March 2, 201511 yr This came up today in Sunday School. Two options seemed to dominate. 1. When you die you immediately go to Heaven or Hell while existence on earth is still going on. 2. When you die, the soul sleeps until Christ return, then we all go up to Heaven or down to Hell at the same time as the Earth is destroyed. What do you think?
March 2, 201511 yr If you are a Christian and you believe that you go to heaven or hell immediately, why would there be a second coming?
March 2, 201511 yr If you are a Christian and you believe that you go to heaven or hell immediately' date=' why would there be a second coming?[/quote'] The second coming is for the souls still walking the earth first...not necessarily for those that have passed.
March 2, 201511 yr Time does not exist in heaven. Everything happens and exists "now." Since God's existence is, creates, encompasses, and moves every thing to ever exist in the universe (time), everything is simply "now." I'm probably not explaining my thoughts clearly. I'll probably be back on in an hour to explain better.
March 2, 201511 yr "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep [are dead]. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-16). I by no means am a biblical scholar but this sums up my beliefs on the dead and if they go to Heaven immediately.
March 2, 201511 yr I'll put it to you like a doctor told a friend of my mother when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer... "You're gig is up, lady. " He was brutal, but honest. I'll be brutal and honest as well. That's it, when you die , you're gig is up. Back to dust. No magic, ro rapture, no resurrection. It's a nice thought that something magical will happen but there is not one iota of evidence that would lead any rational thinking person to believe any supernatural transportation will happen to you after your cells stop functioning.
March 2, 201511 yr I'll put it to you like a doctor told a friend of my mother when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer... "You're gig is up' date=' lady. " He was brutal, but honest. I'll be brutal and honest as well. That's it, when you die , you're gig is up. Back to dust. No magic, ro rapture, no resurrection. It's a nice thought that something magical will happen but there is not one iota of evidence that would lead any rational thinking person to believe any supernatural transportation will happen to you after your cells stop functioning.[/quote'] True, but as always there is zero evidence to the contrary either.
March 2, 201511 yr I do not believe your soul "sleeps". I've sat with people who lay dying and their actions lead me to believe they were seeing and communicating with those who went before them. That would not occur if the soul sleeps.
March 2, 201511 yr Some people believe everything came from absolutely nothing. Otherwise known as evolution.
March 2, 201511 yr In my understanding of Scripture, a person's spirit departs from their body when they die. The spirit will then go to either a place of peace or a place of anguish. The place of peace I believe is the present Heaven, but I don't believe that to be the same place where people will live eternally. The "new heaven" does not become reality until Jesus returns. I don't believe in soul-sleeping primarily because of Jesus' statement to the thief on the cross & because of Paul's statement that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
March 2, 201511 yr Some people believe everything came from absolutely nothing. Some people believe everything came from a space daddy.
March 2, 201511 yr I took it he was referring to the big bang theory. That's how I understood it as well. I know a lot of Christians who also believe in evolution.
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