myth-one.com wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 7:52 pm
Located under the sun or not, the dead know not any thing.
You are correct that they are no longer present in this life -- because they are dead.
Death is such an emotive subject and visions of some kind of afterlife permeate most religious thinking, for Christians and non-Christians.
So what is death exactly? According to the scriptures, death is just the opposite of life. But for most religions, death involves some kind of continuance, rather than a cessation. So what does the Bible say about death?
What did God tell Adam when he disobeyed and had the sentence pronounced upon him?
Genesis 3:19...
"In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Any mention of an afterlife there?
What about the nation of Israel? What did God tell them?
Deuteronomy 30:19-20...
"I take the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you today that I have put life and death before you, the blessing and the curse; and you must choose life so that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving Jehovah your God, by listening to his voice, and by sticking to him, for he is your life and by him you will endure a long time in the land that Jehovah swore to give to your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
Any mention of heaven or hell there?
Solomon lamented the fact that humans had no advantage over the animals in death....he wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:19-20...
"for there is an outcome for humans and an outcome for animals; they all have the same outcome. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit. So man has no superiority over animals, for everything is futile. 20 All are going to the same place. They all come from the dust, and they all are returning to the dust."
So from the perspective of the Jews, dead was dead.
Did things change for Christians? Did the Christians worship a different God? No! They worshipped the same God as Jesus did. So what did Jesus teach us about death? When his friend Lazarus got sick, his sisters sent word to Jesus to come straight away. But he didn't. Rather, he waited for four days before he went to their house, knowing that his friend had died. What did he say?
John 11:11-15...
"After he said these things, he added: “Lazʹa·rus our friend has fallen asleep, but I am traveling there to awaken him.” 12 The disciples then said to him: “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get well.” 13 Jesus, however, had spoken about his death. But they imagined he was speaking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them plainly: “Lazʹa·rus has died, 15 and I rejoice for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
So where had Lazarus gone? Nowhere....Jesus said he was 'sleeping' and that he was going to 'awaken' him. So this reinforces Solomon's words in Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10....
"For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten. . . .Whatever your hand finds to do, do with all your might, for there is no work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the Grave, where you are going."
"Sheol" is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek, "hades". It is translated in the Jewish Tanakh as "the grave"...where we are all going. "Hades" is a place of rest, not a place of fiery torment.
In order to be tormented, someone has to be alive but, because "the dead know nothing", there can be no torment after death. The torment has to come before death. Like the Pharisees who hated Jesus because his truth showed them up for the hypocritical frauds that they were...that was their torment. It drove them to murder.
So there is actually no teaching in the Bible about life after death as experienced when our soul or spirit leaves our body to go somewhere else.
The word "soul" in the Bible refers to a living, breathing creature....it never refers to a disembodied spirit. So like Adam we weren't given a soul but we are a soul.
And the "spirit" that the Bible speaks of is the same as what Adam received when God first created him.....he
"breathed into his nostrils the breath (spirit) of life and the man became a living soul."
It is the "spirit" (breath) that is returned to those who are resurrected, like Lazarus. He had no idea how he got into that tomb or why he was all wrapped up in linen cloth....he made no mention of being anywhere, and if he had been in a better place why would Jesus have brought him back to this life only to die a second time?
There is no immortal soul in scripture. We mortals all go to the same place...the common grave.....it is from there that we are resurrected.
Always what I post is my opinion, according to my understanding.