HADES

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Jesus sacrificed his life for the whole world; not just part of the world, but
everybody who has ever lived, and everybody who will ever live, down to the
last born on Earth. That says quite a bit about how Jesus feels about me.

He may not like me-- at all. In point of fact Jesus just may quite despise me,
and candidly declare that I am not the kind of people with whom he cares to
associate. Nevertheless, Jesus went to the cross for me too in spite of his
disgust for me as a person.

Now, as I said-- in so many words --Jesus may not be especially fond of me,
but there's no doubt in my mind that he at least cares for me. So I played
upon his Father's sympathies back in February of 1968 when I prayed a very
selfish prayer that went something like this:

"God; I know I'm a sinner. I would like to take advantage of your son's
death."

Seeing as how Jesus gave his life for the whole world, then God couldn't
very well refuse my request; now could He.

• Rom 5:6-8 . . Christ died for the impious. Very rarely will anyone die for a
righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
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In the second chapter of the book of Daniel is told the story of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream. He demanded his wise men to tell him the
interpretation of the dream but withheld the dream's details; without which
they could not answer.

But God had observed the king's dream; and revealed its details, along with
its interpretation, to Daniel.

Prior to the invention of radio and television, it was likely thought entirely
miraculous that God is able to observe the brain's imaginations, but now I'm
not so sure. Modern technology has led me to suspect that the human brain
broadcasts signals that can, with appropriate equipment, be received and
processed into sound and pictures that can then be observed and/or
recorded like episodes of Murder She Wrote and the Good Witch.

Modern technology has actually helped to make God's ability to observe
dreams far more believable than ever before. Plus, if the brain is sending
signals, then it can likely receive them too, so that God can send a dream,
or an imagination, or a vision, or a bright idea to your head with little more
difficulty than a cell phone sending a video of your vacation in Tahiti to
friends back east in New Hampshire.

Don't laugh. There was a time when it was thought impossible to fly to the
moon; that is until the Russians successfully launched their first Sputnik
back in October of 1957.
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Seeing as how God owns everything in existence, and answers to no one
how He goes about managing it all; then what He says goes because nobody
can stop Him from making and/or enforcing whatever rules He wishes
because God's free will trumps everybody else's free will.

Whether God's ways and means are loving, moral, just, and/or right and
wise doesn't matter. It's as futile to criticize lightning for being so bright,
and thunder for being so loud, as it is to criticize God's rules because no
matter how much people complain about thunder and lightning; there is
nothing they can do to stop those forces of nature from going about their
business.

• Acts 4:24 . .They lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said,
Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all
that in them is:

The Greek word translated "Lord" in that passage is despotes (des-pot'-ace)
from which we get our English word despot; defined by Webster's as a ruler
with absolute power and authority.

HADES UPDATE: 157 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 9,796,800
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

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For many of us working stiffs, the first day on a new job is stressful and
quite an adjustment. The night before that first day can cause enough
anxiety to keep us awake worrying about what we might expect.

I'd imagine that, whether we end up in the right place or the wrong place in
the afterlife, we will be just as stressed on our first day there as the first day
here on a new job.

The anxiety associated with death is to be expected seeing as how most of
us have no experience at all with that particular journey. But I think the
majority of my anxiety in regards to death is related to what comes after.
Pity there are no guide books available in print to prepare us in advance for
the culture-shock tsunami with which we are sure to be slammed.
_

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Christianity is sometimes criticized as a license to steal because when people
come to faith in Christ, the file that God has been accumulating against
them gets demolished and from thence He does not begin compiling a new
file.

• 2Cor 5:19 . . God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
counting their trespasses against them

The Greek word translated "counting" is logizomai (log-id'-zom-ahee) which
means to take an inventory; i.e. an indictment.

2Cor 5:19 is quite an advantage because when there are no books on
people, then there is nothing on record with which to accuse them, i.e. it's
as though they've never been anything but 100% innocent, viz: blameless.

This may seem like cooking the books, but God has a way to do it on the up
and up without obstructing justice.
_

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• Luke 16:26 . . Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed

The barrier between Abraham's side of the netherworld and the rich man's is
curious. The Greek word is located nowhere else in the entire New
Testament so we can't compare it's application in other situations.

Chasm isn't necessarily a crevasse like a gorge or a canyon. It can also
represent a marked division, separation, or difference; for example there is
a political chasm between China's communist party and China's regular
citizens.

A chasm then, can be likened to the contrast between good and evil, right
and wrong, wise and foolish, hate and love, the condemned and the
innocent, the one true God and the many fake gods, the alive to God and
the dead to God.

