Perdition's Population Clock

[Beetow]

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● Gen 3:19 . . For dust you are, and to dust you will return.

It's boggling to contemplate the number of people who came and went before we
all came along.

Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you
love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who
ever was, lived out their lives on that mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam-- every
hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of
civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and
father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt
politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the
history of our species lived here. (Adapted From Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot)

The Earth is a literal death star, flying thru space, looping around and around the
Sun many times over and again: a floating cemetery whose soils and seas are filled
with the dead from many centuries stretching back to Abel: the first of its
passengers to return to the dust from whence they came.

● Eccl 7:2 . . It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you
are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time.

Ergo: The time for people to be thinking about the afterlife is not when they get
there, but before they get there.
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[Beetow]

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● John 5:22 . .The Father has entrusted all judgment to His son

For that reason, people really ought to be scared of Christ because he intends to go
about the business of law enforcement no differently than the fire and brimstone
practices of the God of the old testament, by whom Jesus has been trained to take
the reins.

● John 5:19 . . I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do
only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also
does.

The very first time I was informed of Jesus' return to take over the world, I became
nervous because at the time I had a lot to answer for. Well; I didn't know it at then
but my anxiety was spot-on.

● Ps 2:7-12 . . I will proclaim The Lord's decree. He said to me: You are my Son;
today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your
inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron
scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.

. .Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve The Lord
with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be
destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who
take refuge in him.

POP CLOCK UPDATE: 195 days have transpired since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are within reason, then something like 14,966,640 new arrivals
have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since Dec 15, 2024.
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[Beetow]

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● Heb 12:29 . . For our God is a consuming fire.

That's a quote from Deut 4:24 which, in context, doesn't describe God's physical
characteristics, rather, it's a figure of speech illustrating rage: defined by Webster's
as violent and uncontrolled anger. It's hard to imagine Christianity's divine patron
ticked off to that extent, but there it is.

* A consuming fire is one that cannot be extinguished, i.e. once it gets going,
there's no stopping till all that's aflame is utterly destroyed beyond recognition, viz:
a conflagration.
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[Beetow]

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According to Matt 10:28, the body and the soul are perishable. However; though
the body is perishable by any means, the soul is perishable only by divine means;
i.e. the deaths of body and soul aren't necessarily simultaneous, viz: the soul lives
on until such a time as God decides to give it either a thumb up or a thumb down.

This is interesting because if we can take Luke 16:19-31 to mean something real;
then we may safely assume souls are transferrable to a temporary afterlife situation
wherein people retain some of their human characteristics. For example: Lazarus
has a finger, Abraham has a bosom, the rich man has eyes and a tongue; and all
are lucid & conscious.

NOTE: If there is such a thing as soul sleep I won't know it, here's why:

I've been under anesthesia once for appendicitis, twice for hernias, once for a scalp
lump, once for a kidney stone, twice for total knee replacements, once for a
colonoscopy, once for lung cancer, once for wisdom teeth, twice for an endoscopy,
and once to install a stent in my esophagus.

In none of those procedures was I aware of the passage of time. The very moment
I went under was simultaneous with awakening. So if soul sleep is like that, I'll be
in paradise as if I went from here to there in less than a second of time on the
clock, i.e. instantaneously. The same can be said for folks on track for the wrong
side of the chasm separating Abraham from the rich man. (Luke 16:26)
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[Beetow]

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God has a passion for generosity; but it's not His only passion.

● Rom 11:22 . . Behold then the kindness and severity of God

The human condition is so bad, so corrupt, and so hopeless that only the death of
God's sole direct descendant is adequate to rescue everybody from the lake of fire
depicted at Rev 20:10-15 where numbers of folks will be terminated with extreme
prejudice by a mode of death akin to a foundry worker falling into a kettle of molten
iron.

Now, who in their right might mind can look at that scene and not come away with
the opinion that it depicts a very cruel and unusual punishment? Why not just put
folks down with an injection so that they softly and gently fall asleep never to wake
up? Wouldn't that be nicer, more humane? Yes that would be nicer and more
humane; but would it satisfy God?

Adam started out in the image of God. So at first, his sense of right and wrong was
in agreement with his creator's sense of right and wrong. Then came the forbidden
fruit incident when Adam's original sense of right was lost and his intuition became
that of a tin God.

Well; that's why many of us cannot appreciate our maker's justice. If we did, we
wouldn't be criticizing Him for the way He intends to punish folks. Instead, we'd be
cheering Him on; like this:

● Rev 16:5-7 . .Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: You are just in
these judgments: You who are, and who were; the Holy One, because you have so
judged . . .Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.

* The "Holy one" is none other than the man who came into the world as a sweet
little babe in swaddling clothes.

● John 5:22-23 . . Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all
judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

● Acts 17:31 . . He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the
man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.
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[Beetow]

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● Luke 16:27-29 . . I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have
five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of
torment. Abraham replied: They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to
them.

Although many details pertaining to the afterlife are absent in the Old Testament,
Moses and the prophets wrote quite a bit about retribution. Torah-trained Jews
have always known something frightening is in the works. For example:

● Isa 66:23-24 . . And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another,
and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith
The Lord; and they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that
have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire
be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

NOTE: That passage is often quoted as a proof text that folks destined for the
ultimate retribution in the lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15) will exist there in conscious
suffering. However, no suffering of any kind is mentioned in Isa 66:23-24 nor is
there any mentioned with it in Mark 9:43-48.
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[Beetow]

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● Ps 115:17 . .The dead do not praise The Lord, nor do any who go down into
silence.

