I appreciate candor, especially, when dealing with theological issues. Theres not really any other way to deal with them except drag them out in the light and see if they wither and die.
Let me just say first that I'm going to be happy with what actually does happen because thats the way God set it up and you can be sure he knows more about it. There have been some pretty smart people take a crack and what they think is going to happen but eschatology seems to consist mainly of a great deal of speculation. Prayerful speculation I am sure but I don't actually KNOW whats going to happen and neither does anyone else.
As far as what happens when someone dies, I think I put it in the first post. Right here:
doulos wrote
I have always been under the impression that everyone is going to get to heaven at the same time--which isn't outside the realm of possibility for an Eternal God who created time along with everything else.
It mostly stems from the idea that God is Eternal and unchanging. To me that means he is unaffected by the clock. I think time is something he created for us to sort of coddle us along until we, er, grow up? I don't know exactly how to put it but I get the impression that he put the World on a clock a) for our convenience b)to give us a sense that we've really only got so long to make up our minds about Him. Time's not something God really needs.
It wasn't a straight line from there to "Where do folks go when they die?" but eventually the two thoughts collided and the answer was, "Outside of time."
*shrug I just couldn't get all the events that were supposed to happen to line up in my head--some have accused me of not having enough room in there--unless, that is, you remove the requirement for a strict linear timeline which, to me, God doesn't have. We have that need so of course there's a place holder for souls to wait around in until the appointed time. I like the idea of them being asleep in the grave until the rapture better than any sort of communal holding tank sort of affair like purgatory, etc.
As for saved and lost status: I'm of the mind that when all the different dead folks show up where ever they're supposed to go that they're ALL going to be there and thats when they get sorted out. There's too much talk in the Bible about sorting sheep from the goats and people and demons getting cast into the lake of fire for there not to be some huge final event where God makes the point that he truly is the God of all creation and not your bass boat or your Beemer. "Every knee shall bow..."[Romans 14:11;Isaiah 45:23]
Considering I go to a church where you could almost get burned as a heretic for buying a Walt Disney flick I don't think its too surprising that I haven't discussed this with a great number of people. The few that I have who had a few thoughts to rub together thought I had a lot of nerve for even considering that the saints would have to appear in front of the judgement seat.
This is a good exercise and I appreciate greatly the opportunity this website provides to discuss these things.
