{"id":406,"date":"2018-02-18T21:37:59","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T21:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publications.cog7.org\/?page_id=406"},"modified":"2022-02-08T14:49:30","modified_gmt":"2022-02-08T14:49:30","slug":"death-and-immortality","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/publications.cog7engage.net\/tracts-books\/tracts\/the-future\/death-and-immortality\/","title":{"rendered":"Death and Immortality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Click Cover to Download<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Consider four major concepts about human beings in relation to death and the hereafter:<\/p>\n

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  1. Humans are spiritual beings destined for a succession of future lives by reincarnation.<\/li>\n
  2. Humans are mere animals destined for oblivion, with no hope for more life after death.<\/li>\n
  3. Humans have mortal bodies whose immortal souls go either to heaven or hell when they die.<\/li>\n
  4. Humans are mortal beings who will die and be resurrected either to eternal life or to eternal destruction.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In the schools of religion and philosophy, each of these has its teachers and adherents.<\/p>\n

    The first concept<\/b>, reincarnation, teaches that humans take on bodies of either a higher or lower life form at death, depending on the quality of their previous life. Reincarnation has a long history in eastern religions and has grown in the West through the influence of New Age thinking. Since its support lies outside the Bible, we will give it no further consideration here.<\/p>\n

    The second concept<\/b>, no further existence after death, is heard from those who reject the notion of a personal God and a future day of rewards and punishments for His creatures. Characteristic of metaphysical naturalism, this is the creed of the dead end: We live once; we die. That\u2019s all.<\/p>\n

    The third concept<\/b>, natural immortality or immortality of the soul, is widely believed in Christianity. Immortality, they say, is a natural human attribute, and people\u2019s souls go directly to heaven or to eternal hell when their bodies die. Physical death is merely a transition from one kind of life to another in the hereafter.<\/p>\n

    Immortality of the soul<\/i> is a belief attractive and strong enough to win the hearts, if not the minds, of most modern Christians. Yet the concept has some serious flaws. Before looking at a few texts often used to defend it, let\u2019s examine these flaws and the fourth concept \u2014 conditional immortality \u2014 listed above.<\/p>\n

    First Flaw<\/b><\/h3>\n

    The first flaw in the theory of natural immortality is that it contradicts the Old Testament view of human nature and substitutes a concept popularized in the ancient pagan world.<\/p>\n

    The early Hebrews regarded the human body and soul as an indivisible unity.<\/p>\n

    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 (Genesis 2:7, KJV).<\/p>\n

    In this passage, to be human and alive means to exist bodily and consciously with the ability to act and <\/b>interact with the created order. This bodily existence is physical and earthy, although it depends on the God-given spirit, or breath, for vitality.<\/p>\n

    Old Testament texts do not see physical (bodily) and spiritual existence as contrary to each other or as existing independently. Rather, the word soul<\/i> is used as a synonym for the whole person:<\/p>\n

    And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls (Exodus 1:5, KJV).<\/p>\n

    But the man that . . . forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people (Numbers 9:13, KJV).<\/p>\n

    Hebrew Scripture does not teach that the soul is a detachable part that can exist without the body. To die means to cease conscious existence. At death, the body returns to the dust, and the spirit (breath or life principle) returns to God who gave it.<\/p>\n

    Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish (Psalm 146:3, 4).<\/p>\n

    For the living know they will die: but the dead do not know anything . . . Indeed their love, their hate, and their zeal have already perished (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6).<\/p>\n

    Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7).<\/p>\n

    These scriptures give no support for the view that death is an instantaneous doorway through which a conscious soul enters heaven or hell. This popular view crept into the church with the influence of Greek philosophy early in the Christian era. Plato taught that reality is divided into material and spiritual categories, and that the spiritual (soul) has an invisible, eternal quality apart from the material (body).<\/p>\n

    Second Flaw<\/b><\/h3>\n

    Next, the theory of natural immortality stands in direct conflict with three key teachings of the Christian faith:<\/p>\n