Can the dead communicate with the living?

[amadeus]

@Giuliano

Giuliano said: Perhaps your teachers were dead and knew nothing at all. Adam and Eve died on the spot when they ate of the forbidden fruit. Death entered the world. They died that very day. In one way. They remained alive in two other ways -- body and soul. Their bodies died later. Was Adam mistaken when he called Eve the "mother of all living"?

Yes, with the disobedience of Adam and Eve death was immediately on the scene in every person born of the flesh from then until now. But... the living also came up from the dead because God made it a possibility. For this reason certainly God sent Jesus to us.

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10

Yet many who have heard will not hear!

You can see how they died by how they started speaking with "forked tongues." They were lying to God. They were blaming others with a satanic spirit of accusation. The Holy Spirit God had breathed into them had left. Thus they became mere "souls" like the animals rather than the "living souls" they became when God breathed. The promise in the New Testament is that those who receive the Holy Spirit will speak "with" "new tongues." Don't revise that to mean "in" "other languages." It means pure lips, pure tongues, etc. There may be some glossalia here and there -- but the pure lips is the thing.

Amen! Can we hear? Can we understand? Can we speak? Just what exactly is it that the Holy Spirit in a person is to do... if not quenched? Quicken perhaps?

James 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

No man can tame that forked tongue that mixes truth and lies, blessings and curses. Only God can take care of it.

Yes, we need those new, pure tongues speaking through pure lips by the Holy Spirit in us rather than through logical carnal minds of men!

Jas 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. . .

10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?

This is that unstable double minded man trying to walk on both sides of the fence to receive the blessings of God while holding fast to what he considers important to him in this world of carnal man!

You misunderstand what "dead" means in the passage that says the dead know nothing. There are people walking around dead who know nothing. Let the dead bury the dead, eh? What will you be saying next, that Abraham is dead?

This goes directly to the question in the thread title: Can the dead communicate with the living? They do every day that a living man [one who has received Life from Jesus] is listening to any of the dead men around him [all of the people on planet Earth who have not received the Life that Jesus brought].

All of our friends, co-workers, natural family, fellow church goers and fellow forum members likely include a lot of "dead" people. Are we communicating with each other? Many times seemingly, we are not, but there is the possibility of an open heart among the dead who is hungry and thirsty for the righteousness of God, is there not? Was Jesus sending them to the Living here... or to the dead in hope that some would respond and be quickened?

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matt 28:19-20

Mark 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?

27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err.

I can vouch for the accuracy of what Jesus said about Abraham. I've seen and talked with him. He isn't dead. He's alive and alert. So is Sarah. I wish you could see how Abraham's eyes sparkled with light.

God is Not the Lord of all, but of the Living! Again... most of our friends, co-workers, natural family, fellow church goers and fellow forum members are probably dead in the eyes of God. People seem to think that whether or not the dirt has been shoveled onto a person's face determined whether is Alive or dead to God. Wrong dividing line!

What of this? People often fail to read enough of the passage. . . .

Ecclesiastes 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

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

21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

22 Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

People presume that they, born of their mothers, are not beasts, that they have somehow in the image of God. That image was lost to mankind when Adam and Eve disobeyed to them and to all of their offspring. There is such a thing as redemption and being born anew or from above, but it is not equivalent to being born from the coupling of a carnal man and a carnal woman. Without God we are dead indeed, and/or beasts indeed that "goeth downward to the earth"!

Yes, who knows? The person who knows will repent and mend his ways. The person who trusts in God's Messiah will never die. His body may die, but his soul will not. He will have become a "living soul" the way Adam was made. Some may sleep but some do not.

God gave us the possibility with everything needed to come to Life again and to approach Him more closely, but most are more interested in the blessings anticipated in some later eventuality than they are in listening to and following God wherever it is that He leads them...now! They want to sit back in their easy chairs [comfortable Sunday or Saturday pews] and speak of some distant hereafter instead of enjoying now the Life we can and should have right now! Abraham is Alive now! Are we?

 

[Taken]

In their hatred of the Catholics when the Protestants began...

