Chapter 13.14
Soul Sleep
Can
you be conscious without a body?
When
does the soul go to heaven?
Is
the Soul mortal or immortal?
First Word
The
concept of Soul Sleep has been around since dirt. While silent for years, it is now embraced in
conservative Christian circles. The argument on Soul Sleep is
based on “When
does the soul enjoy the rewards of heaven”
Webster: Soul, an entity
which is regarded as being the immortal or spiritual part of the person and
though having no physical or material reality is credited with the functions of
thinking and willing and hence determining all behavior
Wikipedia:
Soul Sleep is an interval between death and
the judgment, the soul sleeps. The
phrase “Soul Sleep” does not occur in the Bible.
ü In Catholicism, most souls temporarily stay in Purgatory
to be purified for Heaven.
ü Most Protestants believe the soul is judged to go to
Heaven or Hell immediately after death
The
“mortality” of the soul has been held throughout the history of both Judaism and
Christianity.
Bible: When our soul is absent from the body
it will be present with The Lord[1] in
an assembly of other Believers who are now called the Saints.[2] We will have all our senses; eating, tasting, feeling, seeing, hearing, touching, singing
and praising.[3] We
will be in His presence; Face to Face[4]
and given wisdom and knowledge to understand
all we have always wondered about.
If your soul is asleep, you can do none of these things.
The term “SLEEP” as used in
scripture is a KIND WAY of saying
somebody is DEAD. Like for the sake of decency, saying he “KNEW HER” instead of
saying they had SEX.[5] Although many embrace “Soul Sleep” with parallel scriptures; the
phrase or term “Soul
Sleep” does not occur in the Bible; so get over it; sleep is Death
The flow of “consciousness” is
dependent upon the senses. God
has promised that we will not be abandoned to the grave; that death in Him is
better than life on earth.[6]
NT
scripture often relates to death as “sleep”; a time when yours physical
senses are suspended.
OT scripture,
it is called “rest”
when your Soul ceases to participate in activities.
In the grave there is nothing but silence, there
is no planning, wisdom, knowledge, singing or praising;[7] just
rest,
waiting for the “Day of Judgment”.
I include in the footnotes above and
below, more scriptures than you want to look up that depending on your Belief System
will SUPPORT as well as DISPROVE THE DOCTRINE of soul sleep[8]
Road Trip
In the book of Revelation; every tribe,
tongue, people and nation including those who had their heads cut off will take
a road trip, then gather and sing a new song.[9] We will all be busy serving Him who sits on
the throne.[10]
We can’t do this if we are asleep.
Conscious without a body
God
does not have a body, nor do “most” of the Angels have bodies, but all have
consciousness and senses. We do not need a
body to be conscious. You can
have music in your soul without a guitar or a piano. Before I-pods, you could see people walking
down the street, snapping their fingers and jiving; and no sound was to be
heard.
When our body; our earthly tent is
destroyed, we have a new one waiting on us from God. My new body will be thin and almost
transparent with a slight gold color as if covered with water. It will be free, weightless, uncontained,
unlimited by the laws of nature, a body that is indestructible, indescribable,
and incomparable; able to move at the speed of thought; and to use a
theological term… It will be Awesome
(My BS; just saying, no
scripture)
The Holy Spirit has given the believer a “deposit”
as a “guarantee”
of what is to come. If the souls of the
Saints are asleep; they will be unable to
participate in the activities of
heaven that are already in progress. As
soon as we die, we are ushered into His presence by His angels;[11]
there we will see and hear inexpressible things;[12] SELAH (A musical notation that means; cut loose,
get happy and do your thing.) I’m not
making this stuff up; read it for yourself.
The
Believer walks by his Faith, not by his feelings.
2
Corinthians 5:1-8 When our body is
dead, we will have a new one
1 For we know
that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and
leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, AN ETERNAL BODY MADE FOR US BY GOD
HIMSELF and
not by human hands.
2 We grow
weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new
clothing. For
we will put on heavenly bodies;
3 WE WILL NOT BE SPIRITS WITHOUT BODIES.
4 While we
live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to
die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us.
Rather, we want to put on our new bodies
so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.
5 God himself has
prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
6 So we are
always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies
we are not at home with the Lord.
7 FOR WE LIVE BY BELIEVING AND NOT BY
SEEING.
8 Yes, we are fully
confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we
will be at home with the Lord. (NLT)
Abrahams Bosom
Abraham’s Bosom is a very
controversial subject to study; that’s why I eagerly comment on it and fully
accept the criticism.
In Biblical times, people would recline as they ate. Reclining near the head guy was referred to
as reclining “in his bosom”; a place of
honor.
At one time Hell was divided into two compartments; Torment and a place called Paradise
which was also called Abraham’s Bosom. This was where those in the friendship of
God; the “righteous good” went after death. There they “tarried” till the resurrection;
during this time of “tarring”, the people were awake having emotions,
feelings, and dialog; this was not Soul Sleep,
Purgatory or Limo.
None of which are found in scripture.
Note: The term Friend was
used when someone was “in Covenant” with someone else; so those in paradise
were in the friendship
of God; in
Covenant.
Wikipedia: Abraham’s Bosom
or Paradise was the abode of people who,
before Jesus' Resurrection, had died in the friendship of God, but had to
wait for Christ to open heaven's gates. It
was said to be located on the edge of Hell; not exactly in and not exactly out.[13] Before Christ
died, “the
repentant thief” asked to be remembered and Jesus told him that
today he would be with Him in Paradise;[14] this collaborates that Paradise
was where Jesus would be that day.
