"yeah this is what I believe (pointing to a page from a spiritual sayings booklet)....... Just what Jesus said. See this is just a bit of Matthew 7"
"ok ok. Is this like a karma thing. Like you are meek or poor now but in the next life you will be blessed?"
"kinda. people have different takes on matt 7 but the main thing is Jesus is talking about his kingdom where everything is upside down. It is the low who are honored. Jesus is saying to follow him means living very differently than the rest. After all, he shows that himself being god yet being spat on, abused and eventually killed. but yeah it's also about how when his followers are resurrected they will have something much better in the next life"
"like when they are just spirits in the next life"
"no Christians believe in a physical resurrection. They'll have bodies"
puzzled "but where are all the people who have come back"
"well the bible says it is like sleeping until the right time. We believe in a physical resurrection because Jesus had a physical body when he was resurrected."
"he went up into heaven didn't he?"
"yeah he went up into the cloud and is now the king of the world in heaven"
"yeah right" giving me a 'you don't really believe that, do you' look
After an awkward pause..."why what do you think happens when you die?"
"nothing"
"oh"
This is the conversation I had a work yesterday. I'm in blue. I've tried to write down what was actually said (not what I wish I said). just add a whole lot of "ummms" in there too to make it authentic.
It may not be convincing but I think what I said was accurate to the bible. I could write the rest of this blog note on how i should have explained things so I didn't end up sounding like someone holding onto irrational truths. But I don't know. Whats the other option? To believe that there is nothing out there at all and that we and the world are atoms randomly assorted into something that works (at least this time). When you die the atoms are just re-arranged again.
If you don't follow that then I guess you believe that there is something after death or at least outside of this life and so you probably won't find what I said that weird.