Not trusting what Catholics were Teaching...and thus the hatred of Protestants by Catholics, for rejection lingers on.

30,000 denominations

LOL- funny! Five different Catholics have spouted 5 different numbers...
When are ya'll going to get your story straight and prove it?

 

[Grailhunter]

Not trusting what Catholics were Teaching...and thus the hatred of Protestants by Catholics, for rejection lingers on.




LOL- funny! Five different Catholics have spouted 5 different numbers...
When are ya'll going to get your story straight and prove it?

LOL- funny! Five different Catholics have spouted 5 different numbers...
When are ya'll going to get your story straight and prove it?

Oh my!
There is a good reason for that. Over the years....the numbers have grown, all the way up to 50,000 denominations. Back in the day when I was looking into the historical fracture of the church and the reasons why they were splintering and formulating I actually counted them up, and came up with over 100 over 30,000. So that is the figure I use, knowing that it is inaccurate, but also knowing that there are near to exact duplicates that I have verified and in some case churches split due to administrative disagreements, like the structure of leadership levels or even personalities. So again I figure that the difference between 30,000 and 50,000 accommodates that.

Then again the point I make is that even if it was in the hundreds....what the heck! In less than 500 years the Protestants have reinterpreted the Bible so many times that it is an insult to the clarity of the scriptures. My best guess it that most of these denominations were started by charismatic men that had no clue about the scriptures. I say "men" because I don't think women would be this darn stupid. It ends up with so much lack of direction and straight up confusion that some have given up and go to Non-denominational churches. Ya know....come here and worship....whatever!

Now certainly I do not think that any one denomination should rule, (total power corrupts) but Christ's church on earth needs a strong voice. As it is, the voice is at the mouse level, that is no good. Now some of you know that I am not Catholic and most of the time I am in a Protestant church. I know at times that it seem like I am rough on the Protestants but its not the people, its the people that has split up the church that I am not happy with. The people in pews are great most of the time. And I am not discounting the validity of the "one person church" thing...but they do not impact the course of things much.

At some point we need to consider at least combining our efforts to confront what is going on. How do you do that...even if we take denominations by category...let say all Baptists form a coalition and agree on a course of action. They do not have to agree on Baptist theology perfectly, but get together on a course of action. For God sake, we have Christians voting for murdering babies and communism. Yuke!

And I am not discounting the power of prayer, but if the Apostles got together in Jerusalem and decided that they were just going to pray for people to believe in Christ, we would not be having these conversions now ...Christianity would not have survived.....and that is what we are letting it do now. So if you think I am coming down on Protestants....if anything I am coming down on everybody.

 

[bbyrd009]

might be significant that speaking with the dead is not characterized as impossible in the Bible, just forbidden?

 

[bbyrd009]

@Giuliano


Without God we are dead indeed, and/or beasts indeed that "goeth downward to the earth"!

God gave us the possibility with everything needed to come to Life again and to approach Him more closely, but most are more interested in the blessings anticipated in some later eventuality than they are in listening to and following God wherever it is that He leads them...now! They want to sit back in their easy chairs [comfortable Sunday or Saturday pews] and speak of some distant hereafter instead of enjoying now the Life we can and should have right now! Abraham is Alive now! Are we?

these are the good old days
life has never been better, according to almost any measure
your ancestors from even 100 years ago--no time--would think you were lying if you described your station and lifestyle, most likely
and we make bargains with the grave
.

Yes, we need those new, pure tongues speaking through pure lips by the Holy Spirit in us rather than through logical carnal minds of men!

what is it? is something you eat
just like the fruit of the tree of knowledge huh

Matthew 24:15-16 follows Mark 13:14 closely: "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains"

 

[Berserk]

DNB: "First of all, the quintessential passage on this issue is 1 Thess. 4:13-18. i.e. fundamentally speaking, no one is judged before Judgement Day."
Notice how DNB ducks the fully conscious martyrs of Rev. 6:9-10 and these 2 Pauline texts I quoted:
"We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8)." Paul's preference reflects the superior conscious awareness in Christ's presence to that in this body.
"My desire is to depart and be with Christ; for that is far better (Phil. 1:23)." Being immediately with Christ is "far better" because of conscious awareness of His presence. Obviously, Paul wouldn't say this if he thought he'd enter soul sleep, whether he departed this life at once or remained on earth for ministry! What DNB doesn't get is the possibility of an interim conscious existence before the Last Judgment.

