Eternity Described

I believe in life everlasting.

This sentence is from the last article in the Apostle's Creed. The statement references eternity, which is not an unending succession of time (that would be boring), but like a point, a lasting moment. It is a continual "now."

The past, you see, is dead. The future, meanwhile, doesn't exist. As far as time is concerned, the only thing that is real is the present instant.

I'm not paving the way for modernist claptrap about needing to escape that past like it is something that infringes on modern personalities. I'm reminded of Gabe, who was pontificating over dinner one night -- he literally had one finger in the air as he lectured us -- that the world is divided between those who are stuck in the past and those who look to the future, "No," I interrupted him mid-diatribe, "the world is divided between those who look for the truth and those who don't care." But Gabe was a materialist and an atheist, and the counter-point was just brushed it off without comment.

Such is the dilemma for the materialist: he is trapped inside of time, which is an illusion, or even a mystery if you will. Unable or unwilling to consider spiritual causes, the materialist has rendered himself incapable of factoring eternity into his ruminations. He says the religious man is fooled by false notions of the hereafter, when in fact it is the person who places his hopes in a future that never arrives that operates by wishful thinking.

The happiness of eternal life, meanwhile, is an exemption from all evil, an enjoyment of all good. In our own limited way we will know God -- who infinite Truth, Beauty, and Goodness -- as He actually is.