Q. Is the cross Jesus spoke of the same as Paul's call to die to self? Could there be more than one cross?

A. Both Luke 9:23 (Come after Me and take up your cross daily), and Luke 14:26 (You must "hate" all else to follow Me) are not addressed to would-be preachers or evangelists. They are addressed to would-be Christians, disciples. But before Calvary, it was, Follow Me. I am going to die. After Calvary, we are to consider the death as a given fact. No more invitation needed. We look backwards to our death, and assume it at the moment of our conversion to Jesus. It's simple, said Paul. If He died, we're all dead. Period. End of discussion.

Q. If I am dead, why the command to put to death members...? Colossians 3:3-5..."You died...therefore put to death your members."

A. This is not a contradiction. It must mean something important. The key is not introspection and the flesh, but again we are pointed to the Spirit & spiritual warfare: Romans 8:13 is the companion passage. "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body..." This is an ongoing thing. Death upon conversion. When there are signs of life in the corpse, put him to death again and again. By the Spirit!

Lazarus resurrected, Jesus resurrected. Is resurrection of flesh also possible?

I believe so. The warnings of Hebrews are not window dressing. Hebrews 2 says it possible to neglect our salvation. Therefore it is possible to neglect the corpse that died at Calvary. Of course, when all is said and done, though the warnings come, the author agrees with Paul: We are not those who draw back!

So the Word of God is spoken to DEAD people, but where a possibility of resurrection seems to exist. Paul said in Romans 7, "sin revived and I died". And the people on Calvary's hill shouted, "come down from the cross" to Jesus. Is it not possible for us to do the same?

Q. How does all this warfare work?

A. Some of the answers, the procedures, are found in Romans 8:5 (Set your mind on the things of the Spirit), Col 3:1 (Set your affections on things above) and Ephesians 6:1 (Be armed properly and act like a soldier). If we walk in the Spirit, we cannot obey the flesh any longer! The battle is to seek Him and stay connected to Him. To ignore the corpse. To stop resurrecting that corpse.

Q. Where do Christians go when they "die"? (Trick question. Hint: Not talking about Heaven)

A. First they go to the renewed mind, the reprogrammed mind. They go to a world that does not exist within the cosmos world of flesh and blood (Romans 6:11). They "reckon" (logizomai. from logos, a math/logic term in the Greek) themselves to be dead. They conclude. They count. They consider. They think of. In their mind and more and more in their practice, they are dead to the old life altogether, and alive to Christ.

No, it's not in our strength that we advance in the battle. We must stop the "two dog" story. You know, the guy who says he has two dogs inside of him, one black, one white, and they are fighting each other, and the one he feeds, wins. There is truth in that old analogy, but better to agree with Scripture and shoot and kill the bad dog and let him stay dead. Bury him. You who have been baptized, Paul said, pictured that very thing. You had let the old man die, and you went down into the watery grave to let everyone know, that old guy is dead.