Death is a state of existence involving separation.
Many in our age confuse death with the philosophy of existentialism, thinking the absence of life is identified with nonexistence.
When God creates human life in the human soul and again in the human spirit, that life doesn’t disappear anymore than mass may disappear from existence.
Heb 4:12
(12) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Death is a state of existence involving separation.
Many in our age confuse death with the philosophy of existentialism, thinking the absence of life is identified with nonexistence.
When God creates human life in the human soul and again in the human spirit, that life doesn’t disappear anymore than mass may disappear from existence.
After studying the subject, I no longer see it that way. I believe Adam put an end to the eternal life thing by bringing sin into the world - and ALL human beings are born into it. Jesus brought the opportunity to “become sons of God” - the ability to receive eternal life.
Death is death. regarding a human, a pig, a dandelion and the dodge dart, though the latter was resurrected recently by Chrysler. I guess it was only “mostly dead”.
For animals and plants, the death of the body is it. Done. Fin. For the human soul, it is the second death that has the same impact. Cast into the lake of fire and burned up, never to be seen or heard from again.
And the fire (or worm, or whatever else you want to call it) is not Chrysler. Those not found in the book of life are not coming back. That is the overwhelming message of the bible. At the great white throne, ALL chances have been used up for all eternity. If you are not in the book, you go the way of Sodom. Never to be seen or heard from again.
Death is a state of existence involving separation.
And this gets into the crux of the whole thing: Arguing this is like arguing the description of the color “red” in a world of black and white gray-scale. I don’t believe “eternity” means time never ending. I believe it may be “something like that” but more of a place than a way of measuring time.
I believe the bible, on the surface, appears contradictory regarding the afterlife. Why use the plain word “death” if it is not what you mean? The meaning of the word is crystal clear in all conversations based in English EXCEPT when we start discussing the afterlife described in the Bible. I think it is because plain english is being used by God (or whatever language your particular bible is written in) to “explain the sound of a fiddle to a man born deaf.”
This means that ANY explanation beyond the actual words is up for interpretation, and why I don’t believe in the turn-or-burn doctrine because it does not fit the personality of the God of the bible. Yes, he is just, but he lets the punishment fit the crime. Eternal torture does not fit ANY crime committed by a man, unless that man’s crime was to prevent the salvation of another man. I don’t think that is even possible, though. And since the punishment is quite literally far beyond the comprehension of any human being, I question any support for such an action by a just and loving God.
If the bible was crystal clear on it, that would be different. But it would not use the word “death” to describe it. Rather, it would say something like “eternal life of torture”. But it clearly teaches that it is the opposite of the plain phrase “eternal life”.
But opinions clearly vary.