An Examination of the Doctrine of Death and the Afterlife from A
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Liberty University Digital Commons LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AN EXAMINATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE FROM A BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL THEOLOGY PERSPECTIVE COMPARED TO THE LEVEL OF SOPHISTICATION AMONG THE LAITY. A Thesis Project Submitted to Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF MINISTRY By Wayne Allen Patton Lynchburg, Virginia April 2015 Copyright © 2015 by Wayne A. Patton All Rights Reserved LIBERTY THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY THESIS PROJECT APPROVAL SHEET ______________________________ GRADE ______________________________ Dr. Rick Rasberry, Mentor ______________________________ Dr. Leo Percer, Reader ABSTRACT AN EXAMINATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE FROM A BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL THEOLOGY PERSPECTIVE COMPARED TO THE LEVEL OF SOPHISTICATION AMONG THE LAITY. Wayne A. Patton Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, 2013 Mentor: Dr. Rick Rasberry Several key aspects of eschatology and their treatment appear to be under-explored in contemporary preaching. Within the context of individual eschatology, notions of death, the intermediate state, and the eternal state vary widely. A clearer understanding of these facets of the faith are necessary to fully understand the full measure of the work of Christ, the hope Christians have in Him, and the ability to convey these essentials to the lost. In this project, the writer will seek to discover and examine the key aspects of this doctrine and measure the level of sophistication among a sample of the laity. The measurement will be conducted via a confidential online survey of professing believers. At a practical level the goal of the project is that both pastors and laity would be edified on the central issues of the doctrine and that per its content pastors could utilize the data to craft sermons and lessons that take into consideration the identified weaknesses in knowledge as expressed by the participants. Abstract Length: 167 Words TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem ..............................................................................................3 Statement of Importance of the Problem (Theoretical Basis for the Project) ...............6 Statement Limitations ...................................................................................................9 Statement of Methodology ............................................................................................11 Literature Review..........................................................................................................16 CHAPTER II—THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE AFTERLIFE ...................................22 Death and the Afterlife in the Ancient Near East .........................................................24 The Greeks ....................................................................................................................25 Ancient Egypt ..............................................................................................................27 Mesopotamians .............................................................................................................31 Ancient Israel ................................................................................................................36 Sheol .............................................................................................................................38 Is Sheol a Place Only for the Wicked? .........................................................................42 Are Sheol and Hell the Same Place?.............................................................................45 Resurrection is Ancient Israel .......................................................................................48 Conclusion of Chapter Two ..........................................................................................52 CHAPTER III — THE INTERTESTEMENTAL PERIOD AND NEW TESTAMENT .....54 Intertestamental Period .................................................................................................54 The New Testament ......................................................................................................60 Bodily Resurrection in the Gospels and Teachings of Jesus ........................................62 Bodily Resurrection in the Pauline Epistles..................................................................66 vi The Righteous and the Wicked Resurrected .................................................................70 The Intermediate State ..................................................................................................72 Conclusion of Chapter Three ........................................................................................82 CHAPTER IV —THE DOCTRINE OF THE AFTERLIFE IN THE CHURCH ERA ........85 The Intermediate State: Purgatory and Paradise ...........................................................86 The Final State of the Wicked ......................................................................................97 Orthodox Position of the Fate of the Unsaved ..............................................................98 Hell, Hades, Gehenna, Lake of Fire .............................................................................101 Annihilationism ............................................................................................................107 Universalism .................................................................................................................110 Conclusion of Chapter Four ..........................................................................................112 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................114 The Final State of the Righteous in Christ.......................................................................114 Various Demographics .................................................................................................117 The Role of the Church .................................................................................................121 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................126 APPENDIX A DEATH AND THE AFTERLIFE SURVEY ................................................131 APPENDIX B SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS..........................................................................138 IRB APPROVAL ...................................................................................................................139 vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Death is a profound and complex subject. It is the one universal and undeniable fact of life irrespective of age, culture, ideology, or belief. And yet it evokes a wide variety of human responses, whether emotional, physical or material. Variety can be seen not just across different cultures, but also within any one particular culture. Death is universal, but reactions to it are distinctive. 1 To the question, “What happens to you when you die?” one will likely get a fairly small range of answers. There are quite simply not that many options that would come to mind. If that question is asked in the United States, depending on the person’s faith, or lack thereof, one could expect hear a variety of responses. Perhaps some people would say that the departed go to heaven, or that they go to a place of punishment, either temporarily or permanently, i.e. purgatory or hell. Some may hold a more atheistic perspective and believe that the dead simply cease to exist, that death is the end of the line, as it were. Given the increasing influence of Eastern religions, some may hold that the dead will be reincarnated or will become a part of the universe. There is a good chance that the person will say he simply does not know what lies in store beyond this present life. Still, data indicates that they do believe in some sort of continuation of existence after death, and the research also shows that this general belief has held steady over time, at least in the United States.2 In some instances this trend is actually on the rise in recent years: A significantly greater fraction of American adults believe in life after death in the 1990s than in the 1970s. According to data from the general social survey (hereafter GSS) there 1 Philip Johnston, Shades of Sheol: Death and the Afterlife in the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 23. 2 Glenn Firebaugh and Brian Harley, “Americans’ Belief in an Afterlife: Trends Over the Past Two Decades,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 32, no. 3 (1993): 269-78. 1 has been a marked change in some groups beliefs in the life after death all the Protestants who say they believe in life after death have remained stable at about 85% (very high to begin with, anyway), Catholics, Jews, and people of no religious affiliation at become more likely to report beliefs in the afterlife. For instance, the percentage of Catholics believing in an afterlife rose from 67% to 85% for those born between 1900 and 1970.3 But, as noted, responses would also reflect a variety of beliefs, some of which do not line up with what the Bible actually teaches on the matter, even among professing Christians. For most people these attitudes are affected