Soul

The word "soul" is translated from the Hebrew word "nephesh" 473 times in our English Bibles.

The word "nephesh" occurs 745 times.
Besides the 473 times it's translated as "soul" it is also translated as
life or lives -- 120 times
person -- 30 times
mind -- 16 times
heart -- 15 times
creature -- 9 times
will -- 4 times
as well as other words in one or two places like "fish" "thing" "beast" "desire"

It is never said to be immortal in any of these hundreds of uses. Nor is there any indication that a soul is disembodied living identity.
In the Old Testament a mortal is a living soul rather than having a soul. Instead of splitting a person into two or three parts, Hebrew thought sees a unified being, but one that is profoundly complex.

The New Testament has the word Greek word "psuche"
It occurs 105 times
Translated as
soul -- 58 times
life or lives -- 40 times
also translated a few times as "mind" "heart" "us" "you"

Again the concept of immortality is lacking from all these occurrences of the word "soul".

Yes, the book of Job has quite a bit to say about death. Thanks for sharing these verses.

Here are some more:


Job 17
17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou [art] my father: to the worm, [Thou art] my mother, and my sister.
17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together [is] in the dust.



Job 14:12 "So man lies down, and rises not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep."

Job 14:21 "His sons come to honour, and he knows it not; and they are brought low, but he perceives it not of them."


Job also believed in the resurrection at the end of the world.

Job
19:25 For I know [that] my redeemer liveth, and [that] he shall stand at the latter [day] upon the earth:
19:26 And [though] after my skin [worms] destroy this [body], yet in my flesh shall I see God:
19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; [though] my reins be consumed within me.

The Catholic Church announced that keeping the cremated remains of loved ones in one's home, or spreading the ashes somewhere in nature, is not allowed.
The ashes of cremated dead must be buried in a sacred place -- as in a cemetery.

Among other reasons --
the Vatican links this to the general Christian belief of the resurrection of the body. (A belief quite different from our belief in the resurrection of the person unto life)
In that belief -- the spirits of the dead, who are "with the Lord" will someday -- at the great judgment day, return with Christ and be rejoined with their resurrected bodies.

The document states:
"To rise with Christ, we must die with Christ: we must “be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8)....
By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul....
The Church who, as Mother, has accompanied the Christian during his earthly pilgrimage, offers to the Father, in Christ, the child of her grace, and she commits to the earth, in hope, the seed of the body that will rise in glory....
When the deceased notoriously has requested cremation and the scattering of their ashes for reasons contrary to the Christian faith, a Christian funeral must be denied to that person according to the norms of the law."


Well there you have it.

The false theory of separation of the soul from the body.
The great glorious hope of the resurrection, it is said, isn't really an awakening from the dead unto life, but a mere rejoining of the soul that has already rejoiced for countless years in the presence of the Lord, just coming back to enter a resurrected body.

Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Why would this be such a glorious hope????
Why look forward to Christ's glorious appearing in hope, shouldn't it say -- looking forward to dying so we can be with Christ?
But no -- our glorious hope of life after death is intimately connected with Christ's glorious appearing.

Our hope of life is in Christ raising us unto life at the last day!

John 6:39 And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which sees the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

When Jesus says something three times -- it is important! In His discourse of eternal life for believers there in John chapter six, He makes it very clear that He will raise them up at the last day -- and Paul explains its,when the trumpet shall sound and the dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible! (1 Cor 15:52)



Also is our resurrection subject to where or how we are buried?
I think not. Our resurrection is subject to our relationship with Christ --
It is not the same molecules that went into the grave that will rise.

1 Corinthians 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

So the whole theory that souls are in heaven with the Lord, waiting to come back to earth to re-inhabit their earthly bodies is false.

At the resurrection the PERSON is raised from the dead in a NEW incorruptible, spiritual body!




In the document there is also mention of praying for the dead and to the dead saints. Yet scripture says:

Ecclesiastes 9:5,6 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

If the Bible is saying the dead can't affect anything that happens here on earth. Why are people still praying to these dead saints when the dead can't hear them?

Why is it important to understand that death is a sleep --
body and soul utterly unconscious awaiting the resurrection?



It is a safe guard against the spiritualism that is to take the world captive.

Spiritualism is receiving communications from the realms of the fallen angels, whose chief purpose is to defeat God in saving you and me.

We are in perilous times. God, in love for us has marked out the pitfalls that we need not be snared by them! One of the warnings concerns a great danger of being deceived by the
work of Satan now manifested in Spiritualism.

The facts of the physical manifestations are real. Thousands have been convinced by the manifestations of power alone. Apparitions appear, be they departed saints, departed loved ones, or some departed person who lived thousands of years ago. Some will dictate whole messages to their human "slave", some will apparently heal the sick.
The Scriptures say that in the latter times some will depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; and many even among those who believed that the Bible is the word of God, end up rejecting the doctrines of the Bible for the teachings of these deceptive spirits.

