Is There Life After Death?
TWO questions have perplexed mankind for millenniums: Why do we have to grow old and eventually die? Is there any kind of conscious life after death?
The first has puzzled many people because even modern medical science, with all its impressive discoveries, has not been able to come up with a conclusive or satisfying answer.
The second question has had an abundance of varying answers. Generally, however, answers about whether there is conscious life after death are polarized between those who are positive that this life is not all there is and those who are equally adamant that conscious life ends at death. Most of this latter group tell us that there is no doubt in their minds that man’s brief life span is all that he can expect. Often, any arguments put forward to the contrary meet with a smug, “Well, no one has ever come back to tell us, right?”
As with other controversial questions, there are many who are not yet decided—asserting that they are always open to persuasion one way or the other. But others will answer, perhaps flippantly, “We’ll have to wait and see when the time comes!”
A Long-Standing Question
An early question about life after death was raised some 3,500 years ago by the well-known Oriental Job, who is renowned for his patience in the face of suffering. This is the way that Job posed his question: “Man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so man lies down and does not rise . . . If a man dies, will he live again?”—Job 14:10-14, New International Version.
But Job was not alone in his inquiring about life after death. The Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics sets out this enlightening information under the heading “State of the Dead”: “No subject connected with his psychic life has so engrossed the mind of man as that of his condition after death. [Indigenous people] in all regions of the world have generally very clear and vivid conceptions of the spirit-world—its life, its characteristics, its landscapes—and this suggests an intense preoccupation with the subject. The wide-spread fear of the dead points to a very primitive idea that their state was not one in which life had ended. Death had cut off energies; that was obvious enough; but were there not other energies at work, or were not those energies capable of manifestation in subtle, mysterious ways? Whether men at first believed in a spirit, soul, or ghost, separate from the body, or not, there seems every reason to believe that they regarded the dead as still carrying on some kind of existence.”
You may fit into any one of the three categories mentioned above: not sure what happens after death; convinced that there is life of some sort after death; or convinced that this life is all there is. Whatever the case, we invite you to consider carefully the following article. See if you find in it convincing Biblical proof that there is a wonderful prospect of a happy life after death, how it will come about, where, and when.
The Near-Death Experience—Proof of Immortality?
“The soul of man is immortal and imperishable.”—Plato, Greek philosopher, c. 428-348 B.C.E.
“Such harmony is in immortal souls.”—William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616.
“The soul is indestructible . . . its activity will continue through eternity.”—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German poet and dramatist, 1749-1832.
“Our personality . . . survives in the next life.”—Thomas Edison, American inventor, 1847-1931.
FOR thousands of years man has believed that he has inborn immortality. The ancient Egyptian rulers filled their tombs with the comforts and luxuries of life so that the body would be well served in its reunion with the ka, or soul.
Thus man has tried to convince himself that the certainty of death is annulled by the survival of an immortal soul or spirit. Others, like the English poet Keats, want to believe but doubt. As Keats wrote: “I long to believe in immortality . . . I wish to believe in immortality.” What do you believe about man’s supposed immortality?
In Keats’ words we perhaps have a simple clue to the conclusions that are being drawn by some doctors and psychiatrists, as well as people who have undergone an NDE (near-death experience). For example, in tests carried out by physician and professor of medicine Dr. Michael Sabom on those who had an NDE, “a definite decrease in the fear of death and a definite increase in the belief in an afterlife were reported by the vast majority of persons with an NDE.”—Italics ours.
To what conclusion did psychiatrist Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross arrive after checking out over a thousand cases of NDE? In her book On Children and Death she stated: “And so it is with death . . . the end before another beginning. Death is the great transition.” She adds: “With further research and further publications, more and more people will know rather than believe that our physical body is truly only the cocoon, the outer shell of the human being. Our inner, true self, the ‘butterfly,’ is immortal and indestructible and is freed at the moment we call death.”
Dr. Kenneth Ring, professor of psychology and author of Life at Death, draws the following conclusion: “I do believe . . . that we continue to have a conscious existence after our physical death.” Then he adds: “My own understanding of these near-death experiences leads me to regard them as ‘teachings.’ They are, it seems to me, by their nature, revelatory experiences. . . . In this respect, [near-death] experiences are akin to mystical or religious experiences [Italics ours.]. . . . From this point of view, the voices we have heard in this book [Life at Death] are those of prophets preaching a religion of universal brotherhood.”
