Subject: An interesting discussion/question |
Bible Note: Hello Tamara, Do I believe in soul sleep? Well, I wouldn't call it soul sleep. Usually the only ones who call it that are the ones who don't believe in it. I call it death. I don't get confused about "sleep" because of it being an idiom for death either. You're point on that is right, it was a euphemism. However, I believe that when you die, you ACTUALLY die, not just your body. You mention 2 Cor 5:8 and Phil 1:23. These are commonly taken to mean that once you leave the body you are present with the Lord. You also say that I have to read into it soul sleep. The problem with that is we (you, me, pretty much everyone) reads into Scripture whatever their theology is anyway. Some admit to this, others deny it, but we all do it, even though it is unintentional. Let me give you a little example. Rom 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Well, here we usually read into this verse that "death" means separation from God or hell. We all read into plenty of verses, we should just try to do this as little as possible, but we will all still do it. Now, you say that Paul was not meaning a 2000 year gap. You might be right. I don't have all the answers, that is for sure. However, if Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, then how is it that we go to be with Him upon our death if no man has ascended to heaven (John 3:13, Acts 2:34 - David). That being said, when one dies then for them it is instantaneous. They don't know they are dead. It is sort of like anesthesia. You close your eyes and when you open them you are in the afterlife. You also mention that "Paul does not have any gap of time in mind here or he would have said so". Paul says neither and is quiet on the matter. Job says there is a gap of time (Job 14:7-17). It is definitely related as a time between death and resurrection. Anyway, I am rambling on. Soul sleep (or death as I call it) is really a minor point to me. It has much larger implications, but soul sleep is not too important really. But one more thing, if death is really the result of our sin. If that was really part of the curse God placed on Adam and Eve. Then what kind of curse is it if we don't really die? We just live on forever somewhere else right? You see, we still believe the very first lie don't we. "Ye shall not surely die: " (Gen 3:4). Take it for what you will. To avoid a debate I will let you have the last post. If you would like to discuss each other's points for more consideration you can email me at jamison2u@gmail.com jamison |