Friday: Further Thought ~ Heaven, Education, and Eternal Learning

Further Thought:

Read Ellen G. White, “The School of the Hereafter,” pages 301-309 in Education; “The Controversy Ended,” pages 662-678, in The Great Controversy.

“The lion, we should much dread and fear here, will then lie down with the lamb, and everything in the New Earth will be peace and harmony.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

The trees of the New Earth will be straight and lofty, without deformity … .

Let all that is beautiful in our earthly home remind us of the crystal river and green fields, the waving trees and the living fountains, the shining city and the white-robed singers, of our heavenly home – that world of beauty which no artist can picture and no mortal tongue describe. Let your imagination picture the home of the saved, and remember that it will be more glorious than your brightest imagination can portray.” — Ellen G. White, Heaven, pages 133, 134.

“A fear of making the future inheritance seem too material has led many to spiritualize away the very truths which lead us to look upon it as our home. Christ assured His disciples that He went to prepare mansions for them in the Father’s house. Those who accept the teachings of God’s word will not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode … . Human language is inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pages 674, 675.

Discussion Questions:

Dwell more on the point that Pascal made, about people who seem so unconcerned about what eternity will bring. Why do you think people are like that? Why is this such an irrational attitude to have?
Dwell more on why the hope of eternal life is so important to our faith. Without that, why do we really have nothing?
Think about all the incredible mysteries that exist in the natural world. Be it biology, geology, astronomy, physics, chemistry – in all fields everything turns out to be so much more complex than people originally thought. Scientists, for example, no more talk about “simple life-forms” because, as it turns out, even the simplest life-forms are not so simple, after all. Each new breakthrough, each new discovery, seems only to open up more questions for us that need answering. How does all this help us understand how much we will be learning in the “school of the hereafter”?

<–Thursday

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Well, we have come to the last page of this quarter's lesson study and it is worth reflecting on what we have learned. Here is a little reflection of my own.

My sister recently put up a photograph of our family Christmas gathering taken in 1960. In the gathering were our grandparents from both sides of the family. My sister appears in the photo, aged 12. Of course I am not in the photo because even in those days, I was the designated photographer.

The photograph was shared widely through the family on Facebook and there was much discussion about who the young people in the photography were. Most of us are in our seventies now - about the same age as our grandparents were in the photo. Of particular interest, one of my cousins, who many of us regarded as the black sheep of the family, commented on how much the photograph meant to him. He particularly remarked how much influence Grandad Costar had had on his life. Grandad Costar was a quiet unassuming dairy farmer and his big contribution to my cousin's education at the time was that he allowed him to drive the little Fergie farm tractor. Grandad was a man of few words, but his encouragement in action had an enormous influence. My cousin remarked in the conversation we had about the photo that he can still hear his voice, sixty years later.

During this quarter's lesson study we have been asked to think about education, and the study has been somewhat diverse at times and directed to what we should learn and how we should study. It should not go unnoticed that we are all teachers in a spiritual sense, and that our relationship with God should be the kind that leaves a lasting impression on those we interact with. Education is not an end in itself. It is the enabler, for us to share with others.

As an illustration. I have spent virtually a whole lifetime in academic study. I studied Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Education, and Computer Science. Why? To gain a draw full of diplomas and testamurs? To write lots of letters after my name? To be able to boast that I know more than most other people on the disciplines I have studied? I learned somewhere along the journey that it's not what you know but how you share that is really important.

In our spiritual lives, it's not what we know that is important, it about how we share. When we accept Christ as our saviour it does not just mean that we are saved, but that we are committed to sharing the good news of salvation with others. Not all of us are called to preach and teach in the formal sense but we are called to live the Gospel.

And that is why I pay a tribute to Grandad Costar, who in his quiet way, without a lot of words, influenced us kids back in the 1950s. Grandad died two weeks after the photo was taken. I am almost his age now and I have to ask myself have I fulfilled my role as an educator.

I will let Peter have the last word:

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 2 Peter 3:11

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Comments

Friday: Further Thought ~ Heaven, Education, and Eternal Learning — 7 Comments

Maurice Ashton on December 24, 2020 at 12:29 pm said:

Well, we have come to the last page of this quarter's lesson study and it is worth reflecting on what we have learned. Here is a little reflection of my own.

My sister recently put up a photograph of our family Christmas gathering taken in 1960. In the gathering were our grandparents from both sides of the family. My sister appears in the photo, aged 12. Of course I am not in the photo because even in those days, I was the designated photographer.

The photograph was shared widely through the family on Facebook and there was much discussion about who the young people in the photography were. Most of us are in our seventies now - about the same age as our grandparents were in the photo. Of particular interest, one of my cousins, who many of us regarded as the black sheep of the family, commented on how much the photograph meant to him. He particularly remarked how much influence Grandad Costar had had on his life. Grandad Costar was a quiet unassuming dairy farmer and his big contribution to my cousin's education at the time was that he allowed him to drive the little Fergie farm tractor. Grandad was a man of few words, but his encouragement in action had an enormous influence. My cousin remarked in the conversation we had about the photo that he can still hear his voice, sixty years later.

