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Is Death, Death? (Audio)

September 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Hear is the audio of the third in a series of sermons I am preaching at my church (on Conditional Immortality and specifically here, the Biblical view of death). The sermon is entitled, “Is Death Death?” What I was getting at in the title I probably never really got to in the sermon. I think the traditional view of the immortal soul going to heaven at death really does away with death altogether. The “real” you never actually dies. On the other hand, according to the Bible, death really is death. The whole person really does die.

When I originally preached this sermon I must have pushed the wrong button on my recording device. Consequently I had a large audio file with nothing on it. My solution was to re-record the message, sitting at my desk in the relative comfort of my desk chair.  .

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Is Death, Death?

September 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Notes from the third in a series of sermons I am preaching at my church (audio to follow).

Many people are afraid of death and often times we cover our fear with humour. Woody Allen said, “It’s not that I’m afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” A more ancient wit, Benjamin Franklin, once said, “Nothing in life is certain except death and taxes.” Joel Fox once added, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes. Of the two, taxes happen annually.” An unknown humorist said, “There will always be death and taxes; however, death doesn’t get worse every year.”

Humour aside, when most people talk about death they sound more like they are drawing their inspiration from the Devil’s lie,  “You will not surely die,” (Gen. 3:4), than from God’s truth. Today however we will turn to the Bible and ask the question, “Is Death, Death?” Today I want to make six points about the Bible’s teaching on death:

1. At death the “spirit” [or “breath of life”] returns to God while the person returns to dust.

Genesis 2:7 says, “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living being [soul].” In contrast Genesis 3:19 threatens a “return to the ground, since from it you were taken: for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Notice it is “you”, not just “your body” that returns to dust. So Job says, “If … he [God] withdrew his spirit and breath … man would return to the dust” (Job 34:14-15). The Psalmist says of all creation, “When you [God again] hide your face they are terrified; when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust” (Psa. 104:29-30). It is said of the princes among men, “When their spirit departs, they return to the ground” (Psa. 146:4).

The Philosopher says, “I also thought, ‘As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?’” (Ecc. 3:18-21). Although the sceptic later decides that meaning can be found in the fear of God and the keeping of the commandments, he never abandoned his belief that at death “the dust returns to the ground it came from and the spirit [the breath of life] returns to God who gave it” (Ecc. 12:7).

2. The death of the person is the death of the “soul”.

In the Bible, a corpse is referred to as a ”dead soul,” even though the word is usually translated “dead body” (Lev. 21:11, Num. 6:6). Even of Jesus it is said, “He poured out his life [soul] unto death” (Isa. 53:12, Matt. 26:38). The prophesy, “… you will not abandon me [my soul] to the grave …” (Psa. 16:10), Peter says was fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection (Acts 2:27). So Christ’s “soul” died. His “soul” was in the grave.  His “soul” was raised to life by resurrection. Our only hope is resurrection (See below).

When “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father into your hands I commit my spirit’” it is said that, “he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46). Jesus’ spirit was not the “real” Jesus. The “real” Jesus did not go to heaven when he died, he was “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth!” (Mat. 12:40). So when he met Mary after his resurrection he says, “I have not yet returned [or better ascended] to the Father” (John 20:17).

3. Scripture speaks of persons being buried not just the body.

In the Bible it is people, not just corpses that are buried. It was Abraham not just Abraham’s body that was buried in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. 25:8, 10). David, not just his body was buried in the city of David (1Kgs 2:10). “Godly men buried Stephen …”  (Acts 8:2). Not just his body. So too, when Jesus died, it was Jesus they laid in the tomb not just his body (John 19:42). This is an important fact to realise.

4. Scripture speaks of the dead, good and bad alike, as being unconscious or “asleep”.

The Psalmist says, “No one remembers you when he is dead” (Psa. 6:5a). He asks rhetorically, “Who praises you from his grave?” (Psa. 6:5b). He later answers his own question: “It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to silence” (Psa. 115:17). Even the elite among us die and “… on that very day their thoughts perish” (Psalm 146:4, KJV). Solomon is explicit. He says, “… the dead know nothing …” (Ecc. 9:5). Hezekiah said, “For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness” (Isa. 38:18). Scripture stands squarely opposed to Christian tradition here.

We are told that righteous David “rested with his fathers“ (1Kgs 2:10). We are also told that wicked Ahab, the worst king Israel ever had, “rested with his fathers” (1Kgs 22:40). Tradition tells us that the righteous when they die go immediately to heavenly bliss. The wicked on the other hand are supposed to be in torment. How then can it be said that wicked Ahab is at rest? Again, tradition is found to be in error when measured against the word of God.

5. Our hope is a resurrection “awakening” not just of “the flesh” but of the whole person.

Isaiah said, “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise.  You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead“ (Isa. 26:19). Daniel said, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). There are many more Scriptures that teach these same truths: The dead are asleep. They sleep in the dust of the earth. The only hope they have is of a resurrection awakening to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

6. That resurrection will only occur when Jesus comes again.

In many churches the second coming has become something of an anticlimax. A distraction at best. A cause of division at worst. Yet the New Testament gives the second coming pride of place. Again, if everybody understood these simple truths: The dead are asleep. They sleep in the dust of the earth. The only hope they have is of a resurrection awakening to eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ when Jesus comes again – then the second coming would assume it ‘s full significance. It is not until the Lord himself comes down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God that the dead in Christ will rise (1Thess. 4:15-17).  The Lord Jesus Christ “shall judge the living and the dead” but only “at his appearing and his kingdom” (2Tim. 4:1). This is the climax of all that we hope for!

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Great Words In God’s Word: Zoopoieo, “Quicken”

September 26, 2009 By admin 2 Comments

By Sidney A. Hatch in Brief Bible Studies, Vol.9, No. 4, p.18 (1978).
“The Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them.” –John 5:21.

A great word in God’s word is the Greek, zoopoieo. The King James Version translates this word three different ways, “quicken,” “make alive,” and “give life.”
Zoopoieo’s first occurrence is in John 5:21. There it is twice represented by “quicken”: “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.”

Zoopoieo is made up, obviously, of two parts, zoo- and poieo. Zoo- or zoe means “life” in the sense of resurrection life. This is indicated by the use of “quicken” or zoopoieo in I Corinthians 15:45. There we read that the first man Adam was made a “living soul.” The last Adam, however, was made a “quickening spirit.” As a resurrected person (“spirit”), our Lord will “quicken” people or make alive in the resurrection.

The second part, poieo, means “to make,” in the sense of produce, construct, form, or fashion (Thayer). It is equivalent to the Hebrew ‘asah, which means “to make” or “produce by labour” Gesenius). ‘Asah is used in reference to the manufacture or construction of any thing.

Putting these two parts together, we have the basic sense of zoopoieo, “to make alive with resurrection life,” “to construct alive with resurrection life,”

Here, then, is a key to such passages as Romans 8:11 or I Peter 3:18-19. In the former, Paul is giving the guarantee of our resurrection. If the new nature from God dwells in us, then He will someday “make alive” or “fashion alive” our mortal bodies.

In the latter passage, Peter writes that our Lord was “quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” Our Lord was “made alive” as a resurrection being. As such, He went and made a proclamation to the spirits or fallen angels in prison.

Another significant passage is Romans 4:17. Following the translation of the Moffatt Bible, Abraham believed in a God who makes the dead alive (zoopoieo), and calls into being what does not exist. Non-existence in the intermediate state does not prevent God from making the dead alive (zoopoieo).

The remaining passages where zoopoieo occurs are John 6:63, I Corinthians 15:22, 36, 2 Corinthians 3:6, and Galatians 3:21. Zoopoieo never implies that the resurrection is a case of reincarnation, whereby an “immaterial entity” or “immaterial soul” reenters the human body. This is the doctrine of the Greeks. In John 6:63 we read that it is “the spirit that quickeneth.” But “spirit” is used there psychologically, as in Genesis 2:7. The spirit of life or life-force must be put into the resurrection body, just as the breath of life was put into Adam. (Who can tell how radiant and beautiful the resurrection body will be? Its colour and glory will come from spirit, not blood.) Resurrection, not reincarnation, is the Christian distinctive.

The lexicons of Thayer and Abott-Smith indicate that in certain ancient Greek writers, zoopoieo meant to “produce alive” or “bear living young.” If used this way in Scrituure, the resurrection would be a birth from the dead. This is certainly its sense in the context of Romans 4:17. Isaac’s birth was a “birth from the dead.” So also our Lord’s resurrection was a “birth from the dead” (See Sanday and Headlam, Romans).

Zoopoieo provides for us one particular aspect of the resurrection. Other words bring out how the resurrection is an awakening, a standing up, or a transformation. But zoopoieo indicates that the resurrection will also be a re-creation, It points to the workmanship of God.

God was the architect and creator of Adam. He will be the architect and creator of the Christian in resurrection. He will produce us alive in the sense of putting us together again and infusing us with life. He will speak to the earth and cause it to bring forth the dead.

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The Immortality of the Soul: A Hellenistic Viewpoint

September 9, 2009 By admin 4 Comments

In an article entitled: “Immortality of the Soul” (at Jewish Encylopedia Dot Com) Kaufmann Kohler states:

“The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended, as the Semitic name “Minos” (comp. “Minotaurus”), and the Egyptian “Rhadamanthys” (“Ra of Ament,” “Ruler of Hades”; Naville, “La Litanie du Soleil,” 1875, p. 13) with others, sufficiently prove. Consult especially E. Rhode, “Psyche: Seelencult und Unsterblichkeitsglaube der Griechen,” 1894, pp. 555 et seq. A blessed immortality awaiting the spirit while the bones rest in the earth is mentioned in Jubilees xxiii. 31 and Enoch iii. 4. Immortality, the “dwelling near God’s throne” “free from the load of the body,” is “the fruit of righteousness,” says the Book of Wisdom (i. 15; iii. 4; iv. 1; viii. 13, 17; xv. 3). In IV Maccabees, also (ix. 8, 22; x. 15; xiv. 5; xv. 2; xvi. 13; xvii. 5, 18), immortality of the soul is represented as life with God in heaven, and declared to be the reward for righteousness and martyrdom. The souls of the righteous are transplanted into heaven and transformed into holy souls (ib. xiii. 17, xviii. 23). According to Philo, the soul exists before it enters the body, a prison-house from which death liberates it; to return to God and live in constant contemplation of Him is man’s highest destiny (Philo, “De Opificio Mundi,” §§ 46, 47; idem, “De Allegoriis Legum,” i., §§ 33, 65; iii., §§ 14, 37; idem, “Quis Rerum Divinarum Hæres Sit,” §§ 38, 57).

It is not quite clear whether the Sadducees, in denying resurrection (Josephus, “Ant.” xviii. 1, § 4; idem, “B. J.” ii. 12; Mark xii. 18; Acts xxiii. 8; comp. Sanh. 90b), denied also the immortality of the soul (see Ab. R. N., recension B. x. [ed. Schechter, 26]). Certain it is that the Pharisaic belief in resurrection had not even a name for the immortality of the soul. [emphasis added -ed.] For them, man was made for two worlds, the world that now is, and the world to come, where life does not end in death (Gen. R. viii.; Yer. Meg. ii. 73b; M. ?. iii. 83b, where the words , Ps. xlviii. 15, are translated by Aquilas as if they read: , “no death,” ????????).

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Hope Needs A Foundation

August 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melvin Tinker, in an article entitled, “Does The Christian View Of Death Need Reviving?” (Churchman 107/3 1993) – not all of which I agree with – draws a startling contrast between the deaths of two great men.

“A month before his death, Jean Paul Sartre wrote these words in his journal:

‘With this third world war which might break out one day, with this wretched gathering which our planet now is, despair returns to tempt me. The idea that there is no purpose, only petty personal ends for which we fight! We make little revolutions, but there is no goal for mankind. One cannot think of such things. They tempt you incessantly, especially if you are old . . . the world seems ugly, bad and without hope. There, that’s the cry of despair of an old man who will die in despair. But that’s exactly what I resist. I know I shall die in hope. But that hope needs a foundation.’

How true! But what a contrast to the words of another ‘old man’ about to die:

‘For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award me on that day—and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing’ (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

Here is hope based upon a solid foundation indeed.”

I would add that that faith was founded upon Christ and the resurrection, not the immortality of the soul.

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Dealing With Death / Eternity on Our Minds

August 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Melvin Tinker, in an article entitled, “Does The Christian View Of Death Need Reviving?” (Churchman 107/3 1993) – not all of which I agree with – talks of “three broad approaches commonly adopted in dealing with death.”

“First, death is romanticized. One not only sees this with blockbuster films like ‘Ghost’, but with the increased popularization of the belief in reincarnation. Secondly, death is trivialized as being of no consequence: ‘when you’re dead, you’re dead’ the saying goes—or as Bertrand Russell put it—‘When I die I rot’. If one can accept the philosophical conundrum posed, death is simply part of life. Thirdly, death is dramatised. This is particularly seen in the works of the French existentialists like Camus and Sartre. Here, death is seen as the ultimate absurdity in a world of absurdities, and either one capitulates to a meaningless existence in the face of death or one creates some sort of significance for one’s life in defiance of death. For many people the prevalent attitude towards death is best expressed by that oft-quoted saying of Woody Allen: ‘It’s not that I am afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.’ Christians of all people should not be surprised at this reaction, for it touches a very important part of the human psyche as God has made us—he has put ‘eternity on our minds’.”

Eternity comes to us not by way of the immortal soul however. It comes by resurrection to those who put their faith in Christ.

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Is Death Better By Far?

August 12, 2009 By admin 3 Comments

Does Paul’s desire “to depart and to be with Christ” show us that the believer goes immediately to “heaven” at death and thus that death is “better by far” than life? No way!

Once again we must ask, on the subject of the afterlife why was it that the only comfort Paul offered the Thessalonian Church was that the dead in Christ would be resurrected when Jesus comes again? (1Thess. 4:13-18). Likewise, in 1Corinthians 15, if Paul believed that the departed go straight to heavenly bliss why does he put forward no hope other than that of the resurrection?

Looking at Philippians 1:20-24 in context, we note the following:

1. It is in Paul’s body (not his “soul”) that he hopes Christ will be exalted, whether by life or death (20);

2. The “gain” Paul has in mind is first and foremost that to the cause of Christ through his dying a martyr’s death (20), then that which is to Paul personally from his martyrdom (21). He no doubt aspired to be like the many “others”, the unnamed heroes of the faith, who are mentioned in Hebrews 11, who “were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection.” (See Heb. 11:35);

3. So elsewhere Paul speaks of his desire to share in Christ’s sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so at length to attain to the resurrection from the dead (3:10-11);

4. In 2Tim. 4:6-8 too Paul speaks of his imminent death as a “departure”: beyond death however it is the “Day” of Christ’s return that he (along with everyone else) looks to;

5. Throughout the book of Philippians it is clearly the resurrection of the dead at Christ’s return upon which Paul fastens his hope: It is only then that “our lowly bodies … will be like his glorious body” (3:20-21).

Paul speaks not of his “soul” departing but of his whole self. His use of the term, “depart”, suggests a journey in which the beginning is death and the end is being with Christ. It is this end which is “better by far.”

Paul will be with Christ after death, but Philippians 1:23 tells us nothing as to how or when he will be with Christ. Elsewhere Paul makes it clear: It is by resurrection.

Meanwhile either by the way he lives his life, or by the way he dies a martyr’s death, Paul aims to exalt Christ.

This should be our aim too!

(First published in “From Death To Life”, Issue 27, p3).

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Conditional Immortality and Natural Immortality Compared (Part 2)

August 11, 2009 By admin 3 Comments

From, “What Is Conditional Immortality?” (Miscellaneous Comparisons with the Greek Doctrine of Natural Immortality) by Pastor Sidney A. Hatch, Brief Bible Studies: Vol. 20, No. 2, p.9-18.

Conditional Immortality recognises that only God has immortality (1 Tim. 6:16). It is an attribute of His essence or being. Any other creature or person that has immortality–or will have it–receives it from God. Jesus our Lord, the Son of God, received it at His resurrection from the dead.

Natural immortality opens the door to all sorts of vagaries, such as spiritualism, invocation of the saints, transmigration of souls, reincarnation, etc. If the dead are alive somewhere in the universe, perhaps man can communicate with them!

Conditional immortality closes the door on all such vagaries. The dead are totally unconscious in their graves. They “know not anything” (Eccles. 9:5); their thoughts have perished (Ps. 146:4).

Nevertheless, we shall see our loved ones again some day. This is very much a part of the hope of conditional immortality. However, this reunion will not be effected by our dying and going to heaven. Rather, it will be when Jesus comes to earth again: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-17).

Natural immortality is the very thing which the serpent in Eden offered to Eve: “Ye shall not surely die . . . ye shall be as gods (or God)” (Gen. 3:4-5). It is, essentially, that blindness with which “the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (2 Cor. 4:4).

Conditional immortality rejects the words of the serpent as a lie. By way of contrast, in the doctrine of conditional immortality, “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ . . . hath shined in our hearts” (2 Cor. 4:4,6). The gospel of Christ — life and immortality only through faith in Him — is utterly irreconcilable with the lie of the devil.

Natural immortality says that a Christian has the light of the gospel in his “soul” or immaterial entity; his “soul” has been “saved.” It identifies a person with his “soul,” the “soul” is of eternal worth. It is that part of a man which, through the brain, thinks.

Conditional immortality recognizes that we are “earthen vessels.” It identifies a person with his body. Christ, when raising the dead, spoke to the body, not to an immaterial entity. Man thinks in his brain, for God can create an instrument that thinks.

Conditional immortality or life only in Christ is, therefore, the light of the gospel. It is “this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Cor. 4:7). We are the “earthen vessels”!

Natural immortality was the message of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They believed the Greek view of the immortality of the soul. Josephus tells us this.

Jesus believed and taught conditional immortality. He said that Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter were asleep (Jn. 11:11; Lk. 8:52). He said the dead are in the graves, whence they shall “come forth” (Jn. 5:28-29). He presented Himself as the only source of immortality (Jn. 11:25-26).

Natural immortality came into the western world, and eventually into Christendom, through the teachings of Greek philosophers, especially Plato and his successors. It was part of that original “modernism” (Greco-Roman philosophy) which corrupted early Christianity.

Plato believed and taught that men possessed a personal immortality. The human soul was both immortal and divine. In its disembodied state, it shared the life of the gods (article “Plato,” Encyclopaedia Britannica).

I have observed that believers in natural immortality sometimes have recourse to Plato when defending their views about “the soul.” They seem to be unaware of his personal life. The “Symposium,” which, we are told, is the key to Plato’s philosophy, is supposed to be about “love.” But it is all about homosexuality, especially pederasty (cf. John Jay Chapman, Lucian, Plato, and Greek Morals, pp. 121-36).

Conditional Immortality comes only from the Word of God. Its message may be found from Genesis to Revelation. It is the true “orthodoxy” or “fundamentalism” of Scripture. It is mindful of Paul’s warning, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit” (Col. 2:8).

Conditional immortality utterly rejects the views of Plato regarding the nature of man. It derives its views from pure and unquestionable sources: A holy God, His inspired Word, and a sinless Saviour.

Ironically, the views of natural immortality are sometimes described as “fundamentalism.” This is due to its emphasis on “soul salvation,” heaven or hell at death, eternal torment, etc. Actually, however, it is a contemporary version of that original modernism mentioned above.

Conditional immortality is called “heresy” by some, “liberalism” by others. This is because it takes the words of Scripture at face value, and does not impose on them a philosophical meaning. The gospel issue is really “life” or “death,” not better housing in eternity! “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).

Conditional immortality, then, is the true and original orthodoxy. It is an effort to lay aside those aspects of philosophy which have corrupted Christianity, and return to the simple truths of the Bible.

A fervent preaching of the doctrines of natural immortality can make a preacher or religious leader very popular. It may seem strange, but it is not to be unexpected. people like to be told that there is no death, it is only, as the poet Longfellow once wrote, “transition.” The naivete of Eve has never died away (1 Tim. 2:14).

In times of grief, natural immortality offers a momentary comfort. Death is portrayed as a “friend,” and the grave as the portal to glory. But in doing so, it forfeits the triumph of the Christian hope of resurrection (1 Cor. 15:57).

Conditional immortality, on the other hand, can produce a mixed response. In my own experience, no other message has provoked such varied reactions, from enthusiastic interest to open hostility.

After all, the devil hates this message. It contradicts his false but soothing doctrine, “Ye shall not surely die.” Opposition, as in Jesus’ day, can arise from those in position of leadership who are anxious to maintain the traditions of the elders.

Also, the preacher of conditionalism may expect to be misrepresented as a “soul sleeper” and annihilationist.” But the Scriptures simply say that the wicked will “perish” or be destroyed. And a “soul” or “ghost” does not sleep in death, people sleep! “Lazarus sleepeth,” Jesus said.

But there are great consolations, even moments of excitement, in presenting life and immortality only in Christ. It can be true today, as in Jesus’ day: “The common people heard him gladly” Mk. 12: 37). There will be those who prove to be “good ground.” They will hear the word, receive it, and bring forth fruit (Mk. 4:20).

The conditionalist pastor can look at his flock, and say, as Paul to the Ephesian elders, “I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” Acts 20:26-27). Conditional immortality is the gospel for the strong, not the fearful.

Conditional immortality recognises the truth of Paul’s words, “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26). John wrote that in the new heavens and new earth “there shall be no more death.” God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be neither sorrow, nor crying, nor pain (Rev. 21:4).

Conditional immortality is the only true Scriptural comfort in time of death. The dead are “asleep” and know nothing of the passage of time. Therefore, to die, and someday be in the resurrection, is like going to bed at night, and waking up in the morning. “Joy cometh in the morning” (Ps. 30:5).

There is another contrast between the doctrines of natural immortality and those of conditional immortality which should be mentioned: Natural immortality has two hopes, conditional immortality has one.

Natural immortality’s first hope is to go to heaven at death. Its second hope is to be re-embodied later at the return of Christ. Thus natural immortality tries to combine the Greek hope of immortal souls going somewhere at death with the Christian hope of resurrection.

Conditional immortality’s one hope is the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. This is in keeping with the principle established by Paul: “There is . . . one hope of your calling” (Eph. 4:4). Jesus said, “I will come again” (Jn. 14:3). The conditionalist waits patiently for Him.

There is “a great gulf fixed” between conditional immortality and  natural immortality. They are actually two different religions. Yet there are those who lamely excuse themselves by asking. “Is it really important?” To this argument, we ask, “What communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14).

For the first few years of my ministry, I vigorously preached the doctrines of the  natural immortality of man. But, through personal study of the Scriptures, God changed my heart and mind. It was then that someone informed me that my new faith was “conditional immortality.” The term was new to me, but I knew its message was true!

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Conditional Immortality and Natural Immortality Compared (Part 1)

August 10, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

From, “What Is Conditional Immortality?” (Miscellaneous Comparisons with the Greek Doctrine of Natural Immortality) by Pastor Sidney A. Hatch, Brief Bible Studies: Vol. 20, No. 2, p.9-18.

Many times, over the years, I have remarked to people that I believe in conditional immortality. However, oftentimes, the response has simply been, “What is conditional immortality?” Perhaps, then, a few words of explanation will be in order.

There are, essentially, only two views of man’s nature, the primitive Biblical view, and the ancient philosophical view. The primitive Biblical view is the foundation of the doctrine of conditional immortality. The ancient philosophical view may be called natural or innate immortality.

Natural or innate immortality says that man is born with something immortal in him. Conditional immortality says just the opposite, there is nothing in man that is immortal.

Natural immortality says that this something in man lives on after death. It may be called “soul, spirit, ghost,” or something else, but it lives on as a conscious, thinking, immaterial entity.

Conditional immortality says that nothing lives on after death. The body returns to dust, and the “spirit” or “breath of life” returns to God who gave it (Eccles. 12:7). This spirit or breath of life is not a person or conscious entity. Rather, it is simply the life-force in man.

Natural immortality says that after death, during the so-called intermediate state, man’s “soul” or “immaterial entity” goes somewhere. Christians who profess faith in natural immortality say the soul goes to heaven, hell, or purgatory.

Others suggest various places (and here the doctrine of natural immortality fragments into many pieces): Elysium, Valhalla, the underworld of hades, a happy hunting ground, etc., etc.

Still other believers in natural immortality solve the problem by saying that the soul is reincarnated in another living creature, a human being, or one of the lower animals.

Conditional immortality says that a “soul” is a person. During the immediate state, his resting place is the grave, and, as God Himself says, he returns to dust (Gen. 3:19). But the Scriptures also describe this immediate state as “sleep” (Jn. 11:11: Lk. 8:52; I Thess. 4:13). This is because it will be interrupted someday by the return of Christ and the resurrection (awakening) of the dead.

Natural immortality claims to believe in the resurrection of the dead. But, in reality, its resurrection is simply the reincarnation someday of a man’s “soul” or “ghost” in a body.

According to conditional immortality, resurrection is that great moment when a re-creation takes place. The individual is brought back from the dust and “formed alive” again (Jn. 5:21; Rom. 8:11; I Cor. 15:22).

Natural immortality says that in the eternal state “lost souls” live (burn) in the fires of hell forever. This idea is so incomprehensibly horrible that some believers in natural immortality tone it down to “eternal separation” from God.

Conditional immortality says that “death” means death, the loss and deprivation of all life (Rom. 6:23). Since there is no such thing as “an immortal soul,” there is no such thing as eternal torment. In the judgment, the lost person is simply destroyed. This is the meaning of “perish” in John 3:16. This is the “second death” (Rev. 20:14).

Conditional immortality recognises that such a thing as the eternal torment of humans never entered the mind of God (Jer. 7:31). It is contrary to His holiness which includes a perfect justice (Deut. 32:4; Ps. 7:9; Rom. 2:5; I Pet. 1:16).

Natural immortality says that “hell” is a spirit-world of the dammed. “Sheol” and “hades” are regions of sorrow where the wicked are fully conscious. Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom where the refuse of Jerusalem was burned, denotes or signifies the place of eternal torment. Eternal torment, we are told, is the second death.

Conditional immortality says that “hell,” that is “sheol” and “hades,” are the grave. The grave– not a spirit-world– is the realm of the dead. Gehenna represents the destruction of the wicked, not their eternal torment.

Natural immortality creates a problem for itself when it says that the second death is eternal torment or eternal separation from God. Christ died for our sins, but He did not endure eternal torment. Who, then, has fully paid the penalty for sin? No one, according to natural immortality.

Conditional immortality has no such problems. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), and “Christ died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3). Full atonement has been made! The blood [=death] of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin (I Jn. 1:7).

Throughout history, natural immortality has had a tragic effect on society, organized Christianity, and even the human psyche. Traditionally, believers in natural immortality have persecuted those who rejected their doctrines.

Queen Mary of England (“Bloody Mary,” 1516-1558) burned heretics at the stake. She argued that the “souls” of heretics are hereafter to be eternally burning in hell. Hence, she added, there can be nothing more proper than for her to imitate the divine vengeance by burning them on earth (J.H.Petingell, The Unspeakable Gift, p. 278).

Even today, I have observed, believers in natural immortality can become very upset, even angry, when told that there is no such thing as eternal torment. Why, we may ask, this inexplicable loyalty to such a horrible doctrine? Certainly Satan would rejoice in the eternal torment of a victim, but not God, or a child of God.

The doctrines of conditional immortality are conducive to a Christian life that is kind, loving, and tolerant. The God of the conditionalist is both just and merciful, not a monster or fiend operating a torture chamber for all eternity somewhere in the universe.

The conditionalist often finds himself in a “minority status.” He recognises the practical need for tolerance, that men may live together in peace, and have liberty to study the Scriptures.

Natural immortality says that a person’s eternal destiny is settled and begins at death. He therefore begins his punishment before he appears before God to be judged. Obviously, a judgment day has been reduced to a judicial farce. (Theories of a purgatory only serve to complicate this!)

Conditional Immortality says that future judgment for all men takes place after a resurrection from the dead. While there may be different judgments, they all take place after one is raised from the dead (I Cor. 15:21-28; 2 Cor. 5:10; Rev. 20:4-6, 11-15).

Natural immortality says that salvation is by faith in Christ. However, by this it means that at death a Christian’s “soul” will go to heaven and not to hell. Christ is, therefore, the umpire or director of a great host of “immortal souls” which must, at death, travel through the invisible world, en route to heaven or hell.

Conditional immortality believes in salvation by faith in Christ. Christ alone is the worker of resurrection and the giver of immortal resurrection life (Jn. 11:25). At Christ’s return the believer is raised from the dead and given immortality. Conditional immortality is based on 1 Corinthians 15:57, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory [over death and the grave] through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Natural immortality does not know when a person receives his “immortal soul” or natural immortality. Is it handed down from generation to generation (“traducianism”)? Or is it created in the individual at conception, during pregnacy, or at birth (“creationism”)?

Conditional immortality knows exactly when a person receives immortality: It will be in the resurrection at the second coming of Christ– and not before. At that moment, this mortal will “put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:54).

Natural immortality cancels out the need for Christ’s return and the resurrection of the dead. If there is no return of Christ and resurrection of the dead, it will still be all right, for the “soul” is enjoying the bliss of heaven!

Conditional immortality makes the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead an absolute imperative. It agrees with Paul that if the dead rise not, “then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished” (1 Cor. 15:16-18).

Natural immortality says that man is worth saving because he has an “immortal soul” or he is an “eternal spirit.” He offers to God his “immortal soul” as a head-start on immortality and eternal life. Thus natural immortality compromises the grace of God.

Conditional immortality says that man is made of the soil of the earth and is a “living soul” (Gen. 2:7), not an “immortal soul.” As Abraham said, man is “but dust and ashes” (Gen. 18:27). He has nothing in himself to offer to God; he is utterly unworthy, both as to person and works (Isa. 64:6). He is completely dependent on Christ’s work on the cross, and God’s love and grace, to save him. Conditional immortality, therefore, is a message of pure grace.

Natural immortality exalts man to the point of blasphemy. The Scripture says that “[God] only hath immortality” (1 Tim. 6:16). Thus natural immortality claims for man a divine attribute. It comes close to the sin of Lucifer who said, “I will be like the most High” (Isai. 14:14).

Natural immortality cannot claim that man received his immortality at creation. The Hebrew term for “living soul” is also used of all the other animals at creation. According to the Hebrew text, they too are “living souls” (Gen. 1:20-21, 24, 30; 2:19). They too have the same “breath of life” or “spirit” that was breathed into man (Gen. 7:22).

Nor can natural immortality claim that “image of God” means that man is, in some way, immortal. In Genesis 1:26, the Hebrew words for “image” and “likeness” (tzelem and demuth) refer to form, shape, or physical likeness, not to some spiritual or moral attribute in man. Compare also such passages as 1 Corithians 11:7 and James 3:9.

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Answers To “A surprising Quiz” by Edward Fudge

August 8, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Yesterday I posted Edward Fudge’s  ”Q and A” style summary of what the Bible really says about the end of the wicked. Click here to read the questions. What follows below are the answers – with Scripture verses to justify the answers given.

1.   I hope you marked (c).  According to the Bible, the human being is a perishable creature wholly dependent on God for existence.

The notion that your mortal body houses some kind of immortal soul sprang from the pagan Greeks and was popularized by the philosophers Socrates and Plato. The “tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury” line originated with Shakespeare’s fictional Lady MacBeth, not with the Word of God.

Genesis 2:7; Psalms 103:14-16; Romans 6:23; 1 Tim. 6:16.

2.   Again the correct answer is (c).  Biblical writers point back to the Flood and to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to illustrate the fate awaiting the lost.

Adam and Eve walked away alive after their expulsion from Eden, something no one cast into hell will ever do, and the Bible does not say the Tower of Babel collapsed.  Jerusalem’s fall and the defeat of Spain’s navy armada don’t qualify here, either.

On the Flood, see Genesis 6-9 and 2 Peter 3:5-7.  Concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, see Genesis 19:24-29 and 2 Peter 2:6 and Jude 7.

3.   In the Bible, the expression “eternal fire” signifies choice (a), fire that destroys forever, as with Sodom and Gomorrah.

Popular tradition says hell will be like Moses’ Burning Bush which never went out, or like the non-consuming furnace into which their enemies threw Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  However, the Bible warns that hell is a consuming fire which destroys both body and soul.

Jude 7; Matthew 25:41; Matthew 10:28.

4.   This time (b) is biblical.  The “brimstone” in the expression “fire and brimstone” is burning sulfur that suffocates and destroys.

The figure comes from the destruction of Sodom, which was incinerated without a trace. God is love, not an eternal torturer. The Bible really means it when it says the wages of sin is death!

Genesis 19:24-25, 29; Deuteronomy 29:22-23; Psalms 11:6; Ezekiel 38:22; Revelation 14:10; Romans 6:23.

5.   Surprise!  Throughout the Bible, “gnashing of teeth” denotes (c) extreme anger and hostility.

The picture of people grinding their teeth in unending torment owes more to Dante’s Inferno than it does to the Bible.  We learn about gingivitis, of course, from a television commercial for a brand of mouthwash.

Job 16:9; Psalms 35:16; Psalms 37:12; Psalms 112:10; Lamentations 2:16; Acts 7:54; Matthew 13:43, 49-50; Matthew 22:13-14; Matthew 24:50-51; Matthew 25:30; Luke 13:28.

6.   Again (b) is biblical.  Smoke rising symbolizes a completed desolation or annihilation, if we let Scripture interpret itself.

This figure of speech also originates with the annihilation of Sodom and Gomorrah, and appears in both the Old and New Testaments afterward.  Hell might well involve conscious pain, but conscious suffering will be according to God’s perfect justice and will stop with the death of both body and soul in hell.  (You didn’t guess the one about cigarettes anyway, did you?)

Genesis 19:27-28; Isaiah 34:10-15; Revelation 14:11; Revelation 18:17-18; Malachi 4:1-3.

7.   See for yourself!  When Scripture speaks of smoke rising “forever,” it signifies (a) destruction that will be irreversible.

That battery-powered rabbit came from the television commercials — it is no more biblical than the other choice, the notion of unending conscious torment.

Isaiah 34:10-15; Revelation 14:11.

8.   Another big surprise for most folks!  The “worm” in the expression “worm that dies not” is (a) a maggot that feeds on something dead until there is nothing left on which to feed.

The idea of everlasting agony in torment originated with former pagan Greek philosophers who also thought human beings had a “soul” which will never die.  More tender-hearted traditionalists later defined the “worm” as a pained conscience.  If they had read Isaiah 66:24 in context, they could have avoided the confusion to start with.

Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:47-48.

9.   This time (c) is correct.  The expression “unquenchable fire” in the Bible always signifies fire which cannot be resisted and which therefore consumes entirely.

Long after Christ, certain church fathers invented the doctrine of hell as a fire which burns forever but never burns up what is put in it.

Isaiah 1:31; Jeremiah 4:4; Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel 20:47-48; Amos 5:5-6; Matthew 3:12.  Contrast human fire which can be quenched or put out, mentioned in Hebrews 11:34.

10.   No surprise here if you chose (b).  The Old Testament’s final book describes the end of sinners as ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous.

Long after Malachi, the apocryphal book of Judith introduced the non-scriptural idea that God will put fire and worms in people’s flesh so they will feel pain forever.

Malachi 4:1-3.

11.   John the Baptist warned of “unquenchable fire,” by which Jesus would (a) burn up the “chaff”.  Not surprising, since fire that cannot be extinguished (quenched) does exactly what we expect fire to do!

Missing this biblical truth, some later theologians claimed that God will torment the lost forever and never let them die, while others theorized that God will purge sinners of all evil and then send them to heaven.  Both theories have modern advocates, but neither of them reflects the Bible’s teaching.

Matthew 3:12.

12.   Jesus compared the end of the wicked to someone burning chaff, dead trees or weeds, and also said it will be like a house destroyed by a hurricane or someone crushed under falling rock.  Check (c) here to be correct.

Matthew 3:12; Matthew 7:19; Matthew 13:30, 40; Matthew 7:27; Luke 20:17-18.

13.   Choice (a) is accurate on this one.  Jesus personally described Gehenna (hell) as a place where God can destroy both soul and body — the entire person.

The just and loving God of the Bible who loved sinners all the way to the Cross will certainly not perpetuate the soul in everlasting agony.  On the other hand, if you pictured Satan reigning over his evil subjects and torturing damned humans, you might be watching too much late-night television!

Matthew 10:28.

14.   If you selected choice (d), you are right on target.  By describing hell’s punishment as “eternal,” the Bible tells us that it is a punishment which occurs in the Age to Come rather than during this life, and also that its results will be everlasting.

You’ll find nothing in Scripture about eternal life in horrible agony and pain. Jesus warns of everlasting punishment — which Paul further explains as everlasting destruction.

Matthew 25:46; 2 Thessalonians 1:9.

15.   The context and “punch line” of the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus concern (b) the urgency of responding to God while there is opportunity.

When they read this passage carefully, most people are surprised to find that the context of Jesus’ parable has nothing to do with what happens to the wicked after resurrection and judgment, or even about a so-called “intermediate state” (which is not necessarily the same as what happens after resurrection and final judgment).

See Luke 16:9-16 for the context, and Luke 16:31 for the “punch line.”

16.   It’s choice (b) again.  Throughout his writings, Paul says that the lost will:  (b) die, perish, and be punished with eternal destruction.

If you picked choice (a) “go to hell and burn alive forever,” you will really be surprised when you look for anything like that in Paul’s writings.  Choice (c) is wrong, since all who finally inhabit God’s eternal kingdom will enjoy every “minute” of unending eternity!

Romans 6:23; Romans 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 3:17; Philippians 1:28; Philippians 3:19.

17.   The New Testament uses the adjective “immortal” to describe (b) the resurrection bodies of the saved but not of the lost.

Some philosophers in Paul’s day taught that every person has an immortal soul — a doctrine which later crept into the Christian church but is now increasingly rejected as unbiblical. Still others said no one will ever be “immortal” or deathless. Scripture rejects both those errors, when it declares that there is life only in Christ but promises that all who truly trust him will live forever!  You will always be correct to remember that the Bible always ascribes immortality to the saved, never to the lost; always in the resurrection, never now; and always in a glorified body, never as a disembodied “soul” or “spirit.”

