THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (cont.) Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16
- Chapter 187 -
Three objections against the continuation of life after death.
Hiram says, "I am amazed at your knowledge of things. No school of the world nor your imagination gave you this! It almost seems to be because you have developed it here before us so easily and as something very familiar to you since an unthinkably long time; for truly, such a thing cannot be made up from thin air! Now we are telling you only that we understand and comprehend of all indeed as much as nothing basically, but we believe it completely because you tell us so, who have laid for us now in the short time of our being together indeed the very most enormous elements of your all-knowledge and your most incorruptible truthfulness in the simplest and clearest way in the world.
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But nevertheless I have another three important questions to ask you as far as the after-life is concerned. If you can give us also a satisfactory solution, we will then give up all our cynical wisdom for your sake and then ask you to teach us a better one. But the questions are very short and simply these:
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What sort of spirits are these that place their souls which are to be formed in the bodies of deaf-mutes and in those who are completely sappy from birth and the bodies of fools? What a spiritual development of a human soul allows itself to be awaited in such bodies according to our basic principles of reason? "That is the first question.
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What about the souls of children who die long before they actually are capable of their existence, at which there can be no talk at all of any spiritual development? From which other-worldly perfectly pure spirits from God do these come from? "You see, friend that is the second very important question!
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And the third question is this: What about those souls which have reached some world education and intelligence on the Earth on their flesh indeed, but then intentionally and very arbitrarily become entirely true abominations to the better human society? Why did the wise spirits certainly from God like you who placed them into existence allowed that, and why did they not care more for them who were called into being by them and trying to become one with them? Or is that something for the pure spirit whose level of education contains a soul in this world and in its body?
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You see, friend, there are still some contradictions to your previous speech which we even with the best will cannot bring under one hat! For either the action of such a union in life a highly serious one, on which the good or evil then the whole eternity depends "and it cannot possibly be all the same to the powerful other-worldly spirit whether his soul, developed either through his power and intelligence from God or out of matter, will become a true abomination even to him as a perfected spiritual being "or this previously-mentioned action is no highly and even holy serious one, but instead only a game of whims. Then we are right above all your wisdom no matter how high undeniably, if we claim that in the great natural world everything is only a vain game of forces, and we are living only as temporal jokes of the great nature, and the end comes with death for ever, unconcerned, which makes somewhere immortal perfect spirits which never worry about all of nature!
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For if for example some other-worldly spirit wants to call me into existence through God, but then no longer wants to look after me at all, he is then of no use at all, and if I as a soul should form myself entirely for him, without him helping in any noticeable way, then I can do without such a lazy spirit for all eternity! "Well, friend, how is it going there with your good and wise answer?"
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Peter says to Me secretly, "Lord, now I am already at the end of my wisdom too! I am now very worried about how John will get out of that one!"
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I say, "Do not worry! Through Me and with Me everything is possible!"