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Three Days in the … Grave?
Someone posted yesterday (again) about people being able to go to heaven on only the premise of seeking God, and that they don’t need to know Christ. (Which is unbiblical even if you only quote one verse: [Jesus said] I am the Way, the Truth, the Life… no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.)
Of course Anna had to say something (which of course was construed by the following commenters as ‘stirring up trouble’ and not defending scripture – notably by the local Pharisees on Xanga)… and what I said was that… (Lemme go copy it…)
Christ went into Paradise after His bodily death on earth for three days – from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. He then was resurrected from the dead, and told people “do not touch Me – I have not yet ascended to my Father”… meaning He had not gone to heaven, but Paradise, to witness to those who had gone before and had not the opportunity to accept Him as Savior.
These people included Abraham, Noah, David, Isaiah… all of the men of God who had passed on before Christ died for the sins of mankind. Men who lived under the old covenant.
If they knew Christ was coming and held fast to that belief that was prophesied and promised… and these people were known by God… why would there be a need for Christ to minister to the saints passed on in Paradise for those three days? If anyone who believes in God is saved and if knowing Christ is not necessary, what was the purpose of that visit, and why would Paul (who was traveling with the apostle Luke at the time) write that the way to salvation is “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God hath raised Him from the dead.”?
And further, if one could go to heaven for believing in God and seeking Him in their own way, why would Paul, Luke, John, Peter and the others make long and difficult missionary journeys? And why would Jesus, for that matter? Weren’t the Pharisees seeking God in their own way?
So… of course the first argument that came up is that the Bible never said Jesus ministered to those who had died. And I thought “You’ve got to be kidding it’s right…. where?????” And further, I’ve spent the ENTIRE morning looking for something that would lead me to the information I needed… and amazingly, nobody – none of the apologetics site’s I frequent – even mentions why Jesus would spend three days in Paradise.
BUT I FOUND IT!!!!! ((whew!)) It’s in 1 Peter 3:18-22 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built…
He went and preached to the souls who had passed on before during the three days. And once I found the verse, my chain reference could be kicked in… and look at 1 Peter 4:6!!! For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
Wha-HOOO!! I was sincerely concerned for a few minutes there that I was believing BS Christianity again… and I can’t do that – y’know how I am!!
However… my research time for the day is exhausted. I started out by addressing what Christian’s response to Christmas should be, but then… well, that’ll have to be wrapped up and posted tomorrow.
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