Life after physical body death

[angels4u]

6 hours ago, junobet said:

 

I believe that Christ conquered hell and death when He died on the cross, entered the realm of the death and preached the Gospel there (1 Peter 4:6). Hell is empty because Christ will draw all people to Himself rather than leaving a single soul behind (John 12:32), because God wants “all people to be saved and to come to know the truth fully” (1 Tim 2:4b). So yes, I trust the Bible’s promise of universal reconciliation: that in the end God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).  As theologian Jürgen Moltmann put it in “The Logic of Hell”:

“Judgment is not God’s last word. Judgment establishes in the world the divine righteousness on which the new creation is to be built. But God’s last word is ‘Behold, I make all things new’ (Rev 21:5). From this no one is excepted. Love is God’s compassion with the lost. Transforming grace is God’s punishment for sinners.” http://jasongoroncy.com/2006/03/06/the-logic-of-hell-by-jurgen-moltmann/

 As for Matthew: The debate on whether  “αἰώνιον”  can really best be translated as "eternal"  aside:  the passage doesn’t even refer to unbelievers, but to people like us: People who proclaim Christ as Lord, but often enough fail to live up to His spirit of grace. Whenever we treat the least in our societies with contempt or indifference, whenever we find excuses not to care for the poor and not to give shelter to strangers in need, whenever we wish that somebody else may burn in hell, we show that our faith is shallow and that there’s still a lot of transformation work to be done to fix our souls.

May the Lord have mercy on us all.

When you die and see heaven's gates why do you think Jesus will let you in?

 

[thereselittleflower]

6 hours ago, RidElle said:

To enoob57: My Religion is a Roman Chatolic. But I am more comfortable to say now that I am a Christian, I already go to a Christian church (Victory) but I am just new to that church. I believe in Jesus,have faith and that whoever accepted and died with him will have eternal life ( 1Thessalonians4:13-14)  and (Romans 6:1-14 ). I just raised the question 'coz I don't know if we know each other after death, maybe I mean to talk about the relationship or emotions since it is said that when you die you don't know anything. ( Eccl 9:5-6 )...maybe it made me curious about after death.

The body knows nothing when we die.   But it is a very different situation regarding our souls.

Jesus told the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man who both died.  Lazarus went to the Bosom of Abraham, paradise.   The Rich Man went to hell.   They were both aware of each other and of those on earth.  The Rich Man pleaded with Father Abraham to send angels to warn his family, so yes this story illustrates we are still aware of our family relationships.

Believers go to be with Jesus in heaven and the book of Hebrews tells us about the Great Cloud of Witnesses that observe us as people would observe races in a Greek stadium, cheering on the competitors.  So yes, those who have died in Christ are alive in Him and aware.

 

[junobet]

On 9.1.2016 at 9:23 PM, Willa said:

Junobet, you are sadly mistaken if you believe Luther or the Lutheran Church has ever been universalist.  The Lutheran Church teaches that Salvation is offered to all, that they are saved by grace through faith, but men by ther own choosing refuse to come to Christ.  It is for man once to die, and after that the judgement.  There are no second chances after death. And It is certain that God is both just and righteous, giving man every opportunity to receive the knowledve of His existance and of the Gospel.  The following is from the Augsburg Confession:

Article XVII: Of Christ's Return to Judgment.

1] Also they teach that at the Consummation of the World Christ will appear for judgment, and 2] will raise up all the dead; He will give to the godly and elect eternal life and everlasting joys, 3] but ungodly men and the devils He will condemn to be tormented without end.

4] They condemn the Anabaptists, who think that there will be an end to the punishments of condemned men and devils.

 

 

[John 3:18-19, 56 NKJV  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not  believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnaation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light , because their deeds were evil.  56.  He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. ] 

 

.ATHANASIAN CREED:   For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ; Who suffered for our salvation; descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead; He ascended into heaven; He sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty; from whence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give an account of their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire.

EPITOME OF THE BOOK OF CONCORD

ELECTION

12] 11. However, that many are called and few chosen, Matt. 22:14, does not mean that God is not willing to save everybody; but the reason is that they either do not at all hear God's Word, but wilfully despise it, stop their ears and harden their hearts, and in this manner foreclose the ordinary way to the Holy Ghost, so that He cannot perform His work in them, or, when they have heard it, make light of it again and do not heed it, for which [that they perish] not God or His election, but their wickedness, is responsible. [2 Pet. 2:1ff ; Luke 11:49. 52; Heb. 12:25f.]

