Low Sunday

Sunday School Questions For Youth Sunday April 19, 2008
I really enjoy questions from children, teens and college students. They ask some amazing things from a fresh perspective. Their questions remind me of the maxim that we learn best when we teach. Thanks to all of you for submitting these questions.
Do angels really fly? Do all angels have wings? If not, how do they get around? Do angels have babies?
Angels are a popular topic for many people. There have been many movies and TV programs about angels in the last generation or two. People seem fascinated by the angels. To answer the immediate questions: some angels fly some don’t. Some angels have wings and some don’t. Most angels never leave Heaven so it is unknown how they travel. Angels do not have babies.
More broadly, there are several things about angels the Bible reveals. God created the angels before He created human beings, and in fact before He created the universe. A popular 20th century belief was that human beings become angels when we die. The Bible teaches that humans and angels are completely separate beings. Humans do not become angels.
The number of the angels is finite but so vast that no human mind or human constructed computer can number them. God created the angels all at once so there are no baby angels. Jesus himself taught the angels do marry and so do not have babies. There are at least nine different kinds of angelic beings: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Principalities, Powers, Dominions, Virtues, Archangels and Angels. Of the nines kinds of angelic beings, only the Cherubim are described as having wings- and in fact the prophet Ezekiel describes each Cherub as having six wings.
The angels in the Bible who speak or interact with human beings are the Messenger Class angels. They always appear as young men and do not have wings. They appear as young men, teens, because in the ancient world the armies assigned messenger duty to young men. There were two reasons for this. The messenger had to be able to run fast to escape an enemy. And, the messenger had to be expendable in case he was captured. A teen would have limited knowledge an enemy could use to harm the kingdom.
Messenger class angels are often depicted in religious art as having wings and wearing halos. Ancient peoples understood this as symbolic of the messenger’s swiftness and holiness. Modern people look at ancient art and misunderstand the symbolism since we thunk in the very limited categories of rational analysis. We are trained to look for the facts, just the facts. We are trained to miss the reality and so we also miss the truth. Ancient peoples thought in four modes: literal, moral, spiritual, symbolic.
Most modern people think only in one mode: the rational analytical mode of the literal. Our reredos shows renaissance depictions of angels as young girls or winged babies. This representation has more to do with the artistic revolution of the time than any theological meaning.
Is Heaven above space?
Yes and no. Heaven is outside what we in our modern scientific mythologies call the space time continuum. Ancient peoples understood Heaven as the transcendent eternal realm of the divine. Since humans do not experience that reality with our senses, ancient peoples described Heaven in earthly terms as being "above" the Earth.
The first Cosmonaut mocked Christianity when he went into space and declared. I have entered heaven and found no god there. Of course, once again, the cosmonaut was simply reflecting his very one dimensional mode of thought. Ancient peoples, had they achieved the technology to travel into space, would never have presumed to make such an simple and unsophisticated statement.

How did people know what to write in the Bible, how did they know what happened?
This is an excellent question. The Bible is a collection of 80 books divided into three parts. The Torah, what we call the Old Testament, has 39 Books subdivided into the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. The Apocrypha consists of 14 books describing the history of Israel between the time of Alexander the Great and the birth of Jesus Christ. The 27 books of the New Testament include the biographies of Jesus (the gospels) the history of the early Church (the Book of Acts), the apostolic letters, and the Book of Revelation.
There are many different kinds of books in the Bible. There is history, written by historians to record past events for future generations.
There is the Law. God revealed the Law to Moses and Moses wrote it down or dictated it to his scribes, people who were trained to write books.
God spoke to the prophets who like Moses either wrote down what they heard God telling them, or had a scribe record their words.
One of the most passionate romantic poems ever written is the Song of Solomon. Many rabbis, bishops and priests are very embarrassed that the Song of Solomon is even in the Bible.
Most of the New Testament is simply an eye witness account of what people saw, and heard. They wrote down what they experienced so we would know what had happened, how it had changed their lives and how it can change our lives.
The Bible was written by many people over the course of a thousand years. On one human being could coordinate such a project. The Holy Spirit inspired all of the writers, scribes and editors and then helped the rabbis assemble the Old Testament and the Bishops of the Church to assemble the Apocrypha and the New Testament.
Why did He create people to look like people?
This is a very complex question. Modern scientific mythology helps us understand that how we look, in general, is a result of the conditions for life on this planet. For example, if we were too tall we would not be able to move well in the gravity field of earth. Large animals who live on land are usually very slow moving. Large animals are better able to live in the sea where gravity is less of a problem. We have the bodies we have because those bodies are best suited for us to survive and thrive on this planet.
The Bible also tells us that God delights in creation. God created an enormous variety of living creatures. And, God creates each of us to look like we do specifically because God likes variety. There is only one you because you are a unique image of the infinite and eternal love of God.

