It is widely believed that the souls of the entire righteous dead are presently in heaven at this very moment in a conscious state of existence, while their bodies lie obliviously somewhere in an earthy grave.
On the other hand, the soul of a lost person goes immediately to an ever-burning hell in a conscious state of existence to be tortured forever… so it is claimed.
This belief of course, takes for granted that man is an immortal being and those believing this train of thought, hardly ever stop and consider the weight and magnitude of this incredible assertion.
Don’t assume that your minister is always right! That practice could cost you more than you’ve ever imagined at the end.
For now let us first play with this false assumption of an inherent immortality and apply it to certain realistic situations using a little reasoning and common sense. Perhaps the folly of this doomed belief will surface and be witnessed without even having applied any real biblical pressure to it, which I will do anyway.
So on the assumption that we have and are undying immortal souls, consider the following:
1) If we go immediately to heaven when we die, why then is there a need for a future judgment as the bible declares, if we are already judged and rewarded at the moment of death? For what need then… to judge and reward an inert shell body?
2) If we are already in heaven with God, why then is there a need for a future resurrection as the bible promises? A resurrection of what- the body? Why would an inanimate body be needed if the undying conscious soul can function so much freely without the restrictions of the body and is already consciously in heaven? Is this shell-body suppose to enhance the soul in any way, form or manner? What would be the advantage?
3) How can it be said that Christ IS the FIRSTFRUIT(S) to God (1 Corinthians 15:20), when all the righteous souls of those previously having died BEFORE Jesus’ resurrection, were already in heaven?
4) If Jesus died so that we might live, then he died a futile death being that WE, being immortal, actually never die at all! So then in reality He came and died exclusively for the body- an inert glob of clay… so that “IT” might live!
5) How can it be said that Christ brought immortality to light (2 Tim. 1:10) if man has been immortal since the time of Adam?
6) How can immortality be sought for (Rom. 2:7) if it is already an inherent present possession? That statement is then irrelevant!
7) If Adam had an immortal soul and therefore could never die, why was he thrust out of the garden that he might not “live forever”? (Gen. 3:22-23)
If we ARE ALREADY immortal, Then Why Would We Need To Put On Immortality Again as Paul declares??? (1 Corinthians 15:53)
9) If Christ has brought immortality to light and is His gift to the righteous ONLY- then this promise is made hollow because, according to this theory, all humans including the sinner already possess it!
10) If the wages of sin is death and the sinner is to be cast into the lake of fire which is the second death, but yet will never really die due to being immortal, then the bible contradicts itself!
11) Nowhere in the Bible can you find the phrase “immortal soul” or immortality depicted as one of man’s inherent characteristics. Neither will you find a single account, NOT ONE, of ANY man having gone to heaven at death! Don’t believe it? Prove it to yourself!
When you consider these points, it is obvious that something is terribly wrong with the concept of an immortal soul. It is impossible to reconcile it with the bible.
Immortal soul advocates would have us believe the following scenarios:
Lost souls who are currently burning in hell fire would briefly be given some relief when the resurrection occurs- for the purpose of reuniting the soul and body and then to stand before God in order to be judged and then cast into hell fire all over again where they’ll be burning forever.
On the same token, souls that are presently in heaven will momentarily have to leave their heavenly abode at the resurrection in order to be reunited with their resurrected bodies, stand judgment- so their bodies can be judged and then go back to heaven.
This is absurd! And makes no sense! What is the purpose? If the body, apart from the soul, is void of any feelings and thought, why even subject it to heaven or hell? After all, according to this theory, the soul, the REAL YOU, is already there. So why would you need to be reunited with a shell body? What difference would it make? It would change NOTHING!
This is the kind of problems you’ll run into when believing in an inherent immortal soul.
Folks, we, and that includes our bodies, ARE “living souls”! We don’t have a soul- WE ARE souls! As long as God’s breath is in us- we are living souls! Without it, we are dead souls!
Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God made man from the dust of the earth, breathing into him the breath of life: and man BECAME a living soul.
