What were those 7 Words?

Traditionally, what I refer to as the seven words of Christ are considered the seven "last" words of Christ.  This is of course a ridiculous title since Christ said plenty of other things after this, and is still speaking today.  Do people who are alive as Jesus is not speak if they are able?

So here are the seven words of Christ spoken from the cross, as it were:

"Father, forgive them, because they don't know what they are doing." Luke 23:34
"Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise."Luke 23:43
 "Woman behold your son...behold your mother." John 19:26
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?" Mark 15:34 (Psalm 22:1)
"I am thirsty." John 19:28
"It is finished." John 19:30
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Luke 23:46

I want to emphasize these are NOT the last words of Christ.  They are the last words of Christ prior to His death on the cross.  They are a tool that helps us to appreciate the sufferings of Jesus on that day many years ago.  And we appreciate them even more when we realize that our sins were the reason for them, and not His own sins.

The last words of Jesus before His miraculous ascension are those I used in the benediction Easter Sunday, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the naitons, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Paradise and Church Beliefs

In the Revelation Bible Study on Sunday nights, we've had the subject of the afterlife come up. (Go figure.) One church member has said in effect that they believe people don't go to heaven when they die, they go to Paradise.  Paradise is a "holding place."  When the "great white throne judgment" occurs, then they can go to heaven, but only after they are judged at the end of time along with everyone else.  Proof for this is Jesus' language to the penitent thief on the cross, "today you will be with me in paradise."

I might add also 2 Corinthians 12:4, where Paul claims to "know a person" who was "caught up into paradise."

People think of paradise, then, as a place between life and death, where the souls of the saved go as they await the resurrection and final judgments- then they go into heaven.  Paradise does not equal heaven.

On Jesus' statement to the penitent thief, what if Jesus was actually saying, "Today (right now) I tell you that you will be with me in paradise (sometime in the future)."  After all, this would fit the idea expressed in the Apostle's Creed that Jesus "descended to hell."  No mention of a detour to paradise.   

The importance of this division between heaven and paradise was exaggerated by Ireneus and Origin, two dead guys from a long time ago.  Actually, they are in paradise, still arguing with someone I'm sure. 

This idea just sounds too much like limbo to me.  Let's start telling people, "when you die you go to limbo."  Then we might add, "and its a happy place, so you play bingo."  Limbo bingo.

In thinking about the afterlife, one important passage in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 5.  I like it because it is comprehensive and doesn't get lost in the speculative details we Americans  (and clergy) just love.  Paul seems like he is expressing faith in the future with God rather than giving a class on dogmatics.  To me, this passage comes close to the normal wish we hear at times of death: "She is in a better place."  This is where we get the idea, "absent from the body, present with the Lord."  Personally, I wouldn't care if Jesus were in paradise, heaven, or Mebane if I were with him.  The important thing is being in the presence of the Lord.

I tend to think that references to heaven, paradise, hell, Sheol, etc. are no real basis for constructing elaborate cosmologies of afterlife geography.  But some folks do have fun drawing maps though, like F. J. Dake.  More things to be correct about, more things for others to be wrong about.

Even the Baptist Faith and Message isn't overly specific, and doesn't lay claims to some confirmed inerrant grand scenario.  Maybe I won't either.