Luke 23:39-43 (NRSV) says:
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding Jesus and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." 42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43 He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
How will Jesus be with the criminal in Paradise today, if Jesus descended into hell for the next three days?
Monday, July 17, 2006
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4 comments:
You're bein' way over literal on that, I think. Another interesting tidbit: a town near mine in called San Dimas and I asked several locals who Saint Dimas was. No one seemed to know, so I looked it up on the internet. Saint Dimas was "the good thief" crucified with Jesus, the one who made this request. Now, since he's not named in Scripture, I'm not sure how the early church worked that out, but it's interesting nevertheless.
Perhaps time in the afterlife is not measured the same way it is in the "here and now".
How do you think of these questions? PCIT, I had heard it as St. Dismas. There was a "Dismas House" here in Chatt-town for a while-- a place for ex-offenders when they got out of prison.
Perhaps Jesus was referring to the Godhead when he uses "me," referencing the criminals union with God.
Or, perhaps hell and paradise reference the same thing, yet Jesus experiences paradise as hell, for three days, because he is completely separated from God.
Or, however, I prefer to go with John. For when Paul talks about the Resurrection he references it as a singular event. If it is a singular event, and Jesus' resurrection is part of that event, then the criminals, my (assuming I'm "in") and my great-great grandkids will happen simulatanously. And for a God whom 1,000 years is a blink of the eye, I'd imagine that it wouldn't too tough to pull off.
Oh yeah, plus isn't the 3 days in Hell from the creeds and not directly from scripture, but an inference of Jesus' tearing the temple down (I am too tired to check on that so if someone else can I'd apprecaite that)
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