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Where Did the Idea Originate that Believers Would Live Forever in Heaven? (Endnotes)

1. It should go without saying that an exhaustive treatment of the origin of heaven as the final resting place of the souls of the righteous would fill volumes. This short chapter will only touch on some highlights of the origin of the orthodox belief. Close

2. This very important point is given much more attention in Graeser, Lynn, and Schoenheit, op. cit., Is There Death After Life?, pp. 3–15. Other works that discuss the subject include: Anthony Buzzard, What Happens When We Die? (Atlanta Bible College, Morrow, GA, 1986); Oscar Cullmann, Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? (The Epworth Press, London, 1958); LeRoy E. Froom, The Conditionalist Faith of Our Fathers (Review and Herald Publishing Assn., Washington DC, 1966); Sidney Hatch, Daring to Differ: Adventures in Conditional Immortality (Brief Bible Studies, Sherwood, OR, 1991); Percy E. White, The Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul (Christadelphian Scripture Study Service, Torrens Park, South Africa); Victor Paul Wierwille, Are the Dead Alive Now? (American Christian Press, New Knoxville, OH, 1973). Close

3. It is interesting to note that while the Old Testament has the concept of a kind of human soul, the soul is never pre-existent or immortal but, instead, the result of the creative activity of God (Gen. 2:7). Only under Persian and Greek influence was the Platonic notion of the divine pre-existence of the soul, its imprisonment in the human body, and its immortality taken up in Judaism. This occurred at a late stage and on the periphery of Judaism. Karl-Josef Kuschel, Born Before All Time? The Dispute over Christ’s Origin (Crossroads, New York, 1992), p. 184. Close

4. J. Edward Wright, The Early History of Heaven (Oxford University Press, New York, 2000), p. 85. “Tradent” is a very rare word, not found in most dictionaries. A tradent is a person who delivers property of any kind, physical or intellectual, from one person to another. Close

5. Ibid., pp. 117–18. “BCE” means “Before the Common Era” and is a secularized way of expressing “BC,” which means “Before Christ.” Close

6. William Whiston, The Works of Josephus (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1974), Vol. 1, p. 149. Close

7. Bullinger, op. cit. Lexicon, p. 369. Close

8. Alice K. Turner, The History of Hell (Harcourt and Brace, New York, 1993), p. 40. Close

9. Ibid., pp. 20–29. Close

10. The confusion about the proper translation and understanding of Hades is still ongoing.  For example, in Acts 2:31 quoted above, the KJV uses “hell,” while the NIV uses “grave.” Close

11. Cross and Livingstone, op. cit., Dictionary of the Christian Church, p. 95. Close