Go Lions!

It snowed today. I like it when it snows. It's better than rain, that's for sure. I was out on the balcony this afternoon watching the flakes float and flutter gently to the ground - it truly was beautiful. Of course, the serenity of the moment was ruined by one of the dogs in the backyard beneath my balcony. He actually didn't do anything wrong, though. I just happened to look down at him while the snow was falling, and I got tickled. The snow flakes on his black coat made him look like he had a bad case of dandruff. I got a good laugh out of that, but then I realized that I was cold, so I went back inside.

Later on this evening, I was hanging out in the den by the fire and Nightline came on the television. Ordinarily I don't watch news magazine programs, but tonight there was a story that was intriguing to me. It was a story about the popular Christian belief concerning life after death and the notion of heaven. There is a bishop named Thom Wright over in Great Britain who believes that heaven is merely a sort of holding place for people when they die. He believes that people today have a misconception of life after death because of their perception of hell. The popular belief is that when we die, we leave this place called earth and abandon our bodies to a spiritual form where we spend our time with the angels worshiping and praising God all of the time. Bishop Wright believes, however that this is inaccurate. He contends that after we die and spend some time in heaven, God will end the world and a great resurrection will ensue. All believers will be raised and their bodies will be restored in a perfect fashion to live in a perfectly restored world that will be the paradise that he created it to be before the fall of man. Essentially, I think that Bishop Wright's belief is that God will eventually bring creation full circle to the Garden of Eden where he and his creation will have perfect communion - the way that he intended it as recorded in Genesis. That is actually is pretty cool if you think about it.

Genesis is an interesting read, however my favorite book of the Bible is Daniel. I like to read the story of Daniel and his unflappable faith. I must admit, however, that when I get to the part about the lion's den, I've always thought about how cool it would be if the lions got to bite Daniel at least once. That would make the story more exciting, don't you think?