Derf
Well-known member
I'm missing your point here, Derf. Those verses don't seem to contradict at all.
I think they are both indicating we are NOT in His presence BEFORE His coming, but only AT His coming.
I'm missing your point here, Derf. Those verses don't seem to contradict at all.
2 Corinthians 5:8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
Yes, indeed. But we also have to account for
For what [is] our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? [Are] not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? [1Th 2:19 KJV]
And
Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. [1Th 4:17 KJV]
I'm not trying to dismiss your verse, but just to say that a single verse that appears to say one thing does not immediately counter one that says the opposite. Rather they all need to be counted as true.
I think they are both indicating we are NOT in His presence BEFORE His coming, but only AT His coming.
what level of proof are you looking for ?
if someone is searching for truth we have verses that do not contradict one another
here are 2
Luk 23:43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Mat 22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
but for those that are not of faith
for example you do not have Jesus saying "I am God"
so you can't prove to someone with that criteria that Jesus is God