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In this article, Dan Franklin gives great advice about understanding both sides of an issue. In today’s charged and divided culture, may God’s people model humility and wisdom in our communication, and bring more light and less heat to our dialogues with others.

We asked a Christian teacher we know and respect to share some thoughts in response to your question. Here is their advice.

We know that people in the present hell are already suffering even though the resurrection hasn’t happened yet, just as people in the present Heaven experience pleasure even before the resurrection (Psalm 16:11).

Because there will be continuity from the old Earth to the new, it’s possible we’ll continue some of the work we started on the old Earth. I believe we’ll pursue some of the same things we were doing, or dreamed of doing, before our death.

I really love this article by Scott Hubbard, editor at Desiring God, for several reasons. It is so powerful from a missions perspective. Plus, I’m a huge fan of Isaac Watts who was not only a hymn writer but also a great theologian.

As should be obvious from the intensity of the outcries to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, when it comes to abortion, we are not talking about a topic that is just hotter than any other. Abortion is birthed by a force of darkness that will bitterly resist every effort to combat it.

Ray Ortlund writes, "The beautiful 'one another' commands of the New Testament are famous. But it is also striking to notice the 'one anothers' that do not appear there."

We’ve probably all heard it said, “This world is not our home.” I used to say it, too. It’s true, but it’s a half truth. 

Jeremiah 17:7-8 was Nanci’s go-to Scripture during her four years of cancer: “Blessed is the one who trusts in Yahweh, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” I’ve been reflecting on how powerfully I saw that passage displayed in her life. 

It’s certainly possible that there will be farms and farmers to care for crops. In Genesis 1:28 God tells His people to fill and govern the earth. Good farming practices certainly fall within the scope of careful stewardship and will very likely be welcome on the New Earth.

Randy writes, “As a young Christian, I lost myself in the fiction of C. S. Lewis and J.R. R. Tolkien because they reflected a drama with eternal stakes. Though they were fiction, they were filled with far more truth than the world’s nonfiction.”

In this article, Mike Spencer, author of Humanly Speaking: The Evil of Abortion, the Silence of the Church, and the Grace of God, gives us six pieces of advice for when we’re talking about abortion with others. His advice is especially applicable to our cultural conversations in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

Certainly, since God is all-powerful, and since He is likely to restore many good things that were taken as a result of the Curse, He’s certainly capable re-creating those things on the New Earth for our pleasure and His glory. However, He will not duplicate our idols.

I am reading this wonderful and thrilling book, Heaven, which you have written. On page 172 you refer to your novel, Edge of Eternity, when Nick Seagrave at last sees Yeshua: "I saw before me an aged, weathered King.” My question to you is, God is also known as The Ancient of Days, but aged could also mean old. Isn’t old age part of the Curse?