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WHATISMAN?
(Continued from page 22)
in six literal days God renewed the
face of the earth (Ps. 104:30). He
made physical life forms- the flora
and then the fauna- that reproduce
themselves. These life forms were
created without the thinking, rea–
soning, decision-making processes,
and without ethical or moral capabil–
ities- except forman, God's master–
piece of creative workmanship.
What Man l s
In the FOUNDATION of knowledge,
God's Instruction Book forman, the
Creator God reveals much knowl–
edge about man himself that is total–
ly beyond man's ability to discover
for himself- including the knowl–
edge and understanding of what man
is, why
he was made that way, and
what he is to
become.
God created the first man. And he
tells us how he made him so there
would be no doubt as to what we
really are. The first man was made
from and therefore composed of
earth- the dust of the ground! (Gen.
2:7 .)
lt
was t he
whole man–
"thou"- that was composed of the
dust of the ground (Gen. 3: 19).
After God had formed the man–
made all the cells in his body-God
imparted to him
physical
life (Gen.
2:7). God blew into the man's lungs,
through the nostr ils,
air- "the
breath of life"---containing oxygen,
and the man began to live! Notice
that the verse does not say God
breathed an immortal soul into the
man.
The source of physical life in man
and all animals is the same. Not once
does the "breath of li fe" even
remotely refer toan " immortal soul "
or life apar t from the physical body.
Otherwise animals, birds and even
insects- gnats, fleas, mosquitoes–
have immortal souls, for they all
have the same " breath of life" (Gen.
7:21-22).
When God breathed the breath of
life into the nostrils of the fi rst man,
what did he become? "A living soul"
(Gen. 2:7).
Man does not
have
a soul- man
JS
a " soul" ! (See the accompanying
article in this issue "What Do You
Mean . .. •Jmmortal Soul'?" for an
in-depth explanation.)
24
Since man is a soul, and the soul
is mortal- then man is mortal, sub–
ject to death. That is why the Scrip–
tures call human beings "mortal
man" (Job 4: 17).
When an animal dies, it is dead.
When man dies, he is completely
dead , too. All men and animals alike
go to the same place at death! (Eccl.
3:20 .) Why? Because they all have
the same
temporary
source of life–
air. All men and animals become
dust once again.
Why Created Mortal
Past issues of
The Plain Truth
have
revealed that the government of
God ceased to
be
administered on
this earth after the rebellion of a
superarchangel, Lucifer (now S a-
''
Only man, of all God's
pbysical creatures, has
the seemingly
miraculous ability to
think, reason, plan and
design
''
tan), and one third of the angels.
Later, God created the first human,
Adam, with the potential of qualify–
ing to replace Satan as ruler of the
earth, thus· restoring the govern–
ment and way ofGod . But to qual ify
as successor to Satan, the human
successor had to
reject
Satan's way
and come under the government of
God!
God's master plan for accompl ish–
ing this purpose in the human race
took form and shape even before
man was made. l f mortal man sinned
by rejecting God's government- as
all but Jesus have-God would make
it possible for him to REPENT-to
turn from sinning,
to be reconciled
to God and to live God's way of life,
finally to be born of God as members
of his eternal family!
Repentance is turning
from
the
way of Satan
to
the government of
God. It is accepting God's rule over
our lives through his law of love.
It
is
accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and
coming King- the "second Adam"
who finally qualified (where the first
Adam failed) to reestabl ish the gov–
ernment of God on the earth by
overcoming Satan. Those who are to
reign with Christ must turn from or
reject Satan's way, overcoming that
way day by day, and actually live by
God's law of love.
If
they continue in
this way, they will be born of God–
become immortal spirit at the fi rst
resurrection (1 Cor. 15:42-54; John
3:3-8).
But those who will not repent
and accept Christ's sacrifice in pay–
men t for their sins-those who
refuse to turn from Satan's way and
voluntar ily come under the govern–
ment of God in their lives- will
ultimately perish (Rom. 6:23; Rev.
20:1 4-15; Mal. 4:1-3) .
God wants every human being
who has ever lived to have the
opportunity to repent and live for–
ever ( 11 Pet. 3:9;
1
T im. 2:4). But
God wi ll not force anyone to choose
li fe. For those who refuse to follow
God's way to eterna) life there will
be the
"second death"- the
fate of
all UNrepentant sinners. They wi ll
cease to exist forever. They will be
as if they had never been!
We can now see that God chose
to make man fi rst out of physical
matter instead of spi rit for a great
purpose. Before the c reat ion of
man, he had made angels out of
immortal spirit- not mortal fles h
and blood, subject to death. And
one third of these angels sinned by
rebelling against the government of
God. But the punishment of sin–
ning angels is not physical death.
Angels Were Created Dlfferent
Angels are composed of spiri t and
therefore cannot die. Since one
third of the angels chose the way of
sin, their punishment is eternal loss
of the glorious opportunity God
gave them to accomplish bis pur–
pose on earth. And their sins have
resulted in hopelessness and frus–
tration, their minds being filled
with resentment, bitterness and
rebellion. Happiness and joy have
left them forever!
God planned in advance that if
man, composed of matter, sinned
and refused to repent, he would
die-he would be as though he had
not been. God will
not
allow any
The PLAIN TRUTH