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The Death of Mom

To the Christians among us:

Mom's passing raises some questions. Already one of you has told me the verse "absent from the body, present with the Lord." Another has said Jesus told the thief on the cross "this day you will be with me in Paradise." Some may recall that the Bible claims at the last trump the dead in Christ will rise. Do any of you spot the obvious inconsistencies and garbled theology?

As a kid I asked Mom about where Christian dead people were. Never got a clear answer. She hoped they were enjoying God's company and each other.

Did the thief on the cross (back to that story) see Jesus in Paradise as promised? Is that where Jesus was for three days while his body was in the tomb, he was just hanging out it Paradise waiting to leave soon and return back to Earth? Any problems with that?

Did the promise of seeing each other in Paradise apply only to that thief and Jesus or did it apply to all dead believers? In which case you believe that the dead are in Paradise, and so is Mom then. And all those other people in Paradise saw Jesus and the thief arrive and then they saw Jesus leave again? Does that make sense? That is the logical outcome of that belief, so it obviously is in error. But if Jesus did not go "this day" to Paradise and see the thief, where was he? Dunno? If you don't know then you don't believe what Jesus told the thief.

So how about "absent from the body, present with the Lord" ? How does that play out in real time? If you really believe that then you believe that Beth is now with the Lord, someplace. Paradise? Heaven? But wait a second, what about the Last Trump and last big battle and Final Judgment and all that? If Mom already is in Heaven is she going to have to leave there and go through all the end times stuff and then go back to Heaven? Or are all the dead Christians up to this time going to get to stay in Heaven and view the End Times like a final Super Bowl? I mean, come on, get real.

Or maybe Mom is in Heaven seeing all her dead friends and relatives already, skipping the messy part of the End of the World. Or maybe some Christians believe she "sleeps" in Paradise, and won't wake up until the End Times arrive... you see, there are contradictions and ridiculous scenarios if I listen to what Christians tell me. There are many verses in the Bible to choose from and you all have your favorites.

If you don't see any contradictions in your Bible quotations then you are not paying attention.

I admit to being skeptical, but I think that is a reasonable position to take.