The Immortal Soul?
Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians15:52
Someone at work asks you, "What is a soul? Is a soul immortal? Are animals souls?" How do you prove the answer to these questions? If you take the Bible alone as your guide can you find the answer to these questions? With only the NIV in your hand let’s see what we can prove. Turn to Genesis 2:7- it reads, "And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being." That’s nice but what is a soul? That doesn’t prove that Adam is a soul. Well, let’s try Revelation 16:3, "...and every living thing in the sea died." That doesn’t say anything about a soul does it? So what is a soul? Let’s try 1 Corinthians 15:45, "The first man Adam became a living being." I still don’t see any mention of a soul. What is a soul? Here’s one Acts 27:37, "Altogether there were 276 of us on board." No mention of a soul there. Can a soul die? Let’s look at Ps. 78:50, "...He did not spare them from death..." No death of the soul there. How about Exodus 31:14?, Ps. 33:19? No. Then how about, Ps. 89:48, or James 5:20? These should be able to show that a soul can die, but do they? No. So is there such thing as a soul? Is soul ever mentioned in the NIV? Yes, in many places, Ps. 77:2, "...and my soul refused to be comforted.". Okay, we have a soul, but what is it? Ps. 84:2 says, "My soul yearns, even faints...", Ps. 86:13 says, "...you have delivered my soul from the depths of the grave." But still, what is a soul? Where are those texts that would give you a clear definition?
Now take the New KJV and look at the same texts. Now remember we are not going to use the old KJV here, only the NKJV. Give me a Bible study on what a soul is. Is it a whole person? Gen. 2:7 doesn’t explain what it is. Revelation 16:3 doesn’t tell you that souls live in the sea. 1 Corinthians 15:45? Acts 27:37? No. Ps. 78:50? Oh, here we find that a soul can die, but what is a soul? Okay, we have Ezekiel 18:4 in the NKJV and the NIV stating that a soul can die but still what is a soul? Is it an ethereal entity that floats off to heaven? Remember, the Bible and the Bible only. And we are only using the NKJV. Using only this version you cannot prove that a soul is a person.
Well, let’s try the RSV. Gen. 2:7 calls Adam a living being. Rev. 16:3 says "that every living thing died". 1 Cor. 15:45 states that "Adam became a living being". I don’t see any concrete evidence that a soul is made up of breath and dust. Is it an intangible ghostly thing that floats off at death? It is if this is the version you rely on for doctrine.
Where do those silly Adventists get the idea that a soul is a person? I have a soul according to these bibles but I’m not a soul. Let’s keep trying to see what a soul is. How about the NEB? Same thing. There is no mention of Adam becoming a soul. Going on to the NASB we find that in 1 Cor. 15:45 it quotes Genesis as "Adam became a living soul" but in Genesis 2:7 it has man as a living being. But the souls in the ocean are described as ‘living things’. So in this bible man is a soul in one place but not in another and animals are not souls. So four of the five bibles use the term soul but only when it leaves an impression that a soul is an ethereal thing separate from the body.
Job says this in Job 19:26 KJV, ‘And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:’ He is here speaking of the resurrection. But the RSV says, ‘then without my flesh I shall see God.’ Isn’t that a direct contradiction of the KJV? The NIV, NAB and NEB change the verse so dramatically I can barely recognize it. The NEB reads, ‘and I shall discern my witness standing at my side and see my defending counsel, even God himself,...’ Where in this is there mention of his skin being eaten and seeing God in his flesh. If we leave this text alone as it is in the KJV we have a text that reveals that we will have flesh and bones at the resurrection like Christ when He was resurrected.
So what does the KJV teach? That a soul is you and me and my pet dog and the fish in the sea! Do you see? It is consistent and we can plant our feet firmly on it. The Eastern Text translated by George M. Lamsa uses the word soul in Rev. 16:3 and 1 Cor. 15:45. Luther’s German translation uses ‘Seele’ and ‘Leben’ both according to my German/English dictionary are the same as soul. Webster’s Bible used the word soul in Gen. 2:7, Acts 27:37, 1 Cor. 15:45 and Rev. 16:3.
