if peoples' were "forgiven" by the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ what about the people in the B.C era?

Question

were they just s.o.l. when it came to being saved?

i put "if" in front of all my religious questions... that way im not leaning one way or the other

Answer 1

Depends on which Christian doctrine you are talking about.

Some say that people were forgiven due to their anticipation of the Messiah.

Some say that the souls were "freed from prison" when Christ (according to the creeds) "descended into hell."

Some say that time ceases upon death and everybody instantaneously ends up at the last judgment.

Most main line Christians agree as to the possibility of salvation of those in the B.C. era, they just have a difference of opinion about the mechanics of it.
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Answer 2

All people can be forgiven by Christ's sacrifice. Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world and the whole point of the law of Moses sacrifices was to point to the great and last sacrifice made by Christ. In the old testament times they sacrificed a lamb, first born, without spot or blemish. This was all symbolic of the literal sacrifice that would be made by the Son of God for all people, including those who lived before he came in the flesh.

1 peter 3
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

1 Peter 4
6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

Answer 3

Nobody is forgiven by a man-made object.
Only the blood of Christ can forgive you.
In the B.C. era animals were sacrificed as a symbol of Christ's blood for forgiveness.

However sinners could not enter heaven until Jesus died.

Answer 4

In the Old Testament time, people had to shed blood (animal) everytime they committed a sin to be forgiven.
New Testament, Jesus Christ shed blood and payed the price for us. To be forgiven, all you have to do is: repent, ask for forgiveness, and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart.

Answer 5

Jesus Christ also was punished and judged on the cross for sins of all the saints who lived and died before the crucifixion as well.

Answer 6

They are not s.o.l. I believe that they are taught in the afterlife and given a choice to choose the truth or not. They can be forgiven as well.

Answer 7

It was taught by the apostles and early fathers of the Church that Saturday Jesus visited the abode of the dead to give them the benefits of his salvation.Many deceased people appeared to people living then scripture states. Previous to that no one was holy enough to enter the glory of God but Jesus made it possible for us by meriting its grace for those who accept that love in the reasonable faith God expects.

See, faith is required by God because it raises the mind and heart above pride and self's control of things to a supernatural spiritual state of being, which is a higher way of being and living more in relations with our invisible transcendent all perfect God, not subject to the way human ego wants to do things. Those who dont want to do things God's way revealed through Jesus lose all his benefits but not his love and care patiently waiting ready to respond to any efforts to come to faith in him.

Answer 8

They were under a different dispensation. Just google Dispensation Theology. (Did you honestly think we didn't have an answer to this? Did you honestly think we believed people like Abraham, and Noah, and Moses were not in heaven?) Get a clue.

Answer 9

Yup! They had bad timing and nothing can save them from damnation. Totally pwn3d. Either that, or the Paulian gospel is nothing short of outright heretical nonsense from the Anti-Christ known as St. Paul. It sure would suck for Christians if that were the case, because that would mean that they would have to actually answer for their own deeds instead of relying on human sacrifice to save their asses. Peace out.

Answer 10

Ever read Dante's Inferno?
Interesting theory on what happens to them: they end up in the first or second level of hell with the unbaptized (according to Dante's Inferno, of course, which is a work of fiction).