I was just wondering what christians believe happened to the souls of men before christ was born?

Answer 1

The same thing that happens today. nothing
The subject is; what happens to us when we die. It’s a hard subject. Why does it matter what we believe about what happens to a person when they die? Well, it was Satan’s first lie to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:4 “And the serpent said to the woman, ye shall not surely die.” Is there a question as to who the serpent is; reference Rev.12:9 “That old serpent called the Devil, and Satan.” Could this subject be more important than we think? Why is this important now? Turn to Matthew chapter twenty-four we’ll begin in verse twenty (read through verse twenty-seven) If someone claimed to have a visitation of a much beloved relative and the relative told you to do something that was against God’s principles what would you do? But, what about those mediums who help people, are they bad too? How can we know if someone is from God or not? God says through Isaiah in Isaiah 8:19 & 20 (read) “If they speak not according to This Word, it is because there is no light in them” God does not use the dead to “help” the living. This is a deception of the devil. I want you to write down the following texts to study them when you get home because I will not take the time right now to read them all. Exodus 7:11, 1 Samuel 28:3-25, Daniel 2:2, Acts 16:16-18, Revelation 18:23, and 2 Corinthians 11:13 Satan has used sorcery all throughout the Bible to deceive people and it is predicted that he will continue to do so. Rev. 16:14 and Rev13:13 & 14 What did God command the children of Israel to do to those people who claimed to do sorcery? Let’s read Leviticus 20 verse 27 Now lets turn to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 13 start in verse one (continue to verse five then skip to verse ten) When giving the punishments for various “sins” to the Israelites the Lord reserved stoning for the most serious of offences. Sometime read the book of laws or Leviticus but especially chapter twenty.
So, again let’s go back to the beginning. What is “a living soul”? Genesis 2:7 Dust and breath, that is what we are dust and breath. Please turn to Genesis 3:19 Dust you are and to dust you return. Let’s look at a controversial text. The book of Ecclesiastes chapter twelve and verse seven, (read it) dust to the ground, spirit to God who gave it. So one might ask what is the spirit if not what we commonly call a ghost? First we’ll turn to James it’s a little book right after Hebrews. We’ll read in chapter two verse twenty-six. This chapter is mostly talking about faith without deeds being dead, but here in verse twenty-six it states, “The body without the ‘spirit’ is dead.” Not much, we didn’t already know, but what is this spirit? The book of Job sheds some light on the fact in chapter 27 verse three; Job is talking to his friends about God. He states that as long as he has life in him the breath of God in his nostrils he will not…deny his integrity. It goes back to dust and breath again. So what does happen to a person when they die? Ezekiel 18:20 states that the soul that sins, it shall die. In first Timothy chapter six verses 15 and 16 Paul is talking to Timothy and says (read) God is the only one who is immortal. Let’s see if we can find out where the dead are. What is it like for those that have died? Does the Bible give us any indication? Ps 115:17 “The dead praise not the Lord neither any that go down into silence.” And again in Ecc 9:5, 6 & 10 “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun.” “Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with all thy might for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” God says the dead know not anything. In the gospels, John chapter 11, when it talks about Lazarus death, in verse eleven Jesus calls death sleep. How many of you, when you get a good nights sleep realize anything that goes on around you between the time you fall asleep and when you wake up? That is what it is like to be dead. Look up at the light. shut those off for one moment? Okay where did the light go? Where did it go? It doesn’t go anywhere. It takes two things to create light, the bulb and electricity. Without both things, there is no light. You can turn them back on now. When a person ceases to breathe the breath goes out of the body and the body; it goes where we bury it to await the resurrection.
Are we really sure that our loved ones are not in heaven now? Let’s close with reading a couple more texts. The first text is found in Acts 2 (read); Peter is talking to the crowd about Jesus resurrection. The part of the dialogue I want us to concentrate on begins in verse twenty-two and ends in the first part of verse 34. David, the King David, is dead and buried and has not ascended to heaven. When will we expect to see our loved ones again? First Thessalonians chapter four verses 15 though 18 answers this question for us. One minute a person is alive and what will seem to them as the next minute God will call them from their graves. And finally, Revelation chapter twenty one verses one through five, we go to heaven together with our loved ones when Christ comes again and there will be no more death or crying. Won’t that be a glorious day? I can hardly wait. Won’t you wait with me today?

Answer 2

The same thing that happens today they that trust in his salvation and not their own works were saved and those that didn't died in their sins. It should be noted that those that were saved before Christ were converts (true converts from the heart) to the religion of the Jews (not Judaism as it is today-that predates Christianity by about 100 years.) If one reads Tacitus (The Histories) one finds that at the time of Christ (before and after) the Jewish nation was made rich and the Temple loaded down with treasure which was sent to Judea from (saved gentiles) converts from all over the empire. These Tacitus harangues for being the worst of people to forsake their gods(pagan polytheism) to follow after the corrupt religion of the Jews (which he is sorely misinformed about concerning its origin and practices) Josephus also mentions the rich that came into Judea from the empire (book 5 and 6 of Wars of the Jews). Hope this proves helpful. Also in the old Testament Gentiles convert left and right.

