In Reply to: but it said '"t would be better" posted by lydia on July 11, 2003 at 13:50:33:
Right you are Lydia! This is not a major new doctrine with me, but as I said, "something interesting to think about."
On the other hand, it is clear from the Bible that no one, not even Berg, is in the final hell (Gehenna) yet. That will only happen at the Last Judgment. But does that mean that Berg's fate isn't sealed in the meantime? No, I think his fate is sealed, he's got the ticket and he's definitely headed there for literal "crimes against humanity."
If you read Josephus's writings, the Jews of Jesus' day believed in a place called Abraham's Bosom where the righteous dead waited. (Jesus mentions this same place in the Gospel of Luke.) The Jews of the first century also believed that the unrighteous dead lived right beside Gehenna, the Lake of Fire. Not IN it yet, but deliberately close to it so they could smell the fumes and feel the heat, in anticipation of where they were going.
And since Revelation says that the Sea does deliver up some of the dead to the White Throne Judgment, as do Death and Hades, it's pretty logical that some of the unrighteous dead are IN the sea. And since they're not likely floating near the surface like jellyfish, changes are good they're down in the bottom. Hence I drew in Jesus' quote as a possible indication.
The wicked aren't in the Lake yet, so maybe some of them ARE presently imprisoned at the bottom of the sea. That was my point. What do you think?