Subject: Is suicide a sin, will you go to hell? |
Bible Note: McAllister 702 please consider the following: 2 Tim 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. "accurately handling the word of truth" could be translated "cutting it straight". I encourage you to consider the following scripture and notes. A study of Luke 16:19-31, the story of Lazerus and the rich man it is clear that before the resurrection of Jesus there were two compartments in Sheol. One is referred to as Abraham's bosom, where Lazerus had his abode and the other was a place of torment, where the rich man had his abode. Let me quote from a world renown Bible scholar, C.I. Scoffield. "Hades before the ascension of Christ. The passages in which the word(Hades)is occurs make it clear that hades was formaerly in two divisions, the abodes respectively of the saved and of the lost. The former was called "paradise" and "Abraham's bosom." Both designations were Talmudic, but adopted by Christ in Luke 16:22; 23:43. The blessed dead were with Abraham, they were consciouse and were "comforted" (Luke 16:25). The believing malefactor was to be, that day, with Christ in "paradise." The lost were seperated from the saved by a "great gulf fixed" (Luke 16:26). Hades since the ascension of Christ. Sa far as the unsaved dead are concerned, no change of their place of condition is revealed in Scripture. At the judgment of the great white throne, hades will give them up, they will be judged, and will pass into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:13, 14) But a change has taken place which affects papadise. Paul was "caught up to the third heaven . . . into paradise" (2 Cor. 12:1-4). Paradixe, therefore, is now in the immediate presence of God. It is believed tht Ephe. 4:8-10 indicateds the time of the change. "When he ascended up on high he led a multitude of captives." It is immediately added that He had previously "descended first into the lower parts of the earth," i.i. the paradise divesion of Hades. During the present church-age the saved who died are "absent from the body and at home with the Lord." The wicked dead in hades, and the fighteous dead "at home with the Lord," alike await the resurrection." If you study 1 Cor. 15:52-55 along with Revelation 20:4-6 you see the first resurrection which is for the saved. Rev. 20:11-15 you see the second resurrection of the dead (lost) who ultimately are cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Your reference to Acts 24;15 only tells us that both the just and the unjust will be resurrected. It does not mention as you put it "the unrighteous who died in ingorance of the truth." Ignorance is never excused. Jesus said He was the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me. Receiving Christ is the only way to eternal life. That's the point of the whole New Testament. In Christ, Jim D. |