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Back The Last Christian
Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Other Books by This Author
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Prologue
  8. 1
  9. 2
  10. 3
  11. 4
  12. 5
  13. 6
  14. 7
  15. 8
  16. 9
  17. 10
  18. 11
  19. 12
  20. 13
  21. 14
  22. 15
  23. 16
  24. 17
  25. 18
  26. 19
  27. 20
  28. 21
  29. 22
  30. 23
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. 45
  53. 46
  54. 47
  55. 48
  56. 49
  57. 50
  58. Author’s Note

I stopped scanning. “Abby!” I looked around. All the college students were looking at me. I was still in VR. I reentered physical reality. “Abby!”

“Yes,” she answered from upstairs.

“Come down here.”

She came to the top of the stairs, her face still swollen from crying. “What is it?”

“I think I found something.”

She came down and sat on the couch next to me. I placed my hand on her knee. “How are you?”

“I’ll be okay. Thanks.”

I pulled up a visiscreen and showed her the passages I had found. “Are you familiar with these?”

“Of course.” She looked blank.

“So why didn’t you mention them?”

“Because they don’t say anything about life being withdrawn.”

“No, but they do give us a biblical usage of the word life. That’s what we’re looking for. That’s what Ray might have been referring to.” I rose and started pacing the floor. “The passages make reference to all three members of the Christian Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” I stopped in the middle of the living room floor. “Alistair, are there references in other parts of the New Testament that connect the Christian Trinity to the word life?”

“Yes.”

“Dictate those passages, please.”

“From the first letter of John: ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.’”

“Pause.” I turned to Abby. “Isn’t this talking about Jesus?”

“Yes.”

“But it says ‘eternal life.’ The Bible says eternal life is a person?”

She shrugged. “I guess I never looked at it that closely.”

“Huh.” How could Christians miss that? It seemed fairly important. “Alistair, next passage.”

“From the first letter of John: ‘He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.’ From Paul’s letter to the Romans: ‘For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.’ From Paul’s letter to the Colossians: ‘When Christ, who is our life—’”

“Stop.” I looked at Abby again. “There’s our answer.”

“Which is what?” She wasn’t seeing what I was seeing.

“Christian theology asserts that God actually comes to live inside humans, doesn’t it? To dwell inside them? Some of these verses, and others I saw, refer to that.”

“Of course.”

“So don’t you see? All these verses identify God himself—the Father, the Son, the Spirit—as life. God is the life. The life comes to live inside humans. Ray spoke of the withdrawal of life.”

“So you’re saying—”