SAB #10
The question here can be put very straightfowardly: According to the Bible who was the first person to ascend directly to heaven? There are three possible answers to be found in the Bible itself: Enoch, Elijah, and Jesus. The Johannine gospel seems to be distinctly at odds with the Hebrew scriptures on this question.
Here is one apologist's reply which I found immensely entertaining, since it relies on the idea that Enoch and Elijah were translated into an indescribable limbo (which doesn't lead to paradise) rather than to the bosom of Abraham wherein righteous Jews are said to abide. J.P.H. is ignoring various Hebrew sources and traditions in a valiant attempt to remain ignorant of the fate of Enoch and Elijah according to the Hebrew Scriptures, which he claims are the revealed and perfect word of God. Seems like he should be trying a bit harder than that.
1 comment:
Jesus is referring to the "section" of Heaven, what we might call "Heaven proper" where He "was beside" the Father, and whence He came to become incarnate.
The others were taken up and ended up probably in Abraham's bosom or some other not-well-described Paradisical location, a special place for those who were assumed physically and didn't die.
It's not that hard, really.
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