry out this Mission so we distinguish between the Spheres of activity it's not the responsibility of the church to Bear the sword it's not the responsibility of the state to be giving the sacraments and all of that so there are different duties and tasks that are assigned between the church and the state." [00:15:00]

"Unfortunately in our culture today the Mantra of separ separation of state and church has come to mean something quite different namely the separation of state from God it's one thing to separate the church from the state it's something else to separate the state from God the state has declared its independence from God and wants to have its own authority rather than to be accountable to the things of God now you get a question like abortion and uh and the church speaks out against it and a lot of people scream about that saying this is a violation of church and state and so on and it's an un an unjust intrusion of the church into the political realm however when we speak to an issue like abortion which is the most significant ethical issue I believe this nation has ever had to deal with far more uh serious than even the Diabolical problem of slavery y but in this case we're not asking the state to be the church we're asking the state to be the state because the state's primary raise on debt it's primary reason for existence in its original creation by God primarily is to maintain protect and honor the sanctity of human life and when the state fails to do that it fails to do its task before God." [00:15:57]

"Now God commands us to seek after him God commands us to be perfect God commands us to be obedient in all things now the assumption is that that if God commands you to do something you must have the ability to do it this is what created the biggest theological issue in the the first four centuries of Christendom the issue between the monk Pelagius and Augustine over the question of whether we as Fallen human beings have the ability the moral ability to lead perfect lives Augustine had made a prayer where he said words that this effect o Lord command what thou wouldst and Grant what thou dust command and Pelagius took umbrage at that when he's saing why would you ask God to give you the ability to do something that he commands you to do obviously if he commands you to do it you can do it and aasa said no no no no no no before the fall we could do it but after the fall we don't have the moral capacity or the immoral ability to do what God commands now and even though we have fallen into that state of corruption and lost our moral ability to obey the command of God that doesn't excuse us that the command is still there." [00:20:35]

"Well Grace I don't believe in Soul sleep either but I think I think the tension that you've already indicated is resolved in this way historically classical Christian theology speaks of what we call the status intermediates or the intermediate State and that has to do with where we go immediately upon death as distinguished from our state after the final resurrection that is to say as the New Testament would indicate Paul says the depart is uh better than to stay he was more needful to stay here for us but to depart and be with Christ was far better and he certainly indicates that as soon as we die our souls go immediately into the presence of God and into the presence of Christ but in that particular intermediate State we're disembodied souls and we won't have our glorified bodies until after the coming of Christ and the great Resurrection where our souls will then at that point be reunited with our body so first Souls continued consciousness of our personal existence the instant we die we go into heaven in our soul State and then we await the final consummation of the resurrection of our bodies." [00:01:31]

"Well when we talk about the separation of church and state you know you know all the historical questions that came from Jefferson a letter wasn't in the Constitution or Declaration or anything but it was accurate in so far as there's a division of labor that the Bible makes clear that God ordains the church governs the church God also ordains the state and he governs the state a few years ago I was invited to speak at the inaugural prayer breakfast of the governor of Florida and on that occasion I said to the governor I said today is your ordination day that you've been ordained by God for this position of political Authority and you will be answerable to God for how you carry out this Mission so we distinguish between the Spheres of activity it's not the responsibility of the church to Bear the sword it's not the responsibility of the state to be giving the sacraments and all of that so there are different duties and tasks that are assigned between the church and the state." [00:15:00]

"Unfortunately in our culture today the Mantra of separ separation of state and church has come to mean something quite different namely the separation of state from God it's one thing to separate the church from the state it's something else to separate the state from God the state has declared its independence from God and wants to have its own authority rather than to be accountable to the things of God now you get a question like abortion and uh and the church speaks out against it and a lot of people scream about that saying this is a violation of church and state and so on and it's an un an unjust intrusion of the church into the political realm however when we speak to an issue like abortion which is the most significant ethical issue I believe this nation has ever had to deal with far more uh serious than even the Diabolical problem of slavery y but in this case we're not asking the state to be the church we're asking the state to be the state because the state's primary raise on debt it's primary reason for existence in its original creation by God primarily is to maintain protect and honor the sanctity of human life and when the state fails to do that it fails to do its task before God." [00:15:57]

