We Never Talk about Paradise
We never talk about this as Christians, but many churches hold to the Catholic confession that Jesus descended into hell before God raised Him bodily from death. There is no singular scripture that tells us so, but we know, from Jesus' grief over Lazarus' death, that experiencing death without Jesus was was difficult to bear. We also know that death before Jesus made the way to Heaven (before He ascended to Heaven), was grievous in more than one way. In some cases, the grave itself was a horror, with souls like the demon-possessed man dwelling there, among remains buried in deep caves. Having established all of the above, let's talk about something we never discuss; and that's what Jesus meant by "paradise." Although we know the spirit of a soul who is committed to Jesus today is present in Heaven as soon as the spirit leaves its bodily home, that wasn't so when Jesus himself died in body. Jesus agonized even before He was crucified, knowing not only...