Anyway, this barrier in Luke's story isn't so expansive that people cannot
recognize familiar faces on the opposite side nor hear their voice. And if it's
a literal gulf, then I think it's reasonable to assume people have been trying
to jump in to get away from the flames.

The Bible says that God desires all men to be saved and that He derives no
pleasure from their misfortunes. However, once folks are lost in the
netherworld, God's attitude towards them takes quite a turn. Folks in Hell
are dead to God, and apparently He wants them to be dead to us too; even
our loved ones and the BFFs for whom we care the most, i.e. fraternizing of
any kind with the other side is not allowed.

• Luke 16:26 . .Those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can
anyone cross over from there to us.

HADES UPDATE: 160 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 9,984,000
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

God is Holy. God made man. Man sinned. Holy God became Man died a representative for all of the creation Man. Righteousness is an attribute of upholding His law . Holy God is "separate for sinners". Sin separates from God. Jesus said , don't die in your sins . Except you believe that I am He you shall die in your sins. God Spirit is actively calling me to Himself to be reconciled through His substitution having paid the penalty of sin. Man chooses to harden His heart by free-will and chooses to reject the mercy of God offered in Christ continue in unbelief and rebellion. Man chooses to go the grave and die in His sins rather that embrace a loving God who is moral infinitum God is love. The Cross . So it's Jesus or lost. Yes it is. Are innumerable people falling into the abyss to spend eternity separate from God continually. Yes. Is there a wholesale continual slaughter no. Man crucified His creator has a freewill by default dies separate and unreconciled when he decides He is free to live without God . Does God plead with man , yes. Most do not trust God. Most die in their sins . Most will be in torment throughout eternity. Hey why rebel ? Why exalt yourself and try to make Christ look like a Tyson Chicken Franchise or whatever the heck it is you think you are doing . Are you smarter that God ? He didn't hide His face from shame and spitting to those who plucked out his beard for your sins and mine. You are not smart in fact just the opposite. Go directly to God and talk to Him . Start a new life. Yours isn't working . He has a plan . You don't really want to go down the road you are on . Are you more moral than God.? More Merciful?. Not only is it impossible for Him to lie. He is light and in Him is no darkness and all. Unquote.

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I sometimes encounter Christians talking about people suffering in Hell
forever as if folks down there have eternal life, No, they don't have eternal
life; they have human life; which is a kind of life vastly inferior to eternal
life. Human life is corruptible whereas eternal life isn't.

• Jas 1:13 . . God cannot be tempted with evil

• Titus 1:2 . . God cannot lie

People in Hell are not only fully capable of evil, but they're also quite capable
of dishonesty.

• Rev 21:8 . . But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and
murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars,
their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the
second death.
_

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I once heard a minister tell the story of a fictional busload of Hell's inmates
who were given a 30 day furlough for some R&R in Heaven. They all came
back the first night because God's world was such a bore.

There were no wild parties, no clothing-optional beaches, no bars, no night
clubs, no porn, no gambling, no pigging-out at buffets, no fights, no
profanity, no ribaldry, no free sex, no vulgar late-night comedy, no exotic
dancers, no X-rated movies, no junk food, no tobacco, no marijuana, no
meth, no ecstasy, no LSD, no hunting for sport, no fishing for sport, and no
vices like gambling and prostitution.

And they had trouble seeing their way around. The light in Heaven was so
bright that they had to protect their eyes all the time with thick dark glasses.

And the hellsters didn't particularly care for the isolation. None of the good
folk in Heaven wanted to associate with them: they were ostracized, they
were segregated, and they were quarantined.

Heaven is a pleasant utopia. It's etiquette, its dress code, and its rules of
conduct and civility; were way too strict for the hellsters. Especially
suffocating is the mandatory self control everyone has to exercise in their
choice of words to avoid hurting people's feelings.

In other words: Heaven is a place prepared for a prepared people. Normal
people would quite naturally find God's world disagreeable-- they just
wouldn't fit in; especially with its lack of privacy, its 24-7 Big Brother
oversight, and its strict codes of conduct.

Take for example Wall Street barracudas. Do you really think they'd be
happy in Heaven? Or sweat shop operators? Or influence peddlers? Or
lobbyists? Or J-walking pedestrians? Or LGBTQ? Or greedy businessmen like
Phil Knight, Bill Gates, and/or Jeff Bezos? Or unscrupulous social networking
moguls like Mark Zuckerberg? Or cheap politicians? Or bookies? Or
hoarders? Or black marketers? Or activists? Or militant demonstrators and
protestors? Or Critical Race theorists? Or 1619 Project proponents? No. No.
No. You see many of the interests that concern Hell's people are
unacceptable in Heaven; and in point of fact, none of Heaven's people even
want to hear about that stuff.

