One Minute After You Die with Erwin Lutzer Heaven & Hell Part 2 One Minute After You Die with Erwin Lutzer

Dr Erwin Lutzer

Q & A with Dr lutzer Q: Do you think our souls go to God when we die, or do they sleep with our body until the Day of Judgment? A: Answer to your question is no, I don’t believe in soul sleep. I believe to be absent from the body is to be present, instantly, with the Lord.

Q & A Q: Are Sheol and Hades two separate compartments? Do we stay in Sheol until after the saints reign with Christ 1000 years until the great white throne judgment? Is the compartment that holds the believers a temporary heaven, but not the real heaven? A: I believe that in the Old Testament, Sheol or Hades was the place where both the wicked and the righteous went. Since the resurrection of Jesus I don’t believe that’s the way in which the afterlife functions anymore. The entire emphasis in the New Testament is now in paradise, the presence of Jesus—heaven—and there’s really no evidence that it’s close to the place in the Old Testament that was called Sheol, and in New Testament was called Hades. So I believe that believers today go directly to heaven.

Q & A Q: I can accept most of the doctrines taught by Christians, but I can’t accept the doctrine of an eternal hell which says that God brutally tortures non-believers forever in the flames of hell. A: It seems to me that hell is where people bear the weight of their own guilt forever. And one of the things that distinguishes it from the situations that you described is that while those others (Hitler, Stalin, Hussein) were unjust, hell will be just. As a matter of fact, because responsibility is based on knowledge, not everyone in hell is going to suffer the same way or for the same reasons. It is going to be finely tuned justice.

Q & A Q: When a loved one dies (especially an infant) and goes to heaven, will they remain that age when we meet them again in heaven?  A: I want you to know that the Bible nowhere specifically says this, but I have a very deep conviction that, indeed, babies who die and go to heaven will not be babies throughout all of eternity. They may indeed grow up in heaven, maybe they will even grow up in their mother’s arms, but eventually they will be adults. Because, when you look at the Bible, you see all of the singing that goes on in heaven, you see people serving the Lord and these are the kinds of things that infants can’t do. So I think they will be the same people that they were here on Earth, but they will have grown up. In heaven there won’t be any kinds of limitations put on anyone, and we’ll be able to worship with freedom and joy. Everyone will be a part of the celebrations.

Q & A Q: It sounds like the judgement will be pretty awful for those who’ve failed to live right after being saved. This is me! What can I do? A: First of all, you say that you have repented. When we repent, the past is wiped out. Now it’s true that at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ our lives are going to be evaluated and our works are also going to be exposed and evaluated. But, at the end of the day, the more we have put the past behind us in the power of God, the less we need to be concerned about at the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. Because you asked me this question I took the time to look up 1 Corinthians 4:5. This is what it says, “God is going to come and will bring to light the motives of men’s hearts.” Now that’s pretty scary isn’t it? But the rest of the verse says, “then each man,” and we could say “each woman,” “will receive praise from God.”