LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19783, 5 March 1927, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

(Letters for this column must be written as concisely as possible, otherwise they may be abridged, or crowded out.) LET THERE BE LIGHT! Sir, —My opponent, in his reply to my challenge, has not given even one Scriptural proof to back up his theory that the souls of believers are at death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into Heaven. Most people prefer the word of man to the word of God, because it suits their sentiments and prejudices to do so. The Apostle Paul declared that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 1C0r.2:5. My opponent has cited quite a number of passages of Scripture, all of which have absolutely no bearing whatsoever on tho question at issue, and surely he does not ask or expect any unbaissed and intelligent person to accept them as such. The Rev. Heidrich cites Phil 1:23. to prove his theory and this is where he falls into a trap. Paul said this: For me, to live is Christ, but to die is gain. St. Paul was in prison; he was writing to tho Phillipians. He says: For me to live is to be used as a witness for Christ, but to die means gain—to be released from these bonds, from these shackles; but there is a thirci thing that I desire more than either of the other two; I am in a strait betwixt the two, I don’t know whether I would be better dead or whether I would better live in this prison and teach tho truth. But the third thing was the one St. Paul wanted, and what was that 9 Our King James’ version reads: “I desire to depart and be with Christ.” My opponent should know from looking at the Greek Lexicon that the Greek word here translated: depart, does not mean “depart,” and there is no scholar on earth who will stand before an intelligent audience and tell them it does. “Analouisia” is the Greek word, it means “returning,” and it is so translated in Luke 12:36. St. Paul says: It is my great desire for the returning of the Lord, his desire was for the returning of the Lord Jesus, that he might be with him. Notice the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:a “Henceforth there is laid up for me r. crown of righteouness which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give mo at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that lovo his appearing," thus showing that the Apostle did not expect to be resurrected until the Second Coming of Christ. In reference to the resurrecting the body, the Apostle made it very clear that the body that goes down into the grave is not. the same body which is resurrected. 1C0r,15:35,38. I quite agree with my opponent in his reference to John 14:2: 3:. I would like him to quote that Scripture where he claims that the souls of the, blessed are preserved until the great Resurrection morn. Spaco will not permit me to go into the other Scripture given. S. H. GODFREY March 3, 1927.