You know what else is lacking in Heaven? Religious tolerance. There is only
one religion up there. What's that tell you? Well; it tells me that the
establishment clause of the US Constitution's first amendment doesn't fly in
Heaven. The theocratic monarchy in Heaven insists upon dictating
everyone's religious preference.

In other words: Heaven's utopian society, coupled with its 24/7 Big Brother
oversight, was just simply too much to ask in exchange for some time off.
To the hellsters, Heaven held little more appeal for a get-away than one of
North Korea's prison camps.
_

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• Luke 16:26 . . Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed

Luke portrays only a section of the chasm where Abraham and the rich man
conversed; suggesting that the two locations of the chasm where the men
stood are peninsulas or narrow cornices.

But I rather suspect that the rims of the chasm are straight and parallel like
the banks of a canal; plus extending suffient distance in either direction to
accommodate hundreds, maybe even thousands, of friends and relatives
seeking to connect with their condemned loved ones and BFFs.

HADES UPDATE: 163 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 10,171,200
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

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If there is one good thing that can be said about the netherworld: it's the
great equalizer. Political bullies like Kim Jong-Un, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin,
Benito Mussolini, Xi Jinping, Fidel Castro, Muammar Gaddafi, and Saddam
Hussein, are powerless down below; they're just another nondescript skull in
the gene pool.

• Isa 14:9-10 . . Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when
you come. It arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the
earth. It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones. They will all
respond and say to you: Even you have been made weak as we. You have
become like us.

» Jesus once told a parable that advises folk it's wise to exercise kindness
and generosity on this side of life because people on the other side will
doubtless remember how you treated them. The thing is: folks should expect
to be victims of a certain amount of cruelty on the wrong side of the
netherworld because down there what's the point in being civil? So it's wise
to build up a following of folk up here who owe you a favor so that when you
arrive down there, you'll have some friends instead of only foes looking to
get even.

HADES UPDATE: 167 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 10,420,800
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

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The book of life (Rev 20;12-15) was compiled prior to God creating even the
very first particle for the current cosmos. (Rev 17:8) But I don't think it was
compiled arbitrarily.

According to John 5:24 and Eph 1:13, it's necessary to hear + believe the
gospel to get one's name listed in the book. Well; there's reason to believe
that God is able to view the future. So way back before beginning to
construct the cosmos, He looked down thru the centuries and foresaw
everybody that was going to hear + believe. Having in hand all the
necessary data needed for compiling the book, God went ahead and got it
done and then turned His attention elsewhere.

Now, not everyone is going to be judged on the basis of hearing + believing
the gospel. There are untold millions who never heard, nor will ever hear
tell, of a Christ let alone his crucifixion for the sins of the world.

However, the beauties and complexities of nature, on earth and out in the
void, speak loudly and clearly enough that the cosmos-- all its forms of life,
matter, and energy --is the result of intelligent design. And the human
conscience intuitively knows that there is going to be a reckoning. This is
what's known as the everlasting gospel (Rev 14:6-7} and it has been
preaching itself to men all over the globe from the very beginning. (Ps 19:1
6 & Rom 1:18-20 & Rom 2:14-16)

According to Rom 10:18, nature itself is the word of God; and accounted as
a gospel. This is pretty cool because by nature's gospel, folks all over the
globe-- both primitive and civilized --can be saved. In point of fact,
ignorance is truly bliss in this situation because according to Heb 10:29-31,
folks who hear + disbelieve Jesus' gospel are in greater danger of eternal
suffering than those who know absolutely nothing about him.

(Can you just imagine the chagrin of an educated genius like Mark
Zukerberg doomed to the depths of Hell while an illiterate aboriginal with a
bone in his nose is carried up to the comforts of Heaven?)

HADES UPDATE: 186 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 11,606,400
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

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There's any number of ways the lost could be making their journeys to the
netherworld. For example instead of being dragged underground by ghastly
beings such as those described in post No.100, they may just fall down into
the ground like water through a sieve.

That's not a ridiculous idea seeing as deceased folk leave this world as
disembodied spirits. According to John 4:24 spirit is immaterial, i.e. it has no
mass to speak of. Spirit's movement isn't impeded by solid materials like
metal and dirt, or wood and stone.

