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aiki said:Hello.
I do believe that the soul is eternal. I believe this is made evident in the scriptures.
About the word "nephesh":
While it is true that in the OT this word can be used in reference to a living being (Gen. 2:7), it is not therefore necessarily limited to this particular use. Besides, Genesis 2:7 only tells us what a man is, not what he is not. Ron Rhodes, in his book "Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses" comments, "...while Genesis 2:7 affirms that man is a living being, it does not deny in any way that man has an immaterial nature."
aiki said:Ezekiel 18:20 "The soul that sins, it shall die..."
This verse makes no explicit distinction about whether it is speaking to the soul as a living being or to the immaterial nature within a man.
aiki said:Psalm 146:4 - "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish."
When a man dies he ceases to breathe, his body decays and becomes part of the earth, and his consciousness, just like his body, ceases to be exerted upon a temporal plane. This verse doesn't say that the soul and body are one, however; only that a man's thoughts "perish" at the same time as the decease of the body.
aiki said:What "perish" may mean is not clearly spelled out in this verse. From what other verses in scripture say, it may not mean "the loss of being" as one might suppose. Matthew 10:28, for instance, says, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." This verse clearly indicates that it is possible to kill the body without killing the soul. Ron Rhodes comments, "What Jesus is saying (in Matthew 10:28), then, is this: 'There is something about you which those who kill you [in your physical being] cannot touch! That something is that aspect of man which continues after the body has been lowered into the grave."
Samuel said:There is no doubt this is a very difficult subject. It even drove me back to some of my theological studies. There is no doubt that the soul is immortal as God is immortal since it came from God.
Samuel said:But man has body, soul, and spirit. The confusion derives from the part each plays in the whole of man. The soul is life, and is a part of the body, the spirit is the personality, and conscience, and effectively is the part we recognize as the man.
Samuel said:At death the soul returns to God who gave it. The body to dust, and the spirit would then be the part that either goes to paradise or hell.
Soma-Sight said:Do you believe in the doctrine of the immortality of the soul?
Soma-Sight said:Is everyone voting?
There are only two others that said no?
aiki said:Hello, again.
Before I get sidetracked answering guibox's post, I'm gonna' write a few more things about the scriptural basis for the idea of an immortal soul.
Revelations 6:9, 10 - "And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (nasb - italics added)
Ron Rhodes, writes, " In this passage it is impossible for "souls" to refer to living beings, for then the text would read, 'I saw underneath the altar the living beings of those who had been slain.' Notice that the souls exist and are conscious despite the fact that they had been physically slain. How do we know they are conscious? Scripture says that they 'cried out' to God and are spoken to in turn. That which is unconscious cannot cry out or be spoken to.
aiki said:Luke 23:46 - " Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father, into Your Hands I commit my spirit.' When he had said this, he breathed his last."
The word "spirit" in this verse is "pneuma" which may mean "wind", "breath", "life-spirit", "soul", "the spirit as part of the human personality", "the spirit of God", "the spirit of Christ", and "the Holy Spirit."
Many of the above meanings are disqualified as being appropriate for Luke 23:46. It doesn't make sense for Jesus to commit his "wind" or his "breath" to the Father. Nor does it make sense that Jesus is committing "the Holy Spirit" or "the spirit of God" to the Father. Really, only the meanings "soul" or "spirit as part of the human personality" make any sense in the context of this verse. Ron Rhodes points out, "It seems clear from a plain reading of the passage that Jesus is committing His human immaterial soul or spirit to the Father."
Acts 7:59 - "And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!'"
If "spirit" in this verse simply means "life-force" it makes no sense for Stephen to commit it to Jesus; for at the moment of his death it would cease to exist. Obviously, Stephen is asking Jesus to receive that part of his self that would survive the death of his physical body.
aiki said:1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 - " For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. (nasb)
Cult expert Walter Martin writes,
"Verse 14 in this passage indicates that Paul, while using the metaphor sleep to describe physical death, clearly understood that when Jesus comes again, He will bring with (Gr: sun) Him those whose bodies are "sleeping". To be more explicit, the souls and spirits of those who are now with Christ in glory (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:22-23) will be reunited with their resurrection bodies (1 Cor. 15); that is, they will be clothed with immortality, incorruptibility, and exemption from physical decay. The Greek word sun indicates that they will be in a 'side by side' position with Christ, and their physical bodies that are 'sleeping' will in that instant be raised to immortality and reunited with their spirits."
So God lied to Adam when He said that he would die as a result of his sin?
Also it would appear that sinners are granted eternal life for their sins?
Interesting. I think I missed that part.
Domeroth said:Something Soma said earlier confuses me.
So God lied to Adam when He said that he would die as a result of his sin? Also it would appear that sinners are granted eternal life for their sins? Interesting. I think I missed that part.
