Understanding the afterlife from a protestant/evangelical perspective

[Questions123]

Hello

I would like to get a better understanding of the afterlife from a protestant/evangelical perspective and have many questions regarding such. My main objective is to get an entire outlining of what happens after death and the thereafter.

Firstly, when one dies, they enter into an incorporeal, unbodied state of consciousness (Hades)? And this consciousness is where the soul/personhood resides? And that this state is also separated between the righteous (Paradise) and unrighteous (Tararus)?

Is this so far correct?

 

[Albion]

Hello

I would like to get a better understanding of the afterlife from a protestant/evangelical perspective and have many questions regarding such. My main objective is to get an entire outlining of what happens after death and the thereafter.

Firstly, when one dies, they enter into an incorporeal, unbodied state of consciousness (Hades)? And this consciousness is where the soul/personhood resides? And that this state is also separated between the righteous (Paradise) and unrighteous (Tararus)?

Is this so far correct?

Before going further, it might help (because I can see what will happen if you do not do this) if you narrow your inquiry.

To say "Protestant" or even "Evangelical" is to take in thousands of different churches, most of which have virtually no historic conncection to each other, aside from the basics of the Reformation--Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, and Sola Gratia. To be sure, there is no uniformity in that when it comes to questions about the afterlife.

Most would say, I believe, that after death there is an immediate judgment following which we go to either heaven or hell to await the final judgment. But some would say that all souls go, after death, to Paradise, awaiting the final judgment. However, you are likely to receive any number of different answers depending upon who replies to you and considers himself representative of Protestants.

 

[Questions123]

Before going further, it might help (because I can see what will happen if you do not do this) if you narrow your inquiry.

To say "Protestant" or even "Evangelical" is to take in thousands of different churches, most of which have virtually no historic conncection to each other, aside from the basics of the Reformation--Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, and Sola Gratia. To be sure, there is no uniformity in that when it comes to questions about the afterlife.

Most would say, I believe, that after death there is an immediate judgment following which we go to either heaven or hell to await the final judgment. But some would say that all souls go, after death, to Paradise, awaiting the final judgment. However, you are likely to receive any number of different answers depending upon who replies to you and considers himself representative of Protestants.

In that case, may I focus on the dominant, overall christian view of the afterlife that most subscibe to and a summary of it?

Simply put, I want an understanding of how heaven, hell, ressurection, judgement, new heaven/earth all tie together and what exactly they all mean... and/or whether I've missed anything out.

 

[shturt678]

Just to pick up the momentum, the non-modern Lutheran's view is our new resurrected body is also identical in a new state, i.e., ICor.15:49, 50. If awake in hell, awaiting for one's new body at the Parousia, one will have full memory and more, especially the worse crime that one can commit, "unbelief" having eternity to think about it, especially where one bumped into the truth (IIThess.2:10) and rejected for whatever reason with no pain meds.

Awaking in heaven, no memory, yet basically the same person less sin, awaiting for the Parousia, the end, when, at that time you will receive your new body. Can elaborate, but just to roll the ball for now ... I like Rev.20:4, and 5 due to the many interpretations.

 

[Leuko Petra]

Hello

I would like to get a better understanding of the afterlife from a protestant/evangelical perspective and have many questions regarding such. My main objective is to get an entire outlining of what happens after death and the thereafter.

Firstly, when one dies, they enter into an incorporeal, unbodied state of consciousness (Hades)? And this consciousness is where the soul/personhood resides? And that this state is also separated between the righteous (Paradise) and unrighteous (Tararus)?

Is this so far correct?

No. That is Roman Catholic/pagan [Platonic philosophical]/occult/serpent [Genesis 3:4] definition.

Scripturally speaking - upon [1st] death, one "sleeps" in Christ Jesus, without knowing anything [Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10 &c], until they are resurrected. The 2nd death yet to come, there is no resurrection from - and they will be totally gone forever.

 

[bbbbbbb]

No. That is Roman Catholic/pagan [Platonic philosophical]/occult/serpent [Genesis 3:4] definition.

Scripturally speaking - upon [1st] death, one "sleeps" in Christ Jesus, without knowing anything [Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10 &c], until they are resurrected. The 2nd death yet to come, there is no resurrection from - and they will be totally gone forever.

Your view is definitely the minority position. The vast majority of Protestant churches reject the SDA view of soul sleep.