A Contrasting Viewpoint
But what do other investigators say? How do they explain these near-death and out-of-body experiences? Psychologist Ronald Siegel sees them in a different light. “These experiences are common to a wide variety of arousal in the human brain, including LSD, sensory deprivation and extreme stress. The stress is producing the projection of the images into the brain. They are the same for most people because our brains are all wired similarly to store information, and these experiences are basically electrical read-outs of this wiring.”
Dr. Richard Blacher of Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, wrote: “I suggest that people who undergo these ‘death experiences’ are suffering from a hypoxic [oxygen deficiency] state, during which they try to deal psychologically with the anxieties provoked by the medical procedures and talk. . . . We are dealing here with the fantasy of death, not with death itself. This fantasy [within the patient’s psyche, or mind] is most appealing, since it solves several human concerns at one time. . . . The physician must be especially wary of accepting religious belief as scientific data.”
Siegel indicates another interesting point about the “visions” of the nearly dead: “As in hallucinations, the visions of the afterlife are suspiciously like this world, according to the accounts provided by dying patients themselves.” For example, a 63-year-old man who had spent much of his life in Texas related his “vision” as follows: “I was suspended over a fence. . . . On one side of the fence it was extremely scraggly territory, mesquite brush . . . On the other side of the fence was the most beautiful pasture scene I guess I have ever seen . . . [It was] a three- or four-strand barbed-wire fence.” Did this patient actually see barbed wire in “heaven” or in the realm beyond death? It is obvious that these images were based on his life in Texas and recalled from his own brain data bank—unless we are being asked to believe that there is barbed wire “on the other side”!
In fact, so many NDEs are closely related to the patients’ experiences and background in life that it is unreasonable to believe that they are having a glimpse of a realm beyond death. For example, do those NDE patients who see a “being of light” see the same person regardless of whether they are Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim? In his book Life After Life, Dr. Raymond Moody explains: “The identification of the being varies from individual to individual and seems to be largely a function of the religious background, training, or beliefs of the person involved. Thus, most of those who are Christians . . . identify the light as Christ . . . A Jewish man and woman identified the light as an ‘angel.’”
At a strictly scientific level, Dr. Ring admits: “I remind my audiences that what I have studied are near-death experiences, not after-death experiences. . . . There is obviously no guarantee either that these experiences will continue to unfold in a way consistent with their beginnings or indeed that they will continue at all. That, I believe, is the correct scientific position to take on the significance of these experiences.”
Common Sense and the Bible
As for death, psychologist Siegel gives his opinion: “Death, in terms of its physical sequels, is no mystery. After death the body disintegrates and is reabsorbed into the inanimate component of the environment. The dead human loses both his life and his consciousness. . . . The most logical guess is that consciousness shares the same fate as that of the corpse. Surprisingly, this commonsense view is not the prevalent one, and the majority of mankind . . . continue to exert their basic motivation to stay alive and formulate a myriad of beliefs concerning man’s survival after death.”
About 3,000 years ago the same “commonsense view” was given by a king who wrote: “For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun. All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol [mankind’s common grave], the place to which you are going.”—Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6, 10.
Certainly the Bible leaves no room for considering near-death experiences as a prelude to life after death. King Solomon’s description of death and its effects has no hints of an immortal soul surviving into some other form of conscious existence. The dead “are conscious of nothing at all.”
Of course, those who practice spiritism and communication with the “dead” are only too pleased to have the apparent support of hundreds of near-death experiences. Psychologist Siegel quotes one lecturer on the paranormal, or supernatural, as saying that “if we are to examine the evidence for an afterlife honestly and dispassionately we must free ourselves from the tyranny of common sense.” (Psychology Today, January 1981) Interestingly, this same lecturer “argues that ghosts and apparitions are indeed hallucinations, but they are projected telepathically from the minds of dead people to those of the living!” That certainly does not agree with Solomon’s conclusion that the dead are dead and know nothing.
Near-Death Experiences—How Explained?
How, then, can all the near-death and out-of-body experiences be explained? Basically, there are at least two possibilities—one is that presented by some psychologists to the effect that the still-active brain of the near-dead person recalls and forms images under the stresses of the near-death experience. These are then interpreted by some patients and investigators to be glimpses of life after death. In fact, as we have seen from the Bible, such cannot be the case, for man does not have an immortal soul, and there is no such thing as life after death as perceived in these cases.
