BibleForums Christian Message Board

That’s funny

The thief on the cross was immediately in the presence of Jesus in paradise

To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lors

You read a funny Bible

I’ll ask again

Are you Seventh Day Adventist?

First of all, I am not an SDA.  Not that I have any problem with them, I am just stating a fact.  Now with that stated let’s look at you statement about the thief going to Paradise at that moment. 

Luke 23:42-43 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”


First point to consider is that there is no punctuation in the Greek manuscripts.  The comma was added much later. 

Now the statement Jesus makes “Assuredly, I say to you, TODAY you will be with Me in Paradise.”

How long was Christ in the tomb?

Mat 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Not parts of a day or some such adjustment to try to make this fit a Friday Afternoon burial to a Sunday morning resurrection.  Christ was crucified on the Passover which was a Wednesday in AD31.  There is another discussion about the decree to rebuild the Temple in 457BC and 69 weeks (483) years.  Anyhoo, Jesus was in the tomb three days and three nights, a day being 12 hours.

John 11:9-10 Jesus answered, “Are there not TWELVE HOURS in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”

Now another point

John 20:1-2 Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

Still dark and He was already resurrected. Of course, three days and three nights from Wednesday afternoon is Saturday afternoon.

Now,was Jesus in Paradise yet?

John 20:17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”

Jesus was still on Earth.  He had not yet ascended to the Father to present Himself as the Wave Sheaf, the perfect offering for our sins.

So, with all that said, by your reckoning, the thief had already went to Paradise or Heaven or whatever you call it three days before Christ.  That makes Jesus the SECOND BORN AMONG MANY BRETHREN.

Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Now let’s understand what that verse really means.

If we are going to place a comma in Luke 23:43, let’s place it where it fits the rest of the Scriptures

And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise.”

I’m telling you today that in that day of the resurrection, you will be with me in Paradise. 

I Ths 4:15-17 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.

At Christ’s coming

I Cor 15:51-52 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Whew. I was worried for a minute there!

Hi Fenris.  Been a while since I have been here.  Don’t know if you remember me.