Paradise, Hades, & The Life to Come

 

The three Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all believe that there is indeed a heaven wherein the righteous happily reside, and that there also exists a hell in which the wicked miserably abide. But these three faiths differ in their theology of what heaven is like and there are even some differences between the three in what the punishments of hell consist of. Even among the various Christian denominations are there differences in beliefs of what happens to us when we die. That being said, the following presentation concerning the afterlife comes from an Orthodox Christian perspective. This exegesis, being Christian in nature, will quote mostly from the New Testament, but the Old Testament will also be extensively referenced in relation to the Garden of Eden where we are first faced with the blessings of Paradise and where we are also familiarized with the consequences of sin which in turn led to death and the unbearable sufferings in the depths of Hades. Though the following subject matter may be frightening to some it is a reality that we all must eventually come to terms with. For the whole faith of Christianity is centered around the salvation of our souls which is the whole reason why Christ incarnated in the first place. So now let us take courage and face the harsh reality of hell, while also being comforted with the truth concerning the blessings of heaven and the free gift of everlasting life.

In the beginning when Adam and Eve fell from grace, through the eating of the forbidden fruit, they in turn forfeited their blessed existence in Paradise and were thus expelled from the Garden of Eden. As a consequence of man's mistake the earth became cursed and corrupt, for sin and death had now entered into the world. But when God initially created man and woman, the Lord endowed them with immortal souls and physical bodies not subject to decay. Humanity was also given the gift of free will. This meant that Adam and Eve were created with the potential to obey the commandments of the Lord, as well as the freedom to decide to disobey God's law. Unfortunately our first parents chose to rebel and as a result of disobeying the creator of their souls and bodies, sin and death entered into their souls and bodies. Once sin entered into man and woman, this immediately resulted in their spiritual death which would one day also lead to their physical death, something that the Lord had never intended to happen to the living souls of man and woman which God created in His own holy image and after His divine likeness.

Now that humanity was living in a fallen condition, redemption was needed in order to undo the damage which had been done in Eden. But before the promised redeemer was sent to bring mankind back to Paradise, no human soul could enter heaven and likewise neither could sinful human flesh withstand the holy presence of the Almighty God in heaven. For from the days of Adam unto the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all human souls (whether good or bad) would be restricted from entering heaven when they died physically. For after more than 5,000 years all human souls would be held in the prison of Hades until the promised Messiah incarnated, died, descended, and delivered the imprisoned souls from their spiritual bondage and ultimately led captivity captive back to their heavenly homeland up on high (Ephesians 4:8). For when Christ died on the cross, His soul descended into Hades where He preached to the spirits in prison, giving all the people who had ever lived a chance at accepting the message of salvation and a chance at returning back to the Paradise which was once lost (1 Peter 3:19). Currently, in this age of grace which we now live in, all the souls of all the people who have faith in Jesus now have free access to enter heaven once they die a physical death. Going further, at the Resurrection of the Dead, all the souls and bodies of believers will be reunited and the righteous will be transformed in the twinkling of an eye with an incorruptible body similar to the glorified body which Christ now has. Likewise heaven and earth will also pass away and a new heaven and a new earth will replace this fallen world and all of creation will be sanctified once and for all, and all those redeemed from the earth will live happily with Jesus in the kingdom of heaven for all of eternity.

Now that we have covered the redemptive work of Jesus Christ and have understood how Hades was robbed when Christ freed the souls held in captivity, let us now examine the current and future lot of the souls that have been redeemed, along with the plight of the condemned, whose souls have been lost and are deprived of salvation.

