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Author Topic:   According to the Bible, mankind doesn't have an immortal soul.
wmscott
Member (Idle past 6248 days)
Posts: 580
From: Sussex, WI USA
Joined: 12-19-2001


Message 1 of 4 (185452)
02-15-2005 7:07 AM


To be true followers of Christ, a religion's teachings must be in harmony with the Bible. All Christian religions claim their teachings are based on the Bible, but a close look reveals blatant contradictions. The most common conflict with scripture is on the condition of the dead. The Bible states that the dead are unconscious, that death is a state of nonlife or nonexistence. "But for anyone who is counted among the living there is still hope: remember, a live dog is better than a dead lion. True the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing." Ecclesiastes 9:4-5 (REB)
Basically God's word states that when you die, you die, your one hope is a resurrection from the dead. The idea that part of us lives on after death is not taught in the Bible, but was a part of ancient pagan religions and it is from this non-Biblical source that this belief came from. The Bible clearly states that the soul or life, of a person dies at that person's death. "Human beings and beasts share one and the same fate: death comes to both alike. They all draw the same breath. Man has no advantage over beast, for everything in futility. All go to the same place: all came from the dust, and to the dust all return." Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 (REB) "The Lord God formed a human being from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living creature." Genesis 2:7 (REB) "Dust your are, to dust you will return," Genesis 3:19 (REB) That is the meaning of the expression "from to dust to dust," the first man Adam has created from the dust of the earth and when we die we go back to the dust. Adam didn't exist before God created him, so when he returned to the "dust," he returned to his earlier state, nonexistence. According to the Bible righteous people who die, enter a state of nonexistence until they are later resurrected. Since they are not aware of anything while in this state, they are sometimes referred to as being asleep.
"Everyone was weeping and lamenting for her. He said, 'stop your weeping; she is not dead: she is asleep'; and they laughed at him, well knowing that she was dead." Luke 8:52-53 (REB) The young girl was sleeping in death until Jesus resurrected her, she was not experiencing anything nor had she gone anywhere. The Bible confirms this by the fact that Christ died for our sins and he described himself as the resurrection and the life. It is only because of his sacrifice that we have the hope of a resurrection. Those who have died will rest until Christ resurrects them to life. The apostle Peter preached that, "For it was not David who went up to heaven;" Acts 2:34 (REB) and the apostle Paul preached the same. "As for David, when he died and was gathered to his fathers, and suffered corruption; but the one whom God raised up did not suffer corruption." Acts 14:36-37 (REB) King David, a righteous man, did not go to heaven when he died, but is sleeping in death awaiting a resurrection. This is why 1 Corinthians 15:20 states: "But the truth is, Christ was raised to life-the firstfruits of the harvest of the dead." (REB) The firstfruits are first, Jesus Christ was the first one resurrected to heavenly life. No one was raised to heavenly life before Christ, he was first and it was only by his sacrifice that a resurrection to heaven is possible. Hence, none of the righteous people who died before Christ opened the way, went to heaven. All of these people and many others are awaiting a future resurrection on earth when the righteous and unrighteous are to be raised. The fact that many people, including all those who died before Christ, will receive a earthly resurrection makes sense when you consider the fact baptism and being born again with holy spirit is required of all those going to heaven. "Jesus answered, 'In very truth I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he has been born again.' . . . Jesus answered, 'In very truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born from water and spirit.'" John 3:3-5 (REB) Lacking being born again, none of the pre Christian faithful servants of God are going to heaven. They looked forward to a resurrection in a paradise earth. That is why at Luke 23:43 Jesus tells the man hanging next to him, "Truly I tell you: today you will be with me in Paradise." What Jesus was telling him is that once his kingdom began to rule over the earth, Jesus would raise him to life in the restored paradise conditions his rule will bring to the earth.
The meek inherit the earth, but only those born again by water (being baptized as a follower of Christ) and by spirit (chosen by anointing with holy spirit to rule with Christ in his kingdom) will receive a heavenly resurrection. All other resurrections are earthly resurrections that will take place during Christ's thousand year rein. "Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died. Even now I know that God will grant you whatever you ask of him.' Jesus said, 'Your brother will rise again.' 'I know that he will rise again', said Martha, 'at the resurrection on the last day.' John 11:21-24 (REB) Martha was a disciple or follower of Jesus and had been taught personally by him. She knew about the resurrection and when it would take place. She also knew her brother would sleep in death until that day. Jesus then went on to resurrect her brother Lazarus demonstrating that his father had given him the authority to raise the dead. There are many interesting things recorded in the Bible that we can learn much from considering. We can also learn much from the things that are not recorded and the reasons why they do not appear in the scriptures. For example, once Lazarus was raised, we fail to find his report of what happened to him. If he had experienced anything worth reporting, it would be in the Bible for us to read about and strengthen our faith. But instead we fail to find a single word from Lazarus saying anything about the experience of death. All we have are Jesus' words that Lazarus was asleep and he was going to wake him up. From Lazarus' viewpoint, one moment he was dying and the next he woke up covered in bandages. There was nothing in between, he has asleep in death and didn't experience anything, which is why he had nothing to report.
God is just and he is fair, all men have the opportunity of gaining everlasting life, Christ died for everyone. Considering God's perfect justice and wisdom, the doctrine of immortality of the soul makes no sense. For what would be the fate of the many who lived before Christ was even born and who never had the opportunity to hear the good news? Many did not even worship the True God, they lived in ignorance so when they died, if the soul was immortal, where did they go? Under the man made doctrine of the immortality of the soul, this is a impossible question to answer and has resulted in some truly strange answers which have nothing to do with God's word. However, if we accept the Bible's teaching that the soul dies when we die, the answer is simple. Those who never had the chance to hear the good news are asleep in death and will receive a earthly resurrection at the last day. They will then be taught the good news and those who accept it will get to inherit the earth as part of the meek, those who reject it go back to the dust.
-As per administration instructions, the above material has been published in my book "Solving the Mystery of the Biblical Flood" and was part of a post in another thread. (it completely slipped my mind that I had posted this before, but maybe it will get more response in its own thread.) My reason in posting is to engage in a discussion on the topic of whether or not man has an immortal soul. My argument above is that the Bible teaches that we do not. I would like to discuss the scriptures cited and reasoning used in my post.
Sincerely Yours; Wm S. Anderson
This message has been edited by wmscott, 02-16-2005 16:57 AM

