Soul do not go to sleep six feet under the soil. So that is simply another absurd doctrine based up misinterpreting the Bible.
You are correct. I never once said that the body goes to sleep six feet under the soil. I have always maintained and preached that the Soul is what goes to sleep and the soul doesn't go to sleep while still in the grave. The souls of the righteous under the shed blood of Christ go to the Bosom of Abraham and the wicked always go to a place of torment but the body stays in the grave and rots. Both places are located in Hades. One is called Gehenna and the other is called the Bosom of Abraham. The soul is not ever six feet the soil. Only the body is six feet under the soil. The soul always goes to Hades which is a combo of Geheena and the Bosom of Abraham. Scripture never tells us how deep the Bosom of Abraham is except that it is in the lower parts of the earth.
Did I post the first line? I don't remember it.
Anyways, I realize this part is a view that some Christians hold. I don't agree with them about this dual compartment of Hades, but I can see where they derive their view of it.
Eph 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended FIRST into the lower PARTS OF THE EARTH?
So do you know how far under ground the Lower parts of the earth are??? OR are you calling Paul a liar or misguided when he stated that Christ first descended into the lower parts of the earth and BEFORE CHRIST ASCENDED???
Are you calling the Word of God a liar when it tells us that there is such a realm as a place of torment where the rich man was suffering horrible torment???
Are calling Christ a liar when He told us that Lazarus was in the Bosom of Abraham????
If Lazarus was in the Bosom of Abraham and the rich man was in a place of torment, what was in their graves six feet under???
To start with, I don't hold your view on this verse:
Ephesians 4:9-10 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
(ESV Strong's)
My position is that Jesus descended, in the sense of the Incarnation. It is not talking about a descent into Hades, but is talking about the Incarnation, where he "descended" to dwell with mankind as a human being and to atone for their sins. He then ascended, following the resurrection, to the throne of God.
And, please don't use rhetoric such as claiming that I am calling Jesus a liar. Obviously since I'm appealing to Scripture, I believe in sola Scriptura.
Regarding Lazarus and the Rich Man, the abode of Lazarus is viewed as being separated from the abode of the rich man by an impenetrable barrier. I believe that the spirit of the wicked is being held in conscious torment in some location called Hades, and Lazarus is in the presence of Christ in heaven. There's nothing in conflict with this view in the parable. There is an insurmountable barrier between them, and the wicked cannot affect those in heaven, in the presence of God.
You may ask me, what about this verse:
John 3:13 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
(ESV Strong's)
My position would be that "ascension" relates to being in a resurrection body, fully vindicated by God, as Christ was. The dead, who are in the presence of God now, are not fully complete yet. They are still lacking their resurrection body, to be given to them when they return with Jesus.
1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; This verse is telling us the BY THE QUICKENED SPIRIT Christ was able to go and preach to the spirits in prison. Which tells us that it wasn't His body that first descended it was His spirit!!!
His body was still in the tomb they put it in after He died.
Do you know anything about the "SPIRITS IN PRISON??? Do you know where the prison is located??? Is it six feet under or someplace else???
1 Peter 3:18-20 8 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to
the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
(ESV Strong's)
My position on these verses is that Noah preached to the individuals at Noah's time in the spirit of Christ, so in essence Christ preached to them and warned them of the disaster to come if they did not repent.
Here are some notes on this from a study Bible that I respect:
1 Peter 3:19 3:19–20a These difficult verses have been understood in three very different ways. Traditionally they have been used to support the idea that Jesus descended into hell on the Saturday between his crucifixion and resurrection—when his body was dead but his spirit remained alive (v. 18). At that time he preached either to the souls of people who were disobedient in the days of Noah or to fallen angels who had incited humans to such evil that God sent the flood at the time of Noah to destroy it (Gen 6:1–7). A second view is that the preincarnate Christ preached through Noah to the wicked generation destroyed by the flood. A third view is that Christ’s resurrection and ascension were the proclamation of victory over the most extreme powers of evil the earth has ever known, which these “imprisoned spirits” represent. With Jesus’ victory over death, their condemnation was sealed.
(NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)
Maybe you should spend a little time researching the word Hell. You will find that the word Hell is actually translated from the Greek words Hades and Gehenna and the Prison is located is another realm in the lower parts of the earth called Tartarus. All 3 word sof which King James changed to the word HEll. But a little research would reveal the true meanins of each word translated to the word Hell.
I doubt that King James changed the wording.
Hell can be translated three different ways in the Greek:
1. Hades - the grave, or the abode of the dead. It is comparable to Sheol in the Hebrew - a shadowy underworld
2. Gehenna - a place of fiery destruction, associate with the Valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where trash was burned
3. Tartarus - the place where the evil angels were imprisoned.
The only time Tartarus is used, it is discussing the abode of evil angels.
Hades is used to refer to the place where the rich man was at, but it is used in reference to the grave in general.
In other words, while I see that Hades can be used in regards to the place the rich man was at, in terms of conscious existence, I don't see this idea that the righteous dead are in Hades in a conscious existence. Instead, they are in Paradise with Jesus, which is where the thief on the Cross went.
And, I believe that Hades can simply apply to the place where the body goes after death, which is in the ground or grave.
So, I am familiar with the underlying Greek words. I think the biggest disagreement we would have relates 1) to the state of the person who died in Christ, which I believe is a conscious existence in the presence of Christ in heaven and 2) the fact that Hades can refer simply to the body being in the ground. I agree the word can be used to describe the place where the Rich Man went, in terms of a place of fiery punishment preceding the Lake of Fire, but I believe you are limiting its' usage in a manner that is not reflective of Scripture.
I also acknowledge that your view has been taught in the past, concerning the twin compartments of Hades. I don't know too many people who claim the righteous dead are sleeping in Abraham's bosom, though. Do you think the rich man saw Lazarus asleep in Abraham's bosom? In other words, was Lazarus requesting that God wake him up from his nap to send him to his brothers?