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into his nostrils rhe brea rh of life; and
man (physical marrer} became a liv–
ing soul."
When God caused b reath - air -
w
be brearhed rhrough man's nos–
trils, man - composed of physical
marrer from che ground -
BECAMB
a
soul. T he soul is composed of
MAT–
TER -
no r of spirir.
That's not wha t most people be–
lieve. But it is whar the Bible
SAYS!
Furrher ir says: "The sou l that sin–
neth, ir shall die" (Ezek. 18:4). T hat
is so importanr it is stated rwice, for
cmphasis: "The sou l that sinneth, ir
shall die" (Ezek. 18:20).
... But God is Spirit
God is composed of
SPIRIT -
nor
of physical matter Oohn 4 :24) . Bur
nowhere does rhe Bible say man is a
spirit. Nowhere in rhe Bible can you
find rhe expression " immorcal soul ,"
or " immorrali ry of the souJ." In Gen–
esis
1,
animaJs are called souls - rhac
is, Moses used the word
nephesh
which
in Genesis 2:7 is t ranslated inro che
English word "soul," while in Gen–
esis 1:21 , 24 ; 2:19 it is rhree times
translated "crearure."
The T wo Trees
But now continue wirh Genesis
2:8, ·' And rhe Eterna] God planted a
garden eascward in Eden : and there he
pur rhe man whom he had formed.
And our of rhe ground made the
Eterna! God ro grow every rree that is
pleasanr to the sight, and good for
food ; rhe cree of life also in the midsr
of rhe garden, and the tree of knowl·
edge of good and evil" (verse 9) .
"And che Eterna! God commanded
che man, saying, Of cvery tree of the
garden rhou mayest freely eat: but of
che rree o f rhe knowledge of good
and evil , thou shalc not eat of ir: for
in che day thar rhou earest chereof
rhou shalt surely die" (verses 16-1 7) .
Notice for disobedience, God said,
"Thou shal r surely
D I E"!
Man is
MOR–
TAL,
and shall
DIE!
God said so!
Now whar have we seen ' God
made man
MORTAL -
composed of
physical matter. In Genesis 3:19 God
PLAIN TRUTH July 1972
said ro Adam: " . . . for dusr rhou art,
and unto dust shalt thou return." He
was speaking ro rhe conscious
MAN
- ro rhe human
MINO.
N orice what ís symbolized and re–
vealed here. The cree of
u
FE
sym–
bolized eterna! life. T hey d id no t, as
yer, possess i mmorral life. This was
f reely offered ro Adam and Eve as
Goo's
GrFT.
Bu t rhey were reguired ro make a
choice.
Also in che garden was anotber
symbolic cree - rhe tree of " che
knowledge of good and evil." To
make the wrong choice of raking of
rhat forbidden t ree would impose
the
penal ty of
DEATH.
"Thou shal t
SURELY
die,"
said God -
JF
rhey
chose ro disobey and cake of rhat cree.
In other words, as we read in Ro–
mans 6:23: "Por the wages of sin is
DEATH ;
but the
gijt
of God is
ETER–
N AL L!FE... ."
This clearly shows thar
God revealed the Gospel ro rhem .
And whac is che Bible defin it ion of
SI N?
"Sin is," i t is written in I J ohn
3:4, "rhe rransgression of rhe law."
Acrually rhere exist, overall, only
TWO BASIC WAYS
of Ji fe - twO diver–
gene phi losoph ies. T hey t ravel in op–
posite directions.
1
srare them very
simply: O ne is rhe way of
GIVE -
rhe
other of
GET.
More specifically, rhe one is rhe
way of humil iry, and of ourgoing
concern for orhers equal ro sclf-con–
cern. Ir is rhe way of cooperacion,
serving, helping, sharing; of consider–
arion, pacience and ki ndness. More
imporran t, i r is also
THE
w
AY
of obe–
díence ro, rel iance on, and worship
solely roward God.
J¡
is the Goo-cen–
tered way, of
LOVE
roward God and
lOVE
roward neighbor.
The opposite is the SELF-centered
way of
VANITY,
lust and greed; of
comperi rion and srrife; of envy,
jealousy, and unconcern for rhe wel–
fare of orhers.
The CAUSE of Peace
and Happiness
Few realize this viral fac t : The
"GrvE"
way is actually an invisible,
yer inexorable,
SPIRfTUAL
LA
w
in ac–
tive morion . I t is summarized, in
principie, by rhe Ten Command–
menrs.
It is a
LA
w
as
REAL,
as injlexibly re–
Lent/ess a.s the faw
of
grctvity!
lt
governs
and regulares all human relarionships!
Why shouJd ir seem incongruous
thar man ' s Maker - rhe Crearor of all
marter, force and energy - the Cre–
aror of rhe laws of physics and chem–
isrry, graviry and inertia -
shoufd also
have
created and set in
motion
this
spiri–
rual Law ro cause every good result
for man?
If rhe Creator is a God of
LOVE -
IF
ou r Maker is a God of all power -
could He possibly have done orher–
wise? Could He have neglected ro
provide a
\V./AY -
a cause - ro pro–
duce peace, happiness, prosperity, suc–
cessful lives, abundant well-being '
I repeac: There has ro be a
CAUSE
for every
EFFECT.
If
rhere is ro be peace, happiness,
abundanr well-being, somerhing muse
cause it! God cou ld nor
be
God with–
our providing a cause for every de–
sired good .
lsn't ir about time we realize rhat
in love for che mankind He crea red,
God also creared and set in morion
inexorab~y
rhis spirirual Law ro pro–
vide rhe cause of every good resulc?
Now let's recapitulare: dearh is rhe
penalry of sin. Sin is che rransgression
of this Law! To transgress rhis Law is
ro rejecr the w
AY
that would
CAUSE
rhe
GOOD
al! humans want - ro turn
ro the way rhac causes every evil re–
sulr. God forbade Adam and Eve ro
cake the fruic of rhe cree of che
knowledge of good and evil , under
penalty of dea rh'
Why? Because He wanted rhem ro
ehoose che
w
A Y
of every desired
GOOD -
because He wanred rhem ro
avoid causing evils, sorrows, pains,
sulfering, unhappiness. Therefore, rak–
ing chis fru ic was symbolic of trans–
gressing God's spirirual Law'
To have taken of rhe rree of life
was merely symbolic of receiving rhe
g ift of God's Holy Spiric, che very
love of God (Romans 5 :5) which
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