Look at the crowds flocking to see "mary" appear in various places. Not just Catholics, but also protestants, Muslims and others who seek a human "mother" goddess. Mary, supposed "queen of heaven", the one that claims to "sign people" with her special seal, and be the channel by which people can reach her "son", bringing countless messages to people. Who is she? No, this is not the "Mary" of scripture. This is the blaspheming spirits of demons claiming the position of Christ.

There are numerous other spirits whose messages have been recorded -- spirits claiming to be some departed person.

These spirits will use the pain of loosing a loved one, to insert themselves into the grieving person's life by appearing as their lost loved one.

Also, be not deceived by their use of scripture. These spirits know the scripture -- but they twist them for their own use.
For example, we have the 'gifts of the spirit" in 1 Cor.12, we know this is talking about the Holy Spirit giving gifts for the furtherance of God's message. But the spirits claim that Paul is talking about them --the spirit of faith brings faith, the spirit of healing brings healing -- totally twisting the scripture.

Neither are angels, departed loved ones.
The angels were there before mankind was created.

There's much spiritualistic material being taught and changing the whole paradigm of human thought, we need to be anchored in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and His Word, it is the only place of safety!

Are anchored?
If some apparition claiming to Paul, or Peter appeared in our society and started preaching, telling us what they actually meant in scripture and that it was different from what we believe -- what would we believe?

If some apparition claiming to be Ellen White showed up at the GC or at our campmeetings or other large gatherings and started preaching with power -- again redefining the meaning of her written words, what would we believe?

Spiritualism is based upon the first doctrine that the devil
ever taught to man, "Ye shall not surely die." Since that time the immortality of mankind, or endless life in sin, has been his favorite doctrine.

One thing is certain -- those fallen angels -- the spirits of devils do not have people's best interest in mind. They will lure people with promises only to destroy. They are still in the business of destroying God's creation -- and preventing Christ's redemption to reach as many people as possible.

In Job 34:14-15, a passage that reads much like Eccl. 12:7, we don't see any mention of the dead "spirits" living with God in Heaven or paradise. All the dead, "all flesh", return to the dust.

I find this a very comforting message. Rest from our labors.

Amen dedication.

Spiritualism is always about destroying God's creation and God alone is about saving fallen mankind. We all need to gird up our minds with the truths of God's Word.

Didn't notice this discussion before on this..

So what is this wrong doctrine concerning "spirits"? Where did it come from?

The implications of "psukhe";, meaning "spirit" or "life" has long fascinated humanity. People studying ancient Greek's philosophy to see how they related to concepts of "spirit" and "life", can see an evolving tapestry of thought leading to this idea, that the "psukhe" or spirit does not die but lives even when separated from the body.

Those ideas surrounding the spirit/soul emerged from ancient Greek thought and they played a huge influential role on future development of thought within the realm of Christianity and Western European philosophy. To this day the legacy of the Greek understanding of the "psukhe" persists, shaping the people's beliefs on this subject. Greek philosophy has shaped the existing beliefs we find in most Christian (and other) religions.
It's the Idea that the "psukhe" lives on, and is still "you" somehow, on its own, away from the body.

This of course, opens the door for any spiritualistic being (Satan's evil spirits, are fallen angels, who follow satan, they are not satan himself) to pretend to be a departed loved one's "spirit".

But there's another belief that is being promoted that seems to come from this same Greek philosophy:
The reasoning goes something like this:
--A person has a "spirit" the Bible calls it "his spirit", that is, the person's spirit. Thus it is an integral part of that person. Yet, that coupled with the Greek philosophy is then understood that our spirit can leave the body and continue an existence that is still you.
From that it is claimed that when the Bible calls the Holy Spirit, God's Spirit, or Christ's spirit they claim it means the Holy Spirit is actually Christ, it's His Spirit in the same sense as we have "a spirit".
But the reasoning has a huge major problem. It depends on the Greek philosophy that claims a "spirit" is alive and fully functioning when apart or separated from Person it belongs to --
A philosophy which we reject.

We believe the person's "psukhe" or spirit has NO abilities to do anything when the person is dead. The human spirit cannot function outside the host (body).

Immortality of the soul --
claims people are immortal, each person has life in themselves, they are not dependent upon God for life. Whether people obey God or not, it is claimed, they will not die. Their eyes will be opened and they will become like god.
Believing that the dead are living, intelligent, conscious, though bodiless people, opens the door to a huge source of deceptions, signs and wonders.

Sunday worship --
claims humans have the authority to change, sanctify and replace God's law with a law of their own making. It stands in defiance against God's law. We've seen the extent people will go, when it is pointed out that the 7th day is the Sabbath of God's commandments -- they start claiming the law is no longer binding, that it was a burden, nailed to the cross.
People are so determined to do away with the law of God, in order that they may find a way of avoiding the observance of the Sabbath, that they array Jesus in the New Testament against Jesus in the Old Testament, presenting two different Christs..
Sunday will be used to enforce a religious law that stands against God's clear commands.

Rome, religious/political power -- claims the authority to define and enforce that which belongs to God alone. Through Rome Satan seeks to set his throne above the throne of God claiming to be the rightful owner of the world.