All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. Genesis 37:35 (ESV) The above quote comes from the story of Joseph. His brothers, in spite, had just … Continue reading “An Expectation of Sheol”
If you are not familiar with the terms Sheol, Gehenna, etc. please see some of the previous blogs at this site. The Bible has a number of terms that describe places of after death suffering: Sheol, Hades, Gehenna and the Lake of Fire. In many versions of the Bible and in many people’s minds, these … Continue reading “What Distinguishes Sheol from Hell?”
Unless you are quite the Bible expert, you probably don’t even know what “Sheol” is. You might be shocked to find out that this Hebrew word is actually quite common in the Old Testament, yet in many English Bible translations the editors struggled to know what to do with it. It is a place name. … Continue reading “What To Do With “Sheol””
The oldest book of the Old Testament is not the first one. It is the book of Job. When Job lived exactly is unclear. That he and friends knew about Sheol is abundantly clear, because they use the word many times. In discourses like you find in Job or in the poetry that you find … Continue reading “Sheol in the Book of Job”
We have talked about the fact that the Old Testament people did not speak about going to Heaven or Hell exactly, they spoke about going to Sheol. Sheol was a place for the righteous (like Jacob) and the unrighteous (like Korah). Scripture that we will cover later reveals that Sheol is a place with two … Continue reading “Is Sheol My Destiny?”
Most people’s understanding of what the Bible says about existence after death doesn’t go beyond a simple heaven and hell, so I expect that many of you are surprised to know that the Old Testament people didn’t exactly expect to go to either place. They spoke about Sheol, and that is what I have been … Continue reading “Sheol in the Old Testament (part 1)”
As a pastor and a Christian, I have quietly dreamt of going on a field trip to see what lies beyond death. Just think about how life changing it would be. We speak of Heaven and Hell, but we don’t usually see them before we go there. As a result they seem surreal to us … Continue reading “A Word You May Not Know: Sheol”
The saying goes, “The only things that are certain are death and taxes.” This is more a comment on the ubiquity of taxes than anything else, but I’m sure plenty of people have escaped taxes. Have any escaped death? There are certain overarching passages that would suggest that answer is “no”: “The wages of sin … Continue reading “Has Anyone Escaped Dying?”
So far we have reviewed nine common (not unanimous) experiences that were discovered through extensive interviews and are reported in the book Evidence of the Afterlife by Dr. Jeffrey Long. To this point none are surprising given the information and experiences shared in the Bible. That takes us to the last three. Encountering or Learning … Continue reading “Examining Near Death Experiences (Part III)”
In my last entry I discussed six of the common factors found in Near Death Experiences (NDE) as detailed in the book by Jeffrey Long, MD entitled, Evidence of the Afterlife. Scripture remains the solid proof, promise and explanation of an afterlife; but finding or interpreting the experience of people in light of Scripture can … Continue reading “Examining Near Death Experiences (Part II)”
