Well, I suppose Christ himself is an example of this sort of rebuilt body - scourged, crucified, crowned with thorns, and speared to the heart. Yet a few days later He’s talking to Mary, turning up in closed rooms. chatting up two disciples on the way to Emmaus, and eating fish on the seaside.
The only difference with Christ is that He seemed to retain the wounds of the crucifixion and the lance. Although His was a resurrected physical body - your mother-in-law and my father were still in a some sort of spiritual guise.
I’d say the outcome for your wife’s mother was a lot happier than it was for my father. And frankly, I think he’s in Hell, with all due respect. I remember the scream, and it was just sheer terror to the core. It was so frightening I started to scream. Yet all I could see was him.
He did ask me to forgive him viz. “Son, you’ve got to forgive me! If you don’t you’ll destroy yourself!” I argued back, but he responded, **“It’s not for my sake! It’s for you! * It’s too late for me!”/***B]
Which sort of reminds me of Paul’s comment that if you forgive someone, you pour hot coals on their head. I’ve always had a bit of trouble with that one, but I doubt if Caiaphus, Ananias, Pilate, Herod and the rest are getting any comfort from the fact Christ was prepared to forgive them, especially if they didn’t repent. Their judgement is probably all the worse for that reason.
Bob,
Thank you for sharing such a personal story. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of days and discussed it today with my wife. I’ve heard numerous stories of people in the process of passing over from this life to heaven. My grandmother told of her brother passing over on his hospital bed, sitting up and seeing his mother saying, “momma!” He then immediately passed away. My brother in law knew immediately when his father in law passed away as he felt his presence. The FIL lived across the street and when my BIL went there the FIL had died. I can’t say that I’ve heard stories of people passing over from this life to “hell”. The lack of hearing these stories over my lifetime leads me to doubt not what you experienced but what the cause was. The devil can appear as an angel of light. Who’s to say that it wasn’t the devil appearing in the guise of your father and he did so to make you believe that your father went to hell. He may have done this expecting you to react in dispair. The devil does not know that future and he may have expected a different reaction from you and you did the opposite, turning to Christianity. This kind of makes some sense to me as God uses evil to bring good. As such, I would recommend praying for your Father as he could be in purgatory.
What’s your thoughts? Pork
