It is referred to as “Soul Sleep” and proponents of it cite:
Yes, when Jesus turned to the good theif Dismas and said “today you will be with me in paradise”
Have you ever experienced this?Yes, when Jesus turned to the good theif Dismas and said “today you will be with me in paradise”
With all the mental gymnastics those people do, it’s a wonder they haven’t pulled a muscle!
Yes, very well positioned and defended. I myself have used that illustration. I do not believe anywhere else in the scriptures (“else” I say for their sake) does Jesus reiterate that he was “speaking today”.
Yes - but no one can go there until the Rapture occurs (they believe in a mid-tribulation Rapture). Well, now that I think about it, I’m* assuming* this is when they believe believers will go to heaven. I guess I’m not really sure since maybe they believe heaven isn’t opened up until Jesus really, *really *returns to earth - not when he returns for the Rapture. I do know they believe in heaven - I’m just not sure when they think people go there.
Elzee: I’m afraid you’ve gotten the wrong Church of God. You’ve probably picked this up from something said by the Church of God, International of Garner Ted Armstrong; or from one of the other breakaway groups of the former Worldwide Church of God of Herbert W. Armstrong. (The Worldwide Church of God itself has experienced a near-miraculous about-face since the death of it’s founder, and has rejected most of or all of it’s Arian notions and peculiar ideas such as soul-sleep). None of these related groups are ‘charismatic’ or Pentecostal in nature and they are widely known as ‘cults’ or heretical groups, NOT as Evangelical Protestants. (Of course, Catholics would accord Evangelical as heresies as well but we will duck that debate here). The Armstrong Churches of God resemble in some ways the Adventists and in others the Jehovah’s Witnesses, including their shared belief in soul-sleep.
And, by the way, while a small segment of Church of Christ ministers hold that view privately, the Churches of Christ generally reject the doctrine of soul-sleep. The Churches of Christ are really rather uniform in their basic theology, though they have internal debates over certain things such as King-James-Bible-Onlyism, kitchens inside of (or meals eaten in) Church buildings, how many cups or loaves of bread to use, etcetera. Since Church of Christ pastors have to be ‘called’ and ‘sustained’ by their congregations, I will assume that either your friend is not a pastor, or else they belong to a heterodox congregation that has difficulty being accepted by other Church of Christ congregations. It may well be that the congregation has no affiliation at all with the national denomination known as the Churches of Christ. Again, there are dozens of denominations going by the name ‘Church of Christ’, ‘Disciples of Christ’, or ‘Christian Church’ and not all of these are part of the Campbellite/Restorationist heritage.
I’ll ask him. I know he’s given me much information on your friend Campbell. And he’s mentioned a church in the local area that split over whether to use one chalice (of grape juice) or more than one if the size of the Congregation was too large. Wow!