 

[Leuko Petra]

Your view is definitely the minority position. The vast majority of Protestant churches reject the SDA view of soul sleep.

Neither minority, nor majority, means anything in the face of Truth. Additionally, Christ Jesus and they which followed Him, were in the vast "minority".

The "vast Majority" [the "broad way"] hang onto Rome's pagan Doctrine.

Yet there were those which rejected it, including Wycliffe and Luther, to name two of the more famous.

We may simply go to the scriptures and see, asking questions of it.

 

[shturt678]

I sure wish there was "soul sleep" due to the time I was born into, I realize I'm going to hell, and trying to do something about it ("do" in light of accepting God's grace His way???), where the majority think they will immediately awake in heaven .... the ol' "run with the majority, and secure in the crowd mentality." The fallacious "soul sleep" syndrome is a minor fallacy dealing with Scriptures, i.e., most thinking they will have an afterlife in heaven is the more serious issue ... just my 'not running with the majority' take on it.

 

[Leuko Petra]

I sure wish there was "soul sleep" due to the time I was born into, I realize I'm going to hell, and trying to do something about it ("do" in light of accepting God's grace His way???), where the majority think they will immediately awake in heaven .... the ol' "run with the majority, and secure in the crowd mentality." The fallacious "soul sleep" syndrome is a minor fallacy dealing with Scriptures, i.e., most thinking they will have an afterlife in heaven is the more serious issue ... just my 'not running with the majority' take on it.

The two issues are directly related. Those which hold on to the pagan 'immortal soul' theology, also in the end negate any kind of real judgment, and therefore simply preach almost everyone into heaven [or in Rome's case a puragatory before heaven for almost all]. They do not take God at His word, which clearly says to the sinner, in opposition to satan's doctrine, "...thou shalt surely die." [Genesis 2:17]

 

[dysert]

In that case, may I focus on the dominant, overall christian view of the afterlife that most subscibe to and a summary of it?

Simply put, I want an understanding of how heaven, hell, ressurection, judgement, new heaven/earth all tie together and what exactly they all mean... and/or whether I've missed anything out.

I'll give it a try, "simply put".

For the Christian:

1. death; body to ground; soul & spirit to heaven; no soul sleep
2. eventually (pre- or post-trib) there's the resurrection, i.e., uniting the immortal body with the soul & spirit
3. there is the bema judgment, which determines what rewards are bestowed upon each person
4. there is the Millennium, where immortal Christians and normal Christians live on the present earth under the rule of Christ (who is reigning from Jerusalem)
5. after the Millennium, God creates a new heaven & new earth, and all Christians have their new bodies and live forever on the new earth

For the nonchristian:

1. death; body to ground; soul & spirit to hell (hades); no soul sleep
2. eventually (after the Millennium?) there's the resurrection, i.e., uniting the immortal body with the soul & spirit
3. the nonchristian stands before the Great White Throne to be judged according to his deeds
4. the nonchristian gets dispatched to the Lake of Fire, where he spends eternity

 

[Albion]

Good. But most Christians do not believe in a literal millennium ending in a renewed life on planet earth instead of heaven, so we'd be better off without points 4 and 5.

I'll give it a try, "simply put".


For the Christian:

1. death; body to ground; soul & spirit to heaven; no soul sleep
2. eventually (pre- or post-trib) there's the resurrection, i.e., uniting the immortal body with the soul & spirit
3. there is the bema judgment, which determines what rewards are bestowed upon each person
4. there is the Millennium, where immortal Christians and normal Christians live on the present earth under the rule of Christ (who is reigning from Jerusalem)
5. after the Millennium, God creates a new heaven & new earth, and all Christians have their new bodies and live forever on the new earth

For the nonchristian:

1. death; body to ground; soul & spirit to hell (hades); no soul sleep
2. eventually (after the Millennium?) there's the resurrection, i.e., uniting the immortal body with the soul & spirit
3. the nonchristian stands before the Great White Throne to be judged according to his deeds
4. the nonchristian gets dispatched to the Lake of Fire, where he spends eternity

 

[abysmul]

Your view is definitely the minority position. The vast majority of Protestant churches reject the SDA view of soul sleep.

You might be surprised, I know I'm not SDA and I've encountered a surprising number of Christians that don't reject "soul sleep".

