Can Anyone help me understand two seemingly controversial bible passages?

Question

In Luc 23:24, Jesus promised one of the gansters crucified with Him, that on that night he (the ganster) will dwell in paradise with Himself.

Elsewhere in Act 2:31, in the creed, we learn that Jesus between his death and resurection was in hell for three days.

How could He have been both in paradise with the ganster and in hell at the same time?
Nothing can part me from my God, but it is a quest for knowledge, as it is a bit of concern.

Answer 1

Jesus, fully divine now that he has died, is omnipotent and omnipresent, no saynig where he was or wasn't during that time or if he was able to be in various places at the same time.
I think that we as humans try to limit God and those things that deal with spirituality to our limits, our humanity, but in reality there is no limit or limitation that God, Jesus or the Spirit cannot overcome.
These are not controversial passages, they are written by two different authors with two different view points they wanted to get across.
God bless and continue on your journey of self awareness, guided by the Spirit and searching for the ultimate knowledge that as St. Thomas Aquinas put it, not matter how hard I try, I will never understand the mysteries of God.
Leave it to God, and know that by loving Him, and others, you are closer than you know to understanding Him.

Answer 2

Your question is a good one and you should always question , always research . That's what God wants you to do . I was confused about many things , but then I got a NIV (new international version ) of the Bible and I read it from beginning to end . It doesn't make sense to try to understand a book by reading a page here and there ,and skipping around . Every time I came upon a word or a place that I didn't understand , I looked it up on the internet . I learned so much more than I ever had before . I don't know why our Christian leaders don't teach us to do this . It's the only way to understand the whole picture . My Bible says this Acts 2:31 -Seeing what was ahead , he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ , that he was not abandoned to the grave , nor did his body see decay . This clearly doesn't say that Jesus went to hell . In fact it says the opposite . The Bible doesn't contradict itself .

Answer 3

To understand these verses, we must understand the situation in which Paul and Timothy worked. In first-century Jewish culture, woman were not allowed to study. When Paul said that woman should learn in quietness and full submission, he was offering them an amazing new opportunity. Paul did not want the Ephesian women to teach because they didn't yet have enough knowledge or experience. The Ephesian church had a particular problem with false teachers. Evidently the woman were especially susceptible to the false teachings(2 Timothy 3:1-9), because they did not yet have enough Biblical knowledge to discern the truth. Some interpret this passage to mean that woman should never teach in the assembled church; however, Paul did not forbid women from ever teaching. Paul's commended co-worker, Priscilla, taught Apollos, the great preacher(Acts 18:24-26). In addition, Paul frequently mentioned other women who held positions of responsiblity in the church. Phoebe worked in the church(Romans 16:1). Mary, Trphena, and Tryphosa were the Lord's workers(Romans 16:6, 12), as were Euodia and Syntyche(Philippians 4:2). Paul was very likely prohibiting the Ephesian women, not all women, from teaching.

Answer 4

from what i gather you are using a newer translation of the Bible. from my personal studies Acts 2:31 talks about David not Christ. But if you lokk at Luke 23:24 the "gangster" will be in paradise with Christ. But this refernce to paradise is not the "heaven" as we call it because in John 20:15-17 Christ state that he has not ascended unto his Father. "heaven" as we call it includes the presence of God. If he wasnt with God for the last three days where was he?

Answer 5

It would seem that Acts 2:31 is referring to the grave (note the contrast between David dying and being buried and his TOMB still being among among them). Furthermore, the passage doesn't state any period of time for when Jesus was in Hades (even if one accepts this as what is intended), so Jesus could have died, went to paradise with the thief, descended into Hades and then came back.

Answer 6

I have personally spent a great deal of time researching possible contradictions in bible topics, thanks for pointing that out to me. God is timeless, and we have no way of knowing from bible verse that Jesus soul did not ascend to heaven at the time of his death, before his ascension to hell, which we both agree happened. Furthermore, you also have to "rule in" two possibilities. First consider that Jesus was under a great deal of stress and could have possibly said something that he didn't intend to say, (I doubt this personally but it has to be considered), second, the disciples who recorded the gospels were also under a great deal of stress, and were by far not considered perfect themselves. It could be that Luke may have actually misunderstood what Jesus said, or misinterpreted. You also have to consider that Jesus did many things that people have yet to understand, he was also spoken of in the old testament when Meshak, Shadrak, and Abadnego were cast in the furnace for worshipping God; as the son of man, being the fourth person in the fire.

Answer 7

Good question, here's your answer:

Christ told him that on this same day, he will be in paradise with him;
Christ, while yet in the tomb, went to all those who died before the crucifiction to tell them that the mission had been accomplished so that they too, could receive the same salvation as we can today.

The answer is really quite simple: "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father"; or,
"My Father and I are one".
Christ was the Word of the Father made flesh; the benefactor did see God on that day, since it was the WORD that was in the tomb, and it was the WORD who went to all those who died before; God (the Father) remained at the Throne.

Answer 8

You are looking for logic and precise chronologies in literature that was not concerned with those sorts of things.

By the way, a "bandit" (probably a revolutionary opposed to Roman rule) isn't really the same thing as a "gangster".

Answer 9

It is just normal occurence for a newly dead being whose soul will roam familiar spots as in to pay their last visit to their love ones for 3 days or more until the connection of the spirit to the brain is severed..

Oh by the way, hell is refer to earth/graveyard.

Answer 10

Because the Bible's not a perfect book. It's a complicated collection of writings put together by men. Lots of stuff was deleted and never made it into the bible. This doesn't mean the Bible doesn't have any meaning or is all wrong. That's childish black and white thinking. It's just not perfect.