The Narrow Path Ministries

I believe God sees the good in people and tries to encourage the good and convict the bad. I think you kinda believe the similar type thing from what I've read.

I don't believe God is a monster. It's just that all good things are with him, including truth and understanding.

I'm with you in these two statements!

Hello njd,

That's a false doctrine.

No brother, it's not. It's quite the contrary a thoroughly biblical understanding of the human person and our life and death. One that by the way makes the resurrection of the the dead absolutely necessary by all counts—a fact not shared with its Platonic counterpart. The hope we have in Christ, and for that matter, our regeneration also, won't be fully realized until God raises us from the dead on the last day.

Yes, that seems to have been the apostle Paul's belief. He seemed to say in the great resurrection chapter, that unless the dead are raised to life again, we may as well eat, drink, and be merry, since there would be nothing beyond this life:

What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” (1 Corinthians 15:32 ESV)

If Paul had thought that we have a "soul" or "spirit" separate from our body that somehow survives death and immediately goes to heaven, why would He have so emphasized the all-importance of the resurrection? In the following passage, he indicates that without the resurrection, those who have died have perished, and that we would have hope only in this life:

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:13-19)