Question on Old Testament times

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umamibella

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My sister asked me this question yesterday.

In the Old Testament times the people not knowing the one God of Moses, and Abraham and the Israelites
Did those people, or do those people get saved and find Heaven eventually.

I am not sure how to answer that one.
 
When Christ died on the cross, He descended to the place of the dead and led the righteous to heaven. We do not know what qualified those people, some believe each was given the simple chance to accept Him as Lord.
 
Was this place of the dead Hell? If not, was it place of suffering akin to Hell?
 
The Limbo of the Fathers was where the souls of the just went before the Death, Resurrection & Ascension of Our Lord. After the Ascension of Our Lord, there are now 3 places after death: Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. Purgatory will end on Judgement Day.
 
umamibella said:
In the Old Testament times the people not knowing the one God of Moses, and Abraham and the Israelites
Did those people, or do those people get saved and find Heaven eventually.
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We don’t know who, if any. This hasn’t been revealed to us. My own opinion is those who practiced human sacrifices (and there were many) would not qualify.
 
Mike_from_NJ said:
Was this place of the dead Hell? If not, was it place of suffering akin to Hell?
Click to expand...
No, it was not, per se.

The Church teaches that the righteous dead – those who lived and died prior to Jesus’ incarnation – were in the ‘abode of the dead’. We see this depicted in Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. Lazarus was in the “bosom of Abraham”, awaiting Jesus. In 1 Peter 3, we see that Jesus “descended to the dead”, leading them to heaven.

So: not heaven, but not hell, and no suffering, for those who would attain to heaven.

(To the OP’s question: we don’t know precisely who this would be, but we believe that there were righteous dead who lived prior to the Incarnation and are in heaven.)
 
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In English, we have used the term "hell’ in the Creed, we have used the term “to the dead” in the Creed.

You might want to read the Catechism section that goes into the Creed line by line
 
I am very appreciative of all who took the time to respond. I thought this was a good , thinking question and one beyond me to answer.
 
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