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trils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7).
Read that again: man became "a
living soul."
Nowhere does the Bible say man
has
a soul inside him. The Bible
reveals that man
is
a soul. The
Hebrew word used for "soul" is
nephesh.
It is the same word used
for lower life forms, beasts and
creeping things. lt's even used in
connection with a dead body-a
dead
nephesh
or soul.
The Bible says a soul can die!
Notice Ezekiel 18:4, 20: "The soul
that sinneth, it shall die." l t doesn't
say " live after death." It
say~
"die."
Manis a soul. Man sins. So man, a
living soul, dies.
The idea of an immortal soul did
not come from the Bible.
It
carne
out of ancient Egypt and Babylonia
and was enshrined in philosophy by
Greek thought, particularly by Pla–
to.
Notice what the
Jewish Encyclo–
pedia
says: "The belief that the
soul continues its existence after
the dissolution of the body is
.. . speculation . .. nowhere ex–
pressly taught in Holy Scripture.
... T he belief in the immortality of
the soul carne to the J ews from
contact with Greek thought and
chiefly through the phi losophy of
Plato, its principal exponent, who
was led to it through Orphic and
E leusinian mysteries in which
Babylonia n and Egyptian views
were st rangely blended" (art. "lm–
mortality of the Soul ," vol. VI,
pages 564-566).
Death Means Death!
Scripture plainly reveals that when
you die you are dead. According to
the Bible, the dead don't hear any–
thing, see anything, think anything
or know anything. The dead have
absolutely no awareness of a ny
kind: "For the liv.ing 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. Also their
love, and their hatred, and their
envy, is now perished ..." (Eccl.
9:5-6).
The Bible's message is clear on
this point. Death is death beyond
any shadow of doubt. The apostle
Paul wrote that "the wages of sin is
death" (Rom. 6:23). Death, by def-
14
inition, is the absence of life-not
just separation from God.
Scripture even warns us to make
the most of life now while we have
the opportunity: " Whatever your
hand Jinds to do, do it with your
might; for there is no work or
device or knowledge or wisdom in
the grave where you are going"
(Eccl.
9:1 O,
Revised Authorized
Version) .
It couldn't be more plain. But
what about those who want to cling
to the cherished belief in floating
off to heaven after death if good, or
sinking to hell if bad?
Listen to the apostle Peter's
All of man's technology
and scientific research,
coupled with all
the money in the world,
can't stop
humans from dying.
response.
lf
anyone deserved to go
to heaven, it would certainly be
someone after God's own heart,
wouldn't it? David was such a per–
son (Acts 13:22). But Peter was
inspired by God to say, David is
"both dead and buried, and bis
tomb is with us to this day" (Acts
2:29, RAV), and further, " David
did not ascend into the heavens"
(Acts 2:34).
J esus himself also said that " no
man hath ascended up to heaven,"
where God's t hrone is (John
3: 13).
Wlll We Each Llve Agaln?
But there is more to this life than
living for the agnostic's
now.
The
great God put humans here on this
eartb for a marvelous, eterna! pur–
pose, not even understood by tbis
world's humanly devised rel igions.
We are on this earth for a won–
derful reason. It involves the
answer to why we humans were
made mortal and suffer through the
gamut of emotions and troubles, or
experience th e good times o f
human life.
Even though when we die we are
dead, we will not remain dead for–
ever. The dead in their graves will
live again! Read what Jesus says:
"Do not marvel at this; for the bour
is coming in which all who are in
the graves will hear His voice and
come forth- those who bave done
good, to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil, to
the resurrection of condemnation"
[better translated "judgment"]
(J ohn 5:28-29, RAV).
There is an accounting for our
behavior in this life! Every human
being who has ever lived will ulti–
mately give an accounting and be in
a resurrection! There are three dif–
ferent kinds of r es u rrections
revealed in the Bible.
The First Resurrection
The first resurrection will occur
wben God sends J esus Christ to
restore the government of God over
the whole earth . Tbis event is
described in
1
Thessalonians 4:16:
•• For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a shout,
with the voice of tbe archangel, and
with the trump of God: and the
dead in Chr ist shall rise first."
"This is the fi rst resurrection"
(Rev. 20:5, last sentence). " Blessed
and holy is he that hath part in the
first resurrection," says God, "on
such the second death hath no
power" (Rev. 20:6). That is, those
in the first resurrection will not
ever die again. They are raised
from the dead as immortal beings,
composed of spirlt.
Those who will be in this first
resurrection are described in Reve–
lation 14:12: " ... they that keep
the commandments of God, and the
faith of J esus." They are few in
number. Why? Becau se most
people do what
they
think is right;
they do not do what God says is
right. They do not keep God' s Ten
Commandments!
Those resurrected when God
restores his government to this
earth wi ll never again have to face
death . They will rise out of their
graves as immortal
sons
of God.
And those who have the Spirit of
God and who are still alive will be
changed from flesh and blood mor-
(Continued on page 34)
The
PLAIN TRUTH