A crackpot theory about the soul

(The following has no bearing on any Holy Huddle discussions present or future. I am posting it because I would enjoy hearing thoughts and opinions. -Tim)

We think of the soul as some spiritual entity associated with each person. I wonder if the soul really is just God's memory of us. When we die, God remembers us precisely as we are, down to the location of each atom, each thought, each scar, each hope, and when the day of resurrection comes it's not like God dumps out his Big Box of Souls who have been waiting since the first person ever died--rather, God, in his total knowledge of us, recalls our image and endows it with a new body of his creation.

Theologians talk about the problem of the "intermediate state"--i.e., where folks go after death but before the final day. In this paradigm, we all wait in God's memory our recreation. And if that seems fleeting or transitory, it is after all, a divine memory.

The benefit of this theory is that it does away with the conundrums associated with brain death--like, in a brain-dead individual, has the soul left the body? Well, if the soul is really God's knowledge of us, then the state of the body becomes less important.

It also addresses a another problem: We know that our minds/souls change as our bodies change. For instance, the injuries and changes of middle age can have an effect: The disappointment, anger, or even hope associated with them leave a mark not just on our physical bodies, but our souls as well.

If the soul is some strange spiritual entity which hovers inside our bodies but in another dimension, then we have to ask how they interact. But if the soul is really just God's knowledge of us, the problem vanishes.

From this standpoint, the idea that damnation is God's saying "I never knew you" is particularly apt.

(The accompanying image is snagged from a google image search.)

Election, the Humanity of Jesus, and Possible Worlds

In 1986 (as I was graduating from high school) Prof. Robert Hann published one of the most lucid discussions of election you will ever read. This paper delves into the Reformed understanding of election, but using the machinery of Alvin Plantinga's many-worlds formalism. He does this using, as a sort of test case, Jesus' own election.

I had never thought of Jesus' election as a test bed for understanding the doctrine of election, and found it a very interesting discussion. And I think the many-worlds interpretation does a nice job of retaining the free will both of God and of humanity. What do you think? Add your thoughts ideas--any at all--as comments to this post!

Heresies, Adversaries and Biblical Priorities

Hello and welcome to the inaugural post of The Holy Huddle blog!

The purpose of the blog is to give members of The Holy Huddle small group a venue for ongoing discussion. Each discussion will have a post; simply add your comments to the latest post to join in.

The first post concerns the discussion based on Craig Blomberg's article The New Testament Definition of Heresy (Or When Do Jesus and the Apostles Really Get Mad?). In our discussion we first looked at the parables to get a feel for what sorts of issues/actions were most roundly condemned or warned against by Jesus. (Mary rightly pointed out that separating beliefs from actions may be artificial, as one leads to another.) Then we considered a summary of NT heresies from the article, as well as a list of the things which currently get the American church "het-up". Finally, we tried to assemble our own lists, and think about the criteria we might use to order them--in an effort to reflect Biblical priorities.

We covered various possible additions to our lists. It helped to ask the question: If you were choosing a church, what criteria would rule a church our? Besides the obvious Trinitarian issues, we added:

• they must have a high view of scripture
• do they walk the walk? I.e., to what degree does this church resemble the culture?
• do they show mercy to the needy, both in and out of church?
  

We considered ranking items on the list by whether they impacted salvation.

What would you add? How would you prioritize your list?