[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

I am so confused. I thought the dead are dead until Christ returns for the final Judgment. How could a child be in Heaven instantly? And if he did go straight to Heaven upon the instant of death, then why is their a judgment day, why would Christ need a 2nd coming?

The details of Christianity are so confusing.

[NavyCanDo]

“I am so confused. I thought the dead are dead until Christ returns for the final Judgment.”

Jesus said to one of the thieves being crucified with him, “TODAY you will be with me in Paradise”. Moses and Elijah where seen by three of his disciples talking with Jesus during the transfiguration. That and many other Bible references proves that our soul is not trapped in our body until the Resurrection. I believe our spirit in a spirit body waits for the Resurrection where we are joined with our new perfect resurrected body.

[RegulatorCountry]

You can make sense of it by understanding that we are ourselves in a sense triune as are the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. We are body, soul and spirit, in His image as we are told from Genesis onward.

Armed with this understanding, then approach the previously confusing and seemingly conflicting passages. The soul is in the blood and the soul sleeps at death, according to the Bible. To be absent the body is to be in the presence of the Lord. The spirit returns to Him, according to the Bible again.

The body and hence the soul will be resurrected from “sleep” and unknowning, death. The spirit did not and does not die.

That’s the understanding I’ve been under, at least. Others may debate this, it’s a topic fraught with disagreement. But, it makes sense out of seeming contradiction. All scripture is true, therefore there is no genuine conflict.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: I am so confused. I thought the dead are dead until Christ returns for the final Judgment

---

Maybe this incident in the last hour of Jesus at the cross will help you ( Christ was talking to the thief who was crucified with Him. See Luke 23:42-43 ).

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise"

[DouglasKC]

I am so confused. I thought the dead are dead until Christ returns for the final Judgment. How could a child be in Heaven instantly? And if he did go straight to Heaven upon the instant of death, then why is their a judgment day, why would Christ need a 2nd coming? The details of Christianity are so confusing.

You have it right. But tradition has screwed up the biblical narrative.

[choirboy]

I thought the dead are dead until Christ returns for the final Judgment.

This from Matt 27:52-53 -- 52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

This was from the account of the death of Jesus on the cross. This passage contradicts your comment above.

[Fledermaus]

I agree. Don’t think I want to go to heaven. From what the Bible tells us God has a serious labor problem. Starting to think the Devil is in the teachers union.

I know, I know, good and evil and all that. But come on. If he’s so frickin’ powerful then why didn’t he just Fredo Satan instead of sending him to Las Vegas so he could F the family?