Were the wicked in Christ? I don't think so. All those who are in Christ shall be made alive. Does that mean Christians only? No. So who else will be resurrected?
The apostle Paul said, "There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous." - Acts 24:15. So who are "the righteous" and who are "the unrighteous"?
"The righteous" include many of the people we read about in the Bible who lived before Jesus came to the earth - i.e Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Ruth, Ester, and many others.
"The unrighteous" include all the people who did not serve or obey Jehovah because they never knew about him. They will be resurrected and given time to learn about the true God and to serve him.
Now, does that mean that every human who has ever lived will be resurrected? No. The bible says that some of the dead are in "Gehenna." - Luke 12:5. Gehenna got its name from a garbage dump located outside of ancient Jerusalem. Dead bodies and garbage were buried there. The dead whose bodies were thrown there, were considered by the Jews to be unworthy of a burial and a resurrection. So Gehenna is a fitting symbol of everlasting destruction. Although Jesus will have a role in judging the living and the dead, Jehovah is the final Judge. (Acts10:42) He will never resurrect those whom he judges to be wicked and unwilling to change.
Hi, Faithfreedom. I have time now to repond to your post. Thanks for your patience.
We (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) believe that God is the Father of the spirits of each and every individual who has ever lived. This means that each and every one of us is literally His spirit son or daughter. We believe that He loves all of us more than we can even begin to comprehend and wants more than anything for us to return to His presence someday. He will do everything in His power to persuade us to recognize His Son, Jesus Christ as the means by which we can be forgiven of our sins and be reconciled to Him. Everything, that is, except force us. He has given us the freedom to choose for ourselves, and He will never revoke that freedom.
That said, we are all born into different circumstances, raised by different parents with different standards and values. Some of us are born into religious families. Some of us are not. Some are born into Christian families, others not. Some are born in parts of the world where Christianity may be known,
but not understood or represented accurately. Over the past several millenia, billions have been born at times and in places where Christianity had not even been introduced. Finally, some have been blinded by teachings that others may have been able to clearly see as false.
It is our belief that God will not judge His children as being wicked and unwilling to change
without having actually given them the opportunity to change. He won't judge people on the basis of whether they would continue to be unrepentant and rebellious after being taught the truth; instead He will judge them as unrepentant and rebellious
only after they actually make the choice themselves to be these things. In other words, we Mormons don't believe He will say, in effect, "Had they known the truth, they would not have accepted it anyway. Therefore they will simply cease to exist and will never be resurrected." We believe instead that He will actually give them the opportunity to exercise their own free will and to make an informed choice
after having been taught the truth in an environment where the cultural climate and political ideologies do not impact their ability to understand.
When will this happen? We don't believe it will be after the resurrection. We believe it is happening as we speak. In the Bible, Jesus Christ is said to have descended into the spirit prison (referred to also as hell or to the place the Jehovah's Witnesses' Bible calls "Gehenna") and taught His gospel to the wicked who had lived prior to His early ministry. His physical body, of course, was lying in the tomb at this time, because it was during the period following His own death but before His resurrection. He was in spirit form during this visit, as were those He shared His message with. Although the Bible doesn't elaborate on this event, it seems obvious that He would not have bothered to teach them about repentence and about His atoning sacrifice if it were too late for them to repent.
If you have studied first century Christianity at all, you will know that the Christians of Jesus day, and for a couple of hundred years thereafter, believed that the spirits of all who die enter into a state of either peace and rest (if they were righteous) or to a place of torment and anguish (if they were wicked). It was in this spirit state that they await their own resurrection. I am aware that the Jehovah's Witnesses teach that the dead are conscious of nothing. It seems to me, though, that those to whom Jesus Christ taught His gospel were aware of His being among them. It also seems clear to me that Christ would not have promised the repentant thief who hung next to Him on the cross, "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" if the man would not have been aware of anything at all until his resurrection. There is nowhere where the Bible teaches that this spirit realm has ceased to exist or that it would not serve the same purpose today as it did in the past. We believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is being taught there today, not by Christ Himself as He is with His Father in Heaven, but by His followers who already know of God's plan of salvation. We believe that before anyone stands before God to be judged, all with have been taught the truth. All will have been given the opportunity to actually understand it, to recognize the need for repentance and to know that, if they accept the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, He will be their mediator when they are judged.
Anyway, I could go on, but I'll let you comment on this post before I say more.
