“There are however, Christians who believe that upon dying, one remains in the same spiritual state that one was in at the last moment of death. Thus there will be some more spiritually mature people in Heaven than others.” —Zach from his post about Purgatory
In my reading of Scripture I’ve found that there are possibly 2 final judgments. The first judgment would be as to whether or not you had faith in Jesus Christ. But there is also a judgment about your works here on earth. These works store up a treasure for you in heaven. Now heaven is occasionally described as a big wedding feast, but Christ tells a parable about a man who went to such a banquet and sat near the head of the table to be close to host, appearing to be more prominent. The host, seeing someone whom should be recognized more, forced the man to move away from the head of the table for this person the host was closer to. Might heaven actually be like this? Two people will actually get to sit at the right and left sides of Christ having a higher authority or dignity than the rest? Maybe the way Zach puts it could be true to a sense (though I’m modifying the idea slightly), that in heaven, though all equally sanctified, some are more mature and therefore in higher positions in heaven.
Of course this could force one to question whether there are levels of hell too for those who may not have had faith but performed good deeds here. But that’s a sticky subject for another time.
So in Romans 14, Paul states that everything not done in faith is sin. So perhaps there is only one judgment. We will be judged for the things we do and if the things done are not done in faith, they will have been done in sin. Paul claims, in that same passage, that people condemn themselves because they don’t act out of faith. This would handle the question why “good” people are cast into hell (and the levels of hell). As Jesus said “Why do you call me good?…No one is good— except God alone.” (Luke 18:19) There are no good people in hell. There are people devoid of faith who then stand condemned before the throne of God because they lack faith. But, there can exist levels in heaven by this understanding. Paul distinguishes between those who are weak in the faith and those who are strong in the faith. Though all are unified in the faith, there is diversity in its levels.
Comment by Miah — May 20, 2008 @ 10:31 am