Now it has been mentioned in the realm of Christian dialog, that if we don't make it to heaven in this life, we won't make it to heaven in the next life. This means that we as believers in Christ must taste of the kingdom of heaven before we die physically. This statement can be backed up by Christ Himself who said, "...the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). Christ also came to give us life and that we might have it more abundantly (John 10:10). So from carefully reading the Gospel of Jesus Christ we can clearly see that eternal life begins in this life. Conversely, hell too can be experienced in this life and then fully in the age to come. For now even the bliss of heaven and the anguish of hell are not the fullness of what will be experienced after Judgment Day. For when Christ returns to judge this world, the souls that are now in heaven will be given glorified bodies and will completely enjoy the blessedness of heaven. Heaven and earth will also be renewed and the glory of God will totally be established. The sufferings of hell will also be complete, with no chance of any lost soul ever being delivered from eternal condemnation. And this eternal suffering in hell is what is known as the second death.

Concerning the teachings of Christ where the Lord speaks of the afterlife, a couple of parables stand out. One such parable deals with poor Lazarus and the rich man. For as the story goes one day both the rich man and Lazarus died, and Lazarus was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, but the rich man was buried and tormented in hell. From the context of this parable, Christ must have been speaking in the future tense. For example, when Lazarus died angels came to take his soul, something that never happened to the departed before the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Also, the Bible says that Lazarus was taken to Abraham's bosom, a place never associated with Hades or the realm of the dead where all souls went before the coming of Christ. Jesus also states that the rich man was in hell and not Hades, for hell is now the place where the souls of sinners go to before the final judgment. Jesus continues to say how there was a great gulf fixed between hell and Abraham's bosom, making it understood that Jesus must have been speaking of things yet to come for Abraham's bosom did not exist before Christ came. In another parable Jesus also speaks of the future life in heaven when addressing the Sadducees. When mentioning the status of those who shall be accounted worthy of the kingdom, Jesus speaks of the resurrection of the dead and how the redeemed will be equal to the angels, being children of the resurrection (Luke 20:35-36). So in order for the gates of heaven to be opened for faithful souls to enter Christ had to suffer, die, and most importantly be raised from the dead, so that all believers may now experience the life of the resurrection.

From the preceding exegesis concerning Paradise, Hades and the life to come it is evident that humanity needs salvation and most importantly a Savior. For the whole reason for the incarnation of the Messiah was to bring mankind back to Paradise and to reconcile sinful man to holy God. What Adam lost in Paradise, Christ gained in His redemptive work on the cross. Through the resurrection of Jesus was the life of heaven imparted to those of the household of faith. What was once only given to a select few in the days of old, would now be granted to the many who thirst for the life of the resurrection. For now through Christ, can all who live a virtuous life call upon Him in faith and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. For as it is written, "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit" (1 Corinthians 15:45). For those who achieve salvation will be filled with the Holy Spirit and will forever be blessed, escaping the torments of hell and in turn will live with Christ in the kingdom of heaven unto the ages of ages. For as it is written, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power" (Revelation 20:6).

Russia & The American Civil War

Introduction

The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America. The Union, or North, won the Civil War, which has gone down as the bloodiest war in U.S. history. The following presentation briefly covers some key events of the Civil War which have not been brought to light in mainstream academia; namely the role Russia played in the war by coming to the aid of the Union and the politics of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Lincoln, Russia, and Slavery

On September 22, 1862, just days after the federal army stopped a confederate advance at the battle of Antietam, Abraham Lincoln announced his plans to order the freeing of Southern slaves unless the Southern states returned to the Union. This decree had been held in abeyance for nine months awaiting a Union battlefield victory.

With no response from the South, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. He proclaimed freedom for all slaves in Rebel-held territory. It was a purely political act, since obviously he had no authority in those areas. But it brought the issue of slavery to the forefront of the conflict. Lincoln later explained this pragmatic gesture by saying, “Things had gone from bad to worse until I felt that we had reached the end of our rope on the plan of operations we had been pursuing; that we had about played our last card, and must change our tactics or lose the game. I now determined upon the adoption of the emancipation policy.” In other words, it was halfway through this fratricidal war that slavery became a central issue. The proclamation was a brilliant strategic maneuver as the citizens of neither Britain nor France would have accepted their nation's support of slavery – and it strengthened Lincoln's hand at home.