"Now God commands us to seek after him God commands us to be perfect God commands us to be obedient in all things now the assumption is that that if God commands you to do something you must have the ability to do it this is what created the biggest theological issue in the the first four centuries of Christendom the issue between the monk Pelagius and Augustine over the question of whether we as Fallen human beings have the ability the moral ability to lead perfect lives Augustine had made a prayer where he said words that this effect o Lord command what thou wouldst and Grant what thou dust command and Pelagius took umbrage at that when he's saing why would you ask God to give you the ability to do something that he commands you to do obviously if he commands you to do it you can do it and aasa said no no no no no no before the fall we could do it but after the fall we don't have the moral capacity or the immoral ability to do what God commands now and even though we have fallen into that state of corruption and lost our moral ability to obey the command of God that doesn't excuse us that the command is still there." [00:20:35]

"Well Grace I don't believe in Soul sleep either but I think I think the tension that you've already indicated is resolved in this way historically classical Christian theology speaks of what we call the status intermediates or the intermediate State and that has to do with where we go immediately upon death as distinguished from our state after the final resurrection that is to say as the New Testament would indicate Paul says the depart is uh better than to stay he was more needful to stay here for us but to depart and be with Christ was far better and he certainly indicates that as soon as we die our souls go immediately into the presence of God and into the presence of Christ but in that particular intermediate State we're disembodied souls and we won't have our glorified bodies until after the coming of Christ and the great Resurrection where our souls will then at that point be reunited with our body so first Souls continued consciousness of our personal existence the instant we die we go into heaven in our soul State and then we await the final consummation of the resurrection of our bodies." [00:01:31]

"Well when we talk about the separation of church and state you know you know all the historical questions that came from Jefferson a letter wasn't in the Constitution or Declaration or anything but it was accurate in so far as there's a division of labor that the Bible makes clear that God ordains the church governs the church God also ordains the state and he governs the state a few years ago I was invited to speak at the inaugural prayer breakfast of the governor of Florida and on that occasion I said to the governor I said today is your ordination day that you've been ordained by God for this position of political Authority and you will be answerable to God for how you carry out this Mission so we distinguish between the Spheres of activity it's not the responsibility of the church to Bear the sword it's not the responsibility of the state to be giving the sacraments and all of that so there are different duties and tasks that are assigned between the church and the state." [00:15:00]

"Unfortunately in our culture today the Mantra of separ separation of state and church has come to mean something quite different namely the separation of state from God it's one thing to separate the church from the state it's something else to separate the state from God the state has declared its independence from God and wants to have its own authority rather than to be accountable to the things of God now you get a question like abortion and uh and the church speaks out against it and a lot of people scream about that saying this is a violation of church and state and so on and it's an un an unjust intrusion of the church into the political realm however when we speak to an issue like abortion which is the most significant ethical issue I believe this nation has ever had to deal with far more uh serious than even the Diabolical problem of slavery y but in this case we're not asking the state to be the church we're asking the state to be the state because the state's primary raise on debt it's primary reason for existence in its original creation by God primarily is to maintain protect and honor the sanctity of human life and when the state fails to do that it fails to do its task before God." [00:15:57]

"Now God commands us to seek after him God commands us to be perfect God commands us to be obedient in all things now the assumption is that that if God commands you to do something you must have the ability to do it this is what created the biggest theological issue in the the first four centuries of Christendom the issue between the monk Pelagius and Augustine over the question of whether we as Fallen human beings have the ability the moral ability to lead perfect lives Augustine had made a prayer where he said words that this effect o Lord command what thou wouldst and Grant what thou dust command and Pelagius took umbrage at that when he's saing why would you ask God to give you the ability to do something that he commands you to do obviously if he commands you to do it you can do it and aasa said no no no no no no before the fall we could do it but after the fall we don't have the moral capacity or the immoral ability to do what God commands now and even though we have fallen into that state of corruption and lost our moral ability to obey the command of God that doesn't excuse us that the command is still there." [00:20:35]