1 Corinthians 15:54-57; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 John 5:11-13.

18.   Did you choose (b)?  Good for you!  The Jewish-Christian books of Hebrews and James do indeed contrast salvation with inescapable destruction.

Read every word and you’ll never find a hint of unending conscious pain.  Going “gently into that good night” is poetic but comes from Welsh poet Dylan Thomas rather than the Bible.

Hebrews 10:27, 39; Hebrews 12:25, 29; James 4:12; James 5:3, 5, 20.

19.   Choice (c) is correct.  Peter’s epistles clearly say that the lost will be burned to ashes like Sodom and Gomorrah and will perish like brute beasts.

2 Peter 2:6, 12; 2 Peter 3:6-9.

20.   John is careful to define the “lake of fire” in Revelation as (c) the second death.

Read from Genesis to Revelation and you’ll never find a picture of indescribable, everlasting torture.  Does that come as a surprise?

Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8.

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A Surprising Quiz by Edward Fudge

August 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Edward Fudge presents this “Q and A” style summary of what the Bible really says about the end of the wicked.

The Bible warns that those who reject God’s mercy now will face him in judgment one day and be banished into hell.  But did you know that many popular ideas about hell actually sprang from ancient pagan myths and not from the Word of God?

In the following quiz, see if you can spot the biblical truth and the traditions of men. After the quiz, you’ll find the correct answers — and references to appropriate biblical passages for further study.

____________________________________________________

1. According to the Bible, the human being is:

a. a mortal body housing an immortal soul;

b. a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury;

c. a perishable creature wholly dependent on God for existence.

____________________________________________________

2. Two historical events which biblical writers use most often to illustrate God’s final judgment against the wicked are:

a.   expulsion from Eden and the collapse of the Tower of Babel;

b.   the fall of Jerusalem and the defeat of the Spanish Armada;

c.   the Flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

____________________________________________________________

3. Based on an actual event, the Bible uses the expression “eternal fire” to signify:

a.   fire that destroys forever (Sodom and Gomorrah);

b.   fire that cannot destroy what is put in it (Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego);

c.   fire that continues to burn indefinitely (the Burning Bush of Moses).

____________________________________________________________

4. The “brimstone” in “fire and brimstone” is:

a.   a symbol of terrible torture;

b.   burning sulfur that suffocates and destroys;

c.   a preserving agent that keeps someone alive forever.

____________________________________________________________

5. Throughout the Bible, “gnashing of teeth” denotes:

a. excruciating pain and agony;

b. gingivitis;

c. extreme anger and hostility.

____________________________________________________________

6. When the Bible portrays “smoke rising” to warn of judgment, we should think of:

a. people suffering horrible pain;

b. a completed desolation or annihilation;

c. a closed arena when cigarettes were still allowed.

____________________________________________________________

7. When Scripture speaks of smoke rising “forever,” it signifies:

a. a destruction that will be irreversible;

b. conscious torment that never ends;

c. a battery-powered rabbit that short circuited.

_______________________________________________________

8. The “worm” in the expression “worm that dies not” is:

a. a maggot that feeds on something dead;

b. a symbol for a pained conscience;

c. a figure of speech standing for everlasting agony in torment.

____________________________________________________________

9. Throughout the Bible, the expression “unquenchable fire” always signifies:

a. fire which burns forever but never burns up what is put in it;

b. fire which comes from a volcano;

c. fire which is irresistible and therefore consumes entirely.

____________________________________________________________

10. The Old Testament’s final description of the end of sinners states that:

a. God will put fire and worms in their flesh and they will feel their pain forever;

b. they will be ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous;

c. neither of the above.

____________________________________________________________

11. John the Baptist warned of “unquenchable fire,” by which Jesus would:

a. burn up the “chaff”;

b. torment the lost forever and never let them die;

c. purge sinners of all evil and then send them to heaven.

____________________________________________________________

12. Jesus compared the end of the wicked to:

a. someone burning chaff, dead trees or weeds;

b. a house destroyed by a hurricane or someone crushed under a boulder;

c. all the above.

____________________________________________________________

13. Jesus personally described Gehenna (hell) as a place where:

a. God is able to destroy both soul and body;

b. God will perpetuate the soul in everlasting agony;

c. Satan reigns over his evil subjects and tortures damned humans.

____________________________________________________________

14. The phrase “eternal punishment” signifies:

a. punishment which occurs in the Age to Come rather than during this life;

b. eternal life in horrible agony and pain;

c. punishment which has everlasting results;

d. (a) and (c) but not (b).

____________________________________________________________

15. The context and “punch line” of the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus talk about:

a. what happens to the wicked after resurrection and judgment;

b. the urgency of responding to God while there is opportunity;

c. details about the “intermediate state” between death and resurrection.

____________________________________________________________

16. Throughout his writings, Paul says that the lost will:

a. go to hell and burn alive forever;

b. die, perish, and be punished with eternal destruction;

c. go to heaven but hate every minute of it.

____________________________________________________________

17. The New Testament uses the adjective “immortal” to describe:

a. the soul of every person, good or evil;

b. the resurrection bodies of the saved but not of the lost;

c. no human being now or hereafter.

____________________________________________________________

18. The Jewish-Christian books of Hebrews and James contrast salvation with:

a. unending conscious pain;

b. inescapable destruction;

c. going “gently into that good night.”

____________________________________________________________

19. Peter’s epistles say that the lost will:

a. be burned to ashes like Sodom and Gomorrah;

b. perish like brute beasts;

c. both the above.

____________________________________________________________

20. John interprets his vision in Revelation of a “lake of fire” as:

a. a picture of indescribable, everlasting torture;

b. a place Eskimos might like to visit;

c. the second death.


Check out the answers tomorrow or if you can’t wait go to Edward Fudge’s website and scroll down to the bottom of the page

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Destroyed Forever

August 5, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

In an article entitled Destroyed For Ever: An Examination of the Debates Concerning Annihilation and Conditional Immortality (Themelios, 1996) Tony Gray did an excellent job of summarising recent scholarly debate over conditional immortality.

He concludes “that the torrent of books and articles against annihilationism may have left some of its arguments ignored or in the background” and that “annihilationism is at the very least an option that ought to be considered fairly and honestly”. At the same time he suggests that “there remain major problems which proponents of the doctrine [annihilationism] must tackle.” Chief among these he suggests “hermeneutics, concepts of justice and assumptions about immortality.” He suggests that “much is left for future discussion and debate” and echoes John Stott’s plea for “frank dialogue among evangelicals on the basis of Scripture.”

The article is well worth reading in full.

(Note. The cover shown here is not that of the issue in which the article referred to appears).

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Resurrection Hope: Advantages of this Doctrine

August 4, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Resurrection Hope, by David A. Dean, Advent Christian General Conference, 1992, p. 73-74.

“Few doctrines are filled with more practical consequences than the biblical teaching that all the dead are asleep or unconscious.

First, the “sleep of the dead” guarantees that proper prominence will be given to the great truth of the resurrection of the dead.

Since the dead are asleep they can receive neither reward nor punishment until they are raised. The teaching that the saints go immediately to heaven at death tends to depreciate the value and need of the resurrection of the body. It is not the location of the dead, whether they are in heaven or in the ground, that is the major issue. The key question is the condition of the dead, that is, do they know where they are, or are they unconscious of all matters?

Second, the “sleep of the dead” brings comfort to those who remain. the believer who is dead “sleeps in Jesus” and is in the care and keeping of his saviour until the resurrection morning. The dead have neither ceased to exist eternally nor have they gone to their reward. Rather they rest in Christ’s keeping awaiting His return.

A third advantage is that the “sleep of the dead” means that all Christians of human history are only one life time away from Christ’s return. Time, to one who sleeps in death, is not time because its passage is not felt. One moment, or one year, or ten thousnd years, to him who sleeps throughout are all the very same. Each period is alike to the sleeper. It is as a moment of time, or rather as no time at all. He sleeps – he wakes. He knows nothing else when he wakes but that he has been asleep.