When Lincoln instituted the first military draft in 1863, there were riots in several major cities including New York. Between July 13 and 16 more than one thousand people were killed or wounded as army troops restored peace at gunpoint. After the passage of many years, it is easy to forget that Lincoln had an insurrection on his hands in the North as well as in the South. To control [this Northern] insurrection, Lincoln ignored the Constitution by suspending the right of habeas corpus, which made it possible for the government to imprison its critics without formal charges and without trial. Thus, under the banner of opposing slavery, American citizens in the North, not only were killed on the streets of their own cities, they were put into military combat against their will and thrown into prison without due process of law. In other words, free men were enslaved so that slaves could be made free. Even if the pretended crusade had been genuine, it was a bad exchange.

By the fall of 1863 Lincoln was becoming increasingly concerned with the foreign military presence in Canada and Mexico. His concern over the French in Mexico led to a hasty attack at Sabine Pass at the mouth of the Sabine River separating Texas from Louisiana. On September 8, 1863, a mere forty-seven Texas militiamen with six cannons chased off a flotilla of Union ships composed of twenty-two transports carrying five thousand Yankee troops escorted by four gunboats.

With France and Britain coming dangerously close to both recognizing and aiding the South, it was Russia's pro-North Czar Alexander II who tipped the balance the other way. After receiving information that England and France were plotting war to divide up the Russian Empire, Alexander ordered two Russian fleets to the United States in the fall of 1863. One anchored off the coast of Virginia while the other rested at San Francisco. Both were in perfect position to attack British and French commerce shipping lines. No threats or ultimatums were made public, but it was clear that should war come, the Russian Navy was in a position to wreak havoc. Without the inhibited effect of the presence of the Russian fleets, the course of the war could have been significantly different.

Due chiefly to the presence of these fleets, coupled with the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation on their constituents, Britain and France declined to intervene for the South as planned. By early 1865 the South had been bled dry, both in men and materials. The Mississippi River was in federal hands and Union general William T. Sherman had cut the Confederacy in two with his infamous “march to the sea” through Georgia. The [Confederate] nation was able to keep an army in the field only because of the matchless endurance and determination of its surviving soldiers. Opposing it was a nation which the war had strengthened instead of weakened – a nation which had had the greater strength to begin with and which had now become one of the strongest powers on the globe. The war could end only as it did. The Confederacy died because the war had finally worn it out.

Conclusion

The blood cost of the American Civil War was horrendous – the 365,000 Yankee deaths combined with 258,000 Confederates totaled more dead than all other U.S. wars combined. And the financial cost was staggering. At the end of 1861 government spending was $67 million. By 1865 this number had grown to more than $1 billion. The national debt, which was a mere $2.80 per capita for a population of 33 million in 1861, rose to $75 per person by 1865. It was estimated in 1910 that the total cost of the war, including pensions and the burial of veterans, totaled almost $12 billion, a preposterous sum at that time.

Abraham Lincoln himself was also aware of the cost of the Civil War and had a keen insight into the economic machinations of America during his presidency. After the passage of the National Banking Act of 1863 and shortly before he was assassinated Lincoln said:

“I see in the future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country; corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed.”

His prophecy is all but fulfilled.

References:

Marrs, J. Rule by Secrecy. (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 2000).

Elsom, J. Lightning Over The Treasury Building. (Hawthorne, CA: Omni Publications, 1941).

