Echo

I was listening to a call-in radio show last night and the topic of discussion was that creepy crematorium in Georgia where the owner was dumping bodies out in the woods..I'm sure you all have heard the story.

I was really surprised that so many of the callers subscribed to the typical Christian idea of Heaven and Hell while simultaneously believing that an improper burial causes a soul to somehow get "stuck" in this world, where it just sort of hangs around in a restless state until justice is served or it receives a proper burial. Some of the callers seemed to be quite sincerely worried that the people dumped in the woods would never even be able to make it to the next life at all but would remain in a perpetual state of unrest as long as their mortal remains went unidentified.

How do these people reconcile their belief in a Christian Heaven and Hell with their obvious belief in ghosts and restless spirtis?

Pitshade

The Bible isn't very clear about when and how the resurrection of the dead will take place. 1 Cor. 15:51 seems to think it will be at the end, and also that the end is nigh: "Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, " On the other hand, Jesus told the repentant thief that he would be in paradise that night. (Luke 23:43 - though this doesn't appear in the other gospels)

As a side note, folk legends are full of stories about people trapped between heaven and hell or forced to walk the Earth: Jack o'Lantern, The Flying Dutchman etc... Some of these legends probably predate Xtianity and were simply absorbed into it.

[ February 19, 2002: Message edited by: Pitshade ]</p>

sidewinder

Christians mix in new age type beliefs with their Christian beliefs. It happens all the time. There are differences within Christianity regarding what happens to a person right after they die. I'm sure you've heard most of them.

Let's see what Jesus had to say about Heaven and Hell. Jesus preached that when the Kingdom of God arrived on Earth, that all people would be resurrected and judged. The Bible is not clear about what dead people are doing prior to being resurrected. In the OT, the afterlife is basically a mystery.

Jesus did believe in Heaven, which is where God lived, but he believed that the Kingdom of God would be Heaven come to Earth. He believed that God would rule absolutely over this Kingdom. Jesus preached many things about the Kingdom of God. He describes this Kingdom (Heaven come to Earth) as a mystical type state, something very different from our current natural order of things.

Jesus also believed in Hell but it's not clear (at least to me) exactly how he viewed this place called Hell. He seems to describe it at times as annihilation of those who aren't included in the Kingdom of God. At other times, he seems to describe it as a place of fire where a person is constantly tortured (closer to the current Christian and Muslim view of Hell.)

After Jesus died, it seems that different groups had different ideas about Heaven and Hell, much like how denominations today differ on this topic.