Actually it is the false claim that the soul does not live on forever.
Animals all have a soul, but when they die, their soul ceases to exist and they are no more conscience or aware as their soul has been extinguished.
Again, I see confusion with the words “soul” and “spirit”.....they are not one and the same thing.
When a soul dies, it is because the body has ceased to function. The soul cannot live without a body. The spirit is what animates a soul, just as God “breathed the breath (spirit) of life” into Adam who then “
became a living soul”.
What is the opposite of a living soul? What was Adam before God started him breathing? He was not a soul until he breathed. When breathing stops, oxygen can no longer keep the cells alive, so the organism dies...both man and animal have the same fate, but that was not the way it started. (Eccl 3:18-20)
This is not the case with the soul of mankind who was created in God's image and has an ever living spirit within his soul... which causes the soul to live on forever and ever just like God will live on forever.
The spiritual nature of man has a natural propensity to worship and to appreciate the beauty and function of creation. Animals by and large, just take their life and environment for granted because they are not made in God’s image. You never see animals gazing at a sunset or a beautiful vista with appreciation....all they see before them is the food God created for them.
The “spirit” in man can mean a few different things in the scriptures but sadly, few bother to check and see what those different things mean....
The Hebrew word “ruʹach” and the Greek word “pneuʹma”, often translated “spirit,” have a number of meanings. All of them refer to that which is invisible to human sight and gives evidence of force in motion.
The Hebrew and Greek words are used with reference to (1) wind, (2) the active life-force in earthly creatures, (3) the impelling force that issues from a person’s figurative heart and causes him to say and do things in a certain way, (4) inspired expressions originating from an invisible source, (5) spirit persons, and (6) God’s active force, or holy spirit. (Exodus 35:21; Psalm 104:29; Matthew 12:43; Luke 11:13)
If the man had not been created in God's image, then man's soud would not live on forever.... and as such there would be no need for Jesus to go to the Cross to bring forth God's plan of salvation.
It wasn’t just that man was created in God’s image, he was created 100% mortal, but with a guarantee of “everlasting life” not “immortality”....there is a big difference. It was Adam’s sin that robbed his children of access to the only thing God created in the garden to extend their mortal lives....”the tree of life”. Without the tree of life, and sin entering into their mortal flesh, death was inevitable. (Genesis 3:22-24) Only God could rescue them by sending someone to cancel that awful debt and redeem them with his own life.
Man's soul will in fact live on forever... all of us will be conscience and awake and aware for all eternity... in either Heaven or hell.
Actually, the Bible never held out a “heaven or hell” scenario. Adam was never told of such places.
He was told that if he sinned he would “die and return to the dust”...nothing more. (Gen 3:19)
There is actually no “heaven or hell” destination for mankind in the Bible...that idea was created by the “weeds” whom Jesus said would be planted by the devil....creating a counterfeit “Christianity” that would lead the majority off on the wrong path. (Matthew 7:13-14)
The devil is the one who said “you surely will not die” when God said that they surely would....so who lied?
Death is the end of this life....the one that mankind have endured with so much grief from God’s permission of the devil’s rulership over the human race.....but with good reason. God’s children both spirit sons and earthly ones had to learn of the consequence of abusing their free will.....they could not be
told, so they had to be
shown where that leads in real life. We have lived that reality in all of our history, creating precedents that will last for all eternity to come. No rebel will ever be able to challenge God’s rightful Sovereignty again.
Acts 14:16-17...in Paul’s witness to those of the nations who wanted to sacrifice to the apostles because of a miracle they saw....he said....
“In past generations he permitted all the nations to go on in their ways, 17 although he did not leave himself without witness in that he did good, giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying you with food and filling your hearts with gladness.”
In giving world rulership over to satan to prove his claims, (Luke 4:5-7) God was always there for anyone to seek him out. Right hearted ones always did. They endured faithfully to the end of their lives and will be remembered by God in the resurrection, when he returns them to life in a “new earth” cleansed of all wickedness, ruled over by a “new heavens”....God’s Kingdom. (John 5:28-29, 2 Peter 3:13)
There is no immortal soul because “sheol” is a place where the dead “sleep”......unconscious...inactive. (Eccl 9:5, 10; John 11:11-14) Life does not continue beyond the grave for the vast majority of us. (Psalm 115:17)
If there is no immortal soul, then, there is no reason to invent places for them to go. Sleeping peacefully is not a hardship so no one has to fear death.
The teaching of the resurrection has been lost by believing that death is not the end of life. People have lived and died in fear because of belief in “a burning hell of eternal torment”......but there was never anything like that to fear from a loving God unless you were incorrigibly wicked....then there was “Gehenna”.......which is not “hellfire” but a termination of life altogether. No one is resurrected from “Gehenna”....”the lake of fire”....“the second death”. Whatever goes into this symbolic lake, never comes out. Even “death” and “hades” (the grave) are hurled into that place to be
destroyed. (Revelation 20:14; Matthew 10: 28)
Sincere Bible study answers all questions.....but trying to hang on to false beliefs from centuries ago makes the journey way more difficult that it has to be.
