If Jesus died to save us from our sins, what happened to the souls of those who lived before Jesus' time?

Question

I've heard that the Mormon religion prays for the "before-Jesus" souls in the hope that they will be spared from Hell...

What do you all believe?

Who are the Morginians??

Where did the souls of the dead go before Christianity--i.e. everyone born prior to 2000 yrs ago??

Answer 1

Every since the fall of Adam, God said that he would send a redeamer for mankind, this being of course Jesus.(Genesis 3:15)and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, it shall bruise your head , and you shall bruise His heel.All of the saints befor Calvary were sent to Paradise(a part of Hell, Hell being in 5 parts) not fire or brimstone. They were there waiting for the Christ. During the 3 days Jesus was in the tomb, He left and went down into paradise to get the saints, now that the price had been paid for the sins of mankind, and took the saints to heaven to be with the Lord God, where they remain today.

Answer 2

they were covered by the "Mosaic Law" , ergo blood sacrifices performed in the Temple. When Jesus died the veil in the Temple was rent or torn, meaning that all of mankind has free access to pray to God for forgiveness. The perfect sacrifice has already been given so there is no more need for the temple rituals, Jesus holds the Melchezidik priesthood, you can't pray anybody in to heaven that has already passed on...accepting Jesus into your life is a personal choice and no one else can do it for you. Ceremonies to bridge the gap for the dead are useless and inane. If you didn't accept while living how can you when DEAD!!! Sorry ramblin' God Bless

Answer 3

The Jews gave burned offering to atone for their sins. Though this was only a temporary reprieve of forgiveness and they had to repeat this often to keep atoning. But Jesus Christ's perfect sacrifice was the all time sacrifice that only had to be done once to atone for the sins of all mankind (Hebrews 9:26)

The souls of people before Christ was on earth go to the same place where they go after Christ finished on earth that place is called Hades. The common grave of mankind. This is not an actual place but a figurative place of the dead. As the soul dies when the person expires.

The dead are not in heaven or a burning hell. They are dead as in no more - neither thinking or conscious.

Ecclesiates 9:5
For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.

People wil remain a dead state until after Armageddon.
as the phophesy in Revelations writes:

Revelation 20:13
And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Hades gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds.

Anyone brought to destruction because of their deed will not go to a torment of hell but absolute annilation or otherwise called the second death.
The lake of fire is symbolic of complete destruction of the wicked not a place of torment.

Revelation 20:14
And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire. Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire.

The earth as well as it is in the heavens will be cleansed of all wickedness and be renewed from it's former condition.

Revelation 21:1
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away.

Then God will destroy death as written in Revelation 20:14 and humans will reside forever on a paradise earth. As promised in Matthew 5:5
Death, sickness and woe will be no more.

Note that in the scripture below it reads 'God is with mankind' so the saved will not be angels but humans on earth.

Revelation 21:3,4
With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.”

Matthew 5:5
Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth.

Psalm 39:9
For evildoers themselves will be cut off,
But those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth.

Answer 4

Q. If Jesus died on the cross to save for our sins, what happened to those who died before Jesus? A. The thing is that because of the sin of Adam & Eve through their disobedience all mankind are born into disobedience this had been inherited through the flesh so it's part of human nature. Now because of this disobedience as a consequence mankind would be separated from God in the afterlife. Now Sheol/Hades was divided in two the Bosom of Abraham (Limbo for the Fathers) a paradise for the righteous (saints), and Gehenna/Tartarus for the wicked where they were for purification or for punishment. Q. If God is perfect and He can't live in a non sinful place, so He sent His son to die for us. the thing is, what happened to those who died before Jesus? A. Jesus is God when He assumed His human nature and became man was born without this disobedience, He was without sin. The answer how He could have been sent to Sheol/Hades, it has to do with Him sharing in a baptism of redemption. When He was baptized by St. John the Baptist He was counted amongst the sinners (the disobedient), even though He was without sin. Q. Why did God wait so long? A. Because of the generations of the wicked, the first generation of the wicked He destroyed by a great flood having hope with Noah and his family, the next generation again a wicked people He placed His hope with Abraham and his decendants, than they fell away from His teachings so He sent Moses with His Laws, then again they fell away from His teachings that is when The Father sent His Son. Jesus came for the saints who were in the Bosom of Abraham (Limbo for the Fathers), He didn't come for the wicked. Q. Didn't He know we were going to be in sin? A. God knows everything as possibilities past, present, and furture, but He does not interfer with freewill. Q. Why didn't he do this in the beginning so everyone can have a chance? A. Well in the beginning of the creation of mankind, mankind was created in holiness. But it was mankinds choice to be independant from God. And He did forgive Adam & Eve their sin, but as a result they were punished. But God had hope in Adam & Eve and they were righteous, but their children had inherited their disobediance, and their children's children, and their children's children. etc. etc. And God did give them a paradise in the afterlife even though He was seperated from them. The thing is this paradise in the Bosom of Abraham (Limbo for the Fathers) was a state of imperfect happiness. It was not like His Kingdom (Heaven) being in a state of perfect happiness. Q. Why did He wait soo long to say "hey, i'm going to open a way into paradise for my children"? A. The saints in the Bosom of Abraham would have to wait until the Last Judgment. However, Jesus by delivering them into His Kingdom (Heaven) had made them obediant through His sacrafice so they wouldn't have to wait until the Last Judgment to be with Him. So the Bosom of Abraham (Limbo for the Fathers) was no longer needed. And over time the Bosom of Abraham would be synonomys with Heaven in Christianity. Heaven is like the earth just uncorrupted.