Ancient Mesopotamia & The Old Testament

 

The ancient, historical, and geographical region known as Mesopotamia was originally and is currently located in the areas which make up today's Middle-East, encompassing the territories of modern-day Iraq, Kuwait, as well as parts of Turkey, Syria, and even Iran. Ancient Mesopotamia is also considered to be the “cradle of civilization” due to the emergence of some of the world's earliest known human settlements being traced to this earthly locale. The Sumerian civilization, which was once established in the southern parts of Mesopotamia, is the oldest known settlement in that region and is arguably the oldest human settlement in the world. I would also like to personally argue that according to the Bible the first post-Flood human settlement was located in Mesopotamia: and more specifically in ancient Sumer. For as we shall see the Biblical land of Shinar could in fact be connected with this ancient Sumerian settlement. Also, the Hebrew patriarch Abraham originated from Mesopotamia and further on in the Biblical narrative do we witness various Mesopotamian empires coming into direct contact with the children of Israel, along with the various historical Mesopotamian rulers who's names are also recorded in the very pages of the Bible itself. So, from what has been thus far presented I believe that strong arguments may truly be made which would tie certain historical Mesopotamian elements together along with the stories that we find written in the Bible. For as we shall see, there are indeed many parallels between ancient Mesopotamia and the Old Testament.

Now the name “Mesopotamia” is a Greek term which translates to “the land between the rivers” and these two rivers referred to in this Greek phrase are none other than the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. Biblically speaking, the Euphrates River is named as one of the four rivers which flowed forth from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:10-14). Additionally, Genesis also identifies the third river which flows from Eden as the Hiddekel, a river that flows towards the east of Assyria. Traditionally the Hiddekel River is another name for the Tigris River and since Assyria is within the borders of Mesopotamia, then this points us to Mesopotamia (the land between the rivers) as the possible geographical origin of where the Garden of Eden could have initially been planted. So even from the very opening chapters of the Bible are we presented with a connection which links the Old Testament to ancient Mesopotamia.

Returning our focus back towards the historical findings concerning the Sumerian civilization, and by additionally scanning over certain Biblical passages, do we come to a possible parallel which could very well unite these two accounts together. For according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, God created the world around the year 5,500 BC, and about 1,500 years or so later the cataclysmic event of the Great Flood took place, roughly bringing us to the year 4,000 BC as the start date for the history of our post-Flood existence. Additionally, the Bible tells us in Genesis 11:2 that the first human settlement established after the Flood was located in the land of Shinar, which may in fact have been the Biblical name for Sumer. Amazingly, secular historians have placed the emergence of the Sumerian civilization to have occurred around the year 4,000 BC, which matches both the Biblical date and location of the worlds first post-Flood civilization. Thus by examining these findings are we granted the confirmation that the Bible is indeed a credible historical document, and through the continuity shared between these various sources do we also hold in our possession another link in the chain which seamlessly binds the Biblical narrative side-by-side with what has come down to us in the annals of recorded history.

Continuing in our survey of ancient Sumer do we arrive at many “firsts” regarding the various inventions that have developed throughout the ages in the technological history of mankind. For example, the ancient Sumerians were the first people to invent writing by using a reed stylus pressed into soft clay tablets making wedge-shaped inscriptions. The tablets were then left out to dry and fired making the clay as hard as stone. And this early writing system made up of wedge-shaped literary characters is known as cuneiform. Cuneiform tablets were initially used to record purchases, which functioned like receipts, but later developed into the means of recording literature and legal codes. Though writing originated in Sumer in the southern part of ancient Mesopotamia in the mid 4th millennium BC, the Akkadians (who would spring up about a millennia later in 2334 BC in the northern areas of Mesopotamia) also adopted cuneiform writing even though they spoke a different language than the Sumerians: kind of like today how we use the Latin alphabet in order to write down differing languages such as English and Spanish. The differences between these two particular Mesopotamian peoples was that the Akkadians were a Semitic people, while the Sumerians were a non-Semitic people. Now it is a point of argument among scholars pertaining to the racial origins of the Sumerians. Some researchers have classified the Sumerians as Hamitic, while it has also been pointed out that the Sumerian language has no known links to any other language family, including Hamitic tongues. And this unique variable has made the linguistic and ethnic origins of the ancient Sumerians a mystery of history. However, by examining the Biblical record a possible link tying the Sumerians with a particular people group may in fact be found.

