What should I Believe, and why?

What should I Believe, and why?

One of my problems with the different sects of organized Christian beliefs is the argument that one, perhaps most, promote and preach is that if one dies and is saved, he/she goes immediately to paradise to be with Christ, and others, probably the minority, believe one remains in the death sleep until the Second Coming of Christ when the graves will be opened and the dead in Christ will be resurrected and caught up with Christ in the heavens.

What should I believe, and why?

Exactly what difference does it really make to the ones in Christ that have died, when common sense dictates that even if one has been in the sleep of death for a million years, their very first conscious revelation after dying will be being caught up in the heavens with Christ?

I’m not looking for an argument, I simply am interested in your beliefs and why you believe as you do.

Stick with what saith the Scriptures.

Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Our soul, the inner man is what has been saved and redeemed. The body is dead and buried. There will come a day when the Lord resurrects the body, changes it to be like His glorious body, and reunites the soul with the changed body. These bodies will be incorruptible, immortal bodies.

2 Corinthians 5:7 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

1 Corinthians 15
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Philippians 3
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

You should believe in the Truth because it will set you free.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

Anyone will believe when honestly seeking, and the belief will come from Father God in the form of the gift of faith.. May you seek in spirit and truth, amen.

as it has been stated, 'study ! 1Cor. 15, and that gives us ALL of the FACTS for the beginning
of the true understanding of the Resurrection...

I would start by reading the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and ask God for the strength to believe what Jesus said. Then read the rest of the Bible and work to allow the Holy Spirit to change your life and better understand what you are reading because it is a life long journey of growing in understanding.

It leaves an essence of fear in that, you are not in full recognition of Satan's power, nor god's struggle. "Christ has gone to prepare a place for us".. ;But one prince had the strength to stand by the holy one of Israel.. .. In all dissemination... You do not actually know how much strength Christ retains here, or how he does retain it

Does it really make any difference? Either way, when you first open your eyes after death, you will be with God.

Nobody is in heaven or hell yet! I believe the dead are asleep. Paul may have said: to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. OK, to close your eyes at night: presto - it is morning. It is the same principal.

Nobody is in heaven yet: John 3:13: "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." They are asleep.

Acts 2:29: "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day."

Acts 2:34, 35: "For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool."

All the OT patriarchs are mentioned in Heb.11 and none of them have received their reward yet. Heb. 12 is just a reference to Mount Zion which is new Jerusalem, yet future. Heb. 11:40: "God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." New Jerusalem is being prepared and is coming to earth with the "many mansions" that the Father is preparing.

Be aware that Sheol and Hades simply refers to the grave. Our doctrine of a dwelling place of the dead is inserted into Strong's Concordance as a reference. The reference in Revelation where they are tormented day and night forever, their smoke ascending forever could refer to something captured on film, therefore forever preserved. The reference in Mark 9:44: "Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched" I believe is another example of that. It just does not make sense of a maggot that never dies.

All said, as I stated before all scripture has to fit together, in what we teach, or none of it is valid. Some things were presented in parables with figurative speech. Some things maybe we don't quite understand yet. God will not reveal some things until He is ready for us to know.

I feel Lazarus and the rich man is a parable despite the proper names. Besides it is just in one place in scripture without a second witness. 2 Cor. 13:1 "This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established."

Our ambitions are also asleep and preserved. Exactly how God does this I do not know. Acts 7 and 8 says nothing other than a vision of Stephen and a statement from him for God to receive his spirit. The Father does preserve the spirits but they are not conscious. Here are some references to the unconscious saints.

Ecclesiastes 9:5,6: “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. 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.”

Psalms 6:5: “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?”

Psalms 30:9: “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?”

Psalms 115:17: “The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.”

Isaiah 38:18: “For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.”

Psalms 88:10-12: “Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah. Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

Psalms 115:17: “The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.”

Instantaneous fellowship with Christ.

"should" is not always a helpful word. Im not going to tell you what you should believe.
I believe Jesus Christ is the answer to lifes deep questions. Dont ask me to go into further detail.The Christian salvation story is the greatest story ever told. And I believe its true. So much symbolism. So much meaning. The truth.

Didn’t Christ disciples write in the New Testament that they saw Jesus talking with Moses? Isn’t there a contradiction there?

Concerning my question in this thread, what do you personally believe, and why?

Do you have a personal belief of when the saved in Christ go to heaven?

Only if we seek understanding.

What is your understanding pertaining to the question?

Like I said friends, "I'm not trying to start an argument, I'm simply seeking understanding" and why Christians believe and understand particular parts of the Bible differently.