dear Cold Steel...
you said: " Not all were equally as wicked in Noah's day, but my point is the God "wipes out" no one. He just...ummm...changes their scenery. Even those destroyed at Jesus' coming will be very much alive in spirit. And though they may be punished, it will not be forever. Some believe that Hell is both temporary and remedial. And ultimately men will be their own tormentors. "
the flood in noah's day was to destroy wickedness. God said that those with purely human DNA were wicked too(genesis 6:6). God also said that there would be a resurrection of the just and the unjust (acts 24:15)
"And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
Some to everlasting life,
Some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament,
And those who turn many to righteousness
Like the stars forever and ever. daniel 12:2-3 (at the time of the end, daniel 12:4)
In this resurrection it is seen that there are those who turn many to righteousness.
THEN Jesus, the living Word, came speaking the law and the prophets and turned many to righteousness (jeremiah 23:5-6).
Jesus raised lazarus (a jewish son) from the grave. The account of the rich man and lazarus from the mouth of the living Word, Jesus Christ:
“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
“Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
“Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” (luke 16:19-31)
please note that both of these men had the law and the prophets. One son believed (had faith, like abraham) and one son did not. It can be said that because lazarus had been resurrected...so had the rich man been. The place that this rich man had gone was not temporary or remedial in the sense that it was a cleansing place, it was a perminent place where God sends people who aren't turned to righteousness. Jesus illustrated that there is a great "FIXED" golf between the two and there is no going back and forth. The people who are not turned to righteousness are not undergoing a cleansing period. they stay there being tormented in a flame (not tormenting themselves)...so, who will you believe, Jesus or "some" (acts 24:14)
the flood wasn't enough because the resurrection and final seperation was still in the future.
love michelle