Some of you believing in this flawed theory have mentioned the absurdity of a soul actually dying, or as is commonly referred to, soul-sleep. It is argued that it is the body that sleeps and not the undying soul. But the bible actually calls death a sleep.
With that in mind, here are a couple of other scenarios to consider in regards to this false theory:
1) If we are undying, conscious, immortal souls incapable of soul-sleep, then why is it that “General Anesthesia” knocks us completely out into unconscious oblivion? Can anyone who opposes the notion of SOUL-SLEEP explain this? If that procedure can do that to the soul and put it soundly to sleep, of how much more severity would the blow of death impact the soul?
2) If the soul is willfully put unconsciously to sleep every night, why is it then so farfetched to think that it could just as easily sleep the unconscious sleep of death until the promised resurrection?
Again, an immortal soul theory makes no sense when closely scrutinized.
Do the two points above prove that what is considered to be an undying, unsleeping immortal soul… be rendered unconscious? Clearly!!!
How much clearer can the following from Paul, be?
1Timothy 6:15 . . .the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
1Timothy 6:16 He ALONE is immortal…
And that is why he also tells us the following:
1Corinthians 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.
1Corinthians 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins
1Corinthians 15:18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ HAVE PERISHED.
The Contemporary English Version renders this last verse in this manner:
1Corinthians 15:18 And THOSE PEOPLE (not some inert dissensouled shell bodies) WHO DIED after putting their faith in him (an act only possible by intelligence- a characteristic NOT ATTRIBUTED to a lifeless, inert shell body) are COMPLETELY LOST.
Paul is saying that if there was no resurrection, then THOSE PEOPLE who have died (fallen asleep) in Christ, ARE perished, being COMPLETELY lost to death! Implying that it would then be impossible to bring them back to life! Which also implies that we (THE REAL US) are not immortal and therefore, are subject to death and indeed DO die. And without Christ resurrecting us from death, WE would remain in a dead state and therefore, be permanently PERISHED as Paul implies!
Now this wouldn’t be the case if THE REAL YOU- THE SOUL, were immortal and therefore, were never really dead AND were ALREADY in heaven or paradise at the moment of (bodily) death. The only thing lost or perished in this case- would be an inanimate, lifeless and inert shell body, which then wouldn’t have even been worth mentioning in these verses. All the IMMENSE emphasis placed on the resurrection of THE BODY in scripture therefore, would then seem rather meaningless.
This should be proof enough that we go nowhere, but unconsciously to the grave when we die… where we shall await that blessed hope- the resurrection!
Folks, Paul says that God ALONE is immortal! It can’t get any clearer than that! And the rest of the Bible agrees with that statement! Paul is not going to make that point here and then later contradict himself elsewhere in his writings!
We ARE living souls, NOT immortal souls! And souls eventually die! God is a SPIRIT and we ARE NOT!
Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins SHALL DIE.
Job 14:11 As the waters fail from the sea, and a river falls away and dries up,
Job 14:12 so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, nor be awakened out of their sleep.
Job 14:13 Who will grant that You would hide me in the grave, that You would keep me secret, until Your wrath is past, that You would set me a fixed time and remember me?
Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he revive? All the days of my warfare I will wait, until my change comes.
Job 14:15 You shall call, and I will answer You…
So what about Paul’s writings?
As I implied earlier, it is best to take Paul’s writings and reconcile them with the other writers of the bible. The bible does not contradict itself!
Why do I say this? Because Paul’s writings continually confuse the masses due to his unique phraseology and style of writing which makes him extremely difficult to be understood by so many. Paul wrote IN THE SAME MANNER that he spoke.
That’s why Peter and even Paul himself, forewarned us of this:
2Peter 3:15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,
2Peter 3:16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are HARD TO UNDERSTAND, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
2Corinthians 11:5 Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.
2Corinthians 11:6 Even if I am UNSKILLED in speech, I am not so in knowledge…
These are serious cautions from both of these in regards to Paul’s writings! We must be very careful to verify and reconcile his writings with the rest of scripture, especially to scripture and writers that are much easier to understand in regards to doctrine!
