Christianity Explained InformationFind
Christian Unity in Biblical Explanations of the Doctrines That
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You're Invited | You have a choice to make: You can either believe the opinions of theologians, atheists, or agnostics, or you can determine for yourself what the Bible says by studying it. If you
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| Topics What Is Christianity Explained Information?What Is Religion and Where Did It Originate? What Is the Bible, and How Relative Is It to My Life? What Are Messianic Prophecies? Who Was Jesus of Nazareth, Really? Why Are There So Many World Religions? Why Are There So Many Christian Denominations? What Is the Law and How Does It Apply to Me? What's All This About the End of the World and End-time Prophecies? Isn't the Book of Daniel a Closed Book? Revelation: How can anyone understand all that symbolism? Who or What Was Jesus' Mother, Mary? Didn't Darwin Disprove Creation? What's the Truth About Faith and Works? Christian E-mails: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Complete Directory of Articles/Studies
Title Abbreviations for Books of the Bible Genesis
- Ge | Where Do We Go When We Die, or, Are the Dead Really Alive but Somewhere Else?
The verses above seem, to me, to demonstrate the two different views of death commonly held by modern Christians. One group believes that "receive my spirit" means Stephen's consciousness went directly to heaven. The other group, considering the words, "he fell asleep", believes that Stephen's consciousness went into a state of suspended animation until Jesus returns to resurrect the dead--a coma-like state--and that Steven was simply stating his belief that Jesus would protect and resurrect his spirit with his body at the Lord's second coming. Now, if it weren't for scam
artists and Satan, no one would care which outlook is true. However, if
you think you're being led by Uncle Al the stock broker when in fact
you're being led by a scam artist or one of Satan's legion of evil
spirits, you, as my brother used to (and probably still does) say,
could end up end up, to say the least. The word deceive
appears 73 times in the Bible in one form or another and at least 14
verses specifically warn against being deceived. Furthermore, while Satan is
identified as the great deceiver, we are also told that we can
deceive ourselves! That tells me that we all need to protect ourselves
by learning the truth. The only way to learn the truth--to answer the question "Where do we go when we die?" is by
comparing the theories to the Scriptures. In John 17:17 Jesus prayed to the Father, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth.” But in addition, think about this: How will Uncle Al feel if you chalk up all your bad investment decisions to seances with him when in fact it was Satan's deception? What's even more important, however, is How will God feel if you chalk up the leading of the Holy Spirit leading you to good decisions in your meditation times to "feeling like Uncle Al was right there telling me what to do"? So, what does Scripture say about what happens when we die?I like to begin at the beginning. What was the first mention of death in the Bible?
God himself warned Adam and Eve that the "wages of sin" would be death (Romans 6:23). He didn't say "you shall surely come home to heaven to be with me" or "You shall surely burn in hell for eternity." And if God never changes (Malachi 3:6), why would he change the way he deals with man from Adam to us? Now, we all know that Satan, also known as the Devil, is a liar.
Deceived about deathAlmost everyone knows that Satan deceived Eve so that she doubted that God wanted what was best for her and did what her heart desired instead of listening to God.
But about what did Satan deceived Eve?
Satan told the woman two things: "You will not surely die" and "Your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So, which was the lie: death or being like God, knowing good and evil?
I'm guessing that, since God said man had "become like one of Us . . .", the lie must have been "you shall not surely die." And that is reinforced by the fact that God immediately barred man's way to the tree of life so that man would not live forever. Obviously man does not have eternal life within himself or there would be no point to barring his way to the tree of life. Death is real. And look carefully at John 8:44 above. He says the devil is a murderer. He became responsible for murdering the human race--for the death of every man, woman, and child--when he deceived Eve. The lie lives onWell, Satan has been reiterating that lie throughout the centuries. He has done such a great job, in fact, that Christian reference books refer to some kind of immortal soul leaving the body when we die and going to heaven or hell (or purgatory). But why does the Bible say "it is appointed for men to die once" if the soul never dies?
That scripture was written years after Christ’s death and resurrection, yet it says “it IS appointed . . .”.
