C. Baxter Kruger Can We Be Saved After We Die?

Can christian play lottery?

I hope you don’t mind if I post a rather long comment on the topic of this video. The text below in brackets is an excerpt from a much longer message I originally typed up as a response to a catholic apologist. I have only come across a few others who see Hebrews 9:27-28 the same way I do, but for people who are troubled by the death of a loved one who supposedly wasn’t saved in time, finding out that there is another way to understand these verses may help them to question some of the other mistaken teachings they have been burdened by; “separation” theology being one of them.

[Aside from how using “the doctrine of reserve” to justify “scaring people into the kingdom” by teaching eternal torment or annihilation is directly related to the third commandment and misrepresenting God, both eternal torment and also annihilation doctrine also teach that what happens in this present world is the ultimate criteria and concern. They present the here and now as a one and only proving ground for eternity. I find it interesting that the eclipsing of a belief in a universal “apocatastasis” took place at around the same time as the rise of the “Onan” church as described in Genesis 38 started wasting its “seed” and “strength”on earthly things of this life (Onan’s name means “strong”). This was around the time of Constantine. A mis-interpretation and mis-translation of Hebrews 9:27-28 has also been used to make this present life of ultimate importance by teaching that once a person dies, their fate is sealed. But if a person looks at the comparative context of the entire chapter of Hebrews 9 from the viewpoint of the HEBREW audience it was addressed to, it becomes apparent that there is a much closer analogy between Jesus’ ministry and what the High Priests did on the Day of Atonement than there is with individual men when they die. The High Priests died a “symbolic” substitutionary death ONCE a year when they entered the Holy of Holies bearing the blood that atones for the sins of many (the Jewish sages discussed this symbolic death and related its necessity to the High Priest bearing the judgement mentioned in Exodus 28:30). There is a definite article in the first part of Hebrews 9:27 just in front of the word “men”. It is τοῖς , which in English would be translated as “those”. The use of definite articles in Greek is complicated and sometimes they do not need to be translated, but I read one Greek scholar who claimed that when the context makes it clear who or what the definite article is referring to, then it should be seen as a definite article. In the context of Hebrews chapter 9, the most common group used in comparisons is the High Priest. The fact that the High Priests went into, and re-appeared out of the Holy of Holies both a first and a SECOND TIME on the Day of Atonement BEARING THE SINS OF MANY tells me that verse 27 should read “And as it is appointed unto “those men” once to die (symbolically) and after this a judgement (of the High Priest’s ministry). When the High Priest re-appeared THE SECOND TIME on the Day of Atonement, it was APART FROM SIN because the sin of the entire nation had just been atoned for by the blood of the goat that had been chosen by lot as “for the Lord”. The first time that the High Priest appeared coming out of the temple on the Day of Atonement, he had just gotten done sprinkling the bull’s blood that atoned for himself and the household, but the sin of the nation still needed to be atoned for, so his first appearance was not yet “apart from sin”. Hebrews 9:27 is not saying that once a person dies their fate is sealed and judgement awaits, it is a comparison between the ministries of the inferior High Priests and that of Jesus. That is the context of chapter 9 and most of the book of Hebrews.

Besides taking away from the Word of God by leaving out the definite article in the first part of 9:27, the Vulgate and the KJV also add to the Word of God by inserting a definite article in front of the word “judgement” when there is none in the Greek text. It is obvious that they want to present this as referring to THE “final” judgement, enforcing the idea that you had better straighten up now in this life, or else. Most newer translations do not have the added definite article, but people have still been conditioned to see the word “judgement” in this verse as referring to a final judgement, even though the word “outos” which begins verse 28 puts verse 27 into a comparative context, and there are far more points of comparison between the High Priests on the Day of Atonement and Jesus than there are between Jesus and people when they die. For one thing, people are not “offered” when they die, yet that is part of the comparison made in v. 28. People also do not “bear the sins of many” as v.28 also states. Another thing that interpreting v.27 as a reference to the High Priests has going for it is that it eliminates the need to make a bunch of “exceptions” for all the people in the bible who died once and were miraculously raised back to life, only to die a second time. There is also an even larger set of exceptions to be made for those whom Paul said would not even die once, but instead would be transformed in “the twinkling of an eye”. There ARE benefits to living right in this world and the sooner one does this the better (In Exodus 8:9-10 when Moses gave Pharaoh the option to choose when the plague of frogs would be taken away, Pharaoh could have said “How about right now?”, but he didn’t so Egypt suffered for one more day). In advocating for seeing Hebrews 9:27 as referring to the High Priests of Israel I am not denying that everyone who has ever lived will be judged. All I am saying is that the judgement of individuals is not what that verse is referring to, and using it as a threat of eternal punishment to scare people straight before they die doesn’t show much faith in God’s ability to convert and save people. I believe it also mis-represents His nature and what the scriptures teach. ]