It was to my understanding that Adam lived to be 900 something anyway. Maybe man was immortal in the beginning? God took away the immortality? God told him, "You will die, as a result of sin" speaking of his physical body?
Domeroth said:It's also to my understanding that sinners spend eternity in 'Hell'.
Domeroth said:So what then, if the soul 'dies'? Darkness? Nothingness?
If you truly cease to be...
Most people tend to look to some kind of afterlife, to give them something to look forward to, instead of just death. Focusing on the end alone, is by far depressing. I would think that if I ever ceased to exist, It might be worse.
Then again, if you don't exist... who cares anyway? You don't. Because you are nothing, null, void, a memory at best.
I guess I was just hoping there was more to it.
Domeroth said:Ok, so as to my understanding of it...
If you believe in nothing, you become nothing.
If you follow satan, you join him in hell? (still not certain about this one)
If you follow Jesus, you join him in heavin?
The spirit was not the soul and you cannot use them interchangeably.
The spirit is the breath that was given to man at creation.
Dying is that process in reverse. It may sound redundant but that is how it is used. "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away". All power and life was given by God. All Christ and Stephen were doing was acknowledging that and giving that power back to God.
What is ignored is the 'under the altar' reference and the symbolic nature of the passage. Are you to believe that there are millions of 'disembodied souls' crammed under some literal altar? Notice the parallel to Abel's blood crying out from the ground. In the OT, the life force was considered contained in the blood. When an animal was sacrificed on the altar, it's blood ran underneath. The symbolism is of those martyred for God crying out for vengeance. Not immortal substances frolicking under an altar.
Martin is allowing his bias of the immortality of the soul interpret the verse as most often do. It is not saying that at all. Rather the emphasis is that "will God bring with Him" means that the dead will be raised as Christ was.
There is no soul/body dichotomy in the Bible. To get around the clear teaching of scripture that we await the resurrection in our graves and do not go to heaven, the immortal soul supporter tries to explain the gross discrepencies by appealing to 'it is only talking about the body and no the soul". This is not a biblical usage to explain such things, rather it is a preconceived notion (that luckily explains everything away) which is infused into the texts.
aiki said:Says who? Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words states, "The language of Hebrews 4:12 suggests the extreme difficulty of distinguishing between the soul and the spirit, alike in their nature and in their activities. Generally, speaking the spirit is the higher, the soul the lower element. The spirit may be recognized as the life principle bestowed on man by God, the soul as the resulting life constituted in the individual, the body being the material organism animated by soul and spirit....body and spirit may be separated, soul and spirit may only be distinguished." It would seem that soul and spirit are quite alot alike.
aiki said:The spirit is the breath that was given to man at creation.
What does this mean? Is spirit merely the capacity to move air in and out of one's lungs? What exactly do you mean by "breath"?
aiki said:Dying is that process in reverse. It may sound redundant but that is how it is used. "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away". All power and life was given by God. All Christ and Stephen were doing was acknowledging that and giving that power back to God.
So, you are saying that "breath" is a kind of animating power? If this power is from God and only on loan as you suggest, then it is not really the possession of the one who is animated by it. Of all people, Christ would fully understand this -- if it were true. But he doesn't say, "Father, into Your hands I commit Your spirit (animating power)," which would be more accurate than what he actually says: "Father into Your hands I commit my spirit." When Jesus uses the word "my" he implies ownership of that which he is committing. He is not simply giving back to God what is His. His spirit, which he is committing to God is not God's, but his own. In fact, the word "commit" means, "to place alongside, that is present; by implication to deposit (as a trust or for protection)" (Strong's Greek Dictionary). It doesn't carry the sense of "returning" as you contend, guibox, but of "depositing for safekeeping".
aiki said:Ah, yes, the "it's symbolic" argument. Convenient, but not consistent. First of all, where does it say that there are millions of souls "crammed under an altar"? This is your characterization, guibox, not Scripture's. Second, this passage makes absolutely no direct or indirect reference to Abel. What parallel you draw between the two passages is entirely of your own making, not Scripture's. Thirdly, if there are millions of souls "crammed under the altar" how are they going to "frolic" there as you suggest? Again, you're just imposing on the text as it suits your imagination to do so. :o :roll:
aiki said:Of the two of you, Walter Martin has, by far, the greater weight of scholarship to back up his interpretation. Unless, of course, you're a world-reknowned Bible scholar and teacher, guibox... :wink: :D
aiki said:You seem to have totally missed the point Dr. Martin made about the word "with". Christ is bringing with him the souls who will be reunited with their resurrected, glorified bodies. This means that these souls are not presently with their bodies in the grave. They are with Christ, like a child with his parent, not absorbed, through some kind of spiritual osmosis, back into God's Being.