The soul is not eternal and I would challenge you to find any scripture which says the soul is eternal. If you screw up what you believe about “soul” and you screw up what happens to man at death, it will screw all of your doctrine up.
First, “soul” is not a “third part” to a recipe. Read Genesis 2:7 very carefully.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into the nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
The sprit and soul are not one and the same. That is why God inspired 2 distinctly different words to be used when speaking of both. First take a look at the Hebrew words for “spirit” and “breath” (Strong’s #H7306 ruwach and #H5397 nshamah) and the Hebrew word for “soul” (Strong’s #H5315 nephesh and Strong’s #5590 psuche).
The soul (and consciousness) does not exist until the breath of life (spirit from God) is joined with the body to create a living soul. Death is a return. At death, the spirit (breath of life) goes back to God, the body returns to the soil. The soul ceases to exist. When I die I will return to the state I was in in 1975 before I was conceived by my mom and dad.
Some believe “having a soul” distinguishes us from animals but what does the scripture say about that. Keep in mind that “soul” in Genesis 2:7 is “nephesh”.
“ And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.” (Gen.1:20)
The word translated here by the KJV translators is the Hebrew “nephesh”. Animals are living souls just like humans.
The soul is not immortal and the soul is not eternal. Man’s only hope to live again, is not death but rather resurrection. Check out these passages:
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” (Ez.18:20)
“For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. (Ecc.9:5)
“Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.” (Acts 2:29)
I could go on and on and on. How about 2 Corinthians 5:8 which Christendom always misquotes?
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8)
The key word here is “and”. The word typically substituted for “and” is the word “is”. Think of it like this: I live in North Carolina but would really like to be in Hawaii.
Let’s first paraphrase the way Christianity paraphrases this passage:
“To be absent from North Carolina, is to be present in Hawaii.” Does that make any sense? No. Just because I am absent from North Carolina does not make me present in Hawaii. A certain intervening event would have to occur.
Instead, I should say:
I would like “…To be absent from North Carolina, and to be present in Hawaii.”
That makes sense. What was the context of what Paul was saying to the Corinthians? Paul wasn’t looking for death to put him in the presence of the Lord (he knew it wouldn’t). He was looking to be snatched away.
Can the soulish enter Heaven? Not according to Paul. Here is another example where the truth is covered up by bad translating. Look at how the Greek word (psuchikos) meaning “soulish” is changed to “natural”:
“It is sown a natural (soulish) body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural (soulish) body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural (soulish); and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
This is very important: We know that Christ, when He appeared to the Apostles was absent what? Blood. The soul is in the blood. The vivifying spirit we will receive upon our transformation will replace the blood/soul. Only then will we be spiritual.
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