Bart Goddard wrote:
> wynfranc@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>
>
>>Where in the Bible can you find that death is trans-temporal?
>
>
> But if you really are intent upon following Scripture, start with:
>
> Matt. 25:46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but
> the righteous to eternal life."
>
> Whether you think "eternal" means "unending time" or "outside of
> time", this verse clearly contradicts your idea that punishment
> after death is somehow finite.
>
My 2 cents...
"Eternal" describes the "result" not the "process". The result of the
punishment is "eternal". What is the "punishment"?
"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power;"
"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom 6:23
From these verses, the reward of the wicked will be everlasting
destruction--a death from which there will be no resurrection.
What is death? As I said in my previous post, the Bible consistently
puts forth the idea that death is a state of total unconsciousness--no
thoughts, no device, no wisdom, no knowledge.
>
>>And that hell is “IN ETERNITY” because it is outside of time?
>
>
> We have:
>
> 2 Peter 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends:
> With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand
> years are like a day.
>
> If this were just the phrase "A thousand years is like a day",
> we might conclude that God is just very long-lived. But it
> also says "a day is like a thousand years". Time means nothing
> to God. He created it, and so He is not subject to it.
>
> We also have Jesus saying "Before Abraham was I am" (John 8:58.)
> The muddling of tenses here show that Jesus exists "now" in the
> past.
>
> Next, we have Jesus telling the thief crucifed next to Him
> that "today" they would be in Paradise. Yet there is supposed
> to be a resurrection of the dead after which we are judged and
> sent to our approriate eternal reward. How can this be if
> there is some sort of timeline in eternity?
>
This is a good question about the thief on the cross. But remember in
the original Greek there was no punctuation.
In Luke 23:43,"And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day
shalt thou be with me in paradise", the adverb "today"(sEmeron)stands
between two clauses: "truly to you I say" and "with me you will be in
paradise." As far as I understand, Greek usage permitted an adverb to be
placed any where in the sentence.
