Where are the Dead?

[Sgt. Pepper]

I don't see them either because I am not a psychic medium. I was talking to @Sgt. Pepper who does see them.
I think it means that the human spirit survives the death of the physical body.

Yes, I do see them, and it's been day in and day out since I was 6 years old. It has been 44 years since then. As a matter of fact, it will be 16 years at the end of this month since I began using my mediumship to directly communicate with and interact with earthbound human spirits. I was greatly inspired to use my mediumship and to research and investigate the paranormal after I watched the original Ghost Adventures documentary. I can genuinely say that this documentary changed my life as well as my perspective on my abilities. The GA documentary and the show have both had a significant impact on me.

To be clear, you believe in your personal interpretation of the Bible, but not everyone interprets the Bible to mean what you believe it means.
That is why Christians disagree on the meaning of the Bible and why there are so many divisions within Christianity.

Exactly! Winner frubal.

but not everyone interprets the Bible to mean what you believe it means.

Winner frubal.

 

[Eli G]

but not everyone interprets the Bible to mean what you believe it means.

Well, some things the Bible says are not to be interpreted, but to be accepted:

Psal. 146:4 His spirit goes out, he returns to the ground; On that very day his thoughts perish.

 

[Trailblazer]

Well, some things the Bible says are not to be interpreted, but to be accepted:

Psal. 146:4 His spirit goes out, he returns to the ground; On that very day his thoughts perish.

Any logical person knows that all words have to be interpreted before they can be accepted, and words mean different things to different people, since not all humans think alike.

Psal. 146:4 His spirit goes out, he returns to the ground; On that very day his thoughts perish.

That is correct. The thoughts that are coming from his physical body perish because his physical body and brain are dead.

The physical body returns to dust but the spirit returns to the Kingdom of God in heaven.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

That is why Christians disagree on the meaning of the Bible and why there are so many divisions within Christianity.

Of course, Christians aren't united. They never have been, and their division is as old as Christianity itself (read 1 Corinthians 1:10–17). If you ask a diverse group of Christians the same theological question, such as asking them about the afterlife, you'll get different answers. However, they will all cite the Bible in an attempt to defend their answers, but their answers are contradictory. They even argue about whether Jesus' mother remained a virgin after his birth.

The truth is that Christians are very divided and intentionally separate themselves into different churches and adhere to different doctrines and scriptural interpretations, which has occurred in both historical and contemporary Christianity. Catholics and Protestants have different church doctrines, dogmas, and interpretations of the Bible. And so do Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Messianic Judaism, and Orthodox Christians, which include Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Greek Orthodox. Also, there are diverse Baptists (First Baptist, Second Baptist, Southern Baptist, Reformed Baptist, Primitive Baptist, Freewill Baptist), Methodists, Mennonites, Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies of God, Apostolic Church, Pentecostals, Quakers, Church of God, and many other Protestant churches that aren't on the list. As a matter of fact, the precise number of Christian denominations is debatable.

Ironically, they all believe that they are correct about their beliefs and everyone else (including other Christians) is wrong about theirs, but then they have the audacity to claim that the Bible is the word of God and Christianity is the only true religion in the world. In my opinion, there's no reason to believe any of them. I think it's ridiculous for any Christian to claim that their biblical interpretation and theology are correct while insisting that other Christians are wrong, that the Bible is divinely inspired, and that Christianity is the only true religion in the world. It is ridiculous, in my opinion, that Christians apparently expect non-Christians to accept the Bible as divinely inspired and the final authority on moral issues, yet they can't agree on what the Bible actually says.

 

[Trailblazer]

21 Martha then said to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Yet even now I know that whatever you ask God for, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her: “Your brother will rise.” 24 Martha said to him: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life; 26 and everyone who is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. Do you believe this?”

When Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life" I believe he was referring to spiritual life, not physical life.
Anyone who believes in Jesus will 'rise' to spiritual life at the resurrection on the last day (when Christ returns).
Anyone who has faith in Jesus will never die because they will have eternal life, which is a state of the soul who is near to God.

