eternal life
a phrase i learned a long time ago. you too, probably. well in reading brian's book, the secret message of jesus, he has shed some light that i think is very interesting and thought provoking. he is diving into jesus' conversation with nicodemus in john's gospel and informs us that john hardly ever uses the term 'kingdom of god'. instead john normally translates 'kingdom of god' most commonly to 'eternal life'. later john simplifies the term just to 'life' or 'life to the full'. at the end of this conversation jesus sheds the most light onto this definition through a prayer in 17:3 - this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom God has sent. from this we learn that 'eternal life' means knowing. and knowing implies relationship. brian also points out that kingdom means the same thing - a relationship one has with a king, his subjects, etc. from there brian gives a simple (and not complete) definition of this 'eternal life': "an extraordinary life to the full centered in a relationship with God" (pg 37). all that to say it got me thinking that eternal life and the kingdom of god are intertwined deeply, if not interchangealbe and leads me to think that eternal life has a lot more to do with life here now, on this earth, rather than 'life after death'. our eternal life is based on our relationship with God, right now. not after we die. and that is inspiring. just thinking out loud a bit...
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