Why hadn't his soul ascended and then come back for the body the way some people teach the rest of us will? If the son of God's soul remained gravebound until his body was resurrected and he ascended bodily into heaven, how can the created beings of God expect to have a special privilege of their souls ascending before their bodies? Furthermore, which part of us needs the tree of life or the river of life . . . our souls or our bodies? If the soul ascends to heaven without the body, again, what was the point of God barring the way to the tree of life for Adam and Eve? God clearly says (Genisis 3:22) that man needs the tree of life in order to live forever, but here's something many people have missed. Even when we "are changed" at Christ's second coming and go back to heaven with him, we will partake of the tree of life and the river of life.
John describes the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, where God will dwell with mankind. And in this city will be the river of life and the tree of life.
So why do people still believe the lie, "You shall not surely die"?For several reasons. #1 Many humans have "I" trouble. They cannot believe God would make them in his own image but without the immortality that is his alone as revealed below. They don't understand that an image is not an exact duplicate; it is simply something that looks like the original and maybe even behaves like the original. Even clones, having the same DNA, do not act exactly alike, nor do they react the same if they are exposed to the same experiences but at different ages. They may have an overwhelming apparent similarity, but they are not the same in every way. #2. Though they claim to know the scriptures, some people disregard anything that might tend to disprove their preconceived theories or they interpret (twist) the scriptures to fit their theories rather than acknowledging scriptural evidence and adjusting their theories accordingly. They pick and choose which scriptures they will believe and which they won't so that they have no rudder to steer their boats in muddy waters. #3. In many cases Satan simply makes us tired: we base our theories on a few scriptures that "jump out at us", and we don't think we're up to trying to determine what other scriptures might imply or even clearly state about the subject. What we've found so far "sounds good" to us, so we quit before we've learned the whole story. (You'll notice this one is in first person, and that's because it's my worst problem and the reason for this Bible-study website.) #4. Some folks are not familiar with scripture at all. When others start quoting (and sometimes misquoting) individual scriptures to them, not considering all that the Bible has to say on the subject and sticking to only their favorite few quotes, sometimes even taking them out of context, the ignorant buy into the lie. You'll notice I didn't say the stupid. I said the "ignorant", unknowing, uneducated. The New Testament scriptures would call it "unarmed".
Unless we know ALL that scripture has to say on any subject, we are making uninformed decisions when we agree or disagree with people who spout doctrine to us. But there is a way to know who's telling the truth about where we go when we die, or any other Christian or Jewish doctrine.
So what else does scripture say about death?
You notice it doesn't say "for dust and eternal soul you are and to dust and eternal soul you shall return." This is the hardest thing for us to understand. First of all, Satan has done his best to make us forget that we are created by God who leant us the breath of life. The easiest way for the devil to steal our allegiance from God is to convince us that creation never happened, so, since God is not our creator, we don't owe him anything. Yet even science relates that there are only so many basic elements and that everything that exists is made from those elements--including humans. The Genesis account of creation is in perfect harmony with that, and there are numerous geological discoveries since the 1970s that support creation also (but that's another study). Without the preserving powers of chemicals or extreme weather conditions (rapid freezing or rapidly dehydrating heat), we literally return to dust, and relatively quickly at that, when we die. Furthermore, we are told that just as Jesus called Lazarus forth though he had been dead four days, he will speak us back to life from the dust of the grave also.
It doesn't say all who are in heaven or hell will hear his voice . . . And here's a curious point: would God be righteous and just if he sent an unrepentant horse thief in 3000 BC to burn in hell, but Hitler didn't get there until 1945? Would saved previously deceased relatives of Hurricane Katrina or the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami or 911 Twin-Towers victims be happy in "Paradise" watching those events tear apart their progeny here on earth? Is that your definition of happiness or paradise? It's not mine! People zero-in on Jesus' words in John 11:26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" But they ignore the words of the previous verse.
Jesus tells us that even though we believe in him, we may die before he comes back. We are subject to the first death, but He shall make us alive again. Praise God, if we are in Jesus we are not subject to the second death!
If we do not die, but go directly to heaven when the body dies, Why is there any mention of a second death? Because we will be resurrected from the first death but in our minds, it will be as if it never happened. It will be as though we passed out and woke up somewhere else with all this ruckus going on of Jesus' second return. Still, death will have happened, and a second death awaits the ungodly (yet another study). The Bible clearly teaches that everyone who is not saved is thrown into the lake of fire (receives his/her punishment) at the same time. The writer of Hebrews stated it this way:
The judgment is another study, so we won't go into it here, but the point is this: If you go to heaven or hell at death, you have already received the reward of your judgment. So what's all that about the great white throne and all who had ever lived being judged? Here's the thing: It is one thing to die, but another to perish. There is a "natural death" and a "supernatural death". The natural death is the "die once" death and the supernatural death is the lake-of-fire second death.
