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Thursday, January 21, 2016

The world to come

There are different ways to view the world to come. Will there still be natural disasters and dangerous animals? That's necessary to the balance of nature as we understand it. If so, how will the saints be safe? If not, that will be an unrecognizably different kind of world.


One possibility, which I've discussed before, is God's providential protection. But here's another possibility: in Scripture, some prophets and apostles have the ability to perform miracles. In principle, the saints in the world to come could have the same abilities. That would enable them to ward off dangerous animals or ward off natural disasters. Or in some cases they might have the prophetic foreknowledge or counterfactual knowledge to dodge impending threats. 

5 comments:

  1. Steve, good reflexions. I think that another interesting question that is related with this post is: how did God protect Adam and Eve from dangerous animals? Isn't the question equivalent to the one you asked?

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    1. Eden may have been located in a naturally enclosed space like a gorge. Protected on both (or three) sides by steep rocky walls. Imagine a waterfall upstream. The only opening would be downstream. There'd be little opportunity for dangerous animals to penetrate the enclave. One possibility.

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    2. Steve, thank you for your reply. How do you understand verses like Genesis 2:20? If I'm not interpreting the passage wrong, it suggests that Adam had contact with "dangerous animals".

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    3. Those were simply the animals in the garden. Yes, it distinguishes between wild animals and domesticated animals, but many wild animals pose no threat to humans.

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  2. I think in the world to come the saints will be made of liquid metal and the animals will be made of marshmallow creme.

    Problem solved.

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