Bible Questions?

Heaven and earth shall pass away but the laws of cause and effect last forever.

 

I found this describing the end.

22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. (1 Cor 15)

 

Sounds fun, truly a religion for the meek and mild as they say...

 

Thank you! :biggrin:

 

I love how this new thread is moving along and how we are clearing the air as it were concerning key Christian concepts. The concept that has been not so clear to me as of late is concerning Sheol, and I hope that whatever confusion that I have or anyone else for that matter to be cleared away.

Is Sheol a conscious death?
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In Numbers 16:30-33,

""But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord . . . 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly."

God illustrates here that the wicked will be swallowed up 'alive' into the depths of soul. Would this then mean that those that 'spurned the lord' get a different treatment in death (Sheol) than those that are children of Abraham through spirit? Throughout the Bible God creates actions that give context to what is meant by what is shown to occur. Why then would God illustrate their death in this way? That being swallowed up alive?

The 'wicked' are swallowed up by the ground, while Jonah is swallowed by a whale. So we do know that both are swallowed up by death (Jonah dies in the belly, or Am I wrong?) but that Jonah was 'spit out' onto the shore to denote a resurrection?

Is Hell a Place of Eternal Consciously Aware Torment?
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Rev. 14:11,

"And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

Multiple times the Bible illustrates a separation of either Sheep and Goats and wheat and the chaff of the wheat. Denoting that the 'undesirables', will be kept burning forever (Matthew 25:31-46). Possibly to represent that those that follow the ways of Satan will be his children and his servants. Those who follow the ways of Jesus will be his servants and will be the Children of God. Gen 3:15 explains that there will be a struggle between Satan's children and God's children.

Is no rest to mean that they would not be brought back to life since Sheol is a place of remembrance. As in, God will remember to resurrect them but will bring about a state of no rest because when they are destroyed they are destroyed eternally never to be remembered? Sheol is a place of rest while the second death can represent Ghenna. (Remaining dead so as to mean, no rest since rest denotes later waking up).

 

Many are called but few are chosen. I see this whole dynamic between attainment and eternal striving to be represented in the nature around me.
Seeds are broadcast, some germinate some do not. Some survive to bear fruit, some do not. The transformation from transient recurrence and everlasting life is a process of human metamorphosis.

 

We discussed the Sheol in Luke a little here. Check out post #45 and #55 and #60
http://www.hipforums.com/newforums/showthread.php?t=360926&page=5

 

Thanks, I forgot about that. I'll check that out.

 

Well there is no description of Jesus so that isn't going to happen. What further could there be?

 

In the account that you are talking about Korah, Dathan and Abiram are saying they are God's anointed and not Moses and Moses says that if they die any other way than the ground opening up and swallowing them up then he is not God' anointed one but if the ground opens up and swallows them then he is God's anointed one. At which point the ground opened up and swallowed them alive. So yes they went to the common grave of mankind alive but they did not remain alive in sheol.

 

It was a rhetorical question, as for description how about the mummified remains of someone severely scourged with a crown of thorns pressed tight to his head?

 

How about this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shroud_of_Turin#Recent_developments

So far the only major thing that points to it being a fake is that it is woven in an intricate pattern. The blood was there before the image, and there has been no one who can accurately recreate it's image.

 

It was debunked using radiocarbon dating me thought?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...d-genuine-From-grave-startling-new-claim.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1579810/Fresh-tests-on-Shroud-of-Turin.html

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/03/21/shroud-turin.html This last one i most interesting because the postage stamp size square qas subdivided many times for a number of labs to sample and produced a 300 year difference. How might that translate to a 4 by 14 ft piece of cloth? (to paraphrase from the article).

 

The purity of the sample tested has been called into question. Some authors claim to have affixed the time of production of the shroud to the radiocarbon date still by virtue of collaborating evidence and have even affixed the image to a particular individual, Jacques de Molay.

 

Actually, just within the last two weeks I saw a headline, artist recreates shroud. Sorry, didn't read the article though and have nothing further to report.

 

The most recent one I've found is from October 2009. The problem is that the blood on the sroud is under (or there before) the image and so his "recreation" isn't accurate.

 

I was posting before I read your links. Thank you for those.

 

if it a sin to act as a god?

like the government in china only allows people to have one kid?

 

To act with authority is not a sin. To create your own personal morality (and impose it onto others) I would argue is a sin.

Is it moral to limit the number of births to only one which results in countless females being abandoned at birth and left to die. I'd suggest probably not, and therefore a sin.

I like this definition of sin: anything that weakens or ruptures our love relationship with God. Sin has to do with ho we approach God, not how God approaches us. For him, it is always love and forgiveness and justice. For us, well it is what we choose.