Christians - help me with this: where did people of the pre-christian era go after death?

Question

I am but a poor atheist on the road of life.

sounds like it would have been a shock for Cro-Magnon Man to die and wake up in Purgatory, eh? sounds a bit unfair.

Maurice H, how does that garbage answer my question?

Ross K - what the hell? You seriously mean people 30,000 years ago, or 100,000 years ago are saved if they believed in god? wow, that's something. And, um, where do you get that from?

Sparkle1 you exist in a cloud of delusional loveliness. Aaaaah!

Well, believers, you failed to answer my question adequately. Some of you don;t even have a grasp of basic human history. "Pre-christian" does not mean "Old Testament", is also means romans, greeks, babylonians, assyrians, hittites, etc, right back to the dawn of man, which was NOT 4004BC, but about 2 million years ago.

Answer 1

Those who had faith in the messiah and put their trust in Him (which the law pointed too) went to "Abrahams bossom", not hell. Awaiting for the glorious time when He (Jesus) came to take them to Heaven in the ressurection. Jesus did preach there to the none believers but not for salvation, but condemnation for not believing when they where alive. The word in the Greek is a "I told you so" proclamation, not a "good news if you believe" preaching. They did know of the saving work of Christ before He came as a man, it is in the prophesies of the O.T. and that is what they believed in faith.

John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Answer 2

According to Christianity, people in the pre-Christian era (before the crucifixion of Christ) would either be allowed into the presence of God (heaven) or be eternally separated from God (hell) based upon their faith in God the same as after Christ. A perfect example would be Abraham. Genesis 15:6 states that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (which is a right standing with God). So it also is with the post Christian era as well where it is faith in God, not in what we do or do not do that determines our relationship with God. The people before Christ put their faith in God looking forward to the promise of redemption while the people since Christ look back to the fulfillment of that promise through the death of Christ.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Everyone who dies is dead (unconscious and non-existant). God promises a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous from the memorial tombs (God's memory). Anyone who has died without the benefit of learning God's will would qualify as an unrighteous person and would therefore be resurrected during the second resurrection and given a chance to learn and decide to follow God's will or not. Life is the outcome of choosing to do things God's way. The second death (called the Lake of Fire but having NOTHING to do with eternal torment) would be the outcome for anyone choosing to do their own thing (or follow Satan's lead).

Answer 4

As a Christian, I have come to believe that the physical body is but a vessel that carries a soul. If a soul is filled with love, peace, forgivness, then it should go to "heaven" regardless of a belief of God. Having a believe in God helps achieve the goal of love, peace and forgiveness easier. Since God is forgiving, he/she should accept those who have lived their lives right. But the souls who commit sins without remorse may feel a need to repent and stay stuck here on earth (which is their purgatory).

Answer 5

I was taught that there is some kind of place where the dead are kept for the final judgement day (call it Hades' hall if you like). When Jesus died, he went there and preached the gospel and took the righteous ones with Him to heaven.

Since that day, all who believe in Christ, don't have to wait in this place, but can go to heaven directly, because they're in Christ.

I think the hell is still empty at the moment (if there is time like here) until on the final judgement day the unrighteous will be judged for their sins.

One other detail which is hard to believe but biblical: satan is not in the hell but in heaven, accusing us for our sins day and night. But he will be kicked out of heaven soon...

Answer 6

Abraham, Moses and Elijah went to heaven, so I think ist's safe to say good people of that time went to heaven

however, the situation has changed. The people mentioned above used to over sacrifices on a regular basis, now the ultimate sacrifice has been offered through Jesus Christ so it is no longer enough to just try to do good. BUT you do good and try to find God (I don't mean looking for proof that He exists but trying to make yourself right with Him) He will reveal Himself to you and show you that Jesus is truly the only way. God saved a Roman general this way, if you are curious about it you can the Bible: Acts chapter 10. God bless you!

Answer 7

They weren't in "hell", of course, because in Judaism there is no "hell" like Christians have. In Judaism all who pass on spend time in a sort of purgatory, examining and learning from their past life mistakes, before moving on to the next level of enlightenment. And only *enlightenment* could possibly take you to the next level, not simply someone else's dying on a cross.

Answer 8

I'm not a Christian, I'm a Muslim. Islam teaches that God did send prophets and messengers to every single nations ever existed on God's earth, for surely He dont and wont wrong us.

003.108: These are the Signs of God: We rehearse them to thee in Truth: And God means no injustice to any of His creatures.

040.078: We did aforetime send messengers before thee: of them there are some whose story We have related to thee, and some whose story We have not related to thee. It was not (possible) for any messenger to bring a sign except by the leave of God: but when the Command of God issued, the matter was decided in truth and justice, and there perished, there and then those who stood on Falsehoods.

God knows best

Peace and Love.

Answer 9

purgatory, all the dead went there. Jesus emptied it when he went to hell.

Anyone able tell me what greek or egyptian myth this actually originated in? (IM or mail me) Nearly every story in the good book can be traced to an earlier religion.

Answer 10

all nations and generations have known about God;the only difference is the amount of media that was given and oppurtunities each generation has.

Romans 1:20-For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: