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DoYou
Believe
•
IDBD
Alterlile?
PLAIN TRUTH staff correspondents
recently posed this question to a number
of
typical
men
and women
on
the street.
The following cross section
of
their
responses reflects the thinking
of
many
people
on
the subject today.
N . RULE: "1 haven' t
given it that much
thought, but
1
don' t believe in re–
incarnation or hell .
But
1
do believe in
heaven because
1
believe in a loving
God."
A.
HENRJKSEN: "Y
es,
there is -
1
believe
that your soul goes
to a spiritual re–
ward in heaven. "
Mi/ce
Hendriclc.son
- Ploin
Truth
how learn to control the aging pro–
cess).
Currently, few have taken this n.o–
tion of man-made immortality very
seriously. But it does demonstrate
the depth of man's desire to live for–
ever.
The Ultimate Source
of Understanding
Since death is such a common–
place occurrence and is so inevi–
table, you would think it's one topic
science and philosophy would so
thoroughly understand that no one
would have a doubt about what it is.
But where is the great work of
philosophy or literature which
proves the existence of an afterlife -
and what it is like? Where is the
science text which de tails what hap–
pens to humans after they die?
Death is one subject about which
human beings should be educated.
Yet, it is the one area in which most
of us seem to know little or nothing.
We could know. But our society
has rejected the one source which
could tell us. That source is the book
upon which Christianity is suppos–
edly based - tbe Bible.
34
Have you ever Iooked into this
most neglected book to find out
what it really says about death? It
may not say what you tbink it does!
Conscious in Death?
For the first time in history,
people wbo were pronounced dead
have been medically revived. They
have reported exactly what "death"
is like. Said one South African beart
transplant patient :
"1
was dead, ab–
solute1y 1ifeless for 70 minutes.
J
have visited the great beyond, and
1
can assure you that there is nothing
there - emptiness, just zero."
According to God's Word, the
dead are exactly that- dead! They
have no consciousness or thought
processes.
The 01d Testament writer Job
wrote: "So man lieth down [dies],
and riseth not: tiU the heavens be no
more, they shall not awake, nor be
raised out of their sleep" (Job
14: 12). They are figuratively asleep
and will remain so, as long as
the present schr.me of things contin–
ues.
Now notice Ecclesiastes 3: 19:
"For that which befalleth the sons
of men befalleth beasts; even one
thing befaUeth them: as the one
dieth, so dieth the other. ... so that
a man hath no preeminence above a
beast. ... " As a dog dies, so dies a
roan. As a cow or ox dies, so die
human beings. That's what your
Bible says.
When aman dies, "that very day
his thoughts perish"
(Psalm 146:4),
and
"the dead know not any thing"
(Ecclesiastes 9: 5).
This may not be what you have
been taught or heard. But these are
the plain statements of Scripture.
Even David, a man after God's
own heart (Acts 13:22). "is both
dead and buried, and bis sepulchre
is with us unto this day," said the
apostle Peter (Acts 2:29). David has
not gone to heaven (Acts 2:34). He
is in his grave, unconscious, just like
every other human being who has
ever died, except Jesus Christ.
Tbe scriptures are plain! Death
means death - not life in sorne
other form or place.
Dead - But Not Foreverl
Yet the Bible also teaches tbat the
dead will not remain in their graves
PLAIN TRUTH Moy 1973