Then what is the spirit Stephen called on the Lord to receive from him at his death?Once again, let's begin at the beginning. The same word that is translated Spirit in Hebrew, xwr Ruwach (roo'-akh), can be translated breath, wind, and mind. It appears 378 times in the Old Testament, 232 of them as Spirit (of God) or spirit (of man) and 27 times as breath. Context determines how it is translated.
I could go on, but you get the picture. Spirit, breath, life, and soul all come from the same Ancient-language word. But there's another Hebrew word translated breath, spirit: hmXn N@shamah (nesh-aw-maw'). It is translated breath 17 times, blast 3 times, spirit 2 times, inspiration 1 time, and souls 1 time.
All moving creatures have been gifted with the breath of life, with a life-giving portion of the Spirit of God. The ego likes to believe the spirit or breath or life of man is different from that of the animals, so as time has unfolded, spiritism has blossomed. But if you believe that man's "spirit" goes directly to heaven or hell on death, then you must believe the same about all breathing creatures. There is no differentiation in scripture. The Greek equivalent of Ruwach and Neshama is pneu'ma Pneuma (pnyoo'-mah). It is translated 111 times as Spirit, 89 times as Holy Ghost, 13 times as Spirit (of God), 5 times as Spirit (of the Lord), 3 times as (My) Spirit, 3 times as Spirit (of truth), 2 times as Spirit (of Christ), 49 times as human (spirit), 47 times as (evil) spirit, 26 times as spirit (general), 8 times as spirit, 6 times as (Jesus' own) spirit, 2 times as (Jesus' own) ghost, and 21 times "miscellaneous". It is interesting to note that pneumo is the root or base word for medical terms dealing with the lungs and breathing. The problem, of course, arises because modern man has had to find his way into an understanding of ancient languages. Whereas Jesus' followers were familiar with the languages and knew with certainty how to translate them, we have no such certainty. This leads to each one following the dictates of his own heart when "interpreting" scripture. The spirit that Stephen entrusted to Jesus was pneuma, and according to the research above, honestly, we're still on our own in determining how to translate that. But we get a little help figuring death out when we study immortality. So, where does immortality come in?
The word translated living being in the NKJV, Xpn Nephesh (neh'-fesh), was translated soul in The Authorized (King James) Version, the Bible upon which most of Christian Doctrine was built. In fact, it can be translated soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, or passion and is translated in the KJV 475 times as soul. In newer Bible versions, however, it is not so generously translated "soul". According to the KJV, the breath (or spirit) of life plus the body equals a soul. This would imply that, conversely, the soul minus either the body or the breath of life ceases to exist. (Death occurs.) But in the Modern KJV, the word translated as soul doesn't appear until Genesis 19:20, when Lot was being saved from the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. (NKJV "Nephesh" in Genesis 2:7 as seen above is translated "living being".)
Lot was in fear that his soul would die in the mountains, into which the angels urged him to flee. He obviously didn't believe his soul was immortal. "Immortal soul" would mean "immortal living being". But where did the immortal part come from? Genesis only refers to living beings made of a combination of the breath of life and a body, and compares human beings to animal beings as every living being (Gen 6:17; 7:22). What does scripture have to say about immortal, eternal, everlasting life?Deuteronomy mentions an eternal God.
And Ecclesiastes refers to an eternal home for man . . .
But once again, this eternal home is in the context of the dust of our bodies returning to the earth and the spirit (Ruwach) returning to God, who lends it to us for our lifespan on earth. There is no phrase "immortal soul" or "immortal living being" in scripture. In fact, scripture emphatically states that man must do something to obtain eternal life and that only Jesus (God) has immortality.
Paul did not say, "Lay hold of heaven" or "avoid going to hell". Christ was resurrected so that we may have eternal life through resurrection (not so that those who already have eternal life will go either to heaven or hell). Mortals must put on immortality in order for the saying "death is swallowed up in victory" to come to pass.
