Episode 276

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Published on:

6th Sep 2025

Great Question! 2025 - Are Heaven and Hell Real?

Great Question! 2025 - Are Heaven and Hell Real?

During WholeLife Church’s annual ‘Great Question!’ Series, Lead Pastor Ken Wetmore is given a question submitted by one of our members with only a week to prepare his answer. This week’s question launches the 2025 Great Question! series and does not disappoint:


Great Question 1: The Old Testament doesn't say much about an afterlife beyond the grave. A vague mention of the dead coming back to life appears in Isaiah 26:19, and Daniel 12:2 speaks of resurrection and judgment. In contrast, the New Testament describes heaven and hell as real, specific places. Since most of the Old Testament lacks clear ideas of life after death—and since by the time the New Testament was written, Jewish thought had been influenced by other religions like Zoroastrianism and by Greek philosophy—should we understand heaven and hell as actual places, or as theological concepts shaped by these influences?


Reach out to us with your questions and comments:



Get Connected with WholeLife! Reach out and let us know how we can serve you: http://wholelife.church/connect


SUBSCRIBE NOW to our companion podcast, This Is WholeLife, which dives deeper into the message and topic with Pastors Ken Wetmore, Melanie Bockmann, Assistant Communication Director Lucas Moraes, and Communication Director Randy Magray as the host. It’s the perfect midweek commute podcast to stay connected with your family at WholeLife Church. We encourage your questions, comments, and feedback, which we are ready to discuss and share in the next episode!  


Speaking of Grace is available everywhere you listen to podcasts!  If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts or your favorite platform and share it with your family, friends, and social media, where you will find us at the following links! X, Facebook, and Instagram. Thank you for listening! 


To learn more about our podcasts at WholeLife Church, visit the Podcasts page on our website.


NEXT WEEK: Great Question! 2025 Series continues with Question #2 - Stay Tuned


Find out what’s happening at WholeLife Church by visiting our Events Calendar: https://wholelife.church/events!


To learn more about WholeLife Church, visit our website: www.WholeLife.Church

The theme music for Speaking of Grace was written, produced, and performed by WholeLife Church’s own Phillip Burks - https://www.phillipburks.com/.


#WholeLifePodcast #ThisIsWholeLife #Overflow

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About the Podcast

Speaking of Grace
Messages of God's love and grace. Leading people into lifelong friendships with God.
The weekly message from the WholeLife Church in Orlando Florida. We are a multicultural and multigenerational faith community dedicated to being a church without walls, fully engaged in serving the people of our community. Thank you for joining us as we continue speaking of grace.

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WholeLife Church

WholeLife Church is a diverse congregation in Orlando, Florida. Our mission is loving people into a lifelong friendship with God.

We are . . . single, married, divorced, female, male, straight, LGBTQ, poor, rich, old, young. At WholeLife Church, we welcome any member of the community to join us in worship. We don’t care if you’re a practicing Christian or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We want to offer you grace and peace as you begin or continue your faith journey.

We are WholeLife Church, and we’re all welcome here.