The state of the dead?

[Montie_Claunch]

I was talking to a freind of mine who had been an adventist pastor and he just told me out of nowhere that most of Christianity was stupid (though not stated so bluntly) for beleiving that the soul goes stright to heaven and that ecc. 9:5 and various old testamnet scriptures (a list that he gave to me and has scince then got lost in the back of my car so I can’t tell you all that he gave me sorry). What do I say to him about this? And how do I properly reconcile those scriptures with the ones that show the Catholic Postion?

 

[jimmy]

Montie Claunch:

I was talking to a freind of mine who had been an adventist pastor and he just told me out of nowhere that most of Christianity was stupid (though not stated so bluntly) for beleiving that the soul goes stright to heaven and that ecc. 9:5 and various old testamnet scriptures (a list that he gave to me and has scince then got lost in the back of my car so I can’t tell you all that he gave me sorry). What do I say to him about this? And how do I properly reconcile those scriptures with the ones that show the Catholic Postion?

If he is claiming that they are dead in the ground, refer him to the Transfiguration where Christ sees Moses and Elijah. Moses certainly was not dead and in the ground.

 

[Church_Militant]

Hi Montie,

What he’s not telling you (and probably doesn’t even realize) is that at that point in time, the Jews had no concept of the ressurection of the dead, and even today their understanding of the afterlife is differerent than ours.
Pax tecum,

 

[DavidFilmer]

Montie Claunch:

…most of Christianity was stupid … for beleiving that the soul goes stright to heaven…

Who says it does? From a Catholic standpoint, such a situation would be rare (though possible). Catholics have this whole “purgatory” thing, remember (an intermediate state, not so unlike the “bosom of Abraham” that Our Lord preached about).

 

[MaggieOH]

The position of the SDA is the same as that of the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. The party of the Pharisees did believe in the resurrection of the dead, and that is why there were Pharisee converts (St. Paul is an example) to Christianity.

Another example that can be pointed out is the story of Ezekiel who was taken up in a burning chariot.

There is one other example, regarding Saul, the first king of Israel, who tried to communicate with Samuel using a medium. If people were simply dead, and no longer existed, then this story would not make a lot of sense, for there would be no way that the witch of endor could have attempted to conjure up Samuel.

Also, the Book of Revelation reveals the saints worshipping the Lord in Heaven, so again this does not support the SDA position that we become nothing when we die.