But there is a second possibility to be taken into account that may explain some of these experiences. It is a factor that most investigators will not admit. For example, Dr. Moody explained in his book Life After Life that “rarely, someone . . . has proposed demonic explanations of near-death experiences, suggesting that the experiences were doubtless directed by inimical forces.” However, he rejects the idea since he feels that instead of the patients’ feeling more godly after the experience, “Satan would presumably tell his servants to follow a course of hate and destruction.” He adds, “He certainly has failed miserably—as far as I can tell—to make persuasive emissaries for his program!”
In this respect Dr. Moody makes a grave mistake in two ways. First, Satan would not necessarily promulgate hate and destruction through these experiences. Why not? Because the Bible states: “Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light. It is therefore nothing great if his ministers also keep transforming themselves into ministers of righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 11:14, 15) If he can perpetuate the basic lie that he has always maintained—“You positively will not die”—he can do it through the apparently most innocent and enlightening means.—Genesis 3:4, 5.
Second, he has not failed miserably to make persuasive emissaries for his program of lies about the immortal soul! To the contrary, he now has doctors, psychologists and scientists fully supporting the lie that he has promulgated through priests and philosophers down through the ages! How appropriate is Paul’s summation of the situation when he wrote: “If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through”!—2 Corinthians 4:3, 4.
Nevertheless, as we have seen, some psychologists believe that man has a conscious existence after death. This personal interpretation of the meaning of near-death experiences obliges us to raise the following pertinent questions on behalf of those who believe the Bible: Is there any Biblical basis at all for saying that man has an immortal soul that abandons the body like a butterfly out of a cocoon? What about those texts in the Bible that use the words “soul” and “immortality”?Life After Death—What Do People Believe?
“If an able-bodied man dies can he live again?”—JOB 14:14.
IN A funeral parlor in New York City, friends and family quietly file by the open casket of a 17-year-old boy whose young life was consumed by cancer. The heartbroken mother tearfully repeats over and over: “Tommy’s happier now. God wanted Tommy in heaven with him.” That is what she has been taught to believe.
2 Some 7,000 miles [11,000 km] away, in Jamnagar, India, the eldest of three sons lights the wood on the cremation pyre for their deceased father. Over the crackling of the fire, the Brahman chants the Sanskrit mantras: “May the soul that never dies continue in its efforts to become one with the ultimate reality.”
3 The reality of death is all around us. (Romans 5:12) It is only normal for us to wonder if death is the end of it all. Reflecting on the natural cycle of the plants, Job, an ancient faithful servant of Jehovah God, observed: “There exists hope for even a tree. If it gets cut down, it will even sprout again, and its own twig will not cease to be.” What, then, about humans? “If an able-bodied man dies can he live again?” Job inquired. (Job 14:7, 14) Over the ages, people in every society have pondered the questions: Is there life after death? If so, what kind of life? Consequently, what have people come to believe? And why?
Many Answers, a Common Theme
4 Many nominal Christians believe that after death, people go either to heaven or to hell. Hindus, on the other hand, believe in reincarnation. According to Islamic belief, there will be a day of judgment after death, when Allah will assess each one’s life course and consign each person to paradise or to hellfire. In some lands, beliefs regarding the dead are a curious blend of local tradition and nominal Christianity. In Sri Lanka, for example, both Buddhists and Catholics leave the doors and windows wide open when a death occurs in their household, and they place the casket with the feet of the deceased facing the front door. They believe that these measures facilitate the exit of the spirit, or soul, of the deceased. Among many Catholics and Protestants in West Africa, it is customary to cover mirrors when someone dies so that no one might look and see the dead person’s spirit. Then, 40 days later, family and friends celebrate the soul’s ascension to heaven.
5 In spite of this diversity, it seems that most religions do at least agree on one point. They believe that something inside a person—be it called soul, spirit, or ghost—is immortal and continues living after the death of the body. Nearly all of Christendom’s hundreds of religions and sects advocate belief in the immortality of the soul. This belief is also an official doctrine in Judaism. It is the very foundation of Hinduism’s teaching of reincarnation. Muslims believe that the soul lives on after the body dies. The Australian Aborigine, the African animist, the Shintoist, even the Buddhist, all teach variations on this same theme.
6 On the other hand, there are those who take the view that conscious life ends at death. To them the idea that emotional and intellectual life continues in an impersonal, shadowy soul separate from the body seems beyond reason. The 20th-century Spanish scholar Miguel de Unamuno writes: “To believe in the immortality of the soul is to wish that the soul may be immortal, but to wish it with such force that this volition shall trample reason under foot and pass beyond it.” Others who believe similarly include people as diverse as the noted ancient philosophers Aristotle and Epicurus, the physician Hippocrates, the Scottish philosopher David Hume, the Arabian scholar Averroës, and India’s first prime minister after independence, Jawaharlal Nehru.
7 Confronted with such conflicting ideas and beliefs, we must ask: Do we really have an immortal soul? If the soul is actually not immortal, then how could such a false teaching become an integral part of so many of today’s religions? Where did the idea come from? It is imperative that we find truthful and satisfying answers to these questions because our future depends on it. (1 Corinthians 15:19) But, first, let us examine how the doctrine of the immortality of the soul originated.
The Birth of the Doctrine
8 The fifth-century B.C.E. Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato are credited with being among the first to advance the belief that the soul is immortal. Yet, they were not the originators of the idea. Rather, they polished and transformed it into a philosophical teaching, thus making it more appealing to the cultured classes of their day and beyond. The fact is that the Zoroastrians of ancient Persia and the Egyptians before them also believed in the immortality of the soul. The question, then, is, What is the source of this teaching?
9 “In the ancient world,” says the book The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, “Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion.” Regarding Egyptian religious beliefs, the book goes on to say: “In view of the early contact between Egypt and Babylonia, as revealed by the El-Amarna tablets, there were certainly abundant opportunities for the infusion of Babylonian views and customs into Egyptian cults.” Much the same can be said of the old Persian and Greek cultures.
10 But did the ancient Babylonians believe in the immortality of the soul? On this point, Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr., of the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., wrote: “Neither the people nor the leaders of religious thought [of Babylonia] ever faced the possibility of the total annihilation of what once was called into existence. Death [in their view] was a passage to another kind of life, and the denial of immortality [of the present life] merely emphasized the impossibility of escaping the change in existence brought about by death.” Yes, the Babylonians believed that life of some kind, in some form, continued after death. They expressed this by burying objects with the dead for their use in the Hereafter.
11 Clearly, the teaching of the immortality of the soul goes back to ancient Babylon. Is that significant? Indeed, for according to the Bible, the city of Babel, or Babylon, was founded by Nimrod, a great-grandson of Noah. After the global Flood in Noah’s day, all the people spoke one language and had one religion. Not only was Nimrod one “in opposition to Jehovah” but he and his followers wanted to “make a celebrated name” for themselves. Thus by founding the city and constructing a tower there, Nimrod started a different religion.—Genesis 10:1, 6, 8-10; 11:1-4.
12 Tradition has it that Nimrod died a violent death. After his death the Babylonians would reasonably have been inclined to hold him in high regard as the founder, builder, and first king of their city. Since the god Marduk (Merodach) was regarded as the founder of Babylon and a number of the Babylonian kings were even named after him, some scholars have suggested that Marduk represents the deified Nimrod. (2 Kings 25:27; Isaiah 39:1; Jeremiah 50:2) If this is so, then the idea that a person has a soul that survives death must have been current at least by the time of Nimrod’s death. In any case, the pages of history reveal that following the Flood, the birthplace of the teaching of the immortality of the soul was Babel, or Babylon.
13 The Bible further shows that God thwarted the efforts of the tower builders at Babel by confusing their language. No longer able to communicate with one another, they abandoned their project and were scattered “from there over all the surface of the earth.” (Genesis 11:5-9) We must bear in mind that even though the speech of these would-be tower builders had been altered, their thinking and concepts had not. Consequently, wherever they went, their religious ideas went with them. In this way Babylonish religious teachings—including that of the immortality of the soul—spread across the face of the earth and became the foundation of the major religions of the world. Thus a world empire of false religion was founded, appropriately described in the Bible as “Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.”—Revelation 17:5.
The World Empire of False Religion Expands Eastward
14 Some historians say that over 3,500 years ago, a wave of migration brought a pale-skinned, Aryan people down from the northwest into the Indus Valley, now located mainly in Pakistan and India. From there they spread into the Ganges River plains and across India. Some experts say that the religious ideas of the migrants were based on ancient Iranian and Babylonian teachings. These religious ideas, then, became the roots of Hinduism.
