Question:  Dear Greg,

            I’m having a problem with the issue of death in the scriptures.  I know the scriptures say that it is appointed unto man once to die and then the judgment.  I know that Jesus said whoever lives and believes on him will not die.  It seems like a contradiction.  To add insult to injury, some folks say that death means no activity whatsoever.  Others say that when a Christian dies his soul or spirit (that is another question: what is the difference? Or are the soul and spirit the same?) goes to be with the Lord.  However, others believe this doesn’t occur until we are resurrected.  When Jesus talks about us never dying, is he talking about our spirit or soul?  And when the Scriptures say that all will face death, are they referring only to physical death?  I know there is much here to answer but I hope you can help straighten me out.

            A sincere thanks and love in Christ,

            Ray

P.S.  I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but there is a web site called plaintruth.org that is anything but the plain truth.  It is an Islamic web site purposed on converting Christians to Islam.  I was really shocked at the lengths they go to in order to deny our (and their) Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Answer:  Dear Ray,

            You are not the only one confused about this issue.  Part of our confusion of course is that only one person has died and lived again, eternally, and he, Jesus, has not given us insight about what his human spirit or soul was doing while his body was in the tomb.  Of course, Jesus is Unique, for he was God in the flesh, and the divine Jesus, the Eternal Son of God did not die, while the humanity, Jesus in the flesh, did die.

            Yes, the Bible says that we all die.  Yes, Jesus says that those who believe in him will never die—within the context he means that we will not cease to exist for eternity.  He also means that we will be given eternal life NOW, so that we will, in some way that we don’t completely understand, taste of the life of the age to come.  So, when we die that part of us, the eternal life that we have been given, does not die—therefore, those of us who believe in Jesus will never die.

            Death—no activity?  Well, for the body that is true.  We can observe and see that.  We bury or cremate the dead body.  We have seen dead bodies and we know that there is no activity.  But this is not the issue that people debate.  They debate about what happens to the soul or spirit after the death of the body in what is called “the intermediate state”.  Generally speaking, without a huge theological discussion and biblical study, the terms soul and spirit are biblically interchangeable.

            The question is, when we die and when we are “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8) do we go “to heaven” and are we conscious there, or do we to “to heaven” and does our soul “sleep”?  I put quotes around “to heaven” because heaven is not a geographical location.  God is not someplace while he is not somewhere else.  Heaven is where God is, which is everywhere.  We are with God “at home with the Lord” when we die, according to the Bible, rather than in some specific geographical destination in the universe.

            We of course don’t know whether we are conscious when we are at home with the Lord or whether our soul is “sleeping”.  But we should consider that the idea of soul sleep is built upon an exact and clinical definition of the biblical use of the word “sleep” when the Bible, specifically the King James version, uses the term in reference to death as a euphemism.  The Bible uses the word sleep to specifically refer to natural sleep, to refer to laziness and slothfulness of someone who is fully alive and conscious, as well as to refer to someone whose body has died.

            But the Bible uses the term figuratively of death, so it is not an accurate interpretation of the Bible to say that since the Bible speaks of the dead sleeping therefore we are unconscious when we are home with the Lord “in heaven”.  We might ask ourselves logically—if God has the option (and we can safely conclude that he has this “option” since as God he has all options!) and can choose whether those who have died will be conscious with him or unconscious, wouldn’t it be safer to assume (based upon what the Bible tells us about God), that we will be conscious in some way?  Would, for example, God simply want everyone to sleep because he is too busy with other things?  We grossly underestimate God and eternity if we come to any kind of conclusion like that.  God is not “too busy” for us, ever.  “Too busy” is what we are, not what God is.

            But, at the end of the day, there are two ways to argue and understand what is called the “intermediate state”—what happens to us after we die and while we await the resurrection of our bodies.

            Hope this helps.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht

P.S.  Yes, we are aware of the Moslem web site and it has given us some interesting traffic as some who are headed to their site come to ours instead.  Some have asked questions and offered comments that have been productive.  Unfortunately some have been nasty.  As you say, it is interesting to examine their teachings about Christ—not too far from the position that atheists and agnostics take, who have no Moslem background.