In my opinion, the Christian outlook on death has been highly romanticized. Death, which is a consequence due to sin, is now a blessing. The most common thought is a variation of Christians getting to run around with Jesus in heaven with clouds and golden streets, etc. This is, ultimately, not true.
Death is the negative consequence of sin found in Genesis 2. Never is death a positive. Ecclesiastes does best with describing the true problems of this consequence, most notably in chapter nine. "The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing and they have no more reward" and "there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol". Death has none of the goods we prescribe to it.
Death fractures the individual. We were created as both body and soul. With death, we are technically no longer human. Our body rots away, and we are as far as can be from the original design of the Lord. Since I am the sinner, it would seem perfectly logical that all of me be affected by the corruption. My body decays until it ceases functioning all together. My soul, too, should "die". Unlike the body, the soul does not have parts to it, so it does not decay, but it should also stop functioning. It still exists during death. The body still exists during death, it just decays into all the little parts that make it up.
Plus, both the body and soul need each other. Sight is a power of the eyes, hearing of the ears. The brain thinks, the mouth tastes, our legs grant us the majority of our mobility, etc. A soul without a body is a sad thing indeed. Even if it were alive, what could it see? What could it think? What could it do? Nothing at all. The proof for this is anesthesia. Does the chemical affect the soul? Of course not. So what does the person experience while on anesthesia? Nothing at all. In fact, the passage of time is also not sensed, such that when you go under and when you awake feels like a minute or two.
I do not believe in annihilationism, where the soul stop existing and must be recreated. The soul still exists just like the matter of the body still exists. What I believe is that "in Adam all die". In Christ there is new life, but that is not during death. After death is where we have new life, in Resurrection.
There are a couple of New Testament verses that seem to contradict the brief belief on death written above. Luke 16 has a parable on the rich man and Lazarus, where the rich man, while in hell, asks Lazarus, in heaven, for help. However, this is simply a parable. If the rich man was truly in hell, he would not be able to communicate with those in heaven. This parable's purpose is in the last sentence. "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead". Those that have not seen Christ rise from the dead are not excused due to their ignorance. Believers will hear the call of the Shepard and come to it.
Paul in a few locations calls death a good thing. And it is. First, it is just. If we were live forever, it would be as if we had received the tree of life also in the Garden. Second, death brings us that one step closer to Resurrection. Probably most importantly, our death can be meaningful. Martyrs did much for the early history of the church, and in their death they helped to bring others closer to God. Paul does seem to say that we "go home to be with the Lord" at death. We do. When we die, we do "go home to be with the Lord". However, this can't be taken with a context outside of the rest of the bible. Our spirits will go to be with the Lord, and go at the moment of death, yet there is no work, no thought, no knowledge, and no wisdom. Our spirits go to God, but it is still no reward. Death is still the same punishment it was in the beginning.
The Romanist belief is on Purgatory. In this way they can still have the consequence aspect while still granting a functioning soul. This, too, is incorrect. First, how would the soul experience any sort of purgation? It wouldn't, which goes against the teaching of the magisterium. Those aspects are a part of the body. But more importantly, A belief in purgatory is still a denial of death. The body dies, but if the soul does not also die in its own way, then I do not die for my sins. Instead, just my body dies, not the full self.
With all this in mind, I'd like to see some debate responses. I prefer logical arguments over biblical interpretation, but everything is welcome.
Death is the negative consequence of sin found in Genesis 2. Never is death a positive. Ecclesiastes does best with describing the true problems of this consequence, most notably in chapter nine. "The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing and they have no more reward" and "there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol". Death has none of the goods we prescribe to it.
Death fractures the individual. We were created as both body and soul. With death, we are technically no longer human. Our body rots away, and we are as far as can be from the original design of the Lord. Since I am the sinner, it would seem perfectly logical that all of me be affected by the corruption. My body decays until it ceases functioning all together. My soul, too, should "die". Unlike the body, the soul does not have parts to it, so it does not decay, but it should also stop functioning. It still exists during death. The body still exists during death, it just decays into all the little parts that make it up.
Plus, both the body and soul need each other. Sight is a power of the eyes, hearing of the ears. The brain thinks, the mouth tastes, our legs grant us the majority of our mobility, etc. A soul without a body is a sad thing indeed. Even if it were alive, what could it see? What could it think? What could it do? Nothing at all. The proof for this is anesthesia. Does the chemical affect the soul? Of course not. So what does the person experience while on anesthesia? Nothing at all. In fact, the passage of time is also not sensed, such that when you go under and when you awake feels like a minute or two.
I do not believe in annihilationism, where the soul stop existing and must be recreated. The soul still exists just like the matter of the body still exists. What I believe is that "in Adam all die". In Christ there is new life, but that is not during death. After death is where we have new life, in Resurrection.
There are a couple of New Testament verses that seem to contradict the brief belief on death written above. Luke 16 has a parable on the rich man and Lazarus, where the rich man, while in hell, asks Lazarus, in heaven, for help. However, this is simply a parable. If the rich man was truly in hell, he would not be able to communicate with those in heaven. This parable's purpose is in the last sentence. "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead". Those that have not seen Christ rise from the dead are not excused due to their ignorance. Believers will hear the call of the Shepard and come to it.
Paul in a few locations calls death a good thing. And it is. First, it is just. If we were live forever, it would be as if we had received the tree of life also in the Garden. Second, death brings us that one step closer to Resurrection. Probably most importantly, our death can be meaningful. Martyrs did much for the early history of the church, and in their death they helped to bring others closer to God. Paul does seem to say that we "go home to be with the Lord" at death. We do. When we die, we do "go home to be with the Lord". However, this can't be taken with a context outside of the rest of the bible. Our spirits will go to be with the Lord, and go at the moment of death, yet there is no work, no thought, no knowledge, and no wisdom. Our spirits go to God, but it is still no reward. Death is still the same punishment it was in the beginning.
The Romanist belief is on Purgatory. In this way they can still have the consequence aspect while still granting a functioning soul. This, too, is incorrect. First, how would the soul experience any sort of purgation? It wouldn't, which goes against the teaching of the magisterium. Those aspects are a part of the body. But more importantly, A belief in purgatory is still a denial of death. The body dies, but if the soul does not also die in its own way, then I do not die for my sins. Instead, just my body dies, not the full self.
With all this in mind, I'd like to see some debate responses. I prefer logical arguments over biblical interpretation, but everything is welcome.
