Now what about our friend’s reference to James 2:26, that “the body without the spirit is dead”, does this not prove his point? He states, “The body is the only part of man that dies at physical death. The reason it dies is because the inner man, the life of the body, leaves the body. It then goes back to dust and is spoken of as being asleep.” Let us begin by first clearing up what precisely James meant when…
The following comments were made by one of our forum members under the thread “No-one has gone to heaven?” and are typical of the beliefs held by many believers. Note it is not our intention of selectively pointing out this particular individual, but are merely presenting his viewpoint as it representative of the same or similar thoughts of many others. Now in an earlier post he had asked the question: Where in scripture does it say anyone is asleep in…
THE PROPOSITION “The proposition under discussion as stated is a clear admission that the dead are unconscious for the reason it assumes — that there is to be an awakening. Mark the words thereof, ‘that the dead are unconscious from the moment of death until the moment of awakening to the resurrection of the dead.’ If the dead were already conscious it follows that they would already be awake and therefore there could be no awakening. Jesus points out that…
DEATH — SLEEP Since God has made provision for the awakening of the dead to the resurrection, the Bible frequently speaks of death as sleep. Sleep is a symbol of death, and the word is used in that sense. A man lies down to sleep and we say he will wake again. And so we say with reference to the dead — ‘He shall awake and come again.’ As the Prophet Jeremiah beautifully states the matter (Jer 31:15-16), “Thus says…
WHY MEN DIE It is a principle of God’s law that every perfect, righteous creature is entitled to life. It follows that every unrighteous creature has no legal right to life. God enforced his judgment against Adam in a gradual manner, viz. — by forcing Adam out of Eden, where the food was perfect, and forcing him to obtain his food or sustenance from the unfinished earth, which brought forth or produced poisonous foods. As he partook of these poisonous…
THE PENALTY OF THE LAW “God said to Adam, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:17) If the soul is immortal, then God did not mean what he said, because an immortal creature could not be put to death. Was this announced penalty of the law to apply to the body only, or to the soul? Some…
It is our position that, the scriptures clearly teach that the dead are unconscious between the moment of death and the moment of awakening to the resurrection. If this proposition is not affirmatively true, as stated, then we must conclude: That man, after death, continues mentally active; that is to say — possesses knowledge and continues to exercise his mental functions, therefore conscious. We must find that there can be no awakening, for the reason that a conscious person must…
This study was raised due to some erroneous assumptions being made into the whereabouts of the dead following death, with some believing they go immediately to heaven or to hell. Excerpts for this study came from a debate entitled “Where are the Dead?” Now both the heathen and agnostic alike have their opinions as to the whereabouts of the dead, but here we are more interested in the Christian viewpoint. Christians are divided upon the issue with two-thirds holding to…
“Many in reading the account of creation in Genesis have noted the fact stated that when God had formed man of the dust of the ground, and had communicated to him the breath (spirit) of life, the record is, “Man became a living soul.” (Gen 2:7) This statement to the average reader taken in connection with his general misconception of the meaning of the word “soul,” as misrepresented to him by those who should have instructed him properly, and should…