Annihilation

[kwag_myers]

Personally, both these beliefs have merit and both have been established by using the Bible and a careful word study.

Does it matter who is right on this doctrine? Personally, I don't care to suffer in ANY Lake of Fire, not even for one moment or an eternity. We as Believers should hope that God has other, more glorious plans for us. Lets pray that the hearts of those in disbelief are changed no matter whatever the outcome, whether they suffer fo one single moment and perish or suffer for an eternity. Either position is not where we want to see our loved ones and neighbors in the End, is it?

In my personal experience, the revelation of man being a three-part being has helped me to understand many things about God, His Word, His nature, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit (to name a few).

As for who's right, the Bible is right. If we do not challenge each other on our beliefs, we are more easily led astray.

 

[Bick]

Beza: I would say this to you and others, man does not have "an immortal soul" that is alive after death, possessing all the senses so that it can be immediately enjoying the joys of heaven, or suffering in a firey hell.

The idea of an immortal soul is from pagan philosophy, primarily Plato.

Unfortunately, that doctrine became predominate in Western Christianity through Augustine and the Roman Catholic Church. Why? Because they reasoned that if the rightous would gain eternal bliss, than the wicked must have eternal doom and punishment. And that because the true meaning of aionios in the Greek, was, due to the Latin translation "eternum", believed to mean "eternal" instead of "age lasting".

I appeal to you, look to the Scriptures for the truth. Starting with Gen.2:7
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and man became
a living soul."

Notice, Man Became a Living Soul. A soul didn't enter his body. And "soul" is not the same as "spirit".

The spirit of life is related to the nostrils through which we breathe. See Gen.7:22 "All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life..." etc.

Soul (nephesh, Hebrew) (psyche, Greek) has to do with our feelings, sensations, desires, consciousness, etc. Thus, all creatures living on the sensate level are called "soul creatures".

As for man, the Scriptures relate knowledge, memory, thought, love, joy, delight, bitterness, distress, impatience, mourning, sorrow, grief, abhorrence
and hatred to the soul.

So, why am I pointing this out? To show from the Scriptures that when man dies he ceases to exist, except in the mind of God; and the cure for death is resurrection: whether the Church/Body of Christ at the rapture, the kingdom saints at the beginning of the Millennium, or those judged at the Great White Throne.

And will the God of the universe, the omnipotent, all powerful one, who is short in anger but long suffering because of His infinite love and grace, lose any of his created children by eliminating them? I say no. Through Christ, every enemy in the universe will someday be reconciled to God, as is stated in Col.1:19 and other places.

God bless. Bick

 

[Drew]

.....when man dies he ceases to exist, except in the mind of God; and the cure for death is resurrection

I am a former believer in the existence of an immaterial soul who has come to hold the position I believe is expressed in the above quote. My reasons for changing my mind are more "philosophical / scientific" than they are Biblical (although I am certainly interested in what the Bible has to say).

One of the problems with the immaterial soul is the interaction problem - how does a non-material soul cross over into the physical realm and "push the buttons" that cause our "souls to animate our bodies.

I also think that modern developments in neuroscience show such a deep entanglement between the physical structures of the brain and mental phenomena, that I think it is more reasonable to conclude that the soul is "the phenomenology that arises when brains operate", rather than a "ghost in the machine".

I also see no reason why God cannot reconstitute us at the resurrection, based on information about us that He has retained "in His mind".