Bible Question: Thanks... I thought of a couple more points to that question. If no one has been to heaven and returned, then what about 2 Cor. 12:2-4? This man obviously returned since Paul knew of his experience. And, if no one has been to heaven but Jesus, how did he say to the thief on his side "Today you will be with me in Paradise?" I suppose this all makes sense if souls go immediately to heaven until the 1000-year reign on earth (I don't know much about that, sorry if it's innaccurate). Plus, what about the prophets and dreams and visions? Are those not divine? |
Bible Answer: Hi, Kanchi... The difficulty is that you are using a remark of Jesus in which He was talking about something other than the experience of believers when they die. What He's talking about is His own authority to communicate divine truth versus man's inability to know such things in a direct manner. One of the principles of proper interpretation of Scripture is to let Scripture explain Scripture. I'd suggest, therefore, that you go to other passages in the epistles that speak more directly to the question you are interested in answering. They will shed more light for you and will enable you to stand on something solid regarding this doctrine. Regarding the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth, I cannot say for certain. There appear to be two resurrections for the saints, but I can't be dogmatic about when they are in relation to the millennial reign. My inclination is to see the Millennial reign as a future event in a more literal than symbolic sense. I also lean toward a pre-millennial resurrection. However, I am not strongly dispensational. Frankly, I just find that there is so much to learn outside of eschatology, that I've never spent a great deal of time with it. Regarding dreams and the like, I've written answers to that on the forum several times. Seems like every time I do I get someone or another angry. This is a great puzzle to me. We have such a treasure trove of divine truth in the Scripture, I don't understand why people care so much about other stuff. Anyway, since this is a Study Bible Forum, we'd probably best keep our feet on the solid rock of the Word. I posted a bunch of notes on sound interpretation of Scripture (see post #156916) that might be useful to you in the long term, and help you draw out of the Word a doctrine to answer your question in the short term. In Him, Doc |
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Kanchi | ||
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DocTrinsograce | ||
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Aliennow | ||
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Noveta | ||
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JuanMas | ||
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JuanMas | ||
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nae-nae 04 | ||
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nae-nae 04 | ||
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cooler | ||
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cooler | ||
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JimmyHen |