Posted on 08/09/2013 12:16:56 PM PDT by MNDude
Sums it up pretty well, chesley.
OP could also read this: http://www.amazon.com/One-Minute-After-You-Die/dp/0802463061
There is also this.
It is important to know that humans were created by God with both a body and a soul and that the final judgment will occur after Christ's return and the general resurrection when our (transfigured) bodies are restored to each of us. (Death is the unnatural state of the human person when the body is separated from the soul and returns to dust. Christ will not judge us in this unnatural state.)
In between the partial judgment at death and the final judgment, our souls experience a taste of the blessedness of heaven or the anguish of hell. This foretaste exists even in this life before death. Holy people experience a taste of heaven in the here and now while those who are opposed to God often live a kind of hell on this earth. Since even believers are constantly falling into sin (opposition to God) we also experience times of “hellish” existence. Thankfully, while we are alive (that is before the repose of our bodies), we can use these negative experiences to repent and be restored to God. Those people who have no love for God but who seem to be living the good life with no negative consequences are actually the most pitiful among us because all their joy is based on the ephemeral things of this life and they have nothing invested in the eternal and are totally unprepared for life in the presence of God. The gospel story of the Rich Man and Lazarus describes the sad condition of the spiritually dead materialists of this world who are shocked to encounter the reality of God after death. (see Luke 16:19-31).
Heaven and hell are not “places”. God, who is love, didn't create a place of torments and punishment. Heaven and hell are how each soul experiences the loving presence of God. For those who love God, Christ's shining light is experienced as blessedness, as heaven. Those who do not love God experience this same blessed light as a hateful burning fire. The light is the same. God is the same: goodness and light. The person's perception of this reality, which is determined by the state of the heart, is what creates “heaven” and “hell”.
Unlike Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians do not teach that there is a limbo or a purgatory in the afterlife, however, the Church does teach that there is the possibility for a person's spiritual state to be improved after death (but before the final judgment) by the fervent prayers and good life of those people who loved them and are vigilantly struggling in this life.
It is essential to note that a person cannot repent for his own sins after death. (See again the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus). God gives each one of us every opportunity to repent from our selfish errors which estrange us from Him in this life. Once our bodies die, when we are in that “unnatural” bodiless condition, we can no longer repent for our sins.
However, as was already stated, those who haven't yet died, can pray for the departed. The good effect of prayers for those who have died is a mystery of love. It has to do with the fact that though each of us was created individually and uniquely, we are nevertheless connected with each other. All of humanity is in a sense one body, with Christ as the head. In God's mercy He takes into account the prayers of loved ones for the departed and the state of the soul of those waiting the final judgment can be improved. Since God is just and true, this loving assistance does not go against the basic choice that each soul has made to be either with or without God. Prayers for the dead are lifted up with the hope that forgotten, unrepented sins will be erased and that their loved one will be helped. These prayers are sent up with the knowledge that all is in the hands of our merciful and just Jesus Christ. We don't presume to know the end result and we certainly can't quantify anything with regard to the benefit of prayer or good works. We simply pray with hope and the knowledge that God will do everything short of violating our human freedom to save us. He wants everyone to enjoy eternal blessedness.
Well, aren't you helpful? Your response reminds me of the story of the Good Samaritan in which the priest and Levite both see the plight of the one in the ditch but thinks themselves too good or busy to help. Probably thought the person deserved to get robbed and beaten as they passed by.
Really?? That’s your reply?
Just wow!
Okay, here's another. James 2:15,16 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
What have you done for your brothers/sisters need? The least you could have done is refer to what verses that would apply. But that would require some effort on your part. So instead you come up with a snarky "Go read the Bible" reply.
I am unaware of any scripture showing soul sleep. There is, however 2 Corinthians
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Thanks for these links. I might just check them out
Well, since I spent three years studying the Bible myself I’m not sure why others cannot. God wants a relationship with you and what better way to learn than studying His word for yourself?
That said, if you’d stowed the snarky attitude and read the whole thread you’d see I did post aid.
The whole point being...study Scripture for yourself and don’t rely on anyone else...most people don’t get it right anyway...so trust Scripture with the leading of the Holy Spirit!
And keep your snarky thoughts to yourself in future.
Sure, and rock on fellow Southern Baptist! :)
“I am unaware of any scripture showing soul sleep.”
There is 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 :
“14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Since this verse refers to the first resurrection in Revelation, the clear implication is that those who are “asleep”, or dead, are only resurrected at the last trumpet of Revelation. I suppose their souls could have been in Heaven just waiting for a body until then, but I just don’t think that is the plainest reading.
Perhaps not the plainest reading if that passage is taken in isolation. It is, however, the way that I believe.
I think that all the New Testament passages, taken together, point toward a conscious existence, with or without the Lord, after death.
In addition to the passage that I previously quoted, there is the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Some say this is just a parable, but if so, why does Jesus not say so as He does for His other parables?
In the final analysis, though, while I think this is a very important doctrine, and we should try to get it right, it is not the essential doctrine, which is that however the afterlife is structured, Jesus is the only way there, and we need to accept that fact and act upon it positively
In point of fact, though, I do agree that we do not get our resurrection body until the first Resurrection.
In the meantime, it is fun to discuss these things with fellow Christians. We'll find out for sure soon enough :)
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