Why did the people in the Bible want to kill Jesus on the Cross?
God created all people to live in a relationship of love and holiness with the Son. The essence of love is real choice. In order for people to live a life of love and holiness we had to make a choice to accept the relationship with God the Son or to reject it. The Bible tells us that all people have rejected the relationship in an effort to acquire divine knowledge and power apart from divine love and holiness.
We rejected the Son in the Garden of Eden and the Son left this planet. But, the Son did not stop loving us. He returned to Earth in Jesus Christ. People killed Jesus for many different reasons. Some were afraid of him. Some were jealous. Some were angry. Some did not care about him at all. And some ran away when he did not give them what they wanted. What really killed Jesus was separation. Jesus was, and is, God up front and personal. Human beings want to preserve their separation from God. We don’t want a personal relationship with God. If we believe in God we want his knowledge and power but not his friendship. And so, when the Son visited this planet for the second time, humans killed him.
Why did God want to raise Jesus from the Dead?
Even though people do not love God, God loves all people. Separation traps humans in pain and suffering. The pain and suffering affects our minds, hearts and wills so we make poor choices and bring anger, fear, hatred and despair into our lives. Jesus took all of this pain into himself. It killed him. But, Jesus is the very love of God in human flesh. True love is eternal. It has no beginning and it has no end. When human separation killed Jesus his divine love transformed death back into life. Jesus did this in order to set us free from separation (what the Bible calls sin) and death ( the end result of sin). Jesus died to save us from sin and death. God raised Jesus from the dead to give us the gift of a new life and a new way of living: the way of steadfast holy love.

Everything that people invented, did God really invent them?
Yes and no. God created people to be co creators with him. God certainly knows all things and could help people invent things. But, God loves us and wants us to make responsible choices. So, God gives different people different talents and the ability to use our minds, hearts and wills to investigate the world, make inventions, create art, and co create our own personalities according to God’s laws.
When will Jesus come back again?
This is a very important question and Jesus himself gives us the answer. The answer is: no one knows. If any one tells you they have it figured out they are not being truthful. One thing we can know is that every day Jesus does not return brings the day of his return one day closer.
Nothing has to happen as a condition for Jesus to return. When he returns, everyone in the world will know for sure that he has returned. He will not return in secret. The arch Angel Gabriel will announce to the entire world that Jesus is coming.
Do Jews believe?
Yes and no. As will all people on Earth, some believe and some do not. Some believe in God and some do not. Some believe in God’s Plan of Salvation in Jesus Christ and some do not. Jesus never allows us to force people to believe anything. Jesus never allows us to kill people to impose a religion. Jesus does ask us to share our experience of his love with all people. Jesus does ask us to offer the gift of his love to all people.

What is the second most important holiday in the church if Easter is the first?
Pentecost. Pentecost is the second most important holiday in the Church since it is the day the Holy Spirit gave birth to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. It wasn’t until the industrial revolution in Western Europe and North America that people started using Christmas to sell things and Christmas became such a spectacular holiday that even many non Christian countries celebrate it with no reference to the birth of Jesus Christ.

Are there ghosts?
No. There are no ghosts. In the ancient Mediterranean world people believed that dead is dead. The Egyptians and the Hebrews believed that God would grant some people a new life through resurrection. No one believed in a personal immortal soul. By Jesus’ time some people believed that a shadowy after image of the dead descended into the underworld. The Greeks called this place Hades. The Jews called it Sheol. The English word "hell" is derived from a similar word in German and is used to translate the Greek and Hebrew words but the meaning has shifted over the centuries.
Very briefly: St. Paul teaches that for the Christian absent from the body is present in the Lord. When a Christian dies the soul is immediately with Christ because the soul has already been unified with Christ in baptism.
Those souls pray for us and we can pray for them.
The souls of those who are not in Christ awaits final judgment in Sheol.
There are fallen angels, demons, who some times pretend to be ghosts to confuse people. But, the souls of the departed do not walk the earth after death. And, the Bible is very clear that those on earth are forbidden to attempt to communicate with those in Heaven or Sheol.

Why lilies for Easter?
For many people they are a symbol of new life. There use is not Biblical but neither is it contrary to scripture.
Why no altar flowers in Lent?
The church sets Lent aside as a time for quiet reflection. We refrain from the Alleluias and remove ornamentation as a means for self examination. One of the great problems Western Christians face is distraction. The more stark simplicity of Lent helps us identify other distractions in our lives that keep us from the eternal gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness and self control. We chose not to decorate the altar with flowers as a temporary reminder that our joys are not based in the distractions of this world but in the relationship God offers us in Jesus Christ. We restore the flowers on Easter as a reminder that all of God’s creation is essentially good and has its proper place in our lives.
What about all of the errors and contradictions in the Bible?
This is an enormously important question. It is important because it assumes much that is simply not true. Modern Western Intellectuals simply assume there are a multitude of errors and contradictions. Fee people actually can recite any. Fewer still have taken the time to investigate the matter.
Generally, virtually all so called errors and contradiction are a result of the one dimensional rational analytical mode of thought currently embraced by most people in our Western civilization. Such errors and contradictions fall within ten main categories of misunderstanding:
1. Perceptual
2. Cultural
3. Linguistic
4. Translation
5. Phenomenology
6. Literary form
7. Prescriptive vs descriptive
8. Context
9. Levels of meaning
10. Purpose
Very briefly, the peoples of ancient civilizations were more sophisticated and subtle in their use of language than modern people. Virtually all so called errors and contradictions in the Bible result from the way language is used and the inclination of moderns to try to find problems where no problems exist. The use of numbers in the Bible is a perfect example. In biblical times people used numbers to communicate concepts more than numerical accuracy. The way people counted days is another example. For the people of Israel the day began at sunset and any part of a day was considered equal to a full day.
Is there food in Heaven? Is there pizza?
Yes. There is food in heaven. In fact, the Bible speaks of heaven in terms of a Wedding Feast. And, the Book of Revelation speaks of trees bearing a different kind of fruit every month- the fruit of the month club. As to pizza- I defer to a quote attributed to Billy Graham: "if you want pizza in Heaven it will be there for you."