Where do you go when you die?  Simple question right?  As a youth I assumed we went to heaven.  I know the Catholics here say purgatory, LDS say different things, from spirit prison to heaven..

My thoughts now are different.  I think we can all agree that the bible teaches of a Judgement day when we will stand in front of Christ and be judged.  If we die and go straight to heaven, God would have to send us from heaven, to judgement, then back to heaven.  Or the same for those in hell.  I'm sure there is something I will get wrong but the RCC teaches purgatory, until you are cleansed..but do you then go to heaven to await judgement day?

This question shouldn't lead to violent debate and bashing, I just want to know what you think whatever church you go to.

The grave. As it is plainly stated in the part of the bible where the curse is given:

Spirit Prison or Spirit Paradise until resurrection and Judgment.

We only know what we were taught but when it comes down to it nobody knows.

Since we exist in the universe we are part of the universe.

Reincarnation and repeat until judgment day.

I have no idea I am just kidding.

I don't know.

I can only trust in God. Jesus holds the keys of hell and death, and I believe in and follow Him.

There are different schools of thought on this. I'm just not sure.

God is outside of our concept of time.

Which means we could all be judged by Him "at the same time", despite that being such a foreign concept to us.  But I believe we will be judged before going to Heaven or Hell, if the concept of "before" has any meaning in those places.

Hartsfield International.

^^^

1 Kings 1:20 As for you now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise it will come about, as soon as my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be considered offenders.”

Daniel 12:1 “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

John 11:11 This He said, and after that He *said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.” 12 The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep. 14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,

1 Cor. 15:51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

Well not exactly. So in many Protestant churches most believe there are 2 different judgements, one for believers and one for non-believers. I've actually been learning about this myself only recently because many churches never want to get this deep into the bible in sermon messages.

Believers go in front of the "Judgement seat of Christ" where their works are judged and they are rewarded for it. This is not a salvation judgement because salvation was already paid for by Christ. This is the bible passages this belief comes from -


The actually Greek term is "Bema Christos". There is a whole bunch of background on what a "bema" is, but google it if you're curious.

Non believers stand before the "Great White Throne" judgement, which is more of a formality, but the outcome is already determined and it's not good for those that go there. The Greek word in Revelation 20:11 for this is "thronos".

Some more info here -
http://www.gotquestions.org/judgment.html
http://www.gotquestions.org/judgment-seat-Christ.html

So...hell?

Edit:

BTW, OP, Catholics do not hold that everybody goes to Purgatory. Purgatory is for the cleansing of those souls who died in God's Grace but have not reached a level of holiness as to be pure enough to enter Heaven immediately upon death.
A person who dies with grave/mortal sin on their soul...most likely headed for Hell.
A person who dies with no attachment to any sin...mortal or venial...most likely off to Heaven.
The in-betweeners...Purgatory allows for purification of the soul. Heaven cannot accept anything less than purity, so a cleansing is needed.

Also, Catholics believe in the timelessness of God so a "judgement day" could occur anytime and seem chronologically correct to God. Once we enter that realm it may seem like an instant, but your judgement may happen the second your Earthly body dies or a thousand years after.

Like I said, I'd probably get it wrong...thanks for the clarification

Being Catholic I'm with flcroc. In stating that let me also say that it's God's and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who know the truth. I believe we should live as an example of the goodness that God gave us and try not to sin.

when I died in 75 I entered into God's presence which was awesome.

I have been a Bible student for many, many years. My thoughts are that when we die, we are ''asleep''. I do not  believe in the ''fly or fry'' theory, I will fall asleep in death. ''God breathed the breath of life in Adam and he became a living soul'',, when he died he became a dead soul. Asleep in death.

You're welcome.

Ugh, I shouldn't have read this thread.

Honestly, the first time I read about the concept of "time" like this was in a book about hyperspace and time by some famous physics guy who quoted St. Augustine's Confession.

The whole concept gives me a screaming headache, which I now have.

So, yeah, you fall asleep and you get judged, and you go to your assigned place. That all happens.

Except time doesn't matter any more, so neither does the time between those events.

So you'd appear there at judgement at the same time as your grandfather who died 60 years prior, because time doesn't matter. Oh, but you could've been asking him to pray for you during those 60 years, because time doesn't matter. Oh, and he had "fallen asleep" too, but time doesn't matter. And you'd been asleep as well, but time doesn't matter.

I suppose I'll deal better with the idea when it happens.

Being Catholic this



 

Another this

Heaven; because Christ said if I believe in Him I have eternal life. Nothing more, nothing less.

Please elaborate. Near death experiences are a slim thread holding my faith together at this

you will find out when you are dead but so my own understanding. i think Death is another form of nature, existence. another way of living thing evolving.

That's only the physical body.

The physical body was Adam (Gen 2:7).

Paul says to be absent from the body is to be with Christ. Christ told the thief that believed that he would be in paradise that day with Christ. Stephen saw Christ and the Father and heaven just before dying.

All bodies will be raised, but I believe the spirit resides elsewhere until that time.

The bible seems to indicate that some at least are with God

This one.

 

In the imagery presented here, the souls are under the Golden Altar of Incense that sits in the Holy Place where the Lampstand (i.e. the church is). God however sits between the Cherubim on the ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place.

This is actually an indication that the souls are not with God.