15 In India the idea of an immortal soul took the form of the doctrine of reincarnation. Hindu sages, grappling with the universal problem of evil and suffering among humans, came to what is called the law of Karma, the law of cause and effect. Combining this law with belief in the immortality of the soul, they arrived at the teaching of reincarnation, whereby merits and demerits in one life are said to be rewarded or punished in the next. The goal of the faithful is moksha, or liberation from the cycle of rebirths and unification with what is called the ultimate reality, or Nirvana. Over the centuries, as Hinduism spread, so did the teaching of reincarnation. And this doctrine has become the mainstay of present-day Hinduism.
16 From Hinduism sprang other faiths, such as Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. These also hold to belief in reincarnation. Moreover, as Buddhism penetrated most of East Asia—China, Korea, Japan, and elsewhere—it profoundly affected the culture and religion of the entire region. This gave rise to religions that reflect an amalgam of beliefs, embracing elements of Buddhism, spiritism, and ancestor worship. Most influential among these are Taoism, Confucianism, and Shinto. In this way the belief that life continues after the body dies has come to dominate the religious thinking and practices of the vast segment of humanity in that part of the world.
What About Judaism, Christendom, and Islam?
17 What do people who follow the religions of Judaism, Christendom, and Islam believe about life after death? Of these religions, Judaism is by far the oldest. Its roots go back some 4,000 years to Abraham—long before Socrates and Plato gave shape to the theory of the immortality of the soul. The ancient Jews believed in the resurrection of the dead and not in inherent human immortality. (Matthew 22:31, 32; Hebrews 11:19) How, then, did the doctrine of the immortality of the soul enter Judaism? History provides the answer.
18 In 332 B.C.E., Alexander the Great conquered the Middle East, including Jerusalem. As Alexander’s successors continued his program of Hellenization, a blending of the two cultures—the Greek and the Jewish—took place. In time, Jews became conversant with Greek thought, and some even became philosophers.
19 Philo of Alexandria, of the first century C.E., was one such Jewish philosopher. He revered Plato and endeavored to explain Judaism in terms of Greek philosophy, thus paving the way for later Jewish thinkers. The Talmud—written commentaries on oral laws by the rabbis—is also influenced by Greek thought. “The rabbis of the Talmud,” says the Encyclopaedia Judaica, “believed in the continued existence of the soul after death.” Later Jewish mystical literature, such as the Cabala, even goes as far as to teach reincarnation. Thus through the back door of Greek philosophy, the idea of the immortality of the soul found its way into Judaism. What can be said about the entry of the teaching into Christendom?
20 Genuine Christianity began with Jesus Christ. Concerning Jesus, Miguel de Unamuno, quoted earlier, wrote: “He believed rather in the resurrection of the flesh, according to the Jewish manner, not in the immortality of the soul, according to the [Greek] Platonic manner.” He concluded: “The immortality of the soul . . . is a pagan philosophical dogma.” In view of this, we can see why the apostle Paul strongly warned the first-century Christians against “the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary things of the world and not according to Christ.”—Colossians 2:8.
21 When and how, though, did this “pagan philosophical dogma” infiltrate Christendom? The New Encyclopædia Britannica explains: “From the middle of the 2nd century AD Christians who had some training in Greek philosophy began to feel the need to express their faith in its terms, both for their own intellectual satisfaction and in order to convert educated pagans. The philosophy that suited them best was Platonism.” Two such early philosophers who wielded a great deal of influence on Christendom’s doctrines were Origen of Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo. Both were deeply influenced by Plato’s ideas and were instrumental in fusing those ideas with Christian teachings.
22 While the idea of the immortality of the soul in Judaism and Christendom is due to Platonic influence, the concept was built into Islam from its beginning. The Koran, the holy book of Islam, teaches that man has a soul that goes on living after death. It speaks of the final destiny for the soul as being either life in a heavenly garden of paradise or punishment in a burning hell. This is not to say that Arab scholars have not tried to synthesize Islamic teachings and Greek philosophy. The Arab world, in fact, was influenced to some extent by Aristotle’s work. However, the immortality of the soul remains the belief of Muslims.
