2 Corinthians 5:6-8 says, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

Answer: Apostle Paul is expressing the thought that the true Christian is a pilgrim and a stranger in this world (1 Peter 2:11). They have given up their own human will and desires for God's will. They are seeking a better home, a heavenly home. Therefore, if we feel completely "at home" and content in our present earthly conditions and surroundings, we are absent from God - we are not living as near to him as we should.

In 2 Corinthians 5:8, when it says "willing rather to be absent from the body," the word "absent" in the Greek means, "to be out of one's country, that is, to feel like a stranger." And when it says "to be present with the Lord," the word "present" in the Greek means "to be at home." As a Christian, we should desire to walk by faith with God as a stranger in this world.

What is the correct response to, “Are you a born-again Christian?”

Answer: The phrase "born again" is found in John 3:7. The Christian who consecrates his life to God and is justified by Jesus Christ is begotten by the holy spirit. He becomes a new creature in Christ. He is an embryo new creature. He is not a glorious spirit being yet. 

Just like in natural childbirth, after conception there is an embryo in the mother. The baby is not "born" until the mother delivers the baby. So the Christian is an embryo new creature because he is begotten of the holy spirit. He has not yet reached birth. He is not born again until he becomes a spirit being in heaven.

Jesus explains this when he said in John 3:6-8, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”  Jesus is saying that you are born of the spirit when you are resurrected a spirit being and are like the wind and cannot be seen by human eye. You are then born again.

Answer: The Bible hell is simply the death condition, which is a condition of oblivion. This can be proven by taking a Bible concordance and looking up "hell" in the Old Testament and New Testament. Briefly, in every case in the Old Testament, the word is translated from the Hebrew word sheol, which means grave. Both the good and the bad went there, but the biased translators assigned the English word hell if it was a bad person. Job prayed to go to sheol (hell/grave) to hide from his pain (Job 14:13). Certainly, he would not pray to go there if he was to burn forever. The places that seem to teach a burning hell of torture are usually in highly symbolic contexts such as parables or the Book of Revelation.

In the New Testament, the word is translated from three different Greek words: hades, meaning grave; gehenna, meaning garbage dump; and tartaroo, meaning a cast-down condition to which the fallen angels were sent after they sinned (2 Peter 2:4). In every case where the concept of hellfire is used, the context is highly symbolic.
We suggest that fire, when used in the Bible, often symbolizes destruction and that it was Satan who came up with the false theory of a literal hellfire in order to slander God’s loving, just, wise and powerful character. When the Bible uses the symbol of everlasting fire, it means everlasting destruction.  Eternal punishment is eternal death.

Those who die are in the condition of oblivion and "know not any thing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). When God's kingdom is established on earth (Matt. 6:10- “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”), all who died will be awakened from death.  They will have opportunity for everlasting life on a perfect earth, being instructed in righteousness by Christ and his church in heaven.

When the dead are raised to life, they will be given a new body. Those who will receive a heavenly reward will be given a new spiritual body; those who will be raised to life on the earth will be given a new earthly body (1 Cor. 15:38-40).

Is there a correct and organized Christian religion on earth?

Answer: The Bible does not indicate there is one correct organization where all of God's children are.  However, God has a prospective "church" on earth, which is composed of the spirit-begotten individuals who have consecrated their lives to God and, if faithful, will be rewarded with a place as Christ's heavenly bridegroom, the completed church.

Throughout the Gospel age, God's true people have been found within various church systems and denominations. And because His children have been in these systems, God's favor was given to Christendom, or what the Scriptures call "Babylon."  Jer. 51:7, "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad."

But since the harvest of the Gospel age, God has cast off the nominal church system from his favor. Rev. 18:2 states, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” This indicates Babylon has become full of doctrinal error and worldliness.

Since Babylon's fall from favor, God has sent a message to his people in Rev. 18:4, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Babylon, the false church systems (not the individuals), is going to be destroyed in the great time of trouble, and Christ's kingdom will take its place.

There are still God's people within these various

denominations. When God’s people come to see the errors of doctrine or hypocrisy taught, they are called to leave the systems of error and meet with those whom they can freely study the Bible without sectarian bondage and creeds.  Matthew 24:28, "For wheresoever the carcase [God's truth] is, there will the eagles be gathered together." 

Send for your free copy of the booklet “How to Study the Bible and Have it Make Sense,” which gives principles helpful to Bible study, including an explanation of how to use a Strong's Concordance. 

We love to get your Bible questions! Send them to:

Hartford Bible Students
P.O. Box 493 * Manchester, CT 06045 Phone: (860) 610-0048
E-Mail: bibletruthkeys@cs.com

Hartford Bible Students * P.O. Box 493 * Manchester, CT 06045

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Last modified: 04/04/07