Answer 3

A very good question, and I believe this is the answer. In Luke Chapter 16 is the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Both died and, because Jesus hadn't been resurrected at that time, both went to hell. But not the same part. Hell was divided into two parts, the part where the Rich Man went, which is the place of torment that still exists; and a place "the bosom of Abraham" or "Paradise", which, as the name suggests, was considerably nicer. At either the time Jesus died (when the dead Saints came back to life) or at his Resurrection this part of Hell was emptied and is no longer used.

Answer 4

The story is in the Bible with Lazarus and the rich man this should explain it for you as Christ was still living at this time, it was his death and shedding of blood that covered sin. If you read Revelation 20 verses 11-15 and Revelation 21:8 it will give you the final destination after judgement and for those that reject Christ.

Answer 5

The souls of men, before Christ, went to Hades. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, he descended into Hades and retrieved the souls of godly men.

Answer 6

There are some people that believe they are going straight to hell because they never acceptd Jesus. Even though they never had the chance. Others believe that thats when there were animal sacrifices, (which would have 'paid' for thew sin) which ended when God sacrificed His Son. A lot of theories out there.

Answer 7

Christianity wasn't really a religion until after Christ died. Christ was Jewish until he was crucified. The Jewish believe that nothing happen. That everyone goes to the same place when they die, that there is no heaven and hell. (If I'm not mistaken. I'm Catholic. My best friend is Jewish and that was how she explained it to me.)

Answer 8

Jesus Christ spoke about the condition of the dead. He did so with regard to Lazarus, a man whom he knew well and who had died. Jesus told his disciples: “Lazarus our friend has gone to rest.” The disciples thought that Jesus meant that Lazarus was resting in sleep, recovering from an illness. They were wrong. Jesus explained: “Lazarus has died.” (John 11:11-14) Notice that Jesus compared death to rest and sleep. Lazarus was neither in heaven nor in a burning hell. He was not meeting angels or ancestors. Lazarus was not being reborn as another human. He was at rest in death, as though in a deep sleep without dreams. Other scriptures also compare death to sleep. For example, when the disciple Stephen was stoned to death, the Bible says that he “fell asleep.” (Acts 7:60) Similarly, the apostle Paul wrote about some in his day who had “fallen asleep” in death.


The Bible teaches that the dead “are conscious of nothing at all.” They are not alive and have no conscious existence anywhere. The account of Lazarus confirms this. Upon returning to life, did Lazarus thrill people with descriptions of heaven? Or did he terrify them with horrible tales about a burning hell? No. The Bible contains no such words from Lazarus. During the four days that he was dead, he had been “conscious of nothing at all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) Lazarus had simply been sleeping in death. John 11:11.
The account of Lazarus also teaches us that the resurrection is a reality, not a mere myth. Jesus raised Lazarus in front of a crowd of eyewitnesses. Even the religious leaders, who hated Jesus, did not deny this miracle.

Think about this too: If Lazarus had been in heaven for those four days, would he not have said something about it? And if he had been in heaven, would Jesus have made him come back to earth from that wonderful place? Of course not!

Yet, many people say that we have a soul, and they say that the soul lives on after the body dies. They say that Lazarus’ soul was alive somewhere. But the Bible does not say that. It says that God made the first man Adam “a living soul.” Gen. 2:7, Adam was a soul. The Bible also says that when Adam sinned, he died. He became a “dead soul,” and he returned to the dust from which he had been made. The Bible also says that all Adam’s offspring inherited sin and death too.

The Scriptural teaching of the resurrection, however, is not compatible with the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. If an immortal soul survived death, no one would need to be resurrected, or brought back to life. Indeed, Martha expressed no thought about an immortal soul that was living on elsewhere after death. She did not believe that Lazarus had already gone to some spirit realm to continue his existence. On the contrary, she showed her faith in God’s purpose to reverse the effects of death. She said: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11:23, 24) Likewise, Lazarus himself related no experiences of some afterlife. There was nothing to report.

Clearly, according to the Bible, the soul dies and the remedy for death is the resurrection. You enjoy the best sleep ever, until Jesus resurrects you, sometime in the future.

Answer 9

Their souls went to Hades. Jesus gave an example when he told the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Both died. The rich man (an unrepentant man) went to suffering and torment. Lazarus (a repentant man) went to Abraham's Bosom....a place of comfort.

Answer 10

As Jesus the Christ explained it in St. Luke 16:

the beggar, Lazarus, died. His body was buried. He was carried by the angels to Hades ... to the Paradise portion, to be with Abraham.

the rich man also died. His body was buried. He found himself very much conscious, also in Hades .... in "torments".


And please dignify the name of Christ with a capital "C"; also "C" for Christians as that is derived from Christ's name.