Now tell me something, in the following verse (from two separate bible versions), is God telling Daniel to step aside while He addresses his body- the unintelligent and inert shell who is incapable of HEARING, comprehending and processing thought??? Or is He addressing THE REAL Daniel- the intelligent living being who hears and understands and who would be dramatically affected by these statements and events?
Daniel 12:13 “And YOU, Daniel, be faithful to the end. Then YOU will die, but YOU will rise to receive your reward at the end of time.” (Good News Bible)
Daniel 12:13 So, Daniel, be faithful until the end! You will rest, and at the end of time, YOU will rise FROM DEATH to receive your reward. (Contemporary English Version)
So you see, immortal soul advocates would have us believe that God is not addressing THE REAL Daniel here, but only his body- because at death (according to this flawed theory), it is ONLY his body that dies, but the real Daniel will not! He will be consciously somewhere else at the moment of death. But again, if this were the case, then all the emphasis on the resurrection of the body would seem rather meaningless.
Do you see how absurd it starts to get by believing in this theory? That would mean that this and dozens of other scriptures and promises, are aimed at none other than to a lifeless, unintelligent and inert chunk of clay- that never will have the capacity to feel, hear or process thought, and for whom Christ eventually came and died for, that “IT”- might eventually live! HUH???
So what about the thief on the cross?
As far as the thief on the cross goes- he DID NOT follow Jesus to heaven ON THAT DAY! For the bible says that Christ ascended to heaven ON THE THIRD DAY! AND… he, this thief, still ISN’T with Christ in heaven to this very day. IT’S IMPOSSIBLE! And Christ himself verifies this!
John 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with YOU. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, YOU CANNOT COME,‘ so now I say to you.
Jesus was referring to His fast approaching death and His resurrection into heaven!
John 13:36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going YOU CANNOT FOLLOW ME now, but later YOU will follow Me.”
Again, Christ stresses the point that where He is going, He CANNOT be followed at this time by anyone! At least not until sometime later!
So where was He going?
John 14:2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for YOU.
So… He is going to be with His Father. And His Father dwells in heaven!
So WHEN will we be able to follow and always be with Him?
John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for YOU, I will COME AGAIN and I WILL RECEIVE YOU unto Myself; so that where I am, there YOU may be also.
WOW! What an astonishing revelation from CHRIST HIMSELF!!!
He alone has delivered the death blow to this false theory and SOLIDIFIES the fact that NO ONE goes to heaven when they die!
He says that it is ONLY when He returns AGAIN, that he will gather us unto Himself and thus we shall follow him henceforth and not one second before that!
But according to immortal soul advocates though, in the above verses, Christ is actually talking to the inert shell bodies of the apostles and not to the apostles themselves! Because, they claim, when Christ returns, it is going to be for the bodies in the graves so that they may be reunited with their souls who are returning from heaven with Christ!
Do you see now how ABSURD and FLAWED this theory really is? THE TRUTH is right there in plain black and white! If you REALLY can’t see it… then there may be a reason for that and a matter best left between you and God. I’ll let you figure that one out for yourself.
Jesus says that at this time, NO ONE can follow and be with Him and His Father in heaven. Not UNTIL he returns AGAIN for us! THEN and ONLY THEN, will He receive us unto Himself and we shall always follow and be with Him.
This is in reference to the first resurrection. And since He is yet to come- NO ONE is presently in heaven! Nor is it possible to go there UNTIL he returns for us to receive us unto himself! He Himself has made this clear.
If we’d go to him in the form of an undying immortal soul at the moment of death, then there would be no need for him to come back for us, now would there?
So aside from the state of the dead- or the grave, the thief on the cross, went nowhere CONSCIOUSLY with Jesus on that day! And as we’ve just seen, according to Jesus, even now the Thief is not with him in heaven! IT’S IMPOSSIBLE! Jesus says so!
REMEMBER, Jesus says that at this time, NO ONE and that includes YOU, ME, THE THIEF, disembodied souls, disensouled bodies, body and soul, you name it… ABSOLUTELY NO ONE can follow and be with Him and His Father in heaven, UNTIL he returns AGAIN for us at the time of the FIRST resurrection!
He- JESUS, has made that ABUNDANTLY clear!
