Posted by Gary [GLamotta] on April 01, 1999 at 03:35:47 {feW1wc1uNQMSSTtTA17sboLUiPtahc}:
In Reply to: ***Joseph, Judgment Day-Moved UP posted by Jason on March 31, 1999 at 23:28:33:
Hello Jason,
Interesting thoughts, but it is not scriptural.
The Bible is very clear on the resurrection. The resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous and some of those would have a resurrection to adverse judgment.
Note Daniel 12:2: "And there will be many of those asleep in the ground of dust who will wake up, these to indefinitely lasting life and those to reproaches and to indefinitely lasting aborrhence."
Sounds like some would be resurrected and killed again to me.
How about Revelation 20:12: "And the dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds."
Remember, some people are resurrected and they are already written in the "book of life."
And we know Jesus talks about different ones, like the queen of the south coming back in the judgment and condemning the people of Jesus' day.
And Matthew 12:36 clearly says: "I tell you that every unprofitable saying that men speak, they will render an account concerning it on Judgment Day."
Matthew 10:15 says: "Truly I say to you, It will be more endurable for the land of Sodom and gomorrah on Judgment Day than for that city."
Matthew 12:41 says: "Men of Ninevehwill rise up in the judgment with this generation and will dndemn it because they repented at that Jonah preached, but, look! something more than Jonah is here. The queen of the south will be raised up in the jugdment with this generation and will condemn it; because she came from the endsof the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, but, look! something more than Solomon is here."
All these scriptures are consistent with persons being judged already when they get resurrected for their "second chance."
Now think of what you are proposing with the idea that persons have paid for what they did and they get a second chance during the thousand year reign.
You have Man #1, a good man, an honest man, a god-fearing man who serves god, is good to his fellowman. He gets resurrected for 1000 years.
You have man #2: He hates God, he kills and robs man #1, he rapes and pillages and does anything he pleases. He gets resurrected. No charge.
This boils down to: You can do anything you want to as long as you die before Armageddon! You'll come back, clean slate, all is well. So it doesn't matter one bit if you're good or if you're bad.
Doesn't work that way.
Those unrigthteous ones who come back do come back for a "second chance" and for at least two reasons. One is to see if Jehovah can apply some mercy to them and overlook some of the things they did during their lives.
You see, we would have experienced 6000 years of rule by Satan, basically, in an imperfect world. Then there would have been 1000 years of theocratic rule under perfect conditions, without Satan, and then Satan will be let loose for a while in this perfect world.
So every scenario would have been worked out so that those coming back in the resurrection will have the best possible chance to be shown mercy, based upon their imperfection, the influence of Satan's world, etc.
That's why the Bible says those from Sodom and Gomorrah will do better than those during Jesus' day because some of them may have been influenced by the environment and the influence of the culture, fear and imperfection. They may have gone along but hated what they were doing. They might be shown mercy. Those during Jesus' day, knew what was right and wrong and openly decided to rebel anyway. This is like sinning against holy spirit, and it will not be forgiven.
So some of those who were considered to be "unrighteous" would be shown mercy. Some of the hardened criminals who did ill to their fellow men would not be shown mercy and would not be invited to future life in the New Order.
Another way to look at this is just as you said. These people died and paid for their sins. So, end of story. Even the righteous people were still sinners and condemned to death. So they still had to die. End of story.
But because of Jehovah's mercy, he decided to give the righteous ones a second chance to a new life in the new order and some of the "unrighteous" who had extenuating circumstances. This is something they don't deserve. So the resurrection is about the free gift of life that Jehovah extends to the righteous. As you said, these people were already dead and paid for their sins.
Gehenna, I know, sounds like a really bad place, much worse than the common grave, but it just means there will be no resurrection. The common grave means you can have a resurrection. So bringing back the unrighteous gives them a chance to be shown mercy if possible, if their sins were not too great during their lives.
On the other hand, God will draw the line at some point as to who will be granted life.
ANOTHER THOUGHT:
Also, think of it like this. Many people will rebel against God anyway, even with perfect life and
everything wonderful, when Satan is released.
Don't forget, about 1/3 of the angels as well rebelled against Jehovah, and they could actually see his face.
So in the long run, perhaps 1/3 of mankind would have rebelled against god or done terrible things in order not to get life, and 2/3rds would have conformed. So ultimately, there is no need to have everybody live their life over again if it is possible to judge them based upon what they did during their first life.
But it will be quite merciful. If it is just an issue of them not knowing any better, then they will be forgiven. If they knew better and sinned willfully, then they wont.
JESUS' SIMPLE CRITERIA FOR A SECOND LIFE:
Keep in mind,
again, that life everlasting is a gift from Jehovah that he does not owe man and that those who lived their life paid the price of death when they died. Christ's ransom sacrifice allows the "righteous" that would have obeyed god to live
again. Jehovah is not extending this extra life to the unrighteous who would have rebelled against him anyway.
But here's the simple criteria for receiving that extra, undeserved gift of eternal life:
Matthew 25 clearly indicates what criteria the "sheep" and the "goats" would be judged upon. The sheep would be put on his right and the goats on his left. That simple criteria was whether or not they mistreated their fellow man. If they saw their brother hungry and naked and in prison and comforted them, then they will get life, because it is as if they did it to Christ himself.
On the other hand, if they saw their fellow man in need and neglected him, hated him, killed him and abused him, they will got into the "goat" pile on Jesus' left and they will not be extended this extra gift of life. They will simply be returned to the grave. They would have lived their evil life and paid for their imperfection and that's that. Jehovah is not going to reward them for being murderers.
Being thrown into Gehenna simply means "the SECOND DEATH", from which there is no resurrection.
That's a GREAT TERM for GEHENNA! The SECOND DEATH. That right there tells you some will die twice! That's all it means. They will be resurrected, they will be judged, many will be shown mercy, as much as possible, and whatever criteria there is, it will be just. But those who will be condemned to Gehenna or the second death would have been those who would have likely rebelled anyway.
So ultimately, you needn't worry. It all is supposed to work out pretty much so that anyone who might have served god faithfully under the best conditions will have that chance, and those who would have rebelled anyway, under the best conditions will simply not be allowed to ruin the environment for the rest of righteous mankind.
And finally, another reason for the resurrection is to vindicate Jehovah's name. To give a witness to those righteous and unrighteous as to what kind of God Jehovah is.
Thus, you may have thought you were smart and clever, and you defrauded your fellow man, killed a few people and got away with it, stole their money and lived a grand life with lots of money to a ripe old age and laughed at the rest of the world. You thought you got away with something. And you did. But then, you come back in the resurrection and find out all those poor people who were good and didn't steal from their neighbors or murder anybody get to have eternal life, and you, in turn, will not because of the things you did. Thus before you die this time, you will die knowing that you didn't get away with anything in the long run and you missed out on the grand chance of eternal life.
Now that has to make a difference. You will know that Jehovah does exact justice, though he also shows mercy. You know, all those atheists who denied God will know finally there is a God when he throws their collective neanderthalophilic bottoms into Gehenna!
The fundamentalists won't be laughing, but...they will have been vindicated. It's going to be fun!
And also don't forget, THERE IS NO RESURRECTING DURING THE MILLENNIUM! This is a false teaching. Judgment Day happens AFTER Satan is destroyed.
People are judged for what they did.
Some will have life.
Others will simply have a "second
death."
Gary