Posted on 01/08/2016 10:56:32 AM PST by springwater13
CARSON: And just to add onto that, a lot of times when people say things, they take them completely out of context. So, you know, they come and say I don't believe in the rapture. I don't believe in a secret rapture where people just â he's sitting here one minute and he disappears. I believe in what the Bible says and the Book of Thessalonians where he will come, everybody will see him, people will be raised from the dead, called up.
You know, I believe what the bible says.
And, you know, as far as hell is concerned, everybody has a different concept of what hell is. I personally don't believe in the situation where there's this dungeon and a bunch of little minions poking people forever and ever and burning them. You know, that's inconsistent with the character of god. And that's not what the bible says.
(Excerpt) Read more at mediaite.com ...
“people will be raised from the dead”
Suppose an astronaut goes outside his spacecraft during a flight to Mars, tears a hole in his suit and drifts away, dead, into space. The Rapture comes and he is resurrected in his space suit, still drifting out into the void. “Oy,” he’d say, “Not thls s**t again!”
I understand what you’re saying.
Our God is a consuming fire. Maybe, since there's no where where God isn't then maybe the burning that they feel is being in the presence of God in an unredeemed state.
Other Christians believe that every soul that is departed form the body is currently asleep and only the righteous/saved will be awoken on the day of judgment. (This theory is totally unbiblical)
Romans 9:22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
We’re all going to find out.
One way or another.
I’ll take learning about it while being clothed in the righteousness of Christ and being protected from finding out the hard way.
Same here.
Technically, most all Christians believe in the event that some call “the rapture”, but there is disagreement mostly on the timing of the event.
If you believe that God will raise believers to eternal life, in a separate event from the general resurrection of all the dead (and this is what Jesus and the apostles believed), then you could be said to believe in some form of “the rapture”. I prefer the term “first resurrection”, as that is how it is described most often in the Bible, but it is the same basic concept.
What about the NDE’s of atheists or pagans that report different things than Christians? Do they prove Christianity wrong?
If not, then you might not want to put too much stock in NDEs.
He’s a Seventh Day Adventist, so he probably tracks pretty closely with their beliefs.
I’m not sure what SDAs believe about the hell or the resurrection, but they have enough goofy, unorthodox beliefs in other areas that I wouldn’t be surprised at much of anything from them.
“Are we going to allow the media to set the agenda and choose our candidate for us.”
I think most of us have already decided against Carson, for our own reasons, not having much of anything to do with the media.
Why is eschatological specifics a subject for a Presidential candidate? I am not voting on a futurist or preterist....or a post, pre, or mid millennial perspective.
Interesting discussion. For ANOTHER venue.
Well, at the resurrection (for believers at least), we are told they will not just be raised, but gathered to Jesus. So if anyone is drifting in space, it should be no different than if someone was tossed into the ocean, or someone whose body has dissolved into dust. They’ll be reconstituted in a new body and gathered to wherever Jesus is.
Yes, it is utter separation from God, but that is only one aspect of it. Most people already live utterly separated from God, but the damnation of the Abyss referred to in the Bible, affects the entirety of the person. No one talked more about Hell than Jesus. And neither He or the authors of the Scriptures ever say that his references to it were parables as was the case with some of his teachings. No one knew better than Jesus Christ, what awaits the souls of men and women who die without salvation. Why? Because Hell was never intended for people, but for Satan and his demonic hosts. Jesus Himself said, âThen He will also say to those on the left hand, âDepart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41
Could there be anything more pleasing to the Devil than to hear people deny there’s a Hell waiting for them. And it all goes back to his original deception of getting people to doubt the Word of God as he did with Eve in the garden.... “Did God say?” Folks, the Lord Jesus left his home in Glory to come to this earth and suffer the unfathomable wrath of man and God to pay our sin debt by His blood. The reason being, THERE IS a place where human beings will be in the flames of eternal torment forever, it’s a place called Hell, and the Devil doesn’t anyone to find The Way of escape.
Regarding the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, notice how the rich man in Hell was conscious, (he could see, hear, and talk) he had his memory, (he remembered his brothers and the lost state they were in) and he could feel. (He was feeling the flame of fire he was in.)
âThere was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell[d] from the rich manâs table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abrahamâs bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
âThen he cried and said, âFather Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.â 25 But Abraham said, âSon, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.â
âThen he said, âI beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my fatherâs house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.â 29 Abraham said to him, âThey have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.â 30 And he said, âNo, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.â 31 But he said to him, âIf they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.ââ Luke 16:19-31
“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.” Mark 9:43
Some other verses about Hell to consider:
“The mighty man will become tinder and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the fire.” Isaiah 1:31
“Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it.” Jeremiah 4:4
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11-15
“But people who are cowardly, unfaithful, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.” Revelation 21:8
Thank you. It would’ve been less weird if Dr. Carson had used the word resurrection. It would’ve been even better if reporters didn’t ask any of the candidates about details of religious beliefs.
yep.. the denomination was established by the Millerites who were waiting for end of the world in 1800’s.
From what I read about them, they don’t believe in a physical place called Hell.
Not true, hell is just what the bible says it is, a lake of fire where impenitent men and women who refuse to repent and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are sentenced to spend eternity. I will concede that the term "fire" may possibly be symbolic of punishment that is beyond our mortal minds' ability to comprehend. But even if that's the case it offers no comfort to the impenitent sinner.
Truth is, we are all sinners, and the only hope for our salvation to be found in Holy Scripture is spelled out in John 3:16, "That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." The only, repeat only, alternative is eternal damnation in an unimaginably horrible place the Word describes as a "lake of fire". If that lake isn't hell it's something even worse, and you definitely don't want to go there.
What he stands for is biblically sound. If you study what hell says, it is clear that you are separated from God forever by being burned up. What Carson is saying, and I agree with, is that the fire doesn’t endlessly burn; you are just endlessly destroyed and separated from God.
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