Bible Questions and Answers

Thank you for yourQuestion:

People do not ‘pass on’ - they die.

When a person dies they are placed in ‘hell’.

But not in the ‘hell’ of popular Church mythology.

The ‘hell’ of the Bible is simply the grave (‘Sheol’ in Hebrew; ‘Hades’ in Greek).

In the grave they corrupt and return to dust.

The Bible is very clear on the subject.

The sentence on Adam.

Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

After death there is no remembrance, no giving of thanks.

Psalm 6:5 For in deaththere is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

When a man ceases to breathe he returns to dust.

Psalm 104:29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

When a man ceases to breathe his thoughts perish.

Psalm 146:4 His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Men who go astray from God remain dead forever.

Proverbs 21:16 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.

Solomon with his God-given wisdom says; -

All go to dust

Ecclesiastes 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

Nothing continues after death

Ecclesiastes 5:15  As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.

The dead know nothing, their love, hate and envy are perished

Ecclesiastes 9:5  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

6  Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

To look at the 'mechanics' involved:

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Man = dust plus spirit (or breath) = living soul (hebrew 'nephesh').

It follows that: -

Man minus spirit (or breath) = dead soul

IE. Souls die (the Bible knows nothing about 'immortal' souls)

Leviticus 21:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead (hebrew 'nephesh' -soul) among his people:

Joshua 20:9  These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person(hebrew 'nephesh' - soul) at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.

Souls die because they sin

Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

The only way a man can 'survive' death is by resurrection.

The dead 'sleep' in the dust of the earth.

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

So the TRUE HOPE of the gospel is resurrection from the dead.

And this is the gospel preached in the New Testament.

By Jesus:

John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

By Paul:

Acts 17:18 Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

Acts 24:15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

He clearly states that without resurrection those that have died in Christ are perished.

1 Corinthians 15:13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:

17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

If you will accept a 'reverse' argument - When Jesus corrects the Sadducees (who did not believe in resurrection) he proves that there will be a resurrection of the dead as follows; -

Matthew 22:31 But as touching (concerning) the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,
32  I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

Now if Abraham Isaac and Jacob somehow survived death and were alive in heaven, then Jesus' argument would not prove the resurrection.

So Paul can say

Hebrews 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
18  Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
19  Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

No one apart from Jesus has ever ascended to Heaven.

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Acts 2:34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,

The faithful of old all died and sleep in the grave and will not receive the promised eternal life in the kingdom of God without ‘us’ ie until the number of God’s Elect is complete.

Hebrews 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

I hope this helps

God bless

Glenn