And spirit takes up no space. For example the feral man of Mark 5:1-13 was
possessed by a community of spirits who labeled themselves Legion, define
by Websters as as the principal unit of the Roman army comprising 3,000 to
6,000 foot soldiers with cavalry.
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The legion of spirits that left that man went out and took up residence in a
herd of about 2,000 swine. That's a pretty good example of how spirits take
up no room in the physical world; nor do they crowd each other. All 3,000
6,000 of those spirits managed to fit inside the bodily cargo area of just that
one guy. Just imagine the number of spirits that could fit into the passenger
area of an SUV.

NOTE: Those spirits slipped right out of that man. There was no need to cut
him open so they could evacuate.

HADES UPDATE: 207 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 12,916,800
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

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• Job 14:14 . . If a man dies, will he live again?

Back in ancient times; men like Job were attuned to nature. In point of fact,
Job was a very successful rancher; a guy who made his living working
outdoors.

Every year he watched things die in the Fall and come back in the Spring. If
only human life were like that; but alas, when people die they typically don't
regenerate like the new leaves on a dormant maple tree.

HADES UPDATE: 211 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 13,166,400
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

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FAQ: When are people judged: as soon as they die or sometime later?

A: Judgment is somewhat different than condemnation.

For example: according to John 3:18 some folks are condemned while they
live,

I'm sometimes asked how it is that the rich man in the story told by Luke
16:19-31 is in flames down in hades when the judgment depicted at Rev
20:11-15 hasn't taken place yet. Well, he was condemned while he yet alive.
The meanwhile he's being held in custody awaiting the judgment phase of
his condemnation which is where his just deserts will be decided.

HADES UPDATE: 214 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 13,353,600
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

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FAQ: Folks not found registered in the Lamb's book of life are sent to the
second death per Rev 20:11-15. Will they be consumed by the brimstone
and gone forever?

A: Adam was warned that were he to taste the forbidden fruit, he would die
that very day (Gen 2:17) and he did, but not in a way readily apparent.

Up to that moment, Adam enjoyed perpetual youth, but upon tasting the
fruit, he lost perpetual youth and began to age, i.e. his body became
infected with mortality, which is a lingering kind of death rather than the
kind of death where people drop dead to the floor of a sudden from strokes,
bullets, bludgeons, or falls from a very high building down onto solid
concrete.

In other words: Adam's death was an ongoing process that gradually wore
him down to the point where his body finally gave out, and he passed away.

By comparing the language and grammar of any and all passages related to
the second death, I think we can safely conclude that it too is a lingering
death that apparently will be a perpetual process with no definite end.

HADES UPDATE: 221 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 13,790,400
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

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• Luke 16:27-29 . . I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for
I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to
this place of torment.

The five brothers would more than likely recognize Lazarus because he was
laid at the rich man's gate; so that whenever they came over for a visit;
there he'd be for them to walk past.

But I have to wonder just what exactly would Lazarus tell them about their
deceased brother's circumstances down in the netherworld. Lazarus would
likely tell the men about his own circumstances too.

When Jesus passed away on the cross, he didn't go up, instead he went
down; likely to the section of the afterlife where Abraham was. Jesus called
it paradise, which is translated from a Greek word meaning a park, e.g. New
York's central park where folks can go for walks in nature, play soccer,
bicycle, bird watch, boat, take in entertainment like concerts and events,
even dine.

I've a notion there are lots of little children down in that park too and fully
accommodated with plenty of interesting playground equipment, carousels,
pony rides, possibly even a zoo, and quiet places here and there where kids
can sit and listen to stories read to them from books. Who really knows for
sure what to expect in paradise?

Lazarus might then compare all that to their brother's side of the afterlife.

I can well imagine that the men would be fascinated by Lazarus' tale but not
fascinated enough to make a difference because Abraham assured the rich
man that his brothers wouldn't believe Lazarus; and honestly: who in their
right mind would; especially a tale coming from a no-account indigent whose
body covered with sores very likely wasn't even given a decent burial but
instead dumped without ceremony in a landfill somewhere?

HADES UPDATE: 238 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 14,851,200
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_

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• John 2:23-25 . . Because of the miraculous signs he did in Jerusalem at
the Passover celebration, many people were convinced that he was indeed
the Messiah. But Jesus didn't trust them, because he knew what people were
really like. No one needed to tell him about human nature.

The Greek word translated "convinced" is the self-same word translated
"trust". In other words; though people believed in Jesus, he did not believe
in them.

Well, his unbelief was justified. The same people who believed in him due to
his miracles are the very folks who later-on demanded his execution.

Oliver Cromwell-- who took the British throne away from Charles l, and
established the Commonwealth --said to a friend: Do not trust to the
cheering, for those same persons would cheer just as much if you and I
were going to be hanged.

HADES UPDATE: 253 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are in the ball park, then something like 15,787,200
arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since July 03, 2021
_