During this quarter's lesson study we have been asked to think about education, and the study has been somewhat diverse at times and directed to what we should learn and how we should study. It should not go unnoticed that we are all teachers in a spiritual sense, and that our relationship with God should be the kind that leaves a lasting impression on those we interact with. Education is not an end in itself. It is the enabler, for us to share with others.

As an illustration. I have spent virtually a whole lifetime in academic study. I studied Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Education, and Computer Science. Why? To gain a draw full of diplomas and testamurs? To write lots of letters after my name? To be able to boast that I know more than most other people on the disciplines I have studied? I learned somewhere along the journey that it's not what you know but how you share that is really important.

In our spiritual lives, it's not what we know that is important, it about how we share. When we accept Christ as our saviour it does not just mean that we are saved, but that we are committed to sharing the good news of salvation with others. Not all of us are called to preach and teach in the formal sense but we are called to live the Gospel.

And that is why I pay a tribute to Grandad Costar, who in his quiet way, without a lot of words, influenced us kids back in the 1950s. Grandad died two weeks after the photo was taken. I am almost his age now and I have to ask myself have I fulfilled my role as an educator.

I will let Peter have the last word:

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 2 Peter 3:11

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Priscilla Pedyo on December 24, 2020 at 4:45 pm said:

Thank you Maurice as usual I always enjoy the simple ways you share
You have taught me a lot through your comments on this platform so you have achieved more than your granddad because of the technology you have reached more not just your family

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Shirley DeBeer on December 24, 2020 at 10:12 pm said:

Paul summarises the Education he shared with us.
I believe him, do you?

1Cor 15:1-5. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you.

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

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Newbegin K Devaraj on December 25, 2020 at 2:25 am said:

I enjoyed the reading Inside Story for this week. Simply standing on our convictions becomes a teachable moment in people's life.
How your faith has influence others, you may never know on this side of the earth; therefore, do not despair stand firm walk in the straight and narrow.
Greatest gift of eternity awaits each one of us.

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Brigitte Humphery on December 25, 2020 at 10:56 am said:

In all my time as a Christian, I have never thought this much about education, Heaven and the life after than in these last few lessons. *Heaven* still does not stir expectations or fantasies in my mind, all it leads me to is to look forward to live only among lovingly caring, like-minded beings and fellow travelers.
As fallen beings, I think the only true, unmeasurably valuable education in Truth we receive is to know and except Christ Jesus who came to safe those, being lost and without aim in their life, to find the Truth and the Light to direct them from darkness into the heavenly Light.
He was slain by man who lived in this darkness, but the Father’s heavenly Grace and Mercy on behalf of mankind caused Him to rise again and so lead all the faithful into His marvelous Light – the oneness with our heavenly Father. My appreciation of this Truth deepens with time and is all I really care to think and talk about – Phil.3:8-10KJV.

Have you ever thought about what it is that makes this life here among our fellow man so difficult? It is not that we are of different races or live in affluence or poverty, but that we have to try to find the niche where to make ourselves a home among people with vastly different viewpoints about how this home should look like, how to gather the building blocks, and how to build it. This *home* I am referring to is the physical as well as the spiritual home man seeks to establish which is doomed without using the blueprint of the Creator – Matt.7:24-27KJV.

What makes it so difficult to relate to those who do not believe in a life governed by a Creator in the here and now as well as after death? Is it not because they reject that man is made in the Image of his Creator, that life actually has two sides - the spiritual and the physical? It is *reasonable* to dismiss the idea of an intelligent Creator who has prepared a place for us to make our home in this world as well as the one to come when refusing to believe.

“No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God”, says Ellen White - I agree! I believe the Glory of God is expressed in the unquestionable Wisdom, Love, Grace and Mercy by which God our Creator established the fabric of His Creation and maintains it.
Why contemplate that which we know or understand so little about, why not rather stir our thoughts toward deep gratitude, joy, and thankfulness, praising God for offering us this hope of a new life?
Yes, there was a time when I was awed by the City coming down from Heaven and its streets of gold, but now I find more awe and comfort in the assurance of a heart at rest in God's Peace on earth and Good-will toward man for this life and in the one to come.

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Esther Pelletier on December 25, 2020 at 12:46 pm said:

"No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God.”

What a beautiful phrase to end our quarter's lessons.

We don't hear the word "paradise" often. I think of Jesus' words to the man next to Him on the cross, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." Luke 23:43

Even a few hours must have seemed like days to those who were enduring the pain of the cross. Jesus told us to carry our cross too, denying self and following Him. It can make the last days feel long. Today we can be with Him by faith, we can pour our hearts out to Jesus too like the man on the cross, and walk into eternity with Him.

Thank You, Jesus, for coming to this Earth so we can be with You forever in Paradise.

Joy

Peace

Hope

Love

to each of you on this Christmas day and into the New Year!

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Robert Whiteman on December 26, 2020 at 3:14 am said:

At the close of this quarter is seems good to remember:

Life/living is education. Only the dead "know nothing".
Life is worship. What/who do I worship?

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