Posted on 04/29/2009 12:48:26 PM PDT by ScubieNuc
Being reincarnated as Hillary or Helen’s underwear.
Thanks for posting.
IMO the (remarkably few) scriptural texts supporting the immortality of the soul require a strained reading, while the far more numerous texts supporting the idea that the human soul is merely the live human being which returns to nothingness at death do not.
Occam’s Razor therefore indicates that the writers of the Bible did not believe in the Greek/Persian idea of inherent immortality.
bump for later.
How do you explain the parable of Lazarus in Abraham’s arms while the rich man suffers in hell from Luke 16?
Bump for later
I would suggest reading N.T. Wright’s book on the Resurrection wherein he discusses the various forms of afterlife, pagan and Jewish beliefs in a life after death.
A fascinating work and it might help a bit.
Reading the original language with a dictionary on hand might help too. some of the words used carry multiple meanings.
>>How do you explain the parable of Lazarus in Abraham’s arms while the rich man suffers in hell from Luke 16?<<
Well, for starters, it IS a parable.
I would suggest reading N.T. Wright’s book on the Resurrection wherein he discusses the various forms of afterlife, pagan and Jewish beliefs in a life after death.
A fascinating work and it might help a bit.
Reading the original language with a dictionary on hand might help too. some of the words used carry multiple meanings.
As I understand it, soul and spirit are not the same thing. The soul resides in the blood, and “sleeps” with the body at death. The soul is the specific memories, behaviors and personality traits that are unique to a given person. The spirit goes to the presence of God at death.
At resurrection, we are judged body and soul, as the two are inseperable. Those unworthy of eternal life in the eyes of God experience the second death. Afterwards, death itself is thrown into the lake of fire and annihilated.
The popular conception of Hell is a mishmash of Sheol, Gehenna and Tartarus/Tartaroo. The Bible states that the flames of eternal torment are for those rebellious angels and evil spirits that were bound in the deepest depths of Sheol.
I’m not going to go out on a limb and say that there is no punishment other than annihilation after death for sinners, however.
As someone who was brought up in the church but is now an atheist, I don’t exactly stay informed on fine points of theology, but i was surprised recently to notice that the Apostle’s Creed says that Jesus descended into Hell.
True, but even in a parable a mustard seed is still a mustard seed and a fatted calf is still a fatted calf.
A parable wouldn't have much use as a teaching tool if the people didn't already know of and accept the existence of heaven and hell.
They were in Sheol, which had many levels, from Paradise at the uppermost level, otherwise known as Abraham’s Bosom, down to the lowest depths, where the rebellious angels and evil spirits were bound. The rich man was in a much lower level, tormented due to the darkness and the accute awareness of being separated from God, but could see Lazarus.
Jesus descended into Sheol to minister to those who were there, during the three days between Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Hell is a place were reason has no play.....The liberal kool-aid America we’re living in.
Doesn’t argue for annihilation.
As a parable. I also don’t believe that his parable of the vineyard referred to a literal king who had his son murdered by those he left in charge of the vineyard.
If taken literally it requires ignoring the literally dozens or hundreds of verses indicating the opposite.
But I respect the fact that most disagree.
The author missed something in his study. The bible never uses the word “torture”. It uses the words punishment and torment.
Could any saint be happy in eternity knowing a loved one is eternally in torment? Most likely we won’t remember the lost because to us it will be as if they never existed.
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