DNB: "Secondly, although hypothetically, one can argue that NDEs could have an evangelical influence on unbelievers, if one ever bothered to pay attention to the anti-biblical nonsense that seems to invariably proceed from the recipients of these alleged experiences, it would entirely preclude the viability of such a defense for soul-awake, or even evangelism. How could you buy into such overt idiocracies?"

As expected, you resort to the desperate Fundamentalist expedient of making a false pejorative generalization of a complex and highly varied phenomenon. Shame on you for pontificating in this way without the integrity of actually reading through my thread's NDE and ADC accounts.

Berserk: Jesus teaches that the deceased saints are alive (Mark 12:26-27) and never die (John 11:26).

DNB: "That's entirely interpretive, Jesus is merely acknowledging the fact that one day, they will rise, which was in direct contrast to the Sadducees convictions, and in context to their inquiry."

First, the present tense, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," contrasts with the Sadducean understanding as the past tense, "I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Thus, Jesus is claiming that these Patriarchs are currently alive, so that God is presently their God.
Second, Jesus says believers "will never die," that is, they are fully conscious after death as they await their bodily resurrection.

Berserk: In the parable the rich man is fully conscious in his torment in Hades (Luke 16:19-31).
DNB: "Berserk, you don't know an allegory when you hear one?"

Luke 16:19-31 is an parable, not an allegory. Since you obviously don't read scholarly commentaries on parables, you don't know the difference.

DNB: "Especially one that is entirely logistically implausible..."

Again, your mistake is failure to read academic books on parables that locate them in their cultural context. This parable is a variant of common ancient rabbinic parables that contrast the immediate role reversals of the righteous poor and the sinful rich after death, including the longing of the rich for a drink of water in Hell! Thus, Jesus takes for granted the rabbinic motif that the dead survive fully conscious and it would be deceptive if Jesus did not have this intention. You find "implausible" Jesus' premise that the righteous can view the wicked in Hades, but you don't realize that Jesus' parable is partly based on tours of Hades by the righteous in ancient Jewish apocalyptic! See, for example, the excellent discussion of this parable in Burton Mack's magisterial book, "Hear Then the Parable: A Commentary on the Parables of Jesus," pp. 255-259.

Berserk: Jesus comforts the penitent thief on the cross, "Today you will be with me in Paradise (Luke 23:43)."
DNB: "Jesus was talking faith over works."

No hint of a faith vs. works controversy here! As usual, you feel the need to read false assumptions into texts to make them fit your agenda.

DNB: "Plus, and more obviously, Jesus himself was not in paradise that day - 3 days in the grave, 40 days alive until his ascension."

First, you dare to charge Jesus with making a false statement! Second, you forget that at His death Jesus surrendered His spirit to the Father (John 19:30) and then "in the spirit...went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19)." Third, you similarly overlook the possibility that Jesus can be present in spirit, fully conscious, in both Paradise with the penitent thief and in Hades for His preaching mission prior to His bodily resurrection on the 3rd day.

 

[Taken]

...the numbers have grown, all the way up to 50,000 denominations. Back in the day when I was looking into the historical fracture of the church and the reasons why they were splintering and formulating I actually counted them up, and came up with over 100 over 30,000.

It's the ridiculous numbers people throw out I find funny. Over 100, over 30,000 , makes no sense, now 50,000, based on what?
And what is the big fracture you discovered?
No God? No Jesus? No Christ?

 

[amigo de christo]

Go ahead and show us the inconsistency. My explanation lines up perfectly with the prophecy regarding Saul, which only Samuel could have delivered. God does not use evil spirits to convey his messages. And Samuel is clearly identified as Samuel. Samuel had previously told Saul that his kingdom would be taken away from him, so he reiterates that here:

16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?

17 And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David:

18 Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day.