"any who go down into silence" tells us that certain folks might just as well be mute
in the afterlife because The Lord no longer lends them His ear; they're permanently
cut off from His benevolence, viz: God has no interest whatsoever in either their
worship or their prayers, i.e. they are dead to Him; and as far as He's concerned
they're like old documents disposed in the shredder because they no longer matter.

It's possible that the outer darkness spoken of in the 8th and 22nd chapters of
Matthew is a sort of reiteration of Ps 115:17.

* Illustrations for Dante's Inferno by the artist Gustave Doré may not be entirely
true, but some of them sure do a good job of impressing the total and complete
absence of God's benevolence in the netherworld.

POP CLOCK UPDATE: 200 days have transpired since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are within reason, then something like 15,350,400 new arrivals
have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since Dec 15, 2024.
_

 

[Beetow]

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● Ex 10:21 . .The Lord said to Moses: Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that
there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness which may be felt.

The Hebrew word translated "felt" basically refers to groping, e.g. caressing,
petting, and touching.

Now, I have no clue how it's possible to lay one's hands on darkness of any kind,
but then that particular darkness in Egypt wasn't normal; it was miraculous and
just too weird to comprehend because that darkness enveloped people like a liquid.

The thing is: according to Luke 16:19-31 folks in today's Hell are able to see okay;
but I have to wonder about the final Hell's conditions. Will folks be subjected to the
kind of darkness spoken of in Exodus?

A Christian co-worker made a comment about Hell once that really got to me. He
suggested the final Hell is very dark, and although nobody can see anything, they
can still hear; but all they hear in the dark is folks weeping and gnashing their
teeth. Man; that would be awful.
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[Beetow]

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● Luke 16:22-23 . .The rich man also died, and was buried. And in Hades he lifted
up his eyes

Well; if perchance that story depicts reality, then that guy's troubles aren't over yet
because Hades isn't the end-all.

● Rev 20:12-13 . . And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the
throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of
life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the
books. Hades gave up the dead that were in it, and each person was judged
according to what he had done.

The rich man had to face Abraham in Hades; whereas down the road he has to face
someone far more strict.

● John 5:22 . .The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son

● Acts 17:31 . .For God has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man
He has appointed, and He proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the
dead.

* You know who I'd really hate to be facing justice? A woman with misandry.
Because in the end, it will be the man who came into the world as a sweet little
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes who casts malicious women into the lake of fire
and permanently ruins any chances they might have had for happiness in the
future. Condemned man-haters will grind their teeth with hot tears and white
knuckled fury when they ultimately lose out on everything because of one lone
male's obsessive control over their lives.
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[Beetow]

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● Phil 3:2a . . Beware of dogs,

Dogs in ancient Israel were regarded with the same degree of abhorrence that we
in the USA regard rodents. They weren't your average domesticated pets, but
rather roving packs of feral, unsanitary curs prowling city streets and landfills,
feeding on garbage, road kill, and the remains of low income folk who died without
proper burial. (cf. Luke 16:20-21)

Feral dogs are not only unsanitary, but treacherous too. (Matt 7:6)

A study of the dogs of the Old Testament reveals just how low in one's estimation is
the person regarded as one. (e.g. 1Kgs 14:11, 1Kgs 21:19, 1Kgs 21:24, 2Kgs 9:29-37)

Jesus was put to death by a crowd of people behaving like animals.

● Ps 22:16 . . Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they
have pierced my hands and my feet.

It's difficult to be certain as to exactly the sort of folks that Phil 3:2a refers to, and
just as difficult to know exactly how they are a threat to Christians; but they turn
up again at Rev 22:15 as unfit to enter the holy city; possibly because their unholy
habits are contagious. (cf. 1Cor 15:33)
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[Beetow]

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The rich man of Luke 16:19-31 was able to recognize the beggar who was at one
time lain at his gate, which suggests that folks retain a measure of their
appearance in the afterlife.

I don't know how the man recognized Abraham because the old gentleman lived
many years prior to Moses and the Prophets: maybe the man just simply asked
Abraham his name. But then too the man was able to hear Abraham speaking over
on the other side of the barrier so he likely heard Lazarus use Abraham's name a
time or two.

I think quite a bit of dialogue went back and forth but Jesus gave us only a
smattering of it. In point of fact, he gave us the precise amount that God had in
mind for everyone to know.

● John 8:26 . .He that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which
I have heard of Him.

● John 8:28 . . I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the
Father taught me.

● John 14:24 . .The word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent
me.
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[Beetow]

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People's afterlife circumstances are a bit of a mystery. They leave their bodies
behind when they die and no one's body is restored to life till one of the
resurrections spoken of by Dan 12:2 and John 5:28-29, yet Luke 16:19-31 depicts
Abraham with a bosom, Lazarus with a finger, and the rich man with eyes and a
tongue; so it appears that folks in the afterlife do retain some measure of human
existence.

POP CLOCK UPDATE: 205 days have transpired since beginning the thread. If the
figures in post No.1 are within reason, then something like 15,734,160 new arrivals
have checked into the fiery sector of Hades since Dec 15, 2024.
_