If that’s literally true then the biosphere would have to be radically different! The oceans generate most of our weather, since evaporation from them produces most clouds and rain.
This was the subject of debate on a science fiction forum once, prompted by the question of what sort of planets in the galaxy could be considered Earth-like, which came down to climate and weather, which rest on the proportion between land and sea. There was a general consensus that for Earth-like climates and weather a planet should be at least three-fifths ocean. (On the other hand, that was in about 1988, so science has learned a lot more about how weather evolves.)
Besides which Revelation isn’t meant to be taken literally, so “there was no more sea” is a reference to primal chaos and evil, which makes sense for a realm of the redeemed and glorified.
It depends on what you mean by evolution. If by evolution, you just mean change, I don’t think there is anything in scripture that necessarily implies that we will not continue to grow after the second coming. In the Christian tradition, there were also early church fathers, like Saint Irenaeus, who had a vision of infinite growth as we become more and more aware of God. As far as biological change over time via natural selection, I do not know. It is possible that after the second coming the current process of biological change will be replaced by something else.
Nice, but he’s projecting a modern view of the world into an ancient text where at the time of writing “the sea” meant the Mediterranean and served to unite lands by virtue of being a major transport medium.
If mine was metaphorical; I base it, rather, on Revelation as apocalyptic literature where symbolism of one sort or another is the expected reading of physical things mentioned.
(And interesting, speaking of, look who he mentions in the text ; - )…
To John in Patmos the deep waters were like prison walls, shutting him out from his brethren and his work: there shall be no such barriers in the world to come.
Tim Mackie with “ The Bible Project “ covers why the waters in revelation is a hyperlink back to “Tohu wabohu” in Genesis 1 and its connected to their concept of chaotic nothingness and the home of chaos monsters. It’s even connected to why we get baptized.
It really is okay to speak for yourself, sometimes.
As for me, I’m sure that hope will end.
There are three possible ways hope will end after I die, as I see it:
Hope can die;
Hope can be fulfilled; or
Hope and disappointment continue without end, until I stop hoping.
Once upon a time, according to Genesis, after everything came into existence, nothing hoped, because there was absolutely nothing to hope for. Everything had or was given what it needed, without waiting for it. [After all, that’s what hope is, isn’t? Not having something, wanting or needing, it, and waiting for it.]
God was, so to speak, a god of His word.
Then along came the Serpent and persuaded Eve, who persuaded Adam, that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was something that that would improve her existence permanently, but that until she ate from that fruit, she would never really have everything. Trusting the Serpent, Eve stopped taking God for granted; in other words, she distrusted Him, first. And then she convinced Adam to distrust God too. And we all know what happened then. God found out. Whether He knew and took his time to break the news to both Adam and Eve that He knew, or there was a way for Him to not know and then find out, is a “rabbit hole”, and in the Garden, rabbits didn’t live in rabbit holes.
The death of hope is a theme worthy of some reflection, beginning perhaps with Alexander Parra’s poem: “When Hope Dies”
Hope, the inspiration of life
To live is to hope for the next
But what if there was no next then why live
In a world where the words im sorry don’t stand how can you
In a place where there is no right only wrong
A society filled with nothing but pain
A culture where everyone cheats in any possible way
A land of chaos is the where you might be
A planet for an end with none in sight
Where did all the hope go
The answer is where ever you left it
The only truth is that there is no hope in world only sadness and pain
There is no hope only sorrow and shame
This place is the end of hopes reign and it will come back ever and again…
The other way that hope can cease is, as I suggested above, through fulfillment. Personally, that’s what Jesus is for me: He not only promised but, I believe, the reason that I can and do hope in this world. No other name under heaven promises me some fulfillment of hope.
The third alternative is, of course, a circle of hope and disappointment into eternity, I suppose, one lifetime good, the next bad, the next better, the next worse, … until I stop hoping in any lifetime: Buddhist Enlightenment: Abandon Hope, and you’re off the “Rota Fortunae”.
But what would fulfillment of hope be like? IMO, there will be nothing human about it: No sex, no metabolism, no suffering, no death, just eternal …
I just mean that no one really has any idea for sure what heaven will be like. We can’t even be certain what is literal, hyperbolic or purely symbolic when it comes to how heaven and a restored/renewed/recreated world. Even Jesus said he was unsure of when it would happen and I think it’s safe to presume he was not even sure what it all was either. I don’t think he knew everythibg about everything except for that one thing. At least one was not sure what heaven or if it was even a vision or a bodily experience. We see different believes being put forth. Sadducees and Pharisees were debating after thousands of years still if a man kept his wife/wives in heaven. Jesus said there was no marriage or sex in the restored world while the Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to write there will still be sex, births and even death in the restored heaven and earth in Isaiah 65. So there are several different stories about it. The Bible does have contradictions. It’s not a perfect story where everything lands on the same exact doctrine. Just seems God never has operated that way and has always kept us a bit in the dark.
Does not mean it’s hopeless. I have faith that in death it will be better. I can finally sleep forever and not exist or I can be restored somehow spiritually, or bodily, and end up in some wonderful place. I am thankful enough to God that I am alive right now even with all the crap. The friends, pets and family, through the good and worst of times, is great. If I was to come back, I would rather live my same life.
But I do think that trying to treat the end of revelation and other places talking about a new earth differently than how we treat Genesis 1-11 is just the wrong way to go about it.
Even when, in terms of the final outcome, they are mirror images of each other?
Lets face it, whether or not Revelation is considered to talk about literal future events, the outcome is clearly to restore all Creation to a sinless state and redeem us back to God…to undo what Adam and Eve stuffed up.
Apocalyptic literature doesn’t easily lend itself to literal interpretations and accommodation doesn’t only apply to passages with ancient cosmogonies. Once the camel’s nose enters the tent, the rest is soon to follow.
1 Corinthians 11:26 tells that the Lord’s Supper is meant to be a proclamation of the Lord’s death until He comes. After the return of Jesus the purpose is fulfilled, so no need for it anymore.
True, but that does not mean that is its only purpose – one function fulfilled or not does not necessarily preclude or supplant another. It could also still be a remembrance, not that we could forget, but more likely eclipsed by a regular celebration of The Lord’s Day of Rest, as you may have read.