Personally I don't reject it, in fact think it is a possible interpretation. I'm not afraid to say "I don't know" what happens. I'm not aware of any record of where Christ said, "This is exactly what happens to a person the moment they die: _______________"

I trust God, and trust that He will do what he will do.

 

[Albion]

You might be surprised, I know I'm not SDA and I've encountered a surprising number of Christians that don't reject "soul sleep".

'Surprising number,' sure--and not confined to SDA--but it's still a distinctly minority view.

 

[abysmul]

'Surprising number,' sure--and not confined to SDA--but it's still a distinctly minority view.

I wonder how may people would honestly answer "I don't know"?

Oh, and I like the point that was made about majority and minority... simply being in one group or the other does not determine or effect the truth.

 

[Albion]

I wonder how may people would honestly answer "I don't know"?

Who can say? However, I strongly suspect that even the least theologically sophisticated person has a view of what happens after death--specifically whether there's a long sleep or, on the contrary, being immediately whisked off to some heaven or hell or something like that, fully conscious in the spirit state.

Oh, and I like the point that was made about majority and minority... simply being in one group or the other does not determine or effect the truth.

That's certainly true.

 

[Leuko Petra]

I'll give it a try, "simply put".

For the Christian:

1. death; body to ground; soul & spirit to heaven; no soul sleep...

1. Go to Genesis 2:7 -

And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.Genesis 2:7

Can you please demonstrate where we are given a soul? instead of becoming one through the combinatiomn of the dust of the ground and the breath of life from God?

Let us move to:

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:7

Notice, in the erroneous theology of "immortal soul/spirit", everyone [including the wicked] goes directly to Heaven according to that verse, for that is where the "spirit" returns unto. That is in direct contradiction to scripture:

"...there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth." Revelation 21:27

Where in this verse [Ecc 12:7] does it say mankind goes - to "the earth" or to heaven?
The "spirit" returns to God which gave "it" [not yourself], unto us, which are "dust" [Genesis 3:14,19].

All the while my breath [is] in me, and the spirit of God [is] in my nostrils; Job 27:3

Whose breath and spirit is it, ours or His? it is His:

If he set his heart upon man, [if] he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; Job 34:14

Notice, can we retain the "spirit", which is the "breath of life" of God? No:

[There is] no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither [hath he] power in the day of death: and [there is] no discharge in [that] war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it. Ecclesiastes 8:8

And more, for here is what the deceiving Satan said in the Garden:

"...Ye shall not surely die:" Genesis 3:4

There is much more that we may study from the scripture still, but know that it does not contradict itself.

 

[Leuko Petra]

I'll give it a try, "simply put".

For the Christian:

1. there is the Millennium, where immortal Christians and normal Christians live on the present earth under the rule of Christ (who is reigning from Jerusalem)

1. This is also unscriptural, as may be demonstrated from Revelation 20 alone, but even more so, we may also test by the scriptures by asking a few questions.

What happens just before Jesus comes in His second Coming? The 7 Last what?

 

[bbbbbbb]

You might be surprised, I know I'm not SDA and I've encountered a surprising number of Christians that don't reject "soul sleep".

Personally I don't reject it, in fact think it is a possible interpretation. I'm not afraid to say "I don't know" what happens. I'm not aware of any record of where Christ said, "This is exactly what happens to a person the moment they die: _______________"

I trust God, and trust that He will do what he will do.

Well, Jesus seemed to have an opinion on the matter when He told the dying thief next to Him that he would be with Him this day in Paradise, not after a long snooze in the grave.

 

[Leuko Petra]

Well, Jesus seemed to have an opinion on the matter when He told the dying thief next to Him that he would be with Him this day in Paradise, not after a long snooze in the grave.

Check the greek, since it has no punctuation and then to be absolutely sure, read John 20:17.

 

[shturt678]

Check the greek, since it has no punctuation and then to be absolutely sure, read John 20:17.

Lk.23:42, 43 "....when thou comes in connection with thy kingdom!...v.43 ....today (small "t") in company with me shalt thou be in the Paradise!" Yes, no "soul" sleep," but have "body" sleep. Minor detail; however, "When thou comest into thy kingdom," i.e., at thy death, is not what the malefactor either says or means. "When thou comes in they kingdom," i.e., in connection with it, means at the end of the world. You got it!