Now that we have determined that a soul is ethereal using the NIV, NKJV, RSV, NEB and NASB let’s see what else we can prove. How about sleep in the grave? What happens after death?
In the KJV Old Testament there are 36 references to people that ‘slept with their fathers’. From 1 Kings to 2 Chronicles the kings that died are said to be sleeping with their fathers. Deut. 31:16 says, "Thou shalt sleep with thy fathers." As does 2 Sam. 7:12. Dan. 12:2 speaks of those who ‘sleep in the dust of the earth.’ Psalm 13:3 says, "Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death:". So when Christ spoke of death as sleep in Matt. 9:24 and John 11:13 concerning two different people His doctrine was well established in the Old Testament which was the only Scriptures there was. Christ didn’t teach a new doctrine, He was just directing His hearers to the doctrines that were written in the Scriptures.
Luther’s German Bible uses the words for ‘slept with fathers’ for those texts. For ‘fathers’ the word ‘vatern’ is used. Which my German/English dictionary says is the word for fathers. It also uses the term entschlanfen which the dictionary translates as sleep. The Webster Bible uses the term ‘slept with his fathers’.
Now, let’s see how this doctrine would fair if we have only these other versions of the bible. The NIV states in 1 Kings through 2 Chronicles that people ‘rested with their fathers’ when it is mentioned that they died. What kind of rest is that? Do they sit on a cloud playing a harp? Do they go to Hades and burn? Do they go to eternal bliss or limbo? Is it a ‘higher plane’ as some new agers would describe it? Where is this rest? And what is it like? By accepting this translation we have just lost 36 references for the doctrine of soul sleep. Deut. 31:16 and 2 Sam. 7:12 use the term rest also. There goes two more. What about the other texts? They are left as sleep but we have lost 88.37% of the proof texts for sleeping in the grave (references that Christ must have used to teach his disciples that the dead slept), and all the texts that show that a soul is flesh and bones.
Again let’s look at the same texts in the other versions. NIV and NKJV say, ‘rested’ for slept. Contemporary English Version says that he died. The Living Bible has ‘join your ancestors’ in Deut. 31:16 and died for the other places where ‘slept with his fathers’ is used. Now while it is true that those people are resting with their fathers in their graves and they did die I believe God had a purpose for the wording found in the KJV. He wanted us to know what happens at death. The doctrine of soul sleep was to be firmly established with the wording of these texts. And they match the theology of our Saviour. It was not new doctrine Christ taught!
How about this text?:
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 1 Thessalonians 4:15
The CEV reads, ‘Our Lord Jesus told us that when He comes, we won’t go up to meet Him ahead of His followers who have already died.’ Where is soul sleep in this text? Doesn’t this text lean to the idea of going straight to our reward at death, rather than the dead sleeping until Christ’s return?
How important is the doctrine of soul sleep at death? If we misunderstand the doctrines concerning death what will be the result?
I saw that the saints must get a thorough understanding of present truth, which they will be obliged to maintain from the Scriptures. They must understand the state of the dead; for the spirits of devils will yet appear to them, professing to be beloved friends and relatives, who will declare to them that the Sabbath has been changed, also other unscriptural doctrines. They will do all in their power to excite sympathy and will work miracles before them to confirm what they declare. The people of God must be prepared to withstand these spirits with the Bible truth that the dead know not anything, and that they who appear to them are the spirits of devils. Our minds must not be taken up with things around us, but must be occupied with the present truth and a preparation to give a reason of our hope with meekness and fear. We must seek wisdom from on high that we may stand in this day of error and delusion. Early Writings p. 87
Will the dead receive their reward at the end of the world? Or do they go directly to their reward when they die? Isaiah 26:19 in KJV says, "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: ..." Job 21:30 reads, "That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction. They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." 2 Peter 2:9 reads, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." Luther’s translation uses the word ‘behalten’ where the word reserved is used, which the dictionary states is a word for reserved. Again Luther’s translation matches the KJV and not the others.
But now if we throw out the KJV what doctrine are we left with? How about punishment beginning at death? NIV adds a little comment to 2 Peter 2:9 "...and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment." Continuing what punishment? What does the NKJV do with this text? God reserves the "unjust under punishment." To me that says that the dead are being punished.
