Butch I believe the Bible.... And my hope is in 1 John 3.... And this is what happens to people cleansed to the state of Godly cleansing....
Gnostics say to ascend into heaven and be removed from the flesh... Ok let us see what gave them that idea....
God says this in Ezek 36:26 and 27... A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Where is my spirit and my heart when God puts this NEW HEART and NEW SPIRIT in me? Where am I when God's Spirit FILLS me?
Jesus said.... John 17... I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
You asked some deep stuff so I hope this answers your question as to what I believe and hope for... I say it is a GODLY TAKE OVER... when God gives a man BORN OF GOD... For in Christ is a NEW CREATION, the old is GONE and BEHOLD EVERYTHING IS MADE NEW... 2 cor 5:17. Is the flesh also made new, to be as hly as Jesus? Where is the OLD? (God says he will CAUSE us to walk in his will) Sounds like a take-over for me... If God CAUSE us to walk as He wants... And I LOVE IT!
So if Jesus in his fulness is the NEW CREATION in me, where is the OLD COBUS? Eph 4 says Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Here is the OLD COBUS..... For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (The old Cobus is where Chrsit is) HID IN GOD!
So that is what I beieve! And this is my hope and what I am busy with right now.... 1 John 3...And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
May the lord bless all of you with a new heart and a new spirit... AMEN!