Either Christ will come before we die or the next moment of consciousness after physical death the Christian will hear the resurrection call of Christ. This doctrine makes every generation equally close to Christ’s second coming.

Finally, the  truth of the “sleep of the dead ” provides a strong refutation of many prevalent false ideas today. The current emphasis on the occult and upon communicating with the dead is cut off at the roots if the dead are asleep. We need not wonder whether the ghosts of the dead are haunting us. And we need not mourn that those who are dead are hurt by our actions here and now.”

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Is Man Immortal?

July 22, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

By A.A. Phelps, A.M. Late Free Methodist Minister, U.S.A.

[Bible Standard, No. 2, November, 1877, pp12-14.]

For many years I tenaciously clung to the dogma of natural immortality. At length I so far laid aside my prejudice as to give the whole subject a thorough investigation. I became intensely in earnest to know the truth, whatever might befall my preconceived opinions. This investigated resulted in a radical revolution of sentiment in regard to man’s nature and the sinner’s destiny. I have been compelled by an overwhelming array of Scripture evidence, to reject and repudiate the current doctrine of natural immortality. I subjoin a few reasons, very briefly stated for this rejection.

1. The doctrine of natural immortality has a very unfavourable origin.   It can be traced back through the Romish Church to the Pharisees, and from them to the heathen philosophers and idolatrous Egyptians! Who advocated it. They probably received it by a sort of Satanic mesmerism; for the old Serpent first published the doctrine amid the lovely bowers of Eden in these words: “Ye shall not surely die.” (Gen. 3:4). A dogma that was invented by the devil, received by Pagans, nurtured by Papists, and adopted by Protestants, ought to be looked upon with some suspicion.

2. It is at variance with the inspired record of man’s creation. His origin is succinctly stated thus: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7.) There is not the faintest intimation here of an invisible intangible, imponderable, immaterial, immortal conscious entity, without length, breadth, or thickness, without exterior or interior, capable of thinking, knowing, and feeling, independent of the body, and destined to live through all the years of God.

3. It clashes with the Bible account of man’s fall. Adam was placed on probation. A simple test was applied. Obedience would have brought immortality, while disobedience would as certainly result in mortality. The penalty was thus briefly stated: “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen 2:17,) or , “dying thou shalt die.” Whn a term is used for the first time, it ought to be used in a plain, natural, literal sense. It was so used in Eden. If the penalty in Eden was moral death, then the doctrine of Universalism is true; “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22.)  Adam sinned. He at once became a dying man. He was driven out of paradise, “lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.” (Gen. 3:22.) O, it was the hand of love that pushed fallen and sinful man aside; that shut him away from the tree of life, and thus cut off all possibility of his becoming immortal in sin and misery!

4.   It renders the execution of the sinner’s penalty impossible. God allowed the race to be propagated under the malediction of physical death, yet coupled with provisions for the future. Adam’s disobedience lands all his progeny in the grave; but Christ’s obedience lifts them all out of it. The whole human family share so fully in the atonement of Jesus as to have secured to them an unconditional resurrection from the Adamic death. Every man must now stand or fall for himself. Whoever will come into the glorious plan will be eternally saved. Whoever refuses must die for his own sins. This awful doom awaits the impenitent, after the judgement verdicts shall have been pronounced. In various phrases do the Scriptures teach the final extermination of the wicked in the “lake of fire.” They shall “die.” They shall “perish.” They shall be “destroyed.” They shall be “consumed.” They shall be “burnt up, root and branch.”  Such a destiny would be impossible, if man possessed an immortal soul.

5. Immortality is never ascribed to man. In our common version [the KJV] the term “immortal” occurs only once, and is then applied to God. (1 Tim. 1:17.) The term “immortality” is found five times; from which we learn: (1) that God only possesses it (1 Tim. 6:16); (2) that Christ brought it to light in the Gospel (2 Tim. 1:10); (3) that we are to seek for it (Rom. 2:7); and (4 and 5) that Christians are to put it on at the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:53, 54). Such terms as “undying soul,” “deathless soul,” “never dying spirit,” though so common in theology are nowhere to be found in the Bible. So far from teaching that immortality is a birthright possession, the Scriptures everywhere hold it up as a priceless boon to besought – a blessing for which we are entirely dependent upon Jesus Christ, the great Life-giver.

6. The doctrine of natural immortality supersedes the necessity of a resurrection. The difference between Church theology and Bible theology is this: the former predicates a future life upon the assumed fact of inherent immortality; the latter predicates it upon a resurrection from the dead. There is a natural antagonism between the two positions. Hence it is that the glorious doctrine of the resurrection, so conspicuous in the teaching of Christ and the Apostles, has fallen into disrepute. Many popular divines utterly repudiate it. Others habitually ignore it. In the Churches generally, very little stress is laid upon it. Indeed, why should there be if the prevailing notions are correct? If death is a grand emancipation, coming with a friendly hand to open our prison and let us go free, if “death is the gate to endless joys,” if the dead are not really dead, but more fully alive than ever; then a resurrection is entirely superfluous, and ought to be rejected.

7. It reduces the judgement scene to a nullity. If the current view is correct, that the real man is immortal, “shuffling off this mortal coil” and entering upon his reward at death, surely a judgement day would be entirely useless. Consistency demands that we should either give up the idea of a coming tribunal, or cease to believe that man can be rewarded before he is judged. Popular theology would have us believe that Christians are continually flying up to heaven, and sinners sinking down to hell! That the one class are already crowned with glory, and the other class already cursed with the pangs of their merited doom, but that there is still a day of judgement, when the saints are to be rallied from their abode of blessedness, and sinners are to be brought out of prison of despair; that they are to receive their formal sentence, and then be sent back to their former abodes of blackness or bliss! Can anyone seriously believe that God’s administration will ever be so absurd?

8. It subverts the doctrine of Christ’s second coming. If men are rewarded and punished in a “disembodied” state, there is no need of Christ’s coming to raise the dead. If the destinies of men can be adjusted at death, there is no need of Christ’s coming to judge the world. If the saints are to live forever in heaven, there is no need of Christ’s coming to renew the earth and to set up His kingdom upon it; for it would be a lovely reign with every saint in heaven, and every sinner removed to a distant hell. Surely there is no adequate reason why Christ should ever return to earth if the prevalent ideas of man’s nature and destiny are correct. Is it any wonder that so little stress is laid upon the doctrine of Christ’s personal coming? The traditions of men have displaced this glorious truth, and turned the whole system of revealed religion into a terrible moral chaos!

9. The dogma of natural immortality is the fruitful source of dangerous error. It has given birth to a hateful progeny. It is the foundation of the worst religious developments that have ever cursed the earth. The intelligent reader will hardly venture to deny that Mormonism, Mahometanism, Swedenborgianism, Shakerism, and Spiritualism are built upon the assumed fact that man is immortal.  It is the boasted mission of Spiritualism, indeed, to teach that “man has an immortal soul.” The whole system depends upon it. And yet it is but a natural and logical outgrowth from what the Churches generally advocate as “orthodoxy.” Spiritualism is “orthodoxy” gone to seed. Nor can we with any consistency pour out denunciations upon a class religionists for having travelled legitimately to certain conclusions from the premises we have so generously granted them. Who does not know that Mariolatry and Purgatory are based upon the assumption that dead folks are alive? Let the Scripture fact that “the dead know not anything” be established; and there will be no more money paid to have departed friends prayed through the pains of Purgatory! Let the whole Catholic Church be convinced that the virgin Mary is now dead and she will cease to be an object of worship. The horrid doctrine of eternal torment would never have found a place in the Church of God but for the antecedent notion of natural immortality. This granted, the other is a logical necessity, unless it can be shown that all men are to be saved. But the doctrine of endless misery is so foul a slander on God’s character that many have been compelled to repudiate it. Assuming that man is immortal the only alternative is eternal torment or universalism. The latter is a natural rebound from the former. If men are to exist eternally, they must exist in a state of happiness or misery. The one being rejected, the other must be accepted. The consequence is, that the dogma of unending agony is making men universalists and infidels on a large scale. Universalism and endless misery are both built upon the foundation of inherent immortality. They are the dangerous extremes. The truth lies between them. But enough. The bitterness of the fruit attests the badness of the tree.

