Why are so many Christians still so confused about the afterlife?

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Dino246 said:
That translation is incorrect. The words “do penance” are properly translated, “repent”.
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In the Bible, the concept of "penance" is more accurately described by repentance and penitence, which emphasize a heartfelt sorrow for sin and a change of mind or heart, rather than a system of prescribed actions to earn forgiveness. The biblical terms highlight a turning away from wrongdoing and a return to God through practices like prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, which serve as acts of devotion to express sorrow and repair harm.
 
Biblical concepts related to penance
  • Repentance:
    The key biblical concept, often translated from the Hebrew shub ("to turn back") and the Greek metanoia ("a change of mind"). It involves a sincere and deep regret for one's sins and a firm commitment to change behavior.

  • Penitence:
    The state of being sorry for your sins. True penitence involves "godly sorrow" that leads to salvation, as opposed to "worldly sorrow" that focuses only on the consequences of sin.

  • Action and repair:
    The Bible shows that repentance leads to actions that attempt to repair the harm caused by sin. Examples include making restitution for what was stolen, avoiding temptation, and investing in one's relationship with God through prayer, scripture, and acts of service.
Examples in the Bible
  • Isaiah 58:5:
    This passage criticizes a superficial form of penance, where people outwardly go through the motions of fasting, bowing their heads, and wearing sackcloth and ashes, without a genuine change of heart.

  • Psalm 51:
    King David's prayer after his sin with Bathsheba is a profound example of penitence, expressing deep sorrow and a plea for a clean heart.

  • Luke 18:13:
    The tax collector who prays, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner," is an example of a penitent heart that receives forgiveness.
 
The question that needs to be asked is ....

Are we mortal or immortal beings. ?

Can we seperate the Spirit and body?

What is a soul?

If you read bible verses with a filter, or preconceived idea, you will interpret the verse that way.
 
Millions are confused about the relationship between the body, spirit, and soul.

The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Genesis 2:7).... and man became a living soul. kjv
God made us from dust in the beginning. From the dust and the life of God we became a living being.
When we die the opposite happens.
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7).
The body turns to dust again, and the spirit goes back to God, who gave it. The spirit of every person who dies whether saved or unsaved returns to God at death. This does not say the spirit is a conscious soul or living person in spirit, it is the breath of life that comes from God.

Dust and Spirit of God = a living soul.
 
So what is the spirit that returns to God at death?
The body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26).
The spirit of God is in my nostrils (Job 27:3 KJV). Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

The spirit that returns to God at death is the breath of life. Nowhere in all of the bible does the spirit have any life, wisdom, or feeling after a person dies. It is the breath of life and nothing more.

The “soul”?
The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7 KJV).
A soul is a living being. A soul is always a combination of two things: body plus breath. A soul cannot exist unless body and breath are combined. God’s Word teaches that we are souls not that we have souls. The teaching about souls that exist as a spiritual being and is separate from the body is spiritualism that comes from pagan teachings not from the bible.
Souls die, souls experience death.
The soul that sinneth, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:20 KJV). All have sinned.

Every living soul died in the sea (Revelation 16:3 KJV).
According to God’s Word, souls do die! We are souls, and souls die. Man is mortal (Job 4:17).

Only God is immortal (1 Timothy 6:15, 16). The concept of an undying, immortal soul is not found in the Bible, which teaches that souls are subject to death.
 
People are confused because that is the result of Babylon (confusion), because spiritual concepts from Babylon have been introduced and accepted as biblical.

Spiritualism teach that a soul is imortal
 
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What are your thoughts? Doesn't everybody come from their own unique experiences and reasons for believing what they believe?

Mark 12:30-31

IMO Even if we believe differently than the other person, but we ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ wouldn't that be a powerful and positive foundation for the world?
 
walter549 said:
What are your thoughts? Doesn't everybody come from their own unique experiences and reasons for believing what they believe?

Mark 12:30-31

IMO Even if we believe differently than the other person, but we ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ wouldn't that be a powerful and positive foundation for the world?
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Loving God and each other is most important. But the false teachings can lead to us not having a clear understand of God. The false teachings can lead us away from God, or worship other gods and no even know it. We become susceptible to lies.

If you have a dead person's spirit, ghost, visit you to tell you some important message that will change your life.
How do you know if it is from God or the devil? The devil can appear as a dead relative.

The truth will set you free. I know it isn't from God because
Ecc 9:5-6
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. 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.
 
Everyone is confused about the afterlife because no human is able to imagine how alternative reality would work,
which is why the Bible does not describe it in detail.
 
TMS said:
Loving God and each other is most important. But the false teachings can lead to us not having a clear understand of God. The false teachings can lead us away from God, or worship other gods and no even know it. We become susceptible to lies.

If you have a dead person's spirit, ghost, visit you to tell you some important message that will change your life.
How do you know if it is from God or the devil? The devil can appear as a dead relative.

The truth will set you free. I know it isn't from God because
Ecc 9:5-6
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. 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.
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I agree with you sometimes it is very hard to recognize which is a false teaching. :love:

New King James Version
And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:14

New Living Translation
Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4

Berean Standard Bible
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Christian Standard Bible
The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Acts 17:11
 
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Nehemiah6 said:
PART I

One of the most misunderstood doctrines in Christendom is the doctrine of the afterlife. And part of the reason for this is that the Hebrew and Greek words Sheol, Hades, and Tartarus were all translated as either “hell” or “the grave” by the King James translators. Had they simply transliterated them, much confusion could have been avoided. Therefore the correct word has been inserted in the quotations from the King James Bible (shown below).