23 Clearly, religions around the world have developed a bewildering array of beliefs in the Hereafter, based on the teaching that the soul is immortal. And such beliefs have affected, yes, even dominated and enslaved billions of people. Confronted with all of this, we feel compelled to ask: Is it possible to know the truth about what happens when we die? Is there life after death? What does the Bible have to say about it? Part 1—What Do the Scriptures Say About “Survival After Death”?
“WE ARE O.K.” “Don’t grieve for us. We’re the lucky ones. We’ve never been so happy as we are now.” These were messages from the invisible, received during World War II. Yet they were not sorrowful messages, but seemingly messages to drive away grief and give comfort. From whom did such strange messages come? From men who died in the service of their country during that war! So averred the receiver of the messages in 1943, the retired Air Chief Marshal of Great Britain, Lord Dowding. He was wanting to spread good cheer to those who had lost friends and relatives in battle and to those who might yet die before the world conflict ended. Said he: “I have the largest number of messages from men who have passed over in this war. The fact I want to stress is that the tone of these messages is ‘We are O.K.’ and ‘Don’t grieve for us. We’re the lucky ones. We’ve never been so happy as we are now.’” Lord Dowding continued: “There is a great organization of Air Force men on the other side and I receive frequent messages from them.” He was thus reaffirming his belief in spiritualism by reading before a public audience in London a letter he believed was dictated by a dead seaman. The report of this was received from London, September 1, 1943, by cable to the New York Times and published in its columns the following day, under the heading: “Dowding Says Dead Send Him Messages.” Doubtless in the minds of many readers the questions were raised: Are those who die in war the lucky ones? Are we who survive the unlucky ones?
2 Somewhat over nine months later, at solemn mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York city, the following war prayer was offered by the Roman Catholic Father Thomas Lester Graham: “We pray these men making such heroic sacrifice for us will know we are walking with them every step on their way of the cross. We pray for their mothers, fathers, wives, sweethearts, that their burden may be lightened and that they may be reunited with their loved ones and never again separated by the disease of war. For those who have made the supreme sacrifice we pray that Almighty God may receive them into His kingdom as martyrs and grant peace to their souls.” He urged prayer in church for “our martyr dead.”—Reported by the New York Times the following day, Monday, June 12, 1944.
3 Both of these expressions, the message by the former commander of the British Royal Air Force and the prayer by the Catholic priest, were based on one belief held in common, “survival after death.”
4 The common belief is that the human soul does not die but is deathless, deathproof, immortal; that since the human body is observed to die and crumble to dust, there must be some part of man that survives the death of the body and it must be an invisible, untouchable something called the “soul” or “spirit.” Since it is believed to survive the death of the body, it must be distinct from the perishable human body and must be separable from it. At the body’s death it separates and, being invisible, it is no longer held down to inhabiting the human body but is free to move about in the invisible or spirit realm and to ascend to planes of life high above the earth. It enters into all the mysteries of the spirit world and so knows more than when it was hampered by the human body, and it will live in the unseen, immaterial world forever.
5 Religions of Christendom in general, including the Roman Catholic, hold that the soul and the spirit are many times used the one for the other. But spiritists make a distinction between the two terms: “In spiritualistic terminology ‘SPIRIT’ means the etheric body of an individual having all his characteristics. A clear distinction must be drawn and borne in mind between the terms ‘SOUL’ and ‘SPIRIT.’ The former is vague and intangible without any size or form while the latter is the exact counterpart of the physical portion of the individual.”—Spiritualism in India—Theory and Practice, by V. D. Rishi, page 8, 2d edition of 1946.
6 Regardless of the distinctions drawn or not drawn between the terms “soul” and “spirit,” the believers in survival after death hold that the dead are not dead at all but are more alive than ever, in a spirit world that we cannot see, the so-called “next world”; and we must not be deceived concerning survival after death by the visible death of the human body. Taken as a strong, unshakable proof of this is the widespreadness and the ancientness of this belief. In recommendation of this belief Rishi, on page one of his above-mentioned book, says:
“The belief in the existence of the next world and the possibility of communication with the departed souls is to be found in almost all the sacred books of the East and West, Rig-Veda [or Veda of Verses] the oldest book contains reference about the Pitris [the departed forefathers; semidivine fathers and patriarchs]. In Mahabharata and Ramayana we read how the wives of the Kauravas [the 100 cousins of the Pandavas] had the pleasure of an interview with their departed husbands and how king Dasharath manifested himself after death to Sri Ramachandra. The Bible is full of references regarding survival after death and communion between the dead and the living. . . . To discredit all this testimony about survival after death is gross and rank materialism.”
