The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1956-10-18
One Man Looks
At God
CBy Charles w. Carlson, Pastor,
st. Marks Evangelical Lutheran
Church, Oakland Maryland.)

This week | will conclude nv
series of articles on the Apostles
Creed by considering the last three
phrases in the Third Article: "U
believe in the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body and
the life everlasting. Amen"
As to the forgiveness of sins, this
was one of the foremost areas of
the ministry of Christ. In healing a
young paralytic, he definitely re-
fers to His power to forgive sins;
in His contact with the woman of
the streets" He said, Go your
way, your sins are forgiven-sin
no more" Sin is perhaps mis-
understood by large segment of
our society, as a rule, most people
are not aware of sin. When they
do think about it. it is usually in
connection with some horrible thing
that someone else has done-per-
haps newspaper story-and very
rarely in connection with some
thing of which they themselves
have been guilty. Then in the
churches, when Christian pastors
endeavor to preach to the people
to bring awareness of their weak
nesseSs. all too often the "shoes
do not fit the right people, be-
cause the ones that need the mes
sage the most think the minister is
talking about somebody else. AS
matter of fact, he is talking about
everyone there assembled, himself
included. when he speaks of men
being sinful in nature. and in need
Of the forgiveness of sinS-the plain
fact is that we all have fallen short
of the glory of God and His per-
lection. and therefore need His
forgiving love. This is what Christ
came to do. to forgive the sins of |
men, and to give them a program
of life in which sins would play a
gradually diminishing part until
that time when they would go on
into the everlasting life in which |
sin would no longer play a role
The resurrection of the body"
is also a misunderstood term-in |
fact it was misunderstood so early |
in the history of the church that |
Paul had to answer the questions
of the Christians in the city of
Corinth concerning it Il Cor: 80. :,
His answer is the best that we
have. He refers to the fact that |
when we SOW grain, the grain must |
deteriorate before it can emerge a |
healthy, green, new plant-and that !
the resurrection of the body is the /
same type of thing. We are "Sown |
in corruption, raised in incorrup-
ton" for there is a natural body |
and there is a spiritual body. So, |
when we refer to the resurrection |
of the body" we refer not to the
physical body which we now have, |
for that must go back to the dust |
from whence it came, but we refer |
to a "glorified body" no longer !
limited as we now know it, but |
as is eternity.
And finally. in referring to the
'1ife everlasting" there have been
many volumes, most of which are
much less than Christian concern
ing this subject This much l can
definitely Say-no man knows ex-
actly what the everlasting life is,
because mans natural understand
ing is unable to cope with some
thing which is everlasting" How
ever, we can definitely receive
hints from the words of Christ, for
instance in the fourteenth chapter
of John where He says, 'In my
Fathers House are many mansions.
go to prepare place for you"
So from Christ's statement we know
that there is plenty of room for all
of Gods children. And from what
we know of this life, in spite of the
many problems that we know, the
world is pretty wonderful place,
especially for those who follow the
will and love of God. And if this
world, shackled by the sins of men
as it is, is wonderful, just think
how much more wonderful it will
be in the next, where, as I said be-
fore, the sins of men will no longer
play their role. The everlasting life
.~Mes A