Subject: An interesting discussion/question |
Bible Note: Dear Jamison, The text may actually says that the child will not return to David, because the child is dead, but it does say David will go to him, which means David would have to be dead to be going to him... Do you believe in soul sleep? Jesus says of Lazarus, he is not dead he is sleeping. And Jesus says of Jairus daughter she is sleeping. To say that someone had fallen asleep was a very old euhpimism stemming back from the OT where it also speaks of folks going to sleep who had died. It does not have to mean that their souls were asleep, but it can mean that it was simply an idiom of that day for death. Paul says in II Corinthians 5:8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Paul was not talking about a 2,000 year plus gap before being able to see the Lord because as soon as he woke up in heaven he would see the Lord. The text does not says that Paul meant souls sleep at death, you have to read that into it. He was saying that to absent from the body is to be present with the Lord with no gap of time indidcated by Paul. Philippians 1:23 But I am hard pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better. Paul does not have any gap of time in mind here or he would have said so, you have to read a gap into it to get that. Acts 2:29 says that David died and was buried and that his tomb is with us to this day, it does not say that his soul is sleeping in his tomb, you have to read that into it to get that. Peter is making a contrast between David who died and who is no longer holding the throne as the heir and Jesus who rose from the dead as the eternal heir. Peter is not making a point about soul sleep. See Acts 2:29-36 to get the context of why Peter said David's tomb is with us till this day. God's day to you, Tamara |