7 In all parts of the earth the belief in survival after death explains the conduct and acts of behavior of many persons, as when they set out food, flowers, incense or other gifts on little altars to saints or dead relatives, or as when, on September 3, 1945, the Japanese emperor Hirohito, clad in ceremonial robes and attended by two younger brothers, worshiped at three sanctuaries in the Palace of Tokyo and personally “informed” the Imperial ancestors that Japan had lost the war.—New York Times.
8 Once the teaching of survival after death is accepted, a string of reasonable questions presents itself: Can we get in touch with the dead? Can we do anything for their benefit? Can they do us any good or harm? Can we get in touch with the “next world,” or, Is there communication between the “two worlds”? Various religions answer these questions to agree with their other beliefs, but the religion known as “spiritualism” answers with a confident Yes. While some spiritualists claim that the Bible of Jews and Christians is based upon spiritualism or teaches and supports it, the spiritualists do not put their main dependence upon the Bible or other reputed sacred writings. They positively assert that the proof of the spirit world and of human survival after death is found in actual hearable, seeable, feelable manifestations from the spirit world and by numberless, regular cases of where the living get in touch with the dead and receive messages from identifiable dead persons. Rishi, on page 7 of his book, lists among the principles of spiritualism this: “The possibility of communication, by mediums between the visible and the invisible, namely, between the living and the dead,” and then adds: “It will be worth while to bear in mind that the above principles are not based on any text, tradition, or institution, but upon observed facts and phenomena.”
9 Spiritualists, sure of themselves, have willingly let their spiritistic manifestations be investigated and put to the test by hard-headed, materialistic scientists of the day. While much that has passed for spiritualism commercially had been exposed as a fraud, science has come away from many investigations baffled by the results of their foolproof tests. It has been obliged to agree that there are living, intelligent forces in the realm of the unseen. In an article entitled “They Never Come Back” by Lester David he quotes Hereward Carrington, director of the American Psychical Institute, as saying: “Despite the illusion, fraud and superstition which have unfortunately associated themselves with this subject, there are genuine psychic phenomena which are unexplained by modern science.” In the following paragraph regarding appearings or apparitions of the dead Lester David says: “The American Society for Psychical Research once received 30,000 replies to a questionnaire it distributed on this phase. After studying the reports, it concluded: ‘Between deaths and apparitions of the dying person a connection exists which is not due to chance alone. This we hold as a proven fact.’”—Mechanix Illustrated, December, 1952, pages 166, 167.
10 As a result of its investigations modern science has discovered what it calls “ectoplasm,” that is, human matter that streams forth from various parts of the spirit medium’s body and that produces certain phenomena or takes certain shapes. Because it is protoplasm pushed out from the medium’s body, Webster’s dictionary defines ectoplasm as “exteriorized protoplasm.” Marcus Bach, in his book They Have Found a Faith (1946), describes it on page 112:
“The reason for concealing the medium . . . is because a red light is used during a materialization seance. Even a dim light interferes with the generation of the ectoplasm necessary in building spirit forms. The cabinet shields the medium during the time this force is being assembled and then, when complete, the form can stand the light rays long enough to be seen outside the cabinet by the sitters—from thirty seconds to three or four minutes. The medium entranced is also sometimes disturbing to the spectators. It is not a pleasingly aesthetic sight—especially not during a materialization, for ectoplasm exudes from her mouth and body in the nature of gauzy, foggy, smokelike substance from which figures are formed by the spirit chemists.”
11 Says Rishi (page 3 of his above-mentioned book):
“In Europe and America several scientists have made important discoveries in this science. Some persons are aware of the discovery of ectoplasm, a white snowy matter emanating from the body of the medium. However much the existence of this matter may be denied by ignorant persons and fraudulent people, it is weighed and analysed by great scientists.” (Page 2) “The proof regarding survival after death has been mainly obtained through the inherent psychic power of a medium and hence the phenomena of mediumship have been recognized as the one basic factor of modern spiritualism. It is impossible to define or describe this power as it is not possible to define electricity or magnetism, although we all perceive their effects every day.”
12 Mrs. Leonore Piper performed unexplainable things to make her one of the greatest mediums known. Researchers