Death – Grace Evangelical Society

Three Differences Between Jesus and the Grim Reaper

July 6, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Death, Grim Reaper

You’ve seen cartoons of the Grim Reaper, haven’t you? Artists depict his skeletal figure as clad in a black hooded cloak, carrying a scythe, waiting to reap his next victim (for the history of the figure see here). If you read the news, the Grim Reaper is all over the headlines. There are riots and

Fake Converse All-Stars and James 2:17

March 30, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Death, James

When I was in elementary school, Chuck Taylor’s Converse All-Stars were the shoes to wear. So I begged my mom for some, and to my surprise, she agreed. I couldn’t wait to get my own pair of the canvas high tops with the coveted star on the ankle. I would finally fit in! When Mom

Does “Dead” Always Mean “Unable”? (Luke 15:11-32)

February 7, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Death, Total depravity, total inability

One area of theology that needs to be rethought is the doctrine of total depravity, particularly the ability or inability of the unregenerate to respond in faith to God. Often, Calvinist and Lutheran theologians will appeal to the use of the word “dead” to prove that someone is unable to respond. After all, how can

Doctrinal Emotive Behavior Therapy in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

January 16, 2020 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Death, doctrinal emotive behavior therapy, Rapture, Resurrection, Thessalonians

On Sunday morning, I had “house church” with the kids. They liked it. We gathered together, sang a Psalm; Daphne read the Scripture (Luke 12:32-34), and we started discussing it. The kids had been fighting over toys recently, so we discussed the reason why. Why do they find it so hard to share their toys?

Lordship Salvation Is Poor Comfort for a Dying Relative

November 14, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Death, hospice, Lordship Salvation

This past Sunday, our minivan wouldn’t start, so the kids and I walked to a local church, about a mile away. They protested, feeling it was an exceedingly far distance to travel—“Why is this taking so long? Is this Canada?” Once we got settled in, I found the preacher was teaching through Job. Unfortunately, having

Life After Death in the Old Testament

May 2, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - annihilationism, Death, disembodied spirits, Eternal Concious Torment, Hell, torment, universalism

Did the Hebrews have a concept of the soul’s life after death? Did they believe the dead continued to exist as disembodied spirits? Many (but not all) who believe in annihilationism and universalism deny it. They say the idea that the soul survives the death of the body comes from Plato, not the Bible. Why

Annihilationism, ECT, and the Biblical Definition of Death

April 30, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - annihilationim, annihilationism, conditionalism, Death, ECT, eternal cons, eternal conscious torment, Hell

I’ve been exploring the debate between annihilationism and eternal conscious torment (ECT) in a series of blog posts. One of the disagreements between the two views is over the meaning of death. Many proponents of annihilationism understand death to mean the cessation of existence, especially conscious existence. They say that when someone dies, the whole

Deadly Sin — James 1:15

April 19, 2018 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Death, Sin

My cousin died last week. He took his own life. In prison. He’s my third cousin to die by suicide. I never knew him. I just found out about him a year ago. As you might guess, my extended family is very broken. We all grew up without God, and the effects of that are