Room for the Risen Dead?
December 5th, 2009 by Ron S.
Continuing in my quest to convert many of my father’s collection of out-of-print theology works to the digital medium, I thought I’d post a short work from an old Central Advent Christian Mission Society booklet. The title of the booklet is “What’s It All About? – Life, Death, Then What?” and is a collection of works by three AC ministers. I do not know the date those works were originally written, but I’m guessing the booklet itself was from the 1960′s or before. The price of the booklet was 25 cents or five for $1. This particular small piece is from a larger work by the Rev. A. W. Sibley entitled simply “Resurrection“. I’ll post more at later dates – perhaps when I buy a new scanner/optical reader to make the whole conversion process much easier.
Room For The Risen Dead
by Rev. A.W. Sibley
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It has been frequently stated that if the bodies of the dead were all to be raised to life, there would not be sufficient room on the earth to give them a standing place, and that the crowd would more than fill the world; therefore it is preposterous and absurd to think that God will raise them to life again. It would be very strange indeed if the all-wise Creator has purposed to raise all the dead, and yet has not foreseen such a difficulty, if it exists. It will be readily seen, when the subject has been mathematically tested, that such an idea is entirely erroneous.
We sill submit some figures touching this important question. It is estimated that about 6,000 years have passed since Adam was created; also that a whole generation of mankind passes away every thirty-three and one-third years, or three generations every 100 years; this would give the birth of 180 generations of mankind in the 6,000 years. It is also estimated that the present population of the earth is no more than 1,400,000,000 [Note: this number is much larger today and may indicate a much earlier writing date - more info at the end] and probably some less; but assume this as the number of people now living, and also assume that this was the number at the start, when in fact there were only two, Adam and Eve; and assume that in every one of the 180 generations this vast number of people have lived and passed away. Now, multiply 1,400,000,000 by 180, and we will obtain 252,000,000,000 as the result; this would be the whole number of people who have lived upon the earth from the above large estimation. To give each one of this vast number six square feet of standing room, would require 1,512,000,000,000 square feet of space. Is there enough room for them on the earth? Take the State of Illinois, for instance, which contains 55,410 square miles, with their 27,878,400 square feet in each square mile, reducing the square miles in Illinois to square feet, we find there 1,544,742,144,000. Comparing this large number with that which is needed to give six feet of standing room to every person that has ever lived, the reader will see at a glance there is room enough and to spare in the State of Illinois alone. How much more then will there be room for all the people that have ever lived to stand on the surface of the earth in bodily form! So this objection disappears before the light of testing truths.
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And don’t forget – not ALL of the dead are raised at the same time. You have a resurrection at the beginning of the Millennium and another at the end.