Old Testament Eschatology

Basic question: How many people in the Old Testament died and went to heaven? What were their names?

This is a basic question for both atheists and Bible believers.

Discussion, please.

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Permalink Reply by SteveInCO on September 6, 2015 at 3:36pm

Given that you asked for names, I'd say the number is low.  Maybe even zero.

I'm going to go with one, name Enoch.

Permalink Reply by Ralph Nielsen on September 6, 2015 at 4:03pm

Good guess. "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him (Genesis 5:24).

The Jewish Study Bible, p.20, has this note, "It is possible that Enoch's earthly life, like Elijah's (2 Kings 2:11-12), ended without death."

Permalink Reply by Ralph Nielsen on September 6, 2015 at 4:49pm

This question is based on the basic fact that in the Old Testament religion there is no life after death. When we die we return to the dust from which we were made (Genesis 2:7; 3:19). This Old Testament belief also agrees pretty well with modern day science. 

So we cannot say that violation of Old Testament laws, like the so-called Ten Commandments, etc., leads to condemnation to hell. There is no hell in the OT.

Permalink Reply by Strega on September 7, 2015 at 10:48am
That's quite interesting. No Hell in the OT. However, isn't there a bit in the NT that says all the rules in the OT still apply?
Permalink Reply by Dr. Bob on September 7, 2015 at 11:34am
Permalink Reply by Unseen on September 7, 2015 at 12:27pm

I even had a Jewish person tell me that there is no Heaven in Jewish theology. Of course, she was just an ordinary person, not a Rabbi or Jewish theologian.

It's a lot more complicated than you depict it. Read this article to see what I mean.

Permalink Reply by Belle Rose on September 6, 2015 at 5:26pm

Um...Heaven doesn't exist last I checked, at least we don't have a reason to believe it does.

Permalink Reply by Ralph Nielsen on September 6, 2015 at 8:10pm

I agree with you, Belle, but we dealing here with what the Bible says. Most "Bible Believers," in fact most Xians, don't know the Bible very well. That's why atheists are often the best Bible scholars. We have no axes to grind. We can read the Bible objectively because we don't have to believe it.

Permalink Reply by Dr. Bob on September 7, 2015 at 11:27am

Can humans ever read anything "objectively"?

Is it even rational to attempt to read anything, especially stories, objectively?

Do atheists really have "no axe to grind" when it comes to the Bible? 

Permalink Reply by Strega on September 7, 2015 at 6:51pm
Do theists really have "no axe to grind" when it comes to Lord Of The Rings?

If you only knew how absurd that third question sounds...
Permalink Reply by Dr. Bob on September 8, 2015 at 7:06am

Theists very much have a non-objective connection to LotR.  It was written, after all, by a Catholic who intended it to be "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work."

I agree that the third question sounds absurd, given how much axe-grinding over the Bible seems to occur at times on atheist forums, but that was of course the point.

Permalink Reply by Strega on September 8, 2015 at 7:11am
The point was to mock atheists for their intensity over the bible? That would be a bit like me sitting in a church pew and calling out atheistic opinions. You were better than that.

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