Understanding Human Nature
_Memory Text: Genesis 2:7_
*SABBATH*: The biblical truth is that the dead are really dead! Death is an unconscious state for all men. God’s words, “You shall die” apply to us & not only the pair in Eden. Many are led by the lying wonders of Satan as was Eve & accept the idea of an immortal soul or spirit. They try to harmonize his words, “You shall not surely die” with that of God. Can God & Satan marry? No! (Gen. 2:16, 17, 3:4, Ps. 139).
*SUNDAY*: What a miracle life is & even more eternal life! How a thing stays alive & how tiny cells in our brain bring feelings is unknown by scientists. All are from the ground but man differ from animals in two ways; 1. God shaped man bodily & gave him the breath of life for him to be a living being/soul; 2. God in His very image made both a male & female. A soul can’t exist outside the body (Gen. 1:24-27, 2:7, 19).
*MONDAY*: Death is inevitable due to sin (Rom. 3:9–18, 23; 5:12). Our lives here are fragile! (Isa. 40:1-8). Both man & animal dies at the end (Eccles. 3:19, 20). But the idea of a bodiless soul moving to Paradise or purgatory is not biblical. Christ is the ultimate solution to death (John 6:40). A person that dies is no longer a living soul. How can a soul be immortal if “the soul who sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:4, 20)?
*TUESDAY*: King Solomon talks of the aging process & equates death to the reversal of creation (Eccles. 12:1-7). He does not imply that the spirit of the dead stays conscious before God as some believe. As man in Creation came from dust & his spirit from God, so in death his body returns to the ground & his spirit to the Giver; God (Gen. 2:7, 7:22, Ezek. 18:4, 20, Ps. 104:29). Is the wicked dead with God? No!
*WEDNESDAY*: To die is to sleep or be at rest; The dead are kept at a place of silence; & the cognition of the dead ceases (Job 3:11–3; Ps. 115:17; 146:4; Eccles. 9:5, 10). All these texts imply that “the dead know nothing,” as the OT teaches about the state of the dead; First, there is no eternal burning hell or a brief purgatory for those who die unsaved. Second, a reward awaits the dead in Christ (DA, p. 787).
*THURSDAY*: The Bible tutor that both good & bad kings all went to the same place at death (2 Kings 24:6, 2 Chron. 32:33). They rested with their forefathers. The OT uses the same idea to depict the death & burial of Abraham; Moses (Gen. 25:8, Deut. 32:50, 2 Sam. 7:12, 1 Kings 2:10, 22:40). Thus; one day we’ll also rest from toils, we’re not the first to die; we’re not alone in this rest. Though buried near loved ones, the dead can’t commune.
*FRIDAY*: Christ, His apostles, & the patriarchs & prophets left no word of assurance that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their punishment at death. All the dead sleep until the resurrection. Perhaps, a faint idea of death is to be anesthetize during surgery. Yet, the brain still works unlike death. The only thing the dead will see is either Christ’s second advent or the millennium (Rev. 20:7-15).
—Ellen G. White, “The First Great Deception,” pp. 531–550, in The Great Controversy.
*Keywords*
_OT- Old Testament_
_DA- The Desire of Ages_
_Purgatory- the condition, process, or place of purification or temporary punishment in which, according to medieval Christian and Roman Catholic belief, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for heaven._
_The spirit of the dead- If the alleged spirits of all who die survive as conscious entities in the presence of God, then are the spirits of the wicked with God? This idea is not in harmony with the overall teaching of the Scriptures._
_A cliché- We often say that death is just part of life. Why is that so wrong? Death is the opposite of life, the enemy of life._
_A fact- For those of us who remain alive, death seems as if it lasts for a long time. For the living it does; but for the dead it seems to last only an instant._
*Captions*
_SUNDAY- “A Living Being”_
_MONDAY- “ ‘The Soul Who Sins Shall Die’ ”_
_TUESDAY- The Spirit Returns to God_
_WEDNESDAY- “The Dead Know Nothing”_
_THURSDAY- Resting With the Forefathers_
*Discussion Questions*
📌 How does the biblical notion of the human being as a whole—who remains conscious only as an undivided person—help us to understand better the nature of death?
📌 The world has been taken over by the theory of the natural immortality of the soul, with all its uncountable ramifications. Why then is our message about the state of the dead so crucial? Why, also, even among Christians, do we find such strong opposition to what is really a wonderful teaching?
📌 How should an understanding of the state of the dead protect us from what might “appear” before our eyes? That is, why can’t we always trust what we see, especially if what we see, or think we see, is the spirit of a dead relative, as some have reported seeing?
_For October 8–14. Happy Sabbath._
0.922 SRY