Wednesday, April 13, 2011
I wanted to send a comforting message to you now in your time od sorrow.\
\
What Hope for Dead Loved Ones?\
\
aIf a man die, shall he live again?a asked the man Job long ago. (Job 14:14, King James Version) Perhaps you, too, have wondered about this. How would you feel if you knew that a reunion with your loved ones was possible right here on earth under the best of conditions?\
\
Well, the Bible makes the promise: aYour dead ones will live. . . . They will rise up.a And the Bible also says: aThe righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.aa"Isaiah 26:19; Psalm 37:29.\
\
To have real confidence in such promises, we need to answer some basic questions: Why do people die? Where are the dead? And how can we be sure they can live again?\
\
Death, and What Happens When We Die\
\
The Bible makes it clear that God did not originally intend for humans to die. He created the first human pair Adam and Eve, placed them in an earthly paradise called Eden, and instructed them to have children and extend their Paradise home earth wide. They would die only if they disobeyed his instructions.a"Genesis 1:28; 2:15-17.\
\
Lacking appreciation for Godas kindness, Adam and Eve did disobey and were made to pay the prescribed penalty. aYou [will] return to the ground,a God told Adam, afor out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.a (Genesis 3:19) Before his creation Adam did not exist; he was dust. And for his disobedience, or sin, Adam was sentenced to return to dust, to a state of nonexistence.\
\
Death is thus an absence of life. The Bible draws the contrast: aThe wages sin pays is death, but the gift God gives is everlasting life.a (Romans 6:23) Showing that death is a state of total unconsciousness, the Bible says: aFor the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.a (Ecclesiastes 9:5) When a person dies, the Bible explains: aHis spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.aa"Psalm 146:3, 4.\
\
However, since only Adam and Eve disobeyed that command in Eden, why do we all die? It is because all of us were born after Adamas disobedience, and so we all inherited sin and death from him. As the Bible explains: aThrough one man [Adam] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men.aa"Romans 5:12; Job 14:4.\
\
Yet someone may ask: aDonat humans have an immortal soul that survives death?a Many have taught this, even saying that death is a doorway to another life. But that idea does not come from the Bible. Rather, Godas Word teaches that you are a soul, that your soul is really you, with all your physical and mental qualities. (Genesis 2:7; Jeremiah 2:34; Proverbs 2:10) Also, the Bible says: aThe soul that is sinninga"it itself will die.a (Ezekiel 18:4) Nowhere does the Bible teach that man has an immortal soul that survives the death of the body.\
\
How Humans Can Live Again\
\
After sin and death entered the world, God revealed that it was his purpose that the dead be restored to life by means of a resurrection. Thus the Bible explains: aAbraham . . . reckoned that God was able to raise [his son Isaac] up even from the dead.a (Hebrews 11:17-19) Abrahamas confidence was not misplaced, for the Bible says of the Almighty: aHe is a God, not of the dead, but of the living, for they are all living to him.aa"Luke 20:37, 38.\
\
Yes, Almighty God has not only the power but also the desire to resurrect persons whom he chooses. Jesus Christ himself said: aDo not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.aa"John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15.\
\
Not long after saying this, Jesus met a funeral procession coming out of the Israelite city of Nain. The dead young man was the only child of a widow. On seeing her extreme grief, Jesus was moved with pity. So, addressing the corpse, he commanded: aYoung
