Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Whoever invokes a blessing in the land
    will do so by the one true God;
whoever takes an oath in the land
    will swear by the one true God.
For the past troubles will be forgotten
    and hidden from my eyes.
“See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.

• Isaiah 65:16-17

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

• Revelation 21:4

“ ‘I exist, and all that is not-I is mere phenomenon dissolving into phenomenal connections.’ – Edmund Husserl”

• Bryan Magee, The Story of Philosophy

“Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”

• C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Edmund Husserl (1813-1855) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician.  He founded the school of phenomenology.  He basically took Descartes philosophy of “I think, therefore I am.” And he added Hume’s idea that as we experience something, like a chair, we discover that the chair is part of existence outside of ourselves.  He called these connections outside ourselves to be phenomenon.

But I started thinking, what if Descartes is wrong?  We may think and therefore think that we exist, but if God has the final say, and only those who God has in the Book of Life are in Heaven, then do we really exist now if we are not in Heaven in the next life?

And what of this life is remembered?

Isaiah is quite clear, the troubles of this life are erased from our memory.  I had numerous discussions with my wife about what we will remember.  And I have heard numerous discussions on television among pastors on the same subject.

The verdict is either undecided or unknown.  The general consensus online is that there will be a selective memory.  If you have four siblings and one went the Hell, then your memory will be of three siblings.

Those memories that are great memories now that involve someone that is not with you, might not be there in Heaven.

Last night, I had a nightmare.  I dreamed I lost my job.  In the process of being escorted off the site, I lost my dress shoes and my keys.  But don’t worry about the keys, the company had towed my car away.

I did not have that kind of memory in my life, but elements of that kind of thing, and it came in waves.  There will be no memories of strife of that nature.

So, does it matter if you could think in this life, if your existence is erased from those you love in the next?

The more important question is whether you have accepted Jesus.  Without accepting Jesus, you will still exist in torment in Hell, but your friends and family who are in Heaven will have no memory that you ever existed.

Don’t let that happen.  Lay down the arms of rebellion and surrender to the Savior.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.