Thank
you for your questions.
In
the Bible, to fall asleep, unless it is obvious that a
person is having a little rest/nap/snooze/ temporary closing of the
eyes etc,
is to physically die.
You
have mentioned two verses that say this -
These things said he: and after that he
saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples,
Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death:
but they
thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
(John 11:11-14)
and
After
that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the
greater
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
(1 Cor
15:6).
They have died ie
they just haven’t dozed off for a while or gone to bed for the evening.
Now
Christians who have died
are dead in Jesus while their
physical body is rotting in the grave. Paul writes to the Thessalonians
who
were fearful that their dead Christian brothers and sisters, might miss
the
rapture. He writes to re-assure them they won’t and in fact they will
rise first
to meet the Lord in the air as he says
For
this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the
Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself
shall
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the
trump of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first: Then we which are
alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. (1Thess 4:15-17)
Now,
Christians that die are
automatically in heaven as they are in Jesus Christ where he now sits
at the
right of God the Father. Paul writes
Philippians
1:21-24
For to me to live is Christ, and to
die is
gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is
the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in
a strait
betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with
Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in
the flesh is more needful for
you.
Furthermore,
he writes
2 Cor
5:8
We are confident, I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
And
where is the Lord? Many scriptures show that Christ
is now in heaven at the right hand of God the Father. Here is one -
Which
he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set
him
at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Eph 1:20).
Now
people who are not saved, when
they die, will automatically go straight to hell. He writes to the
Thessalonians as follows:
And
to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels, In
flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of
the
Lord, and from the glory of his power;
(2 Thess 1:7-9).
Indeed
Jesus talks of the
reality of hell, the fire of hell and the actual place of hell, when he
speaks
the following:
Matt
5:30
And
if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it
from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy
members should perish, and not that
thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Matt
5:22
But
I say unto you, That whosoever is
angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the
judgment: and
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the
council:
but whosoever shall say, Thou fool,
shall be in danger of hell fire.
Matt
11:23
And
thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be
brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have
been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until
this
day.
Matthew
16:18
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,
and upon
this rock I will build my church; and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew
18:9
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out,
and cast it from thee: it is better for thee
to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Matthew
23:15
15 Woe
unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and
land to
make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye
make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Matthew
23:33
33 Ye serpents, ye
generation of vipers, how
can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Luke
12:5)
5 But
I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath
killed
hath power to cast into hell; yea, I
say unto you, Fear him.
Luke
16:23
23 And
in hell he lift up his eyes, being
in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Who
should we believe about
heaven and hell? Well, Jesus is now in heaven and also Jesus created
hell. Paul
also attests to heaven and hell.
So
here’s the question “As a Christian where should I get my
doctrine from? Who should I believe?”
Paul
says we are to follow
him as he follows Christ.
1 Cor
11:1
Be
ye followers of me, even as I
also am of Christ.
Paul
says he
has the correct doctrine
2 Tim
3:10
But thou hast fully known my doctrine,
manner of life,
purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,
Paul
says
that a special dispensation of the gospel was given to him
1 Cor
9:17
For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my
will, a dispensation of the gospel
is committed unto me.
So, as a
Christian, we get our doctrine from
Paul and his thirteen epistles from
Romans to Philemon. We don’t follow Peter, James, John, Genesis,
Ecclesiastes, any of the prophets of the Bible.
There
are no mistakes, errors or
contradictions in the King James Bible. All scriptures are true,
historical but
they are not necessarily doctrinal
for the Christian eg the obvious one is that a man doesn’t need to be
circumcised to be saved today – it’s a different dispensation.
So Jesus
said there is a hell and he is now
in heaven as well, and Paul believes in the fires of hell and
Christians being
in heaven. Paul writes he wants to die and be with Christ who is in
heaven.
So in
summary, there is a heaven and a hell
(Jesus and Paul say so).
When a
Christian dies he or she goes straight
to heaven.
When an
unsaved man or woman dies, they go
straight to the fires of hell.
So this
brings us to the verse of scripture
that all the cults use to say there is no hell.
Ecclesiastes
9:5
For the living know that they shall die:
but the dead know not any thing,
neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is
forgotten.
Furthermore
they
quote
Ecclesiastes
9:10
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it
with thy might; for there is no work, nor
device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave,
whither thou goest.
They
conveniently do not quote the following verse
Ecclesiastes
9:6
Also their love, and their hatred, and
their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for
ever in
any thing that is done under the sun.
Solomon,
in writing Ecclesiastes, is only
comparing THE PHYSICAL LIFE here on
earth UNDER THE SUN as opposed to
the dead corpse in the grave. Of course
there is no work, knowledge, wisdom, love, hatred, reward or memory for
the
rotting carcase in the grave/cemetery.
They
pick
one verse on which they will gamble their life on to prove there is no
hell.
One second after they die they will know there is a hell.
No …,
you
were taught the right things about heaven and hell when you were
growing up and
don’t let anyone unsaved person from the cults (SDA’s, JW’s etc) tell
you
different.
Hopefully,
the above explanation might go some way to helping your understanding.
If you
still
have questions, please do not hesitate to get back to me.
Now
finally,
may I ask on what are you trusting in to
go to heaven?
God bless.
By
Harley Hitchcock
www.AustralianBibleMinistries.com