 

[Trailblazer]

Of course, Christians aren't united. They never have been, and their division is as old as Christianity itself (read 1 Corinthians 1:10–17). If you ask a diverse group of Christians the same theological question, such as asking them about the afterlife, you'll get different answers. However, they will all cite the Bible in an attempt to defend their answers, but their answers are contradictory. They even argue about whether Jesus' mother remained a virgin after his birth.

The truth is that Christians are very divided and intentionally separate themselves into different churches and adhere to different doctrines and scriptural interpretations, which has occurred in both historical and contemporary Christianity. Catholics and Protestants have different church doctrines, dogmas, and interpretations of the Bible. So do Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Messianic Judaism, and Orthodox Christians, which include Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Greek Orthodox. Also, there are Baptists (First Baptist, Second Baptist, Southern Baptist, Reformed Baptist, Primitive Baptist, Anabaptist, Freewill Baptist), Methodists, Mennonites, Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies of God, Apostolic Church, Pentecostals, Quakers, Church of God, and many other Protestant churches that aren't on the list. In fact, the precise number of Christian denominations is debatable.

Ironically, they all believe that they are correct about their beliefs and everyone else (including other Christians) is wrong about theirs, but then they have the audacity to claim that the Bible is the word of God and Christianity is the only true religion in the world. In my opinion, there's no reason to believe any of them. I think it's ridiculous for any Christian to claim that their biblical interpretation and theology are correct while insisting that other Christians are wrong, that the Bible is divinely inspired, and that Christianity is the only true religion in the world. It is ridiculous, in my opinion, that Christians apparently expect non-Christians to accept the Bible as divinely inspired and the final authority on moral issues, yet they can't agree on what the Bible actually says.

*WINNER*

 

[Eli G]

When Jesus said "I am the resurrection and the life" I believe he was referring to spiritual life, not physical life.
Anyone who believes in Jesus will 'rise' to spiritual life at the resurrection on the last day (when Christ returns).
Anyone who has faith in Jesus will never die because they will have eternal life, which is a state of the soul who is near to God.

According to your posts I read before you are an acolyte of the spiritualists. If you believe there are spirits of dead somewhere alive ... what can you say about the resurrection?

 

[Eli G]

*WINNER*

Proper of the enemies of the Bible ... mockery, trolling and disrespect.
I thought these one liner posts were not allow in the forum.

 

[Trailblazer]

According to your posts I read before you are an acolyte of the spiritualists. If you believe there are spirits of dead somewhere alive ... what can you say about the resurrection?

No, I am not a spiritualist. I am a member of the Baha'i Faith. My religion does not advocate spiritualism but it also does not prohibit it.

As I said in another post, I believe the spirits of the dead are alive in heaven in spiritual bodies, as the Bible says.
The resurrection is the transformation of the physical body into a spiritual body that will never die.

After the physical body dies the human spirit (soul) is raised and continues to exist forever as a spiritual body and goes to heaven where it continues to live forever.

The physical body cannot exist in the Kingdom of God in heaven. That is why it needs to be transformed into a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15 New Living Translation

40 There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies.

44 They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.

50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.

51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!

 

[Eli G]

Well, I already showed what the Scriptures say about this matter.
So, have a good day.

 

[Trailblazer]

Proper of the enemies of the Bible ... mockery, trolling and disrespect.
I thought these one liner posts were not allow in the forum.

Since there is no longer a Winner frubal in this new forum format I had to post WINNER to say I think it was a winner.

That post I gave a WINNER to was not about the Bible. It was about how Christians are divided regarding what the Bible means, and how they all think they are right about the meaning and the other Christians are wrong.

 

[Eli G]

I am not interested on what Bahai's faith followers have to say, so good bye.
I guess you can still post what you want here ...
Have a good day.

 

[Trailblazer]

Well, I already showed what the Scriptures say about this matter.
So, have a good day.

