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Jesus is here telling his Apostles that some of them will not die before the Kingdom of God is established, and God and Christ return to judge the souls of men. Here we are, 2000 years later, and the Christian Kingdom has not, nor was it ever fully established. God and Christ have also not returned to judge the souls of men, and yet, all of Jesus' Apostles are dead and gone.
originally posted by: Wandering Scribe
reply to post by 1PLA1
Matthew 16:27-28
27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. 28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Jesus is here telling his Apostles that some of them will not die before the Kingdom of God is established, and God and Christ return to judge the souls of men. Here we are, 2000 years later, and the Christian Kingdom has not, nor was it ever fully established. God and Christ have also not returned to judge the souls of men, and yet, all of Jesus' Apostles are dead and gone.
Go ahead and argue however you'd like. The scripture says Jesus will come back to judge men's souls in the life time of the Apostles. He didn't.
Also, nearly every religion has some form of judgment involved in death:
In ancient Egyptian religion the jackal-god Anubis placed your heart upon a set of scales. The law-goddess Maāt supplies her feather of truth, and the ibis-god Thoth measures your heart against the weight of truth. If your heart balanced the feather then the legendary first Pharaoh, Osiris, welcomed you into the Fields of Osiris (Paradise). If your heart was heavier than Truth (weighed down with lies and evil), then the lion-hippopotamus-crocodile-goddess Ammit devours you, body and soul.
In ancient Persian religion the god Rasnu waits at a bridge with a set of scales. Every soul must walk across this bridge upon death. As they do so, Rasnu adds weight, and counterweight, to each of the scales, which effect the soul attempting to cross the bridge. Too much weight to one side, or the other (being evil in life) causes the soul to fall off the bridge, and into a hell-realm where they suffer for all eternity.
In ancient Hindu religion the soul of the dead traveled through the Bardos, on its way to meet with Yama, the Lord of Death. Yama produced a scale, and would set black and white stones upon the scale. Too many black stones (negative Karma) resulted in the soul being reincarnated as a lesser-form, or cast into a hell-realm. Too many white stones (too much good Karma) resulted in the soul being reincarnated into a higher caste, or some paradise-realm. I'd imagine balancing the stones on the scales, as the Buddha taught, would negate the process of reincarnation, and release one from the wheel of Samsara.
In ancient Greek religion the goddess Themis wore a blindfold, and stood with a set of scales in the Asphodel Meadows of the Underworld. Attended by three kings, Æacos, Minos, and Rhadamanthos, Themis would weigh the life of the shade to determine whether its ultimate fate was the Elysian Island (paradise), or to be handed off to Alecto, Megæra, and Tisiphone—the Erinyes—who would drag the damned off to Tartarus.
And those are just four that early Christian cultists would have been familiar with. So yeah, if I'm not worried about the judgment of Osiris, Rasnu, Yama, or Themis, why would I bat an eyelash at Jesus Christ? He's just another in a long line of self-important messiah's who claimed to be the way, the Truth, and the life. I'm no longer impressed by the empty promises of messiahs and their scriptures.
~ Wandering Scribe
None have tasted death at this time. Everyone who has lived and died are in some form of soul sleep. John clearly stated that none have ascended except He who has descended first and that is Christ. There are no humans in heaven at this time. There is no one in hell either since the final judgment has not occurred.
originally posted by: guitarplayer
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None have tasted death at this time. Everyone who has lived and died are in some form of soul sleep. John clearly stated that none have ascended except He who has descended first and that is Christ. There are no humans in heaven at this time. There is no one in hell either since the final judgment has not occurred.
Go ahead and argue however you'd like. The scripture says Jesus will come back to judge men's souls in the life time of the Apostles.