The MORTALITY Issue of the HUMAN SOUL (A Sequel) When God formed man, He took dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a LIVING SOUL. There is an issue regarding the soul of man among Christians. The mainstream belief of so many Christians is that the human soul is IMMORTAL! I don’t know where in the Bible they got this doctrine. Now, I know why my detractors in the previous post entitled “Addendum” to Deluded and Deceived Christian insisted that man was created by God immortal even before the fall. Despite the clear, convincing and overwhelming evidence to the contrary. It was God Himself Who pronounced that to Adam “You will surely die”; but they continue to contradict this “truth” and instead cling and continue to concur with the line of the serpent (the Devil) who lied and deceived Eve when the serpent said, “You will NOT surely die.” This is clearly a conflict between TRUTH and LIE; a conflict between the “Teaching of God and the “Teaching of Men.” They connect this soul issue also to the mortality issue of man. To prove to them (my detractors) that man indeed was created mortal even before he sinned against God; I told them that, “Sin or no sin, man will die anyway eventually because of his nature that he is mortal.” They bit my bait strategy; and they devoured and gobbled the subject like crazy. May be, they were unaware that they have constructively conceded to my view which they previously denied that man was and is mortal. So, they formed two threads and challenged me in the first thread to a debate with the proposition: “Was sin the cause of the death of man or not?” I was on the negative side using Genesis 2:16-17 as our Scriptural basis. Their lead debater who is a senior Pastor opened by asking me this question; Do you agree that sin had a consequence on Adam and Eve when they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree? I said, Yes, I agree! When my turn came, I ask him this question; Did Adam and Eve die that day when they disobeyed God? He could not answer. I have to ask the same question 4 times without responsive answer and I said that if you will not answer, I am out of here. He finally answered and said NO. Then I said, that’s it, end of the debate. You just validated my position with your answer. Definition of terms: Soul- Life in the physical body; Mortal- Subject to death; Immortal- Not subject to death: deathless; Death- It is the absence of life; It is the cessation of all vital functions of physical/natural life. The Bible mentions three kinds of death; the physical death, the spiritual death and the Second death. The mortality issue of the soul is connected with the physical death. This is NOT annihilation but the temporary absence of life. Sometimes, in lieu of death; the word “sleep” was used by Jesus, Paul and also by Daniel. It is a “metaphor”; which suggests that one day in the future those who died will be awakened. Why did Jesus or Paul use the word “sleep” instead? I believe that they used that word to soften the impact and trauma of death upon the bereaved loved ones. To give some clarification to this issue, it will help if we first know and understand the nature of man. Based on the psychological point of view, man is composed of two elements; “body and soul.” From the perspective of Theologians however, man is composed of three elements; “spirit, soul and body.” Both views are correct! This analysis or anatomy of the nature of man is only for the purpose of knowing and understanding the complex structure and the interrelations of the elements of the human personality. Man is an “integrated” being. He is basically a “body and soul” and either of this human element is the integral and essential part of man’s existence. Meaning to say, one can CANNOT SURVIVE without the other. When the word “BODY” is mentioned in the Bible, it is “implied” that it has a “SOUL”. Conversely, when the word “soul” is mentioned, it is “implicit” with a “body.” The life of the body is the soul. When the BODY dies, the SOUL dies as well! The Proponents of the doctrine that the “soul is immortal” misconstrue the meaning of Matthew 10:28 which says, “And fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him who is able destroy both body and soul in hell.” This is one verse that proves that HUMAN SOUL is MORTAL! It can be killed! When I asked one Pastor who is a proponent of immortal soul this question, what is killed in a body? He could not answer! It is because what is killed in a body is the “soul” that gives life to the body. So, therefore, when the body is killed, the soul is also killed which resulted in death, physical death. The first part of this verse which says, “kill the body” is presumed to be killing done by men. The second part of this verse says, “But is NOT able to “KILL the SOUL.” What did Jesus mean by this? This latter part of this verse has an “eschatological dimension!” The SOUL that CANNOT be killed has already attained IMMORTALITY. Why? Because that soul has already been RESURRECTED! This explains why there are souls in Heaven in Rev. 6:9. They have been resurrected, have become immortal and are now in Heaven. The fall of man brought a tragic consequence of death (Spiritual) to mankind. So, death has become a reality of life from then on as Solomon said, “there is a time to be born and a time to die”. Death is one appointment that no man can avoid. The ISSUE is whether or not the soul of man survives physical death. In other words; is the human soul immortal? Many pastors disagree with the definition of death aforementioned. They say that death is “separation”. When I asked one of them, what separates during death? He answered, the “immaterial” from the “material”. When I asked him again to elaborate, he did not answer. He probably is referring to the separation of the soul from the body, meaning the soul survives death. What is WORSE according to this group, after death, the soul of man (assuming he is a committed Christian) IMMEDIATELY goes to Heaven. This doctrine is “FALLACIOUS” big time! It entangles the subject with much error. There is NO evidence from the Bible to this effect. It is based on CONJECTURE, SPECULATION and is MISLEADING! It has NO legs to stand on when subjected to direct or collateral attack! GOD is IMMORTAL! And Angels are immortal too, but not man! The Bible say, “.. The SOUL that sinneth, IT SHALL DIE.” So, when a man dies, his soul also dies! What SOUL are you talking about going to Heaven when it is “DEAD”. Everyone has to wait for the RESURRECTION before he can attain IMMORTALITY “as a rule”! This means that those Christians and Old Testament Saints who died already will NOT be conscious until the time of RESURRECTION.
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 10:18:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015