Hell's New Arrivals

[Eleanor]

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According to Matt 10:28, the body and the soul are perishable. However; though
the body is perishable by any means, the soul is perishable only by divine means;
i.e. the deaths of body and soul aren't necessarily simultaneous, viz: the soul lives
on until such a time as God decides to give it either a thumb up or a thumb down.
This is interesting because if we can take Luke 16:19-31 to mean something real;
then we may safely assume souls are transferrable to an afterlife situation wherein
people retain some of their human characteristics. For example: Lazarus has a
finger, Abraham has a bosom, the rich man has a tongue; and all are sentient
beings, i.e. lucid & conscious.
NOTE: If there is such a thing as soul sleep I won't know it, here's why:
I've been under anesthesia once for appendicitis, twice for hernias, once for a scalp
lump, once for a kidney stone, twice for total knee replacements, once for a
colonoscopy, once for lung cancer, once for wisdom teeth, and twice for an
endoscopy.

In none of those procedures was I aware of the passage of time. The very moment
I went under was simultaneous with awakening. So if soul sleep is like that, I'll be
in paradise as if I went from here to there in less than a second of time on the
clock, i.e. instantaneously. The same can be said for folks on track for the wrong
side of the chasm separating Abraham from the rich man. (Luke 16:26)

UPDATE: 447 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the OP's figures are in
the ball park, then something like 31,005,708 new arrivals have checked into the fiery
sector of Hades since July 04, 2023.
_

It's never a good idea to see the spiritual as the same as the physical.

 

[Odë:hgöd]

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God has a passion for generosity; but it's not His only passion.

● Rom 11:22 . . Behold then the kindness and severity of God

The human condition is so bad, so corrupt, and so hopeless that only the death of
God's sole direct descendant is adequate to rescue everybody from the lake of fire
depicted at Rev 20:10-15 where numbers of folks will be terminated with extreme
prejudice by a mode of death akin to a foundry worker falling into a kettle of molten
iron.

Now, who in their right might mind can look at that scene and not come away with
the opinion that it depicts a very cruel and unusual punishment? Why not just put
folks down with an injection so that they softly and gently fall asleep never to wake
up? Wouldn't that be nicer, more humane? Yes that would be nicer and more
humane; but would it satisfy God?

Adam started out in the image of God. So at first, his sense of right and wrong was
in agreement with his creator's sense of right and wrong. Then came the forbidden
fruit incident when Adam's original sense of right was lost and his intuition became
that of a tin God.

Well; that's why many of us cannot appreciate our maker's justice. If we did, we
wouldn't be criticizing Him for the way He intends to punish folks. Instead, we'd be
cheering Him on; like this:

● Rev 16:5-7 . .Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: You are just in
these judgments: You who are, and who were; the Holy One, because you have so
judged . . .Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.

* The "Holy one" is none other than God's descendant, i.e. the sweet little babe
away in a manger will be presiding at the great white throne event.

● John 5:22-23 . . Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all
judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

● Acts 17:31 . . He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the
man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the
dead.

UPDATE: 452 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the OP's figures are in
the ball park, then something like 31,352,528 new arrivals have checked into the fiery
sector of Hades since July 04, 2023.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

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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.

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?

UPDATE: 457 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the OP's figures are in
the ball park, then something like 31,699,348 new arrivals have checked into the fiery
sector of Hades since July 04, 2023.
_