Before Jesus, did every human go to "hell"?

Question

Since Jesus' death enabled our "sins" to be forgiven, did all humans who lived before him automatically perish for all of eternity, regardless of their faith in "God"?

So, because Jesus was born, faith is no longer enough?

Answer 1

I have never been to hell except for a number of hangovers a few years back and so I could not say if any one who is dead went there, or any where else for that matter.
I read your profile and see that you were raised as a catholic and consider yourself to be an atheist. In that case your question must be designed to raise doubt in other people's minds about their own faith. Good try. Perhaps you should be asking Why an eternal god would choose to send anyone to a hell if they do not believe in him. As far as I know I did not volunteer to be here, alive, and I did not sign any contract saying that if I did not become a believer I would go to hell forever. No one would vote for a Presidential candidate who said his punishment for murder would be eternal torture instead of the death penalty. Besides, hell seems like a great waste of time and energy for an Intelligent creator.
If you are looking for a biblical reference or explanation to prove to yourself there is a God, I would say you are asking the wrong questions, because the bible is not a science manual or proof. It is a faith manual. A spiritual guidance resource. It is for people who have already made a choice to believe.
You have chosen to be an atheist, at this point, which means you say the opposite - There is no god because there is no proof. You have made a choice to believe something as well, when the truth is, just like the believers, you don't know either.
Remember, the universe has been around for billions of years. Humans have existed only for a very, very, very short time. If there is a God, his motives, thoughts and actions would be very difficult for the human race to grasp. If I was founder of a large corporation and had been running it for years, I would not be terribly concerned if my 3 year old daughter who had just learned her ABCs did not understand my business affairs, but I would love her anyway.
I think you are right to put aside the religious jargon that's been put in your mind by well meaning but fallible humans. Keep asking quesions like you are, you will find the answers to suit you. Just don't put all your faith into empirical evidence, since that, too is put together by well meaning but fallible humans as well.

Answer 2

Eclessiastes 9:4-6 "For as respects whoever is joined to all the living there exists confidence, because a live dog is better off than a dead lion.

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.

6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun"

Jesus open the oportunity to people who died to be resurrect it in the future according to Acts 24:15 "and I have hope toward God, which hope these [men] themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous"

and John 5:28-29 "Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment"

Eliah was alive 8 years later you can read it in 1 Chronics 21:12 Jesus was the first to go heaven not Eliah according to John 3:13.

Answer 3

No. Humans went to one place. It was called Sheol in the Hebrew and Hades in the Greek. It is comprised of three compartments: Paradise, the great chasm, and the place of torment.

Paradise and the place of torment are separated by the great chasm (like a large canyon that cannot be crossed).

Paradise is where the old testament righteous went after they died. Jesus told the thief on the cross, that he would be in Paradise.

Paradise is also called Abraham's bosom.

When Jesus was raised from the dead, those in Paradise went to Heaven (where God lives). So, today, Paradise is empty.

The place of torment is where the unrighteous went. It is where those that do not accept Jesus as Savior go today.

It is a real place where you remember your life, you know who God is, who Jesus is and you wish you had a second chance.

By all accounts, Sheol/Hades is in the interior of the earth.

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Hell, also called the Lake of Fire, is where those in the place of torment will be sent after they are judged by God.

Hell was originally built for Satan and the fallen angels. The fallen angels are currently in "a bottomless pit" waiting for judgment that is neither in Sheol/Hades, or Hell. It could be on earth.

Answer 4

technically according to their religion, exept elijah of course who ascended straight to heaven from the top of a mountain. And I think moses too.

But other than that...hell bound, its insanity really. Like God couldnt give grace without Jesus?? pshh...

Answer 5

No.

Jesus himself would not have believed in eternal hell - he was a practising Jew and Judaism has no concept of hell in the way that Christianity does. We believe that ALL righteous people, whatever their religion, reach heaven.

Answer 6

I remember reading something that said that God sent all the good people up to Heaven after Jesus' resurrection.

Answer 7

No they went to a place called Abraham's bosom. Jesus after dying on the cross went there and preached to them. the ones who accepted went with him out of the grave.

Answer 8

Nope. Even now no one is in Hell.

Every Single human being (except the 144,000 saints)gets a second chance.

Answer 9

I think they went to either one of two compartments of "Sheol" the Hebrew word for the place of the Dead. Jesus talked about these places and called the good place the bosom of Abraham.

Luke 16:22 And it came to pass that the beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham from afar, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am suffering in this flame.'

25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things, but now here he is comforted and you are suffering. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, so that those who desire to cross over from here to you are not able, nor may those from there cross over to us.'

27 Then he said, 'Therefore I beseech you, father, that you would send him to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'

29 Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'
30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if someone from the dead should go to them, they will repent.'
31 But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded should one rise from the dead.' "

Answer 10

actually know, i'm not jewish, but i do know a little about it. there is very little mention of heaven and hell...it's not really a place that you go. heaven meant back then closeness to god, and hell was furthest from god. hopes this makes since...