At the death of Christ’s on the Cross, He went to Abraham’s Bosom also known as Paradise and preached for three days to those
that had died over the past 4,000 years.[15] Time is somewhat of an abstract for the dead,
and exists only for the living; and is only a pin point of existence somewhere
between eternity past and eternity future. This is NOT second chance
salvation; those in Paradise had never heard of the Messiah Jesus; they heard
and accepted Him.
Jesus appeared to Mary before He ascended to Heaven collaborating that Paradise was still on earth.[16] When Jesus
ascended to Heaven, He took “Paradise” and everybody in it up to heaven
with Him, where it is now.[17] There is no longer a “tarring” place on this earth; today
when we go to “rest
with the fathers”, we are immediately active with Christ in Heaven.[18] On
the day of Pentecost, Christ gave the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Believers,
plus a whole bunch more gifts.[19]
Hell or Torment was then
enlarged to receive all the new folks for the last 2000 years.
The
Take Away
You can certainly build
a case for “Soul
Sleep” if you haven’t read the whole Bible. John Calvin refuted
Soul Sleep during the 19th century in his writings Psychopannychia
which is the concept that most Protestants embrace today. The Bible uses the term “rest with the fathers” or “sleep”
to speak of
death.
Abraham’s
Bosom was
also called Paradise;
a place for the righteous “to tarry” till the resurrection. Jesus went
there; preached the Gospel and took the whole place and its contents to heaven.
At the resurrection, the Soul gets a new indescribable body and enjoys every
activity you can dream of and more; things that cannot be comprehended by the
natural mind.
There is NOT a place called Purgatory, Limo or a
state called Soul Sleep.
The doctrine of Soul Sleep is taught in error. The NT teaches that
when the
believer dies, he is immediately
face to face with the Lord and the un-believer and
MAKE-BELIEVER are in Torment; Hell.
Did you
see it?
Time is only present for the living; it does not exist in the
spiritual realm; in fact you could say that 6000 years of people all died at
the same time and all will be resurrected at the same time.
[2] Hebrews 12:23 – An
assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven
[3] Psalm 17:15 – We will be alive again, will see and be satisfied -- Luke
16:22-24 – We can see, feel and have emotions after
death
-- Psalm 16:11 – We will be filled with joy and eternal pleasures.
[4] John 17:24 – We will see and be
with Him -- 1 Corenthians 13:12 – We will see Him face to face -- Romans
8:18 – His Glory will be revealed -- Matthew 8:11 – They will gather, eat and feast with Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob
[5] Luke 1:34 – Mary had not
“known” a man
[6] Psalm 16:10 – We will not be abandoned to the grave -- 2 Corenthians
5:8 – When we are absent from the body; we are resent with the Lord --
Philippians 1:21-23 – In Christ - Death is far
better than life
[7] Psalm 115:17 – At death
there is nothing but silence in the grave --
Psalm 146:4 – In the grave, there is No planning --
Ecclesiastes 9:10 – In the grave, there is neither
working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom -- Isaiah 38:18 – In the
pit or grave, there is No singing or praising
[8] Matthew 27:52 – Some who
had fallen asleep and died were raised -- Luke 8:52 – Death is sleeping --
John 11:11–13 – Rest in sleep; Jesus spoke
of his DEATH,
but they thought that He was speaking about taking REST in sleep -- Acts 7:60 – Fell asleep;
died -- 1 Corenthians 15:6 – Some have fallen asleep, they have died
-- Acts 7:60 – He fell asleep; he died -- 1 Corenthians 15:6 – Fallen
asleep; died -- 1 Corenthians 15:17-19 – Fallen asleep, died --
1 Thessalonians 4:13 – Sleep, died -- Genesis 47:30 – Death
is called rest in the OT -- Deuteromy 31:16
– At death you will
Rest like your fathers rested -- 2
Samuel 7:12 – Death is rest
[9] Revelation 5:9 – Every
tribe, tongue, people and nation will gather and sing a NEW SONG -- Revelation 14:3 – We
will sing a NEW SONG --
Revelation 20:4 – Those that were martyred will be reigning with Christ
[10] Revelation 7:15 – We will
be busy serving Him day and night
[11] 2 Corenthians 5:8 – As soon as the Believer dies, he is in God’s presence --
Luke 16:22 – The Angels await to take the believer home
[12] 2 Corenthians 12:2-4 – We will hear inexpressible things
[13] Luke 16:22-23 – Abraham’s Bosom or Paradise was located in a
compartment of Hell
[14] Luke 23:43 – Today you will be in Paradise
[15] Ephesians 4:9 – Jesus the
Christ descended into Hell -- 1 Peter
3:18-20 – Jesus preached in Hell; In Abrahams
Bosom -- Matthew 12:40 – Jesus three days in Hell -- John 8:32 – The
truth set the captives free
[16] John 20:11-17 – I have
not yet ascended to the Father
[17] Ephesians 4:8 – He took all those in Abrahams Bosom to heaven
[18] 2 Corenthians 5:8 – Today at death, we are immediately with Christ
[19] Acts 2:1-4 – The Holy
Spirit gave gifts day of Pentecost -- 1
Corenthians 12:7-10 – The Holy Spirit gave gifts to
men
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