Replies to this message:
 Message 2 by AdminSylas, posted 02-15-2005 7:41 PM wmscott has not replied

AdminSylas
Inactive Member


Message 2 of 4 (185679)
02-15-2005 7:41 PM
Reply to: Message 1 by wmscott
02-15-2005 7:07 AM


This post presents an interesting problem.
The post is, I believe, your own work, extracted from your own book, Solving the Mystery of the Biblical Flood.
You have previously brought this extract to EvcForum, in Message 9. That thread, however, is now closed.
As a general rule, if you are quoting your own book, it is still good practice to identify yourself in the post. Given that you have engaged discussion in the past, I'm okay with having a thread starting out with material you have published already in another form.
Can I ask you please to edit the initial post to put an extra blank line where the obvious paragraph break is missing, and to include a short footnote or leadin that briefly indicates this material is taken from your own book, and to say (as I presume is the case!) you are posting here because you would like to engage discussion on the ideas you present in this extract. The thread topic is not the book itself, of course; but the question of whether an "immortal soul" is a biblically founded concept.
Thanks -- AdminSylas

This message is a reply to:
 Message 1 by wmscott, posted 02-15-2005 7:07 AM wmscott has not replied

AdminSylas
Inactive Member


Message 3 of 4 (185966)
02-16-2005 6:02 PM


Thread copied to the According to the Bible, mankind doesn't have an immortal soul. thread in the Faith and Belief forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.

AdminSylas
Inactive Member


Message 4 of 4 (185968)
02-16-2005 6:04 PM


Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

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