1 Corinthians 15 New Living Translation is the Scriptures.
Why can't you address what those verses say?
Could it be that you don't want to believe them since you are hoping to have your physical body rise from the grave after you die and are buried under the ground?

 

[Trailblazer]

Well, I already showed what the Scriptures say about this matter.

You mean what you believe they say, what you interpret them to mean.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

Well, I already showed what the Scriptures say about this matter.
So, have a good day.

No, you only showed your personal interpretation of what you believe the Bible says.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

You mean what you believe they say, what you interpret them to mean.

No, you only showed your personal interpretation of what you believe the Bible says.

You beat me to the punch.

Since there is no longer a Winner frubal in this new forum format I had to post WINNER to say I think it was a winner.

That post I gave a WINNER to was not about the Bible. It was about how Christians are divided regarding what the Bible means, and how they all think they are right about the meaning and the other Christians are wrong.

I miss those frubals.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

That's an excellent point, brother. In fact, it's so excellent a point, that any logical and reasonable person would have to admit that any claim that Satan is just the lower nature of man, is proven to be unsupported by the Bible.

There is no interpretation under the sun, that could make that verse say Satan is not a person - an individual entity.

@Trailblazer's response though, to that is what? 'I do not believe... I believe'.
In other words, what's logical and reasonable, and clearly obvious, don't matter. What matters is 'what I believe'.

I have no problem with a person saying they don't believe the Bible, but I have a problem with a person saying they do, but then dismissing anything the Bible contains, which disagree with what they believe.
Jesus denounced the Pharisees for that.

Thanks. We’ve accepted the privilege of being “taught by Jehovah” (Isaiah 54:13).

We should try to be understanding of others’ perceptions, though. Remember that most use Bibles that have taken God’s Name out & replaced it with “LORD.” And these very ones hear things like Jesus is God, and that there’s a hellfire. And so much other confusion.

Many don’t recognize how important Jesus’ statement at Luke 10:21 is, that only his Father, Jehovah / Yahweh, grants an accurate understanding of the Bible; and Jesus was talking about the Jews! How much more so, the world!
The truth of matters has been hidden from the majority.

We can only try to be kind in sharing Jehovah’s comforting & eye-opening gems of truth; maybe something will reach their heart, and Jehovah will draw them.

We certainly are in “the last days”, and we are seeing the fulfillment of Isaiah 2:1-4 & Micah 4:1-4…. Jehovah’s “mountain” of worship is growing, and global peace prevails among His worshippers!
The love that Jesus said would identify his followers! (John 13:34-35) Another ‘gem’!

 

[Trailblazer]

You beat me to the punch.

I miss those frubals.

Me too.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

1 Corinthians 15 New Living Translation is the Scriptures.
Why can't you address what those verses say?

To be honest, I can sympathize with Christians because I recognize that they could become stuck and earthbound after death as a result of what they were taught and believed. In fact, some of the earthbound human spirits I interact with and have assisted in crossing over stated that they were Christians. They are so lost and confused. They have no idea what's happening to them, let alone what to do about it. It breaks my heart that these spirits are either afraid and uncertain about crossing over into the spirit realm, or they are so angry and feel betrayed that they refuse to cross over. I can't help them at that point.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

Proper of the enemies of the Bible ... mockery, trolling and disrespect.
I thought these one liner posts were not allow in the forum.

The fact that @Trailblazer disagrees with your personal interpretation of the Bible doesn't make her an "enemy of the Bible." I have to say that I've never considered her as such. On the contrary, I think that she understands it quite well because of her Baha'i faith. In fact, I think that she understands the Bible better than most Christians do. I, on the other hand, could be considered an enemy of the Bible since I believe that it has multiple contradictions, contains several plagiarized myths that were copied and applied to Jesus from Greek mythology and a few other ancient pagan religions, and that no one should ever derive their concept of morality, let alone love and justice, from the Bible (as I explained in an older post here). I believe that is a valid assessment.