Where do we go when we die?

[godrulz]

Soul sleep would apply to the righteous who will one day wake up to abide with God; the wicked will be resurrected to judgment and destruction.

Well that seems more like the loving God that I know. Herbert Armstrong used to teach the same thing. I didn't know anyone else thought that.

However, I can't remember ever reading scripture that would lead me to think in that direction. How in the world did they come up with something like that???

Armstrong borrowed from the SDA and JWs.

The love of God flows out of His holiness, truth, and justice. Hell is based on the love of God (though it was never intended for man). It is a consequence of people's wrong moral choice and is not God's fault. He does not coerce people to love Him nor live with Him forever.

[Guest LCPGUY]

I would have to agree with those above who quoted 2 COR 5:8. Absent from the body = present with the Lord.

Also, Jesus told the thief of the cross that he would be with Him that very day in Paradise.

I don't recall ever seeing a single scripture to support soul sleep or annihilation.

John

[Guest kitkat]

Do we go straight to heaven or do we go into limbo until Jesus comes back?

I too was curious about this, so a while back I checked a book out at the library called "Life After Life". I don't know if you've heard of that book or not or how you would feel about reading it, but it's a book about those that have had near death experiences.

From the testimonies and experiences of those in that book, you definately go straight to be with the Lord or in the case of those that are not saved, you see the tortures of hell.

[Guest LCPGUY]

From the testimonies and experiences of those in that book, you definately go straight to be with the Lord or in the case of those that are not saved, you see the tortures of hell.

I haven't read that book but I have read others and that is what they describe. I never used to believe those stories until my own mother was pronounced dead in the hospital and then came back. She described it as entering a place of unimaginable beauty. She was stopped from entering by an Angel who said it was not her time to enter yet. She could see my father and her mother waiting for her. She could not describe the beauty and glory she got a glimpse of because it was way beyond human senses. She said that there are even colors that do not exist here, but couldn't describe them.

She also described what I was doing and what the doctors were doing during this brief "death" experience. Amazing!

In His Love,

John

[ginakay]

I agree that to the one who dies, soul sleep, or going straight to the presence of the Lord are the same (you don't know when you are asleep) but I think the most accurate reading of scripture points toward going straight to the presence of the Lord (for believers).

If you want to read a really wonderful story of a lady who had a near death experience get a copy of the one called "Inside Heavens Gate". It is a small booklet and I believe can still be obtained from Christ For the Nations mail order catalog. This experience happened around the turn of the century.

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Jacquiline,

My view is the same as most of the others, in that we go directly to be with the Lord upon death. Not only because of the scriptures, but because God "created" TIME and is not limited by it. When the natural (us) dies, the soul/spirit is released into the "spiritual" realm, where there is NO time. 1 Cor 15.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[Guest kitkat]

I haven't read that book but I have read others and that is what they describe. I never used to believe those stories until my own mother was pronounced dead in the hospital and then came back. She described it as entering a place of unimaginable beauty. She was stopped from entering by an Angel who said it was not her time to enter yet. She could see my father and her mother waiting for her. She could not describe the beauty and glory she got a glimpse of because it was way beyond human senses. She said that there are even colors that do not exist here, but couldn't describe them.

She also described what I was doing and what the doctors were doing during this brief "death" experience. Amazing!

What you have described here John that happened with your Mother, is how so many people in that book described their near death experience. They all saw a great light at the end of a tunnel that they each said they went through to the light.

Everything you said here was talked about in that book as part of near death experiences. The colors, the singing, the beauty and none of them wanted to come back.

One thing that was talked about in that book, was that in that realm, there is no such thing as time. They had an understanding of that while they were there, but when they were revived back to life, they didn't understand that part.

What an awesome day it will be when we get there!

Blessings to you!

Kitkat

[salt and light]

"Soul sleep" is not scriptural. The body of a saved person sleeps in the grave until the resurrection,but his or her soul is with the Lord in heaven and is awake. "Annihilation' is not scriptural either. Revelation 14:11 says, "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night....." Mark chapter 9 mentions, "Where their worm dieth not,and the fire is not quenched".

[Guest sword of truth]

Where did the doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul come from?

Genesis 3:1-4

[Guest sword of truth]

(1) Absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

2 Corinth 5:1-9