According to what is known as the "Table of Nations" as referenced in Genesis chapter 10, the Bible informs us of the various people groups who emerged in the years following the Flood. For Noah had three sons: Ham, Shem, and Japheth, and from these three men and from each of their wives would the entire world be repopulated. Ham would go on to father the peoples of Africa, Shem would father the tribes of the Middle East, and Japheth would father the various European nations roughly speaking. However, though Shem is regarded as the father of the Arabs, one of his brother Ham's descendants would also populate parts of Mesopotamia. For one of Ham's descendants was named Cush, and as the Bible says, "...Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar" (Genesis 10:8-10). What is important to understand in these verses is that the names of Nimrod's kingdoms listed in the Bible are also the names of ancient Mesopotamian cities. For example, Biblical Erech corresponds to Sumerian Uruk, as does Biblical Accad with Mesopotamian Akkad. Additionally, ancient Sumer could quite possibly correspond to the Biblical land of Shinar. For in Genesis chapter 11 it states that after the Flood all the people where of one speech, and during their travels they found a plain in the land of Shinar and dwelt there. So if ancient Sumer does indeed correspond to the Biblical land of Shinar, where the Hamitic Nimrod ruled over, then the particular people group who populated Sumer may be successfully identified. Also, since the post-Flood people where all of one speech, then the origin of the mysterious Sumerian language may also be accounted for.

Now when delving into the traditional mythos of Sumer another parallel between ancient Mesopotamia and the Old Testament is encountered. For example, the Bible relates how the righteous antediluvian patriarchs lived to be nearly 1,000 years old, and similarly the Sumerian or Babylonian King List documents it's first group of leaders to have lived to be tens of thousands of years old. Though there is a large gap in time between the lifespan of the Biblical patriarchs and the Babylonian kings, it is still a relevant comparison, especially when the emphasis is on people living to extremely old ages, a condition totally preposterous to us modern humans who's average life expectancy is around 75 years of age. What is interesting to note here is that along with the Biblical narrative, the Sumerians also had a Flood story in their history and tradition. Continuing with the similarities in both of these ancient accounts it is revealed that after the Flood not only did the Biblical characters live much shorter lives, but the Babylonian king's life span also dropped significantly. According to Biblical history the people living after the Flood began to die around the age of 500, with the average human lifespan continuing to decline in the generations to follow. By the time we get to Abraham we see that he died at 175, and several centuries later Moses died at 120, and a few centuries after that king David died around the age of 70. Interestingly, the lifespan of the Babylonian kings also decreased in the years after the Flood. For during the age before the deluge the kings lived to be thousands of years old, and then after the Flood the kings are recorded as living only up to hundreds of years old. Although its understandable how skeptics may discredit both the Biblical and Babylonian accounts of such long and even exaggerated human lifespans, a keen similarity between the ages of the ancient people in the Bible and Mesopotamia, before and after the Flood, is indeed quite striking.

Shifting our attention away from Sumer, let us now focus on another ancient Mesopotamian civilization that is directly mentioned in the Old Testament. And this Mesopotamian people who we find recorded in the Hebrew scriptures are none other than the Assyrians. The Assyrians first emerged in northern Mesopotamia around 2600 BC and established themselves by building the city of Ashur, immediately located on the banks of the Tigris River. After the passage of time the Assyrians expanded their territory and in turn Ashur became the capital city of the Assyrian empire. Militarily speaking, the Assyrians were known for their fierce warriors who possessed brutal fighting skills. Unfortunately, the northern kingdom of Israel would eventually get a taste of this tenacity by falling victim to an Assyrian assault. For in 722 BC the Assyrians, under the leadership of their king Shalmaneser V, conquered the ten northern tribes of the kingdom of ancient Israel. In addition to the destruction of the Israelite capital Samaria, the Assyrians also captured the ten tribes and led them away captive back to Assyria, never to return. Thus these Israelite exiles are known to history as the “Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.” Now what is important to understand concerning all of these events, is that a historical people group or nation are written in the pages of the Bible, as well as in extra-Biblical sources. Going further the very name of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser is recorded in the book of II Kings. Thus not only do we have on our hands a Biblical parallel to ancient Mesopotamia, but we also possess proof of the historical record matching up with what we find in the Biblical narrative, which in turn gives more credibility to the holy scriptures as an historically accurate set of documents.