In John 11:21, above, we are given the promise of immortality when we become aware of our hopeless state and accept Christ as our savior. But before that happens at his second coming, most of us will die the first death. Paul referred to death as falling asleep, and those who were Christ's when they died as having fallen asleep in Christ.
Notice he said, ". . . have perished." He didn't say they went on to another plane of existence and then their bodies will be resurrected. Why would we care about this body if we can exist as disembodied spirits going anywhere we wish? When do we pass from death and receive eternal life?Jesus says we will live because of him, and we will live forever only if we are his, because he will raise us up at the last day.
Many interpret verse 58 as saying we will never die, but they overlook verse 54, which states that we will be raised up (resurrected) to that eternal life "at the last day".
So, where did the concept of the immortal soul come from?The concept of eternal life is not discussed in depth in Scripture until the New Testament for a reason. The Jews were familiar with the concept of death and resurrection. The concept of the Messiah coming to save them from their sinfulness, the substitutionary payment for their sins had been taught through the sanctuary service for millenia. However, Greek philosophers, not wanting to admit they owed allegience to any higher being, philosophized that mankind is immortal, and by the time Jesus came to save us, many Jews had bought into this theory. (Remember, the Greeks ruled for hundreds of years and then the Romans took over long before Jesus was born.) Of course, we each have a human spirit or human nature. That is, we are sinners--by nature lovers of self and of sin--but having been given the ability to reason, we can choose to avoid sin, rather than wallow in it. When we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, by habit our natures change and though our human nature is attracted to sin, our new Holy Spirit-guided habitual nature avoids situations in which we might be tempted and fall. We have the ability to control who we are by choosing who we hang out with. Scripture says that by just watching something we become more like it.
We are known by our natures; we refer to each other as kind or mean, loving or cold, etc. These characteristics are part of our natures, and those around us determine for themselves who we are by those parts of our natures that we share with them. This is the soul that mankind so wants to be immortal. Our consciousness, our thought processes, our passions make us who we are. We dread the idea that these simply cease to exist when we die. That's a valid fear for those who don't know the Lord, who don't give God the credit for creation. Believers know that a God who created can certainly re-create. Jesus raised Lazurus from the dead after four days, after decomposition had set in, so that we could have assurance that God has the power to "re-create" us at the resurrection when Jesus returns. It is like going into a coma: we die, our consciousness goes into hibernation, and the next thing we will be aware of will be Jesus calling us forth from the grave. Although it may be years or millennia before we hear that voice, it will seem to us like we just went to sleep and awoke again, exactly as described in scripture. I won't take the space to copy the entire chapter here, but read John 11. The story of Martha and Mary and Lazarus, who became ill and died and was later raised by Jesus from death, is a preview of the resurrection of the righteous when Jesus returns to earth.
There are two deaths. All people will die physically except those who are still alive when Jesus returns.
If one goes to "his eternal reward" at death, then judgment would have already taken place. It makes more sense that judgment (another study) is taking place in these end times, and all humans will receive their rewards at the same time. And, except for those who are alive at Jesus' return (who won't need to be resurrected) and Lazurus and a few others (who were brought back to life through miracles and then died another death), all humans will experience one of two resurrections: the resurrection to eternal life of those people who lived their lives in harmony with the laws of God--whether they knew those laws or not--and the resurrection to eternal damnation of those who preferred not to live their lives in harmony with God's laws, whether they knew them or not. This story not only tells us that the first death is just a sleep, according to Jesus; it also tells us that Lazurus should have been in a fairly advanced state of decomposition by the time Jesus arrived.
But Jesus knew his father's powers of restoration and instructed that the stone be rolled away anyway.
When you compare the story of the resurrection of Lazurus, you can't help but notice the similarities to the descriptions of the second coming.
The shout will call forth the dead as his loud voice woke Lazarus.
Jesus himself promises that when he comes to receive us to himself, our reward will be given us, whether life everlasting or eternal death. If the righteous go to heaven when they die and the unrighteous to hell, they will have already received their rewards, so why would they be "resurrected" to receive their rewards again?. But, some say, Jesus comes to get us when we die, and this "second coming" is a quiet thing that no one but us knows about. Paul, however, told Timothy that their brethern who had died had fallen asleep, and that Jesus would gather together both them and those who remain alive at a very noticeable second coming for ALL his redeemed at once.