19 Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

What did Samuel mean by this? "...and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me.." Was it not a confirmation that Saul and his sons would die at the hands of the Philistines the next day, and their souls and spirits would join him in Sheol (the region of departed souls)?

Of course, since you don't believe in Sheol (having been taught that it is the grave), you will have a hard time with this. But if Sheol was the grave, then Saul and his sons would enter into Samuel's grave. A TOTAL ABSURDITY!

Yes indeed my friend . stick to the truth in that bible .
And let no man or woman ever go to a soothsayer peroid . But yes indeed my friend you are correct .

 

[Grailhunter]

It's the ridiculous numbers people throw out I find funny. Over 100, over 30,000 , makes no sense, now 50,000, based on what?
And what is the big fracture you discovered?
No God? No Jesus? No Christ?

Well the sky is the limit! Only limited to the imagination.
There are books on this that are very informative. Most of it has to do with the functionality and importance of every step of salvation and every religious word.. You are on this forum, how many different beliefs have you ran into.
Repentance...what is it, what does it mean, what do you have to do for repentance, what order of sequence in salvation does it fall into. It is all of each and every step and then you get into forgiveness....morality...what is sin and what is not a sin. You can take every religious word in the Bible and someone has reinterpreted its meaning. You can take all of those interpretations of all the religious words and reassemble them in countless ways.

 

[amigo de christo]

It's the ridiculous numbers people throw out I find funny. Over 100, over 30,000 , makes no sense, now 50,000, based on what?
And what is the big fracture you discovered?
No God? No Jesus? No Christ?

What do we do when we see one in danger .
From the depths of our heart we warn them .
There is grave danger within the roman catholic church .
And with many tears and many pleas i beg many to come out of it .
IF we love them we must warn them . Believe me its often not recieved very well .
But my heart always weeps for them . My prayer is many catholics will abandon the errors and dangers of rome
and i pray they speedily come out . For the love of God compels me to warn them . I have no desire to see one soul perish .
So i will pray they come out .

 

[amigo de christo]

Good night everyone . May all rejoice in the LORD and praise His holy name . You all are loved .
Let us learn JESUS well . Let us be feasting daily upon the holy scriptures . And PRAISE the HOLY LORD one and all .

 

[john t]

Your line of reasoning is flawed. You are adding "context" which doesn't exist. Yes, the Bible indicates that the medium and Saul both perceived it was Samuel; and yes, they could have been wrong. But what follows clears that up. It was Samuel. The Bible does not present stories that aren't true based on what someone believed. You are saying the Bible is wrong because Saul was wrong. Saul didn't write that passage.

True Dat blue

I find it remarkable too that you would think an evil spirit would tell Saul the truth.

Think about it. The aim of demons is to ensnare humans, such as happened in Eden. The truth is that the Serpent asked Eve a question that caused her to doubt what God said to Adam. It is short term thinking to believe that demons tell lies 100% of the time, or to believe that they are not capable of something that is true.

As much as we might prefer simplistic statements when dealing with the forces of Evil that are arrayed against humans, and believers in particular, they are complex beings and unless we are given special spiritual insight by Holy Spirit, we cannot deal with them on our own because they are so dangerous.

According to your way of thinking, it would be okay for the book of Acts to call Stephen a blasphemer since other people said he was.

Here is one incident where the Bible correctly repeats the lies of others. It is true because that is what the mob at his martyrdom said about him, but it is also a lie because Deacon Stephen was a martyr, (about 34-36 AD) and did not blaspheme in any way.

Thus we have to be careful in what we say that the Bible says. Sometimes something seemingly simple requires big explanation.

I am not debating; this is just a FYI

 

[Taken]

Can the dead communicate with the living?
OP^

Bodily Dead communicate with the Bodily Living?
No.

Bodily dead, know nothing.

Heavenly spirits, never die. They may fall from their Heavenly position, (for exercising their Freewill TO Rebel Against God), but they do not lose their Power.
* Fallen spirits (Angel's) have the Power to Appear,
"In the Likeness of a person's body", who once lived...appearing to people who knew the person.

