Posted on 05/16/2010 5:24:35 PM PDT by lovesdogs
My neighbor was buried today. He was a Jewish man of devout faith. Now mind you he was no saint, he had his share of issues just like anyone else. But in his later years, he became much more involved in the temple and study of the Torah. His Rabbi was at his home every other day and sometimes every day for study and company.
I looked all over for an answer to this question and I cannot find it. My friend did not accept Christ as his savior. As a Jew he did not accept Christian belief. Can anyone help me with what will happen to his soul? Will my prayer help? I have no experience with this sort of thing and I am heartbroken with the loss of this good man.
In my understanding, the belief is that they are gathered unto their people in Sheol just as was the case with the Old Testament Patriarchs. There are levels of Sheol, from “Abraham’s Bosom” which is paradise, for the Godliest people, on down to the depths of Sheol where the rebellious angels were bound, very dark and populated with demons and torment. That’s the Jewish belief, imho.
As far as I have been able to gather, Sheol is at least partially cognate with the Catholic purgatory, but I’m sure I’ll be corrected if that is a mistaken conclusion.
Contemplating it from a Protestant Christian perspective would be different. The souls of the Godly were led out of Sheol by Jesus Christ at the Resurrection, in Protestant belief, leaving the depths of Sheol as Hell. As far as what happens after death, on the one hand, Biblically speaking, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, but on the other, death is regarded as “soul sleep” by other Protestants with Biblical justification as well. I can only rectify the two by concluding that time doesn’t exist in a linear fashion for those who have passed on, and being dead for a thousand years is as a day, that flexible meaning of “yom” that gets bandied about on creationist-evolutionist debate threads. And so, in the perceptions of the dead, having had no perception since the soul is in the blood Biblically speaking, there will have been no time between death and their own (our own) resurrections as well. That’s speculation based upon several different understandings, all Biblically grounded. The truth is the truth, and the Bible is truth, so there can be no conflict, imho.
I’ve contemplated upon the Protestant belief moreso because all my loved ones who have passed on have been Protestant, and I myself am not Roman Catholic or Jewish but am Christian, so that’s the theological framework I’ve pondered.
A more ecumenical belief, abstracted from particular teachings of Jews or Catholics or Protestants, is based upon the many instances of near death experience, wherein living individuals report floating upward and seeing their bodies, and being drawn into a light, full of peace and love, and encountering loved ones and eventually a radiant being. Some say that this could be delusion, others find great comfort in the idea of a warm, loving and peaceful reception. There are near death experiences that are decidedly darker, and so perhaps it’s a genuine thing and not delusion, I just can’t say. I try my best to stick to the Bible on such matters, you can’t go wrong there.
Pray upon it, if you’re troubled by it. Sounds as if you might be. Seek out the peace of the Lord.
What is the Judaic belief about the soul and what happens at death? I’ve looked a bit but never really found out.
I am asking in all sincerity.
“What happens to the soul of a jew upon death?”
His soul stops voting for 0bama.
I guess ignorance knows no bounds.
Actually, the Old Coveanant is still in force - if you don’t know Jesus - because if you’re born again, that would put you under the New Covenant; a better covenant with better promises.
If somebody can provide me with a scripture which gets rid of the Old Covenant .. I’d like to know it .. because I never could find one.
I had a couple of friends who were Messianic Jews. They absolutely do not consider themselves Christians, that’s for Gentiles.
Allow me a bit of editorial license here....
"I've never heard one complain afterward."
≤}B^)
It just seems that if you believe that there are many roads to God, there is no point to sending missionaries out. Why bother?
But it seems from your response you think the way of salvation is following the Torah.
The Pope said not too long ago (pretty sure it was Pope Benedict - time does pass more quickly now) that (very loose paraphrasing) believers who are sincere will be rewarded even if they are not Catholics or Christians in general.
Just ignore people who say he’s comdemned. The man you know, does he deserve hell? It’s funny, some people act like God’s prosecuting attorneys, quoting verse like it was state law. Yet they somehow manage to miss “judge not”, “like a thief in the night”, and “woman, where are your accusers?”,,,, etc,,,
Jesus is about forgiveness,,, And he seemed to always manage to give his grace to lots of people that the pious always managed to expel, imprison, judge, physically torture, and generally make life even more miserable for.
Your buddy is with God.
Another beautiful verse from the Gita:
The Blessed Lord said:
Son of Pritha, a transcendentalist engaged in auspicious activities does not meet with destruction either in this world or the spiritual world; one who does good, My friend, is never overcome by evil.
Hebrews 9:16,17. For where a testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
Our loving God desires that none should perish. He has provided the way of salvation. May we diligently seek to know what is the Will of God through His Word, because we've been told that Word will judge us in the Last Day.
This article is lovingly and prayerfully offered for your reading, study, and consideration. God bless.
Whatever God wants to happen.
Every other answer is conceit or hypocrisy.
“Will my prayer help?”
And about half of Christianity believes that your prayer does help. The Orthodox church teaches that the the soul obviously lives on. The soul still exists, and it can be still be assisted with prayer. Including it’s final state.
the 1979 was supposed to be the second coming...not the first.
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