Confusion arises, however, when one reads about "the other Lazarus", one of the few scriptures to which all who profess spiritism can refer (while ignoring multiple other scriptures about death). To put this parable in context, you need to understand that, since Israel was a crossroad, Jews were constantly exposed to the philosophies of the outside world, and they adopted some of them--one of the reasons they lost God's protection and blessings over and over. Jesus came to set them straight, but he knew he could only reach them using their present understanding to teach them important truths. Therefore he taught in parables using everyday or readily recognizable circumstances and current beliefs. However, though they were recognizable, they were still parables, fiction, cartoons to catch the imaginations so they would be remembered. You can read this parable in Luke 16 beginning at the 19th verse. The gist is that a rich man (un-named) and a poor man (Lazarus) died and the poor man was carried "to the bosom of Abraham" while the rich man "was buried". The rich man in torment in Hades saw Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham "afar off", and pleaded with Father Abraham for mercy in his torment or at least to send someone back from the dead to warn his brothers of their impending torment, but Abraham refused. People interpret this to mean that the good go to heaven when they die and the bad go to hell. Now one of the problems with this interpretation is that Jesus says nothing about the "bosom of Abraham" being in heaven—how big would Abraham’s bosom have to be? Neither Jesus nor his apostles mention Abraham being the intercessor, while they teach plenty about Christ being the intercessor. Nowhere else is there a word about the sinners in hell being able to see the righteous in heaven or the good in heaven being able to see the torment going on in hell--and how could anyone consider that enjoying Paradise would include watching your unsaved loved ones suffering in hell throughout eternity? Another problem with this interpretation is that readers overlook other indications that this story is fiction. The good man was never buried, but the bad man was. This is not a description of an ordinary death. Humans who die are all buried. Only in exceptional cases have people been carried to God like Elijah, or specially resurrected like Moses and those resurrected at Jesus' resurrection. A favorite quote of those who believe in the soul going to heaven or hell at death is 2 Corinthians Chapter 5, where Paul mentions his desire to be "absent from the body".
Are we ever absent from the Lord?
Paul says that if our earthly "tabernacle" (Jesus called it a temple) were destroyed (we die), we have a heavenly "building"
and we "groan" to be in that heavenly building "that mortality may be swallowed up by (eternal) life". So, naturally, he would rather be absent from the body (dead) so that (the next thing he would know) he could be present with the Lord. But when did he expect that to happen?
When Jesus returns.
There's nothing in the Bible that says we get our reward when we die. In fact, Paul intended that the truth about death would comfort us. We have no relatives burning in hellfire for eternity. But that also means we have no relatives in heaven, coming back through mediums to advise us in this life. Those are imposters, the fallen angels of Satan, evil spirits, demons. Although our outward man is perishing, the inward man is being renewed by the Spirit of God. Therefore, in this chapter, Paul paraphrases Jesus' explanation of the body temple and this life as being a temporary existence for God's children. Then he admits that if he had his way, he would put off this physical existence to put on immortality and be with Jesus forever. This is the wish of us all; it brings us right back to 1 Corinthians 15.
Peter confirmed Paul's apostleship while at the same time warning that Paul's writings contain some things that are hard to understand.
When you compare scripture with scripture, however, you are much less likely to "twist" them to fit your own desires. It is a wonderful thought that your "righteous" relatives might be having lunch with Jesus right now; however, the unalterable consequence of this belief is that your unrighteous relatives are writhing in hellfire also. This is not likely to be the work of a righteous God who is love (1 John 4:8 and 16) and preaches and practices justice with mercy for all. Isn't it much more comforting to believe that a righteous God allows all the dead to rest in their graves until that last day, the first resurrection, when the trumpet shall call forth the righteous to be with Jesus in their mansions in heaven. There they will inspect the books that are being written right now so they will understand why some they expected to see in heaven aren't there and why some they didn't expect to see in heaven are there. Once this "judgment" by the saints is finished, after the righteous have lived and reigned with Christ for 1,000 years, then the second resurrection will take place and the wicked will be rewarded. But that's another study. |
Related Links The Truth About Mary Magdalene
Scriptures: Within Text: Acts
7:59-60 More Study: Job 14
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