2/4/19

RESURRECTION AND ETERNAL LIFE

by Arthur A. Oakman

"In this book," the author comments, "I have attempted an interpretation of a process known as the resurrection from the dead.

"When I was a boy, there was on the wall of our small church a banner inscribed with the six principles of the gospel. I thought then that resurrection and eternal judgment were two principles unrelated to our life here, since, anyway, one had to die to be resurrected, and I wasn't thinking about dying soon. The other four principles seemed near enough. We occasionally saw people baptized, supposed they had faith and had repented, and witnessed their confirmation by the laying on of hands.

“But these other two, resurrection and eternal judgment, seemed very remote. Of course they are not remote. Unless the resurrection begins in us now and unless the spiritual body we are to inherit is sown in this one we now have, there is no hope of a resurrection.

"I am convinced that when rightly interpreted and understood, the doctrine of the resurrection holds for us tremendous moral power and evangelical fervor. This book is offered to the Church with a prayer to God that it may stimulate the hearts and minds of our people and help them toward a richer and fuller understanding of Jesus Christ, who is the 'Resurrection and the Life.'"