Bishop: Christians don't go to heaven
Anglican challenges widespread belief, says believers asleep until God returns
Posted: February 10, 2008
2:49 pm Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
A bishop described as "one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought" is now challenging the widely held belief that Christians go to heaven when they die.
N.T. "Tom" Wright, the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England who has been praised for his staunch defense of the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, has published a new book in which he says people do not ascend to God's dwelling place. Instead, deceased believers are in a sleep-like state until God comes back to Earth.
"Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we are we are all going to heaven," Wright told Time Magazine. "I've often heard people say, 'I'm going to heaven soon, and I won't need this stupid body there, thank goodness.' That's a very damaging distortion, all the more so for being unintentional."
When asked to explain why he rejects that typical sentiment, he said, "There are several important respects in which it's unsupported by the New Testament. First, the timing. In the Bible we are told that you die, and enter an intermediate state. [The Apostle] Paul is very clear that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead already, but that nobody else has yet. Secondly, our physical state. The New Testament says that when Christ does return, the dead will experience a whole new life: not just our soul, but our bodies. And finally, the location. At no point do the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels say, 'Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven.' It says that Christ is coming here, to join together the heavens and the Earth in an act of new creation."
In the Gospel of John, Jesus himself is quoted as saying, "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (John 3:13)
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It is written:
All people, both good and evil, sleep in death...they are in no way among the living, for they know nothing; all their thoughts have perished with them. And so they wait until the great and glorious day of the Lord, unto which it is appointed to raise all who sleep...first, all who belong to Him...and then later, those who remain unto the seat of judgment.
I say, to be absent from the body is to indeed be with the Lord, for all those who die in Christ will see Him in the blink of an eye, for those of death and sleeping know not the passage of time. They do not even know they have died, for they only know the end of life is near, then the beginning of their new life with Christ. So I tell you, there is indeed life after death, but during death there is most certainly not. If there was life during death and sleeping, then Christ would not be the First Fruits from death. And if He is not the first to be raised from death, then Christ did not die. Then sin and death have the victory, and all is lost. If all have victory over death as living spirits, then all are like Christ, and Christ's penalty and victory is for not, and all are forsaken; and all will forever be part of the dead and dying, for the penalty of sin is death.
I say, Let there be a Lamb without blemish sacrificed for the atonement of sin, and so it is; even let the Lamb be My Son, a cleansing of all men. Sing hallelujah! ~ God [Letters from God and His Christ - Volume Volume 4 - To the Church Who Is in the Midst Of and Sits Upon the Seven Hills]