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Plato versus Christ

July 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

“The Son quickeneth whom he will.” - John 5:21

Sidney Hatch; Brief Bible Studies, Vol. 21, No.1, p. 21.

The Greek philosopher Plato has been called “the prophet of the doctrine of immortality.” By this, of course, is meant the immortality of a human soul.

It was Plato’s earnest undertaking to prove the eternal existence of the soul – its pre-existence, its present existence, and its continued  existence after death. Thus, to Plato, death was the medium to a blissful future, for it meant the release of the soul from the body (cf. Dollinger, The Gentile and the Jew, I, 336).

By way of contrast, Jesus of Nazareth may be called the prophet of the resurrection of the dead. Not only did He teach a resurrection from the dead, He also claimed the power and authority to perform that resurrection.

He told Peter and the disciples that “the gates of hell” would not prevail against His “church” or “congregation” (Mt. 16:18). The power of the grave could not keep them. Someday, in resurrection, they would come forth.

He told the Jews that as the Father raises up the dead, and forms them alive, so He, the Son, forms them alive. Resurrection power has been committed to the Son of God (Jn. 5:21).

Finally, Jesus said that some day the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God — and those who hear that voice will come to life again (Jn. 5:25). They will live again in resurrection.

Jesus of Nazareth proved His claims. He brought the widow’s son back to life (Lk. 7:15). He raised the little maid, Jairus’ daughter (Lk. 8:55). And finally, He raised Lazarus from the dead (Jn. 11:44).

The philosopher Plato never really proved his claims as to “the immortality of the human soul.” One of his so-called proofs was to accept as a certain fact the pre-existence of the soul (cf. Dollinger, op. cit., p. 337)!

Plato and his followers have never captured a so-called “soul” and put it on display. They have always had much help from the doctrines and practices of spiritualism, and from demons that impersonate “departed souls.” But the evidence is rejected, both by careful students of Scripture, and by reasonable men.

In view of these facts, is it not reasonable that we reject Plato’s doctrine, and accept that of Christ? One excludes the other. If we have immortal souls, then we really do not need a resurrection from the dead — in fact, we do not really die!

But God’s Word tells us that death is conquered, not by Plato’s philosophy, but by Christ’s resurrection from the dead, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory [over death and the grave] through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).

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The Body Dies, The Person Dies, Then What?

July 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Craig C. Hill, In God’s Time: The Bible and the Future (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2002), 5, says “More characteristic of both ancient Judaism and early Christianity is the belief that the person is a psychosomatic whole. No soul exists independent of a body, so when the body dies, the person dies.”

Anthony Hoekema in his book, also tittled The Bible and the Future (Exeter: Paternoster, 1978), 91 says,  “We conclude that the concept of the immortality of the soul is not a distinctively Christian doctrine. Rather, what is central in biblical eschatology is the doctrine of the resurrection of the body.”

Later, he says, “The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that the resurrection of Christ is the pledge and guarantee of the future resurrection of believers” ( p. 245-46).

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Immortality of the Soul Rooted in Platonism and Neoplatonism

July 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Donald G. Bloesch, in The Last Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2004), 114, says, “In the history of the church the Christian teaching of the resurrection of the body has again and again been challenged by the mystical notion of the inherent immortality of the soul, which has its roots in Platonism and Neoplatonism.”

Emil Brunner, in Eternal Hope (London: Lutterworth Press, 1954), 100, says, “For the history of Western thought, the Platonic teaching of the immortality of the soul became of special significance. It penetrated so deeply into the thought of Western man because, although with certain modifications, it was assimilated by Christian theology and church teaching, was even declared by the Lateran Council of 1512 to be dogma, to contradict which was a heresy, and likewise from Calvin onwards it was assumed in post-Reformation Protestantism to be a part of Christian doctrine. Only recently, as a result of deepened understanding of the New Testament, have strong doubts arisen as to its compatibility with the Christian conception of the relation between God and man, and its essentially pre-Christian origin has been ever more emphasized.”

He goes on to say, “That this dualistic conception of man does not correspond to the Christian outlook can be shown from various angles. The contrast stands out most clearly in the two following points. The effect of this Platonic dualism is not merely to make death innocuous but also to rob evil of its sting.” (p. 101 ).

“In the process there took place a substantial transformation of the New Testament hope of the end: it passed from being universal hope relevant to all mankind to being a personal hope relevant to the individual life.” (p. 133).

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Role of Resurrection Assigned to Death?

July 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Bulletin. The Word of Truth Ministry, Volume 2, No. 36, June 2005, p.1.

“Thoughts from the Editor”, Jane S. Hancock .

“In a newspaper article, Otis Q. Sellers said this about death and what the world believes: “…most professing Christians are living in a constant state of ignorance and unbelief so far as God’s revelation concerning death is concerned. They refuse to inform themselves, they close their eyes to all Biblical facts, and thus they stand as truth rejecters in the sight of God….”The salient Biblical fact concerning death is that it is the end of life, not the beginning of anew one. In other words, the Bible teaches that the dead are dead until they are raised from it.

If this is not true, then death is meaningless and resurrection is more so. If death is a reality, then resurrection is also.”The widespread view is a philosophy that makes death to be the open door or introductory event to a larger and fuller life. Thus the role of resurrection is assigned to death. This is not right”.

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On The Fate of the Dead

July 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Richard Bauckham, in The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1998), says (p. 275): “…earliest Jewish notion of resurrection was that the dead would return from the place of the dead to life on earth. It presupposed the existence of the dead as shades in

Sheol and imagined those shades returning from Sheol to real life. Because ancient Israelite thought made no sharp distinctions between Sheol and the grave or between the dead person in Sheol and the body in the grave, such distinctions did not belong to the original notion of resurrection…Since death was not conceived as the separation of the person from their body, but as the death of the bodily person, so resurrection was not the reunion of person and body, but the resurrection of the bodily person. The notion is not the resurrection of the body so much as the bodily resurrection of the dead.”

In Regards to the Apocalyptic Jewish Literature he goes on to say (p. 276-77) “…older ways of thinking and speaking of resurrection, simply as the return of the dead from Sheol, persisted alongside newer, dualistic ideas of a reunion of soul and body…Older and newer ways of speaking of resurrection were not necessarily perceived as contradictory and may both be used by the same writer.”

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Hope Against Hope

July 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Richard Bauckham and Trevor Hart, in Hope Against Hope (London: Darton Longman and Todd, 1999), 126, say:

“Since the churches struggle with Gnosticism in the second and third centuries, bodily resurrection (though often conceived as the resurrection of the body to be reunited with an immortal soul) has been orthodox belief, a doctrinal bulwark against Manichean or Platonist depreciations of matter, a reminder that the material world, including human bodies, is God’s good creation, with eternal, not merely transient, value. The persistent influence of Platonism in the Christian tradition had frequently meant that in practise Christians have believed in the immortality of the soul rather than bodily resurrection. Other influences in the modern period have made this still the case in much popular belief, despite the fact that modern scientific understanding of human nature makes holistic resurrection more easily meaningful for us than disembodied survival.”

(they go on to say (p. 130), “What was largely lost was the hope for a transcendent future of this world. That this is indeed the biblical and Christian hope has been frequently reaffirmed in recent theology, but has still to capture the imagination of most contemporary Christians.”

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