To: mitch5501; MHGinTN; NYer; narses
As Bible-believing Christians we have to accept at face value that the words chosen in the Bible are purposeful. At the very least the words of God or Jesus are specific and with purpose.
That said Jesus didn’t say to the Thief you’ll be with me in Heaven. He said Paradise. It is safe to conclude that Heaven isn’t Paradise.
It is also safe to conclude that Hell/Gehenna isn’t Sheol. They’re just too different in description and implication.
Maybe Narses or NYer can expound a bit on the Catholic teachings regarding these verses. Do Catholics still believe in limbo, purgatory, etc.?
Finally, was the Thief baptized? Think on Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, etc. What are the implications?
127 posted on
09/30/2010 6:30:55 AM PDT by
1010RD
(First Do No Harm)
To: 1010RD
>>That said Jesus didnt say to the Thief youll be with me in Heaven. He said Paradise. It is safe to conclude that Heaven isnt Paradise.<< Not really. Here are all occurrences of the word in the KJV: Luk 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. 2Cr 12:4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. The Greek word is παράδεισος or "paradeisos" And a rundown of the Greek usage of the word: 1) among the Persians a grand enclosure or preserve, hunting ground, park, shady and well watered, in which wild animals, were kept for the hunt; it was enclosed by walls and furnished with towers for the hunters 2) a garden, pleasure ground a) grove, park 3) the part of Hades which was thought by the later Jews to be the abode of the souls of pious until the resurrection: but some understand this to be a heavenly paradise 4) the upper regions of the heavens. According to the early church Fathers, the paradise in which our first parents dwelt before the fall still exists, neither on the earth or in the heavens, but above and beyond the world 5) heaven Bottom line is that you may be being "too smart by half" on this one. Some words need to just be taken at face value and within the general contemporary vernacular. e.g. "speeding" usually means someone was breaking the speed limit but could mean someone was high on speed. The former usually sums it up, though.
187 posted on
09/30/2010 10:23:02 AM PDT by
RobRoy
(The US Today: Revelation 18:4)
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