Ioana, good to see your inquiry. Inquiry is the energy needed to seek the path of truth.
In the old days, before Christ, there was no heaven nor hell, just a place where souls went after death. We’ll get back to this later.
For the story of the poor man Lazarus and the Rich man that both died, went to Abraham’s bosom, and then the rich man would beg for a drop of water if the poor man would simply dip his pinky in the water. It’s a story, it’s a parable, it’s Jesus’ message to us saying that … well among many messages … what you do for the least of my brothers you do for me … kind of thing.
Don’t conflate the story in the gospels with how the theology of the Covenants took place.
Back to the differences. The old testament had what was known as Sheol, the underworld, or Abraham’s bosom. This place for the departed souls was not heaven, was not hell, it was a “holding place” of sorts.
During the transition from the old covenant to the new covenant, something amazing happened. we’ve heard that Jesus conquered death, and He did. After he died on the cross, he descended into Hell (this is not the hell that we think of as hell, it is the afterworld of sheol). From there, he opened the gates of “hell”/sheol and let all the souls out to go to their final destination … to be with God for the faithful and to be without God for those who chose not to be with Him.
The zombie-fun part here is that when Christ died, the earth shook, heavens clouded over, and there were fresh dead walking in the temples! That was because the transformation between the old and new covenant with God was so dramatic, it was an astonishing promise God made, kept, and transformed all of humanity with the Promises of Christ.
In the new covenant, there is no Sheol. Just Heaven and Hell. There are two other things that come to mind. Purgatory and Limbo. Purgatory, I like to think as the waiting room for heaven. Of course, it’s not a pleasant waiting room as our earthly attachments and temporal punishments are being doled out, but imagine the suffering you’d go through just to be able to share eternity with the fullness of God’s beatific vision.
Limbo, not dogma (infallible teaching), not doctrine (developed teaching), but is referenced vaguely and is something that theologians like to propose to help make sense of the fullness and understanding of divine revelation. Goes something like this, Heaven is for those who merit eternal life. Hell is for those who chose to exist without God for eternity, which is a really long time, especially towards the end. Theologians like Limbo because it helps us define salvation from a certain perspective … where do the souls go that do not merit salvation but have not chosen to be without God? Think abortions.
If this only opens the door to more questions, let it swing wide open and blast away!
Blessings,
Kevin