Many people believe that no one goes to Heaven after they die, even if they are saved. Many others believe that souls sleep in the ground six feet under the soil. Many others believe that Christians go to Purgatory until they are prayed out of it. Many believe that people are simply annihilated in the end. Many others think that there is no eternal Hell. All of this is because many groups have promoted false doctrines about these matters for a long time, and people have failed to examine them carefully. Behind all this is Satan, who loves to sow spiritual confusion, and does not want people to see the reality of Hell.

However, there is no need to be confused if we take all the relevant Scriptures into account and see what God and Christ have revealed to us, since only they know what is true and what is false about the afterlife. So what the Bible says -- rightly divided -- is all that matters.

A. Physical death
When people die, their souls and spirits are separated from their bodies, and the bodies are buried in graves: And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. (Gen 35:18,19). It should be noted that many pagan religions either burn the bodies of the deceased, or give them to the carrion to be consumed. But Christians are to be buried, not cremated like the pagans. Also, the spirits of unbelievers are already dead “in trespasses and sins”, so only their souls go to Sheol/Hades. But the spirits of believers are alive, and very closely associated with their souls (though distinct from each other). Thus souls and spirits stay together.

B. All souls went to Sheol/Hades before Christ’s resurrection
I said,“In the prime of my life I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years.” (the words of Hezekiah in Isaiah 38:10 NKJV). Unfortunately, the KJV has “the grave” for “Sheol”, which has led to a lot of confusion. Sheol may literally have gates, since Christ spoke of “the gates of Hades” (which is the Greek word for “Sheol”). Sheol/Hades is located near the core of the earth (called “the heart of the earth” or “the lower parts of the earth”).

C. Both the righteous and the unrighteous went to Sheol from the beginning
And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom [in Sheol/Hades]: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in Sheol/Hades he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (Luke 16:22-24)

D. Christ was in Sheol/Hades for three days and three nights
This is rather important, since it establishes the reality of Sheol/Hades. He had already prophesied that He would be there. He had also prophetically stated that He would not be there for more than three days and three nights. Then Peter revealed that while He was there He preached to the spirits in prison (since Sheol/Hades was indeed a prison for souls and spirits).

1. Christ prophesied about being in Sheol/Hades
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Mt 12:39,40) While Jonah was in the whale’s belly, his soul and spirit were in Sheol: And [Jonah] said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of Sheol שְׁא֛וֹל cried I, and thou heardest my voice. (Jonah 2:2)
2. Christ would not be in Sheol/Hades beyond three days and three nights
This is what Christ said through David about 1,000 years before He died: For thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:10). Peter quoted this verse from David and confirmed that it was fulfilled at the resurrection: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption... He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, neither his flesh did see corruption. (Acts 2:27,31)
3. Christ preached to the spirits in prison while in Sheol/Hades
While the body of Jesus lay in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, He proclaimed to the spirits in Sheol/Hades His victory at the cross (1 Peter 3:18,19): 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: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison. Since no one can be saved after they die (Heb 9:27), Christ did not preach the Gospel of salvation in Sheol/Hades. That word “preached” means “proclaimed”, so what else would Christ have proclaimed other than His victory over sin, death, Hades, Hell, Satan, and all his evil spirits? This victory would include the removal of the saints from Sheol/Hades to Paradise in the New Jerusalem. Thus the gates of Hades would not prevail against the Church.
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Sheol means the grave in Hebrew which is back to the dust they are from as the Bible says.
 
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TMS said:
The question that needs to be asked is ....

Are we mortal or immortal beings. ?

Can we seperate the Spirit and body?

What is a soul?

If you read bible verses with a filter, or preconceived idea, you will interpret the verse that way.
Click to expand...
The soul that winners dies, they will perish, cease to exist....
 
Paul instructs Timothy with these words: "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
The KJV puts it this way "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
In modern day English we get tripped up by the word "study". You typically study words on a page. But Paul is referencing what he preaches just above this "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, 9 or which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. 10Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."

He then tells Timothy, regarding those to whom Timothy was sent by Paul "Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers."
My point: the word which we are to be a study of is the spoken word of truth: how the Spirit is leading the people in the our of His direction to us. We are to "be a study" of the very word we preach. (like we might say "He is a study in patience.") This is how the one carrying the word is to walk: circumspect to the truth he professes.

The antecedent of this principle can be found in both Proverbs 3:6 and Proverbs 11:5

"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."
and
"The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness."

Those who properly follow the Spirit's direction have straight paths and straight ways. Paul used "rightly dividing" (orthotomeō in the Greek) to denote a straight cut, like a furrow in a field, may be straight.
 
GWH said:
Everyone is confused about the afterlife because no human is able to imagine how alternative reality would work,
which is why the Bible does not describe it in detail.
Click to expand...
The Bible describes it and in good detail, its just people want to believe traditions and false doctrines rather than the truth. You die and turn to dust in the grave and await the resurrection in the last day at Christ Second Coming as we see in the Bible.

Acts 1:9-11
9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven

So we see in the clouds together with His angels. Jesus was taken up into heaven by a cloud, and He will return in the clouds. The clouds refer to the angels of God that surround Him. Jesus Himself promised that He would return with the clouds which are the angels.

Matthew 24:30
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Matthew 25:31
When the Son of man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory.

Christ will not come down to the earth, but await the saints in the sky with the cloud of angels:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
16 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:
17 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.

At the second coming, Christ calls forth the dead and sends forth His angels to gather the elect, and together they meet Him in the air. Christ Himself does not come down to the earth His feet do not touch the earth. His command to His angels is:

Psalm 50:5
Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

The saints who are alive and those who have been resurrected from the grave will be gathered together by angels and taken up into the air to meet the Lord in the sky and taken to the Heavenly Kingdom. This will not be in any sense a secret rapture, but a worldwide event with all the saints alive on earth and those in the grave, being resurrected and taken up and to heaven...
 
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