Our sense organs 45

Our sense organs
– in this world and the next
The quality of our lives is determined to a great
extent by our senses. We take them for granted,
only thinking about them when they stop working
in the way we’re used to. Just having a
clogged nose makes a big difference to the
flavour of our favourite dish. Permanent impairments
of one sort or another may force us to
wear glasses or use a hearing aid. If a sense we
have been used to all our life is lost completely,
it can be terrible and frightening, because our
senses, with all their possibilities and limitations,
are so closely interwoven with the central ’I’, with
our innermost being.
The sense organs of our present body cease to
function at death. But is it the end; the real and
final end? The Bible answers this question with a
resounding NO! God created us as eternal beings
whose existence will never end. In Luke 16 Jesus
tells of two people whose earthly existence
ended with their death, but both of them had all
their senses in the next world 1 .
One of them was a rich man with only one purpose,
namely to gather riches and fine clothes
and to enjoy the pleasantries of life. He ignored
God completely. His name is not even mentioned,
although many people looked up to him and
envied him his possessions and his influence. His
idea of life is similar to that of many of our contemporaries,
who also strive towards riches,
power and honour and accept these as their due.
The name of the other person, Lazarus, is mentioned
by Jesus. He was poor, undernourished,
and not esteemed by his fellows, but he knew
1 Note: Luke 16:19-31 is often erroneously regarded as
a parable, but in contrast to the known parables, there
is no indication that it is one. Furthermore, the names
of actual persons are used (Lazarus, Abraham, Moses).
This is a clear indication that it is not a parable.
that God cared for him, because he had a living
relationship with God.
Jesus describes their situations after their death:
“The time came when the beggar died and the
angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich
man also died and was buried. In hell, where he
was in torment, he looked up ...” (Luke 16:22-23).
Both of them died and have left this earth; now
they find themselves in completely different
places. Although they lived in the same city,
their present abodes are fundamentally different.
One person lives in glory, and the other in
torment.
Life does not end with biological death. On the
contrary, our existence with all our faculties
never ends, since we are eternal creatures. This is
a true fact, whether we believe it or not. We were
born without our permission. We will all die without
our permission. And we will exist for ever
whether we believe it or not; nobody will ask what
our preferences are in this regard. We experience
the certainty of eternity in our innermost being,
since God has placed this knowledge in our
hearts (Eccl 3:11).
On the day of resurrection our earthly body
will be changed into an everlasting one: “The
body that is sown, is perishable, it is raised
imperishable... It is sown a natural body, it is
raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body,
there is also a spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:42-44).
The spiritual body is imperishable, it is eternal,
and it has all the sensory inputs and experiences
of consciousness. The Bible mentions two completely
different locations for our eternal residence,
namely heaven and hell. The former is
a glorious life with God, and in the other we will
be estranged for ever from God in the place of
damnation.
Both heaven and hell are places where our senses
function, places of conscious experience. This is
now discussed in terms of biblical affirmations:
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