By Larry Fyffe
Though rather mysterious, and Gnostic-like, the New Testament of the Holy Bible posits that the sinful suffer two deaths – one when their physical body dies; the second when the unworthy are punished to varying degrees in the Afterlife – with the Christian concept of ‘original sin’ thrown in for good measure:
But the fearful, and the unbelieving And the abominable, and murderers Idolaters, and all liars Shall have their part in the lake Which burneth with fire and brimstone Which is the second death (Revelations 21:8)
That is, God sees to it that the post-Eden punishment of physical death imposed on all humankind is no longer the eternal end.
As expressed in the following song lyrics:
Leaving men wholly, totally free To do anything they wish to do but die (Bob Dylan: Gates Of Eden)
The physical death faced by all humans just isn’t good enough for what Adam and Eve did; the possibility of further punishments awaits one and all.
Pointed out in the song lyrics below:
When the cities are on fire with the burning flesh of men Just remember that death is not the end And you search in vain to find just one law-abiding citizen Just remember that death is not the end (Bob Dylan: Death Is Not The End)
This double jeopardy imposed by Christianity, Friedrich Nietzsche severely criticizes; says he, the rich and powerful are not that concernd about it.
Hinted at in the song lyrics beneath:
And here I sit so patiently Waiting to see what price You have to pay to get out of Going through all these things twice (Bob Dylan: Stuck In Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again)
Attempts by mankind have been made to find and remove an individual’s soul
(ie, supposing it may lie within the brain) before it has a chance to journey on to the Afterlife.
According to the following song lyrics, doctors playing God, unsuccessfully try to kill President Kennedy twice – once in body and then again in spirit:
It's vile and it's deceitful, it's cruel and it's mean Ugliest thing you ever have seen They killed him once, and they killed him twice Killed him like a human sacrifice (Bob Dylan: Murder Most Foul)
Dogmas that leave some devil-may-care humans with a good excuse for their sinful behaviour – they’re simply following God’s plan:
Pressing on to the higher calling of my Lord
Shake the dust off of your feet, don’t look back
Nothing now can hold you down, nothing that you lack
Temptation’s not an easy thing, Adam given the devil reign
Because he sinned, I got no choice, it runs in my vein
(Bob Dylan: Pressing On)