Answer 5

I never heard that taught in 50 years of morgination meetings. Besides, there's no geneology available for them unless the 3 Nephites happened to provide something.

No - wait - those guys are post-Jesus too.

Do you have any idea of how many hominids lived prior to 2000 years ago? That a crapload of individual prayers, so perhaps one big 'overall' one might be sufficient?

Answer 6

I believe that after Jesus died, he descended to Hell (not the one we think of today) and at that time he gave everyone the chance to receive him as the Messiah. Those that did not were left and those that did were raised to life with him. This of course had to be--- because I mean like Abraham and Moses and Joseph and all of them were there and he wouldn't just leave them in Hell. Especially not his Foster Father Joseph that looked out for him all the time growing up..

Answer 7

At His trial, Jesus said to Pontius Pilate “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.”

This begs the question Why is it important to believe the truth? The answer is: Because truth has been made discoverable. If truth were undiscoverable, it would not be important. That God has entered our time, space, matter dimension in order to reveal truth to us, a consequence now weighs upon us to believe truth.

Time is irrelevant to truth, and redemption is not captive to chronological progression. Thus truth supercedes time past and time future. Truth is absolute.

The absolute of truth is inescapable but the consequence of destiny is not. Understanding fact is a function of the mind. Believing truth is a function of the spirit. There can be only one truth. All else is falsehood and error. Believing truth has its eternal benefit, rejecting truth has its eternal consequence.

Those who have embraced and inhabited the truth will find inclusion into that which they have chosen. Those who have defined themselves in this life as against the truth by their embrace of “the lie” will find no place there.

Answer 8

“There is no dichotomy [division] of body and soul in the O[ld] T[estament]. The Israelite saw things concretely, in their totality, and thus he considered men as persons and not as composites. The term nepeš [ne′phesh], though translated by our word soul, never means soul as distinct from the body or the individual person. . . . The term [psy·khe′] is the N[ew] T[estament] word corresponding with nepeš. It can mean the principle of life, life itself, or the living being.”—New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), Vol. XIII, pp. 449, 450.

“The Hebrew term for ‘soul’ (nefesh, that which breathes) was used by Moses . . . , signifying an ‘animated being’ and applicable equally to nonhuman beings. . . . New Testament usage of psychē (‘soul’) was comparable to nefesh.”—The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1976), Macropædia, Vol. 15, p. 152.

“The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture.”—The Jewish Encyclopedia (1910), Vol. VI, p. 564.

Can the human soul die?

Ezek. 18:4: “Look! All the souls—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul* that is sinning—it itself will die.” (*Hebrew reads “the ne′phesh.” KJ, AS, RS, NE, and Dy render it “the soul.” Some translations say “the man” or “the person.”)

Matt. 10:28: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul [or, “life”]; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul* and body in Gehenna.” (*Greek has the accusative case of psy·khe′. KJ, AS, RS, NE, TEV, Dy, JB, and NAB all render it “soul.”)

Acts 3:23: “Indeed, any soul [Greek, psy·khe′] that does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.”

Eccl. 12:7: “Then the dust returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit [or, life-force; Hebrew, ru′ach] itself returns to the true God who gave it.” (Notice that the Hebrew word for spirit is ru′ach; but the word translated soul is ne′phesh. The text does not mean that at death the spirit travels all the way to the personal presence of God; rather, any prospect for the person to live again rests with God. In similar usage, we may say that, if required payments are not made by the buyer of a piece of property, the property “returns” to its owner.) (KJ, AS, RS, NE, and Dy all here render ru′ach as “spirit.” NAB reads “life breath.”)

Eccl. 3:19: “There is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit [Hebrew, ru′ach].”

Heb. 4:12: “The word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul [Greek, psy·khes′; “life,” NE] and spirit [Greek, pneu′ma·tos], and of joints and their marrow, and is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Observe that the Greek word for “spirit” is not the same as the word for “soul.”)

Answer 9

Jesus paid for the sins of all time. Past, present and future. Death could not keep him, because he had never committed the crime, that justifies death, which is sin. By being pure and Holy, and having come in the flesh, but never fufilling the nature of the flesh; he conquered death, and death lost its power over all flesh, through Jesus. So, all who are in Jesus, are also freed from death. Those who are not in Jesus, are still headed for death. That is why Jesus is said to be the Way, Truth and Light;He is the way to life, and the sacrifice given to overcome death.

Answer 10

The Nicene creed teaches that after Jesus gave up His spirit on the cross He descended into Hell, there He preached the Gospel to those poor souls and give them the chance of eternal life too.