In addition to the ancient Israelites coming into contact with the various nations of ancient Mesopotamia, it must also be recognized that the Hebrews themselves can trace back their own ancestry to the territories and peoples of Mesopotamia. For example, in Genesis chapter 11 we see how the Israelite patriarch and prophet Abraham originally hailed from the the Mesopotamian settlement of Ur of the Chaldees. Going further, when Abraham wished for his son Isaac to marry, Abraham made sure that Isaac took a wife from among his kindred who dwelt in Mesopotamia (Genesis 24:10). Thus from what we find in these scriptures, it could be argued that the Jewish people living today do indeed possess racial roots which stem from the land, and peoples, of ancient Mesopotamia.

Another link connecting the Jewish people with Mesopotamia, has to do with the Babylonians who destroyed the temple of Solomon and all of Jerusalem in 586 BC, and then took the Jews captive back to Babylon, a nation located within the territories of Mesopotamia. And this period of Jewish history is known as the Babylonian Captivity. However, though this was a dark day for the Jews, it was also in their exile in Babylon where the Jews compiled their various religious documents and texts into a single book or scroll, which would later form the Hebrew scriptures or what Christians call the Old Testament. It was also at this place and time where the Jews began to assemble in houses of prayer, and would offer up worship unto God, and intensely study the holy scriptures, such as the Torah. For not only left without a temple, the Jews now found themselves in a strange land and had no other choice than to come together in order to maintain their faith and identity. And these Jewish congregations in Babylon are believed to be the foundation of the synagogue.

In conclusion, from the preceding exegesis concerning ancient Mesopotamia and the Old Testament it is firmly understood that the children of Israel have racial roots stemming from Mesopotamia, and history also reveals the interaction between the Israelites and the various kingdoms of Mesopotamia in ancient times. In modern times we see that the state of Israel continues to be in conflict with her Middle-Eastern, or Mesopotamian neighbors. It would also seem that ever since the first post-Flood civilization sprung up in the world, the authors of the Bible made sure to record this history, and thus it has been passed down over the ages how ancient Mesopotamia is indeed where human civilization as we know it began. The parallels between what we find in the Bible and what is written down in the histories of ancient Mesopotamian civilizations not only gives credit to the Bible as a legitimate historical document, but these findings also reveal the interrelated nature of the Israelites and their contemporaries in the ancient world. From what has been thus far explained in this concise presentation, I believe a strong link connecting the historical record with the Biblical record has indeed been revealed. For both the history we read within and outside of the Biblical narrative have in fact proven to complement one another rather than contradicting each other. This should give the student of history confidence when scrutinizing what the Bible teaches along with what has come down to us concerning the history that lies outside of the Biblical narrative. So, I think it is safe to say that studying the Bible does indeed equip all students of history with a guidepost to better understand the history of the ancient world, especially ancient Mesopotamia.

 

 

References:

Brenton. The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English. (London: Samuel Bagster & Sons, Ltd., 1851).

Kramer, S.N. History Begins at Sumer. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1959).

Quigley, C. The Evolution of Civilizations. (Indianapolis, Indiana: Liberty Fund, 1979).

Rose, Fr. Seraphim. Genesis, Creation, and Early Man. (Platina, CA: St. Herman of Alska Brotherhood, 2011).

Roux, G. Ancient Iraq. (New York, NY: Penguin Books, Inc., 1992).

Tarazi, P.N. The Old Testament: Introduction Vol. 1: Historical Traditions. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1991).

Zondervan. The Holy Bible, King James Version. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009).