Most of Christianity believes once a person dies they go to heaven or hell and stay there for all eternity. But this view has no room for a doctrine about the resurrection or the judgement, it ignores it completely. The consequence is two erroneous doctrines - the doctrine of 'soul sleep', and the doctrine of heaven for everyone, or a chance of salvation after death. The confusion is due to poor translation of the words hell and heaven from the original into English, and probably a bit of general ignorance too. The Bible, if we turn to the original language, teaches that there are two hells and two heavens. Of the two hells, one is temporary and present, the other is eternal and future. Of the two heavens, one is temporary and present, the other is eternal and future.
Firstly there is the the temporary or present hell, Hades (in Greek). This is a place of torment and its location is in the Earth. This place is described in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Both are in the place where the souls of the dead go, known as Hades. There is a big gulf which separates the good side from the bad side. The bad side is called hell, and the good side is called Paradise.
There there is the final hell, Gehenna (Mat. 13:42, Rev 19:20). The final heaven is the place where Jesus ascended (Mark 16:19).
For confirmation that Paradise and Heaven are different places, before Jesus died, he says he would go to Paradise, not to Heaven:
Luke 23:43 And Jesus replied, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."
Further proof that paradise is not heaven, is because in John 20:17 Jesus says that he had not ascended into Heaven yet, so Jesus must have been in a different place while he was dead, which we know is called Paradise.
John 20:17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
Most Hollywood movie ideas about heaven and hell are not actually about the eternal heaven and hell, but the temporary heaven and hell.
Here's how it really happens. When a person dies, their soul goes either to temporary hell, or temporary heaven (Paradise) (2 Cor 5:8). This is a temporary holding place until the resurrection and the judgement (John 5:25-29, Matthew 25:31-46), eternal damnation in eternal hell for the lost and eternal life in New Jerusalem (not eternal Heaven) for the saved. If you thought I was going to say eternal life in eternal heaven there, you would be right, I was going to, but then I remembered that the Bible doesn't say we go to eternal Heaven, we go to New Jerusalem (Rev 21:3). The New Jerusalem will be Heaven, but it is different from the Heaven which Jesus ascended to after His resurrection, where God has his throne right now. To be technical, the New Jerusalem is actually God's throne and abode with His people the church. It will be "heaven on earth", or "heaven above earth", but the difference between the New Jerusalem "heaven", and the heaven where Jesus is now and God has His throne, is concerning the church (John 3:13).
Firstly there is the the temporary or present hell, Hades (in Greek). This is a place of torment and its location is in the Earth. This place is described in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Both are in the place where the souls of the dead go, known as Hades. There is a big gulf which separates the good side from the bad side. The bad side is called hell, and the good side is called Paradise.
There there is the final hell, Gehenna (Mat. 13:42, Rev 19:20). The final heaven is the place where Jesus ascended (Mark 16:19).
For confirmation that Paradise and Heaven are different places, before Jesus died, he says he would go to Paradise, not to Heaven:
Luke 23:43 And Jesus replied, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."
Further proof that paradise is not heaven, is because in John 20:17 Jesus says that he had not ascended into Heaven yet, so Jesus must have been in a different place while he was dead, which we know is called Paradise.
John 20:17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
Most Hollywood movie ideas about heaven and hell are not actually about the eternal heaven and hell, but the temporary heaven and hell.
Here's how it really happens. When a person dies, their soul goes either to temporary hell, or temporary heaven (Paradise) (2 Cor 5:8). This is a temporary holding place until the resurrection and the judgement (John 5:25-29, Matthew 25:31-46), eternal damnation in eternal hell for the lost and eternal life in New Jerusalem (not eternal Heaven) for the saved. If you thought I was going to say eternal life in eternal heaven there, you would be right, I was going to, but then I remembered that the Bible doesn't say we go to eternal Heaven, we go to New Jerusalem (Rev 21:3). The New Jerusalem will be Heaven, but it is different from the Heaven which Jesus ascended to after His resurrection, where God has his throne right now. To be technical, the New Jerusalem is actually God's throne and abode with His people the church. It will be "heaven on earth", or "heaven above earth", but the difference between the New Jerusalem "heaven", and the heaven where Jesus is now and God has His throne, is concerning the church (John 3:13).
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