Is the Bible consistent? Does God’s word change? Does He say one thing in one place and the opposite somewhere else ?
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. 1 Corinthians 14:33
For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
Ecclesiastes 9:5
How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell, that for the sins of a brief earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this doctrine has been generally embodied in the creeds of Christendom. Says a learned doctor of divinity: "The sight of hell-torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. When they see others who are of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, it will make them sensible of how happy they are." Another uses these words: "While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy, who, instead of taking the part of these miserable objects, will say, Amen, Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!" Spirit of Prophecy Vol. 4 p. 355
Is there a difference between being spared something and being reserved for it? If you are spared punishment are you reserved for punishment. Remember Job 21:30 mentioned above? In the NIV and the RSV it says "...the evil man is spared from the day of calamity,". The RSV goes on to say that "he is rescued in the day of wrath." The CEV takes that text another step further, "those who do wrong never suffer disaster, when God becomes angry."
If these interpretations are correct then how do you explain Gods destruction of Korah, Dathan and Abiram? How about Sodom and Gomorrah? And Ananias and Sapphira? Job was not ignorant of Gods dealings with the wicked. Why would a righteous man like him say such things?
And look at Isaiah 26:19 in the CEV, "Your people will rise to life! Tell them to leave their graves and celebrate with shouts." Communication with the dead? NEB says, "But thy dead live, their bodies will rise again." Notice the ‘shall’ is missing between dead and live. Have you heard the idea promoted by some religions that the soul goes to heaven at death and the body goes later at Christ’s return? It has become a popular belief. It is a way for them to explain the resurrection while retaining the idea that people go to their reward at death. Now they have a text to support their doctrine.
How about reincarnation? Reading from the NEB in Isaiah 26:19 we read, "and the earth will bring those long dead to birth again." Departed spirits is what you find mentioned in the NASB in Isaiah 26:19, "And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits."
The belief in communion with the dead is still held, even in professedly Christian lands. Under the name of spiritualism the practice of communicating with beings claiming to be the spirits of the departed has become widespread. It is calculated to take hold of the sympathies of those who have laid their loved ones in the grave. Spiritual beings sometimes appear to persons in the form of their deceased friends, and relate incidents connected with their lives and perform acts which they performed while living. In this way they lead men to believe that their dead friends are angels, hovering over them and communicating with them. Those who thus assume to be the spirits of the departed are regarded with a certain idolatry, and with many their word has greater weight than the word of God.
Patriarchs and Prophets p. 684
Satan wants to communicate with us. He wants us to communicate with him and he uses the dead as an emotional tie to the living. He can gain access to us through our emotions, our love for our sleeping loved ones. The Bible tells us over and over not to go to those that have familiar spirits.
A correct understanding of "what saith the Scriptures" in regard to the state of the dead is essential for this time. God's Word declares that the dead know not anything, their hatred and love have alike perished. We must come to the sure word of prophecy for our authority. Unless we are intelligent in the Scriptures, may we not, when this mighty miracle-working power of Satan is manifested in our world, be deceived and call it the workings of God; for the Word of God declares that, if it were possible, the very elect should be deceived. Unless we are rooted and grounded in the truth, we shall be swept away by Satan's delusive snares. We must cling to our Bibles. If Satan can make you believe that there are things in the Word of God that are not inspired, he will then be prepared to ensnare your soul. We shall have no assurance, no certainty, at the very time we need to know what is truth. Our feet should be shod with the preparation of the gospel, and the truth of God should be our shield and buckler. We must know for ourselves that we have the truth of God. Therefore let no one entertain the question whether this or that portion of the Word of God is inspired. Go to work; gird on the armor of Christ's righteousness.
Advent Review and Sabbath Herald 12/18/1888
The state of the dead in the KJV is so deeply grounded in scripture that it cannot be denied. To make the changes that are found in most of the bibles would be like taking a very thick rope and break all but one or two thin strands then trying to use it to anchor your ship in a storm. If we rely on these bibles we will be like the hundreds of cults that build their doctrines on one or two verses taken out of context. Are you ready to do that when God has given us such a firm foundation? Why trade such a strong everlasting rope for the fragile threads of truth that are left in those bibles!