Rev 13:
[14] And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

* Holy Angel's may also appear to Living persons, "in the Likeness of a person's body"...
But it will NOT, be a person's body, of someone foreknown. (It would be like seeing a complete stranger, unknowing they are a Holy Angel).

Heb 13:
[2] Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Nowhere in Scripture do I find Bodily persons on Earth instructed To; or praying TO; souls or spirits (that had been in Earthly Body's ).

Nowhere in Scripture do I find, Earthly men Taught to bow down to Statues.

EX 20:
[4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
[5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God.

Glory to God,
Taken

 

[DNB]

Notice how DNB ducks the fully conscious martyrs of Rev. 6:9-10 and these 2 Pauline texts I quoted:"We would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8)." "My desire is to depart and be with Christ; for that is far better (Phil. 1:23)." What DNB doesn't get is the possibility of an interim conscious existence before the Last Judgment.

You are correct, I did not address those above passages. Firstly, because in my mind, I supplied enough texts to undermine your overall 'irrefutable' proof, that it was sufficient to make my point. Secondly, they are implicit, neither explicit nor didactic proof-text for your case, thus, for that reason, on their own, they don't qualify as doctrinal support - only supplementary at best.
But, overall, the fact that you don't appreciate the controversy, rather incriminates your perception on this matter.
For again: "First of all, the quintessential passage on this issue is 1 Thess. 4:13-18. i.e. fundamentally speaking, no one is judged before Judgement Day."

As expected, you resort to the desperate Fundamentalist expedient of making a false pejorative generalization of a complex and highly varied phenomenon. Shame on you for pontificating in this way without the integrity of actually reading through my thread's NDE and ADC accounts.

No, I did not read your threads on NDE & ADE. But, I have heard other testimonies, and they are absolutely and incontrovertibly utter rubbish. Describing people, ages, physiologies, foods, and animals that are entirely antithetical to Biblical eschatological principles. i.e. food for stomachs, and stomachs for food, God will do away with both'. 'They neither marry, and will be like the angels in heaven', etc... Not to mention, they blatantly contradict each other in regard to their visions, let alone Biblical, or not.
And, especially the fact that one would have to be a OSAS in order to accept their testimony. That is, if they entered heaven temporarily, it implies that the final time that they die, they have made the grade, they are saved. But, what if they lose their faith between that time, what was their vision worth? ...don't say evangelism, as they have constructed a perverse depiction of God's Kingdom, that does no one any good.

First, the present tense, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," contrasts with the Sadducean understanding as the past tense, "I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Thus, Jesus is claiming that these Patriarchs are currently alive, so that God is presently their God.

Again, entirely interpretive, for this is an implied statement, for one, and two, the grammar, syntax and context do not necessitate the patriarchs current existence in heaven, but rather that the dead do eventually rise. As far as the controversy between the Sadducces and Jesus was concerned, that point alone was sufficient to undermine their eschatology.

Luke 16:19-31 is an parable, not an allegory. Since you obviously don't read scholarly commentaries on parables, you don't know the difference.

Again, especially one that is entirely logistically implausible..." 1. One cannot logistically reach their finger across the chasm, in order to give the other a drip of water. 2. A drip of water will not suffice to alleviate the mental torment that the infidels will be suffering. 3. No type of verbal or visual intercourse will take place between the two compartments, as that would be futile, unnecessary and torturous for both parties.

Jumpin' Jehosaphat Berserk, why don't you start reading the Bible for a change. Every nonsense that you quoted was extra-Biblical.

Third, you similarly overlook the possibility that Jesus can be present in spirit, fully conscious, in both Paradise with the penitent thief and in Hades for His preaching mission prior to His bodily resurrection on the 3rd day.

You're joking, right? What about the 40 days of his physical resurrection. You are saying that the thief had preceded him into heaven for 40 days, while there was an empty throne at the right-hand side of God? Or, was Jesus simultaneously seated beside God, while eating and drinking with his apostles on earth?

 

[Taken]

Well the sky is the limit! Only limited to the imagination.

Well sure, regarding the picking of numbers out of the air...

