The Second Biggest Lie in Christianity -Maybe!

  About a year ago, I wrote the blog post that I had been contemplating and waiting to write for a year. It was about the lie of eternal conscious torment and a place we've learned about called Hell.  (The Biggest Most Egregious Lie )   I had spent over a year looking for this place called hell in the Bible, and I could not find it as we've been described.  I searched the Scriptures and did numerous searches from Bible teachers.  The only thing I found were twisted Scriptures taken out of context which were never meant to devise this place called Hell that man made up.  Today, many more people are finding out the truth about this lie.  Sadly, too many people want this lie to be the truth.  I have to admit there are times when I see someone's evil activity under the sun and wish there was a hell with eternal concious torment, but wishing something to be true does not make it true.  

    Well, I'm on a new quest this year to find out if there really is a heaven as we know it.  Now, I know the Bible speaks of heaven, but it speaks of it in three different means.  There's the sky above, outer space, and the place where YHVH GOD dwells, but is it a place where humans go when they die.  I've searched again and again, and I cannot find where Jesus/Yeshua said that we go there right after we die.  Sure, there's that place called Paradise that he mentioned to the thief on the cross next to him, however, the Greek language back then had no punctuation, so if you read the Scripture with the correct grammar it could say, And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you today,  you will be with Me in Paradise.”  In other words, today meant the day he said it, not that he would be in Paradise that day with him, because we all know that Jesus did NOT go to Paradise that day.  In fact, three days later, after he was resurrected, he told Mary in "John 20:17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’  So, the thief on the cross could not have been with Jesus in Paradise on that day because we know Jesus did not ascend until 40 days after He was resurrected.  

    Paul said over and over again he was persecuted for speaking about "the Resurrection" as if it not had happened yet.  The Bible says in Revelation that there will be a first resurrection after the Tribulation and the wrath of GOD and before the 1,000 year reign of Christ.  How can there be a first resurrection if there's been millions with each passing death?  Sure, there's those two passages Paul speaks of when he says, "To die is gain to live is Christ," or that he wish to depart and be with the LORD."  Who doesn't wish to depart and be with GOD?  Apart from the body does mean to be with GOD, consciously, but is it immediate.  Yet, he also said that those who died have "fallen asleep."  So what does this fallen asleep mean?  I asked YHVH GOD this question, and I think I got the answer.  Now, I'm not saying this is the absolute truth, facts, and divine revelation, however, I was reminded of the 10-plus times that I've had general anesthesia.  Immediately, a memory flashed before me and I evaluated that memory as if maybe the Holy Spirit was having me do that.  

   Every time I go to sleep, I dream. I am not exaggerating, I thought this was normal, but apparantly not everyone who closes their eyes starts to dream, but I always have.  I am aware of time when I am dreaming. I am semi-conscious.  I wake up several times a night, remember my dream for a few seconds before I go back to sleep and dream some more.  Sometimes, I even know when I am dreaming. Let me tell you, those are scarier moments, because I'm aware this dream could turn into a night terror to which I've been plagued all of my life.  Most times during those night terrors where I am aware that I am dreaming I am unable to wake myself up.  Many a night terror when I realized I was having a nightmare I have tried over and over to wake myself up.  So, while I'm asleep, I am aware of time and space.  What does this have to do with general anesthesia?  Well, all the  times that I have had general anesthesia I remember being given the drugs to fall asleep.  I remember fighting the effects, the last seconds before I sleep, then I only remember waking up in the recovery room.  I have been put out for as short as 30 minutes to as long as six hours.  Maybe the Holy Spirit was telling me that falling asleep under general anesthesia is like dying.  There is only the memory of the last few seconds until we wake up at The Resurrection. Ecclesiastes tells us that the dead know nothing, they remember nothing. 

   We've all heard story after story of people who have died and had a memory of going to heaven or hell, but those are people's stories of dying and coming back.  Maybe they weren't truly dead.  I honestly do not know.  I know one person whose heart stopped and was brought back, and she said all she remember was seeing total pitch dark.  But, the point is she remembers and she lived another four years before she died permanently.  Ecclesiastes says that the dead have no memory. 

  The point of this blog post to get you to think, not to answer your questions, because I too have questions.  Scripture does not say that we immediately go to heaven. It says that we obtain eternal life for trusting in Jesus, but it does not say when.  Christianity has implicated that we do go immediately based on a few Scriptures that do not expressly say that.  It is interpretation by a religion, not absolute fact written in words.  Paul once mentions going to the third heaven whether in the body or not.  Maybe he did die and was given a brief explanation of what is to come in the Resurrection or maybe it was a dream.  I know that I have had two such dreams and one was similar to Paul's.  I knew it was a dream after I woke up, however, it was too incredible to describe in mere words.  Maybe in my dream YHVH GOD was giving me a glimpse of the Resurrection, because at the time, I was in a very dark and depressed time of my life where all I wanted to do was die.  Maybe, He was showing me what to live for, that my reward would come, but there's is no promise that the reward is immediate.  The other dream I had I was conscious of the fact that the end of my life was coming, but there was no heaven at the end, just a blank space of peace.  (The Best Dream I Ever Had ). 

   Scripture tells us a parable, and that is all it truly is, a parable of Lazarus and the rich man, where Lazarus is comforted in Abraham's bosom. There is no mention of Paradise. There were so many reasons for him to tell that parable based on their present culture. It wasn't about whether there is a hell or heaven, but who was eligible for eternal life. In those days, those ancient people assumed only the rich would be resurrected to Paradise just because blessings in this life meant blessings in the after life. They assumed that the poor were cursed. Jesus was telling them what they thought was wrong. 

  I am still in the research stages, but to tell you the truth, I am comforted at the fact that when I do die, whether or not I remember the days, months, or years that I am in the grave, one day I will wake up to be with my GOD and my Savior.  Soul sleep sounds pretty good to me if it's anything like general anesthesia, because right now, my memories of what has been are pretty painful because of what this mama of 8 has lost.  I've lost those precious little babies and children to some full grown wonderful adults, but I still miss those babies who are gone forever.