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The Bible Teaching
"But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man
giveth up the ghost, and where is he? 11 As the waters fail from the sea,
and the flood decayeth and drieth up: 12 So man lieth down, and riseth
not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised
out of their sleep. 13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that
thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest
appoint me a set time, and remember me!" (Job 14:10-13, KJV).
"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun. 7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. 8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment. 9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. 10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest" (Eccl. 9:5-10, KJV)
The dead know not anything. That is what the bible teaches. Why then do most Christians believe that death entails some sort of conscious, thinking, fellowship or existence with God? Because, they, like the world, wish to deny the reality of death. They prefer to believe their tradition. And they have been led astray by the Adversary who has more than sentimental reasons for assaulting the truth. The texts above are plain enough. All that remains is to examine some of the rationalizations. Outline
The Body Only Sleeps
Some say that sleep only
refers to the body. They say that only the body sleeps, because it
appears to sleep, but that the soul is conscious. But a conscious
soul is a knowing soul. Would it make sense to say that the body
knows nothing while the person is knowing? What would the point be?
Would not the fact that the soul is knowing make the body's ignorance of
no importance? And in fact, to say that the body sleeps is not a
literal interpretation of the passage. For the body does not "sleep."
It only appears to sleep. It is, in fact, dead. On the other
hand, if we are talking about the spirit or immaterial part of the person,
we can literally say that this part of the person has the same experience
in death as in deep sleep. Outline
Scientific Considerations
How does a person know? Doesn't
knowledge and consciousness require the use of a brain? The use of
eyes, ears, and touch. Is not smell and taste also required for certain
forms of knowledge? What is the normal experience of a person when
the senses are turned off for the night? What would the normal experience
of a person be when the senses had a breakdown as in deafness, or blindness?
Is not such deprivation equivalent to a reduction in conscious awareness
of the outside world? Is not death a total breakdown of all five
senses? So, you see, conscious awareness after death is not only
unbiblical; it is unscientific. Outline
Elazer And The Rich Man
We are often pointed to Luke 16 for a teaching of disembodied
soul consciousness, even though those pointing us in that direction utterly
fail to explain the foundational texts of Eccl. 9:5-10. The disembodied
part of the question is easily refuted: the rich man has a tongue with
which to feel the burning flame. Presumably, that wasn't all there
was to his body. Some will rationalize that this was a "soul body,"
and they even draw shadow outlines of dead people leaving their body behind.
If this shadow body could feel pain, then I would ask what the difference
between this and a real body was, and what need there was for a resurrection.
It appears that the shadow body doctrine was concocted to explain why the
rich man's body was not the real resurrection body. Outline
Early Resurrections
At any rate, we harmonize
this text with the foundational texts by simply saying that all the persons
depicted after death in the parable of Luke 16 had a resurrection body.
We do not introduce the complication of a "shadow body," which appears
to be special pleading to shore up a failing theory. Now, it is true
that the general resurrection of the righteous dead is at the end of the
age, but there is much evidence in the scriptures for early resurrection
of some exceptionally righteous into the presence of God, and some of the
exceptionally wicked into the lake of fire. Of the rightreous, we
have Moshe and Eliyahu, and the holy ones in Mt. 27:51-53. Of the
wicked we have the rich man (Luke 16:23-24), and the beast and false prophet
(Rev. 19:20; 20:10). Outline
The Spirit Returns To God
Now, the immaterial part of
man survives the first death (Mt. 10:28), and returns to God (Eccl. 12:7),
but in the second death this also is destroyed. I do not hold that
the soul (spirit) ceases to exist at the first death. This is a major
flaw in Adventist and Watchtower theology. It would be incorrect
to say that the soul "sleeps" if it did not actuallly exist. So,
in the first death, the soul is in an unconscious state, but in the second
death it does not exist at all. Yayshua gave up His spirit to the
Father when he died (Luke 23:46). His Spirit did not cease to exist.
For Yahweh is immortal so the second death he cannot die. Outline
Souls Under The Altar
Now the souls under the altar
in Rev. 6:9-10 do speak, as Samuel spoke. This conscious state represents
a temporary interruption in their sleep as the Spirit of Yahweh gives them
voice. Indeed Samuel was angry that he was disturbed at all (KJV
1 Samuel 28:15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to
bring me up? ), and the souls under the altar are told, "And white robes
were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they
should rest yet for a little season ..." (KJV Rev. 6:11). Because
of Job 14:10-11, I would have to rate this temporary experience as equivalent
to "sleepwalking," i.e. neither Samuel nor the souls under the altar were
really aware of the event. In any case, they return to their "rest."
Outline
Actually, in Luke 16, Yayshua is retelling a Jewish Fable, which was told by the Perushim, to make a point. I am interpreting it literally, (even though there are good reasons to believe that specific details are not to be taken literally,) to show that even a literal interpretation does not contradict Eccl. 9:5-10.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom [i.e. was resurrected into paradise]: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 [After resurrecting]And in hell [lake of fire] he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And 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; [he had a body] for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from [after resurrection] the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from out of the dead.
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