And the flip side, regarding Catholics, of split teaching, split Churches, all calling themselves Catholic...and those who remain in their Catholic church, call themselves Catholic, but yet outside of their church openly disagree with much their church advocates.

Really, what is more hypocritical...Stay and pretend you agree on Sunday, but "not really", or move on?

There are books on this that are very informative. Most of it has to do with the functionality and importance of every step of salvation and every religious word.. You are on this forum, how many different beliefs have you ran into.

Truthfully...I expect a WIDE range of beliefs from Protestants.
Because of the Fact...I believe every person is an individual, who learns and discovers by their own effort and their own pace and people are not all at the same distance on the path.
Additionally, many of the topics IMO are irrelevant nonsense.

Repentance...what is it, what does it mean, what do you have to do for repentance, what order of sequence in salvation does it fall into. It is all of each and every step and then you get into forgiveness....morality...what is sin and what is not a sin. You can take every religious word in the Bible and someone has reinterpreted its meaning. You can take all of those interpretations of all the religious words and reassemble them in countless ways.

Sure. It is so much more clear cut with a Catholic...if you disagree with them, you are wrong, a liar, a heretic, and committing a sin.
lol.

Really I was more interested, in the Wild claims of so called thousands upon thousands Protestant Denominations...literally being identified, and the BIG DEAL..?? if they are ALL, preaching: Jesus is the Christ, The Son of the Living God.

Taken

 

[Brakelite]

One cannot escape from or reason away the inevitable question that arises when this topic is discussed. That question rests on the veracity of God's word. Because the general consensus by majority opinion revealed on this thread is that God has lied. When His word says the soul that sins shall die, (Ezek.18:20) and that there is only one Who is immortal, God, (1Tim.6:16) , coupled with God's revealed mechanism for the dead to live again only through Resurrection (John 5:25-29). So whoever dies, is awakened at the Resurrection, and only in response to one voice, (John 11:25; Daniel 12:1-3; 1Thess.4:13-18;
KJV Job 19:25-27
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.).

To reach that a mere human witch can summon the dead... Or that the dead can appear and talk to the living of their own volition is occult and spiritualism, and ground for many false doctrines and suppositions and the gateway for all manner of deception... Such as Marian apparitions etc etc.
Souls (another word for living being) die. Bodies die and decay away. The spirit which is granted man to give him life returns to God. There is nothing in scripture to suggest these spirits are sentient beings. Or that they turn into angels. Or that they can and do continue to communicate with people.
Samuel was dead. Nothing suggests that God raised him from the dead and then died again. The witch didn't even recognise Saul, yet she recognised Samuel? She, and Saul, were mistaken. It was a demon. No way was God going to give any veracity to a practice He called an abomination. As He said through Daniel later...
KJV Daniel 2:27-28
27 Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, shew unto the king;
28 But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;

Is God so inconsistent as to give validity to a witch to raise the dead, but not too give validity to a bunch of them to decipher a mere dream?

 

[Heart2Soul]

It's the ridiculous numbers people throw out I find funny. Over 100, over 30,000 , makes no sense, now 50,000, based on what?
And what is the big fracture you discovered?
No God? No Jesus? No Christ?

You can look it up. He is telling the truth.

 

[Giuliano]

yet you cannot Quote a "Return" hmm

dunno about the resurrection part, but the Bible does say "Samuel," when that would have been the place to deny that eh
also, the religious professors (apparently to a man) choose to deny that it was Samuel, so that should be considered imo

I think the "religious professors" are largely the blind leading the blind.

 

[Giuliano]

Giuliano,

Notice how quietthinker and his ilk conveniently duck the decisive refutation of his soul sleep position in post #35, a post that merely expresses the scholarly consensus on this issue of which your critics are oblivious.

Yes, it seems hard to miss, doesn't it. I wonder how they miss it themselves? It reminds me of:

Mark 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

 

[Heart2Soul]

You can look it up. He is telling the truth.

The Facts and Stats on 33000 Denominations: World Christian Encyclopedia (2001, 2nd edition)
Did you see this @Taken ? I had already provided a link before your request.
God Bless!