13] 

 

Oh dear, I hope I didn’t give the impression that I claim to be speaking for Luther, Melanchthon or any specific Lutheran Church here. If so, I'm sorry. I certainly just speak for myself. And whilst it is hard to find very many people in my own (Lutheran-Reformed United) home church in Germany, who don’t at least see universal salvation as a possibility we ought to hope and pray for, I’m well aware that you’d find a very different picture in the  LCMS for example. Us Protestants we just love to disagree with each other, don’t we?  ;-)

Of course Luther wasn’t a universalist, but in one of his many letters he did indeed see it as a possibility that there are second chances after death to receive faith and thus salvation. Though Luther doesn’t see any scriptural evidence for this, he doesn’t doubt that God could do that. In this he echos Mk 10:26-27: “All things are possible for God.”

I agree with Luther that we cannot believe in Christ by our own reason and strength, but that we receive our faith through the Holy Spirit (comp.: Luthers Small Catechism II:3) and I’d go as far as to say that we cannot reject faith by our own free will either. Here I’m on board with Moltmann, who says that making salvation dependent on human free will rather than God’s will to save all of mankind seems tantamount to atheism. (comp.: http://jasongoroncy.com/2006/03/06/the-logic-of-hell-by-jurgen-moltmann/)

I agree with you that it is certain that God is both just and righteous but I’d thoroughly disagree that we all had/have equal chances to receive knowledge of the Gospel. In fact the vast majority of mankind never had the slightest chance to hear it, because they lived and died in regions of the world long before the gospel was preached there, or even long before Jesus walked the earth.

 

Now if I believe the Bible that God loves all of his creation and made all of us in His image, I must believe that  He loves my Muslim, Hindu, Atheist … neighbours as much as He loves me. So – with all due respect for other people’s religious beliefs – I believe that Jesus died for them as much as He died for me and that - be it in this life or the next - they’ll eventually receive faith and salvation:

“And so, when Jesus’ name is called,
    the knees of everyone should fall,
        wherever they’re residing.
Then every tongue in one accord,
    will say that Jesus the Messiah is Lord,
        while God the Father praising. “

(Phillippians 2:10-11)

Edited January 11, 2016 by junobet
lay-out problems, seemingly unsolvable, sorry

[junobet]

23 hours ago, angels4u said:

When you die and see heaven's gates why do you think Jesus will let you in?

 

Because I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God is love (1 John 4). He loved us so much that He died for us on the Cross just so that we could get through that gate.

[angels4u]

Do you think everybody will enter heaven?

How about the people who did not believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins?

[junobet]

9 minutes ago, angels4u said:

Do you think everybody will enter heaven?

How about the people who did not believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins?

Yes, I trust that everybody will enter heaven.  Just a few posts above I elaborated why. Some of my Muslim friends  may think this is slightly chauvinist, but I believe that eventually everybody will have faith in Christ, be it in this life or the next.

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." (John 12:32)
 

[angels4u]

7 minutes ago, junobet said:

Yes, I trust that everybody will enter heaven.  Just a few posts above I elaborated why. Some of my Muslim friends  may think this is slightly chauvinist, but I believe that eventually everybody will have faith in Christ, be it in this life or the next.

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." (John 12:32)
 

What if you are wrong?

[junobet]

I can only put my trust in God. And I believe God is Good.

 

[angels4u]

It was very nice to talk to you in chat!

Did you accept Jesus as your personal Savior and is He your King?

Was there a time in your life that you realized you were a sinner and need Jesus in your life?

Good works will not bring us to heaven, its all by grace and we only can get saved through the cross..no other way will be good enough.

Only Jesus saves..do you remember the time when you gave your heart to Jesus?

[completedbeliever1]

On 1/7/2016 at 9:12 AM, RidElle said:

Hello everyone!I'm new here. I just wanna know what happens to a person's soul after his/her death on earth?Do we also know each other's name after death?Do I still know that she is my mother?He is my father?My sisters?Thanks. God bless

I hope that with what scripture shows, it will be enough to see.

From Ecclesiastes to the NT, we see that being able to "see" should be enough.

Our physical eyes are able to view earthly things, but our spiritual eyes are able to see ALL things.

When our physical body dies our spirit goes to him who gave it.  

We are instantly with the father.

That is where we are judged.

We will see those who have been righteous, but not those who were not.  

Paul wanted to be with Yashua, because it was, to him, a better place to be, but for those who were struggling on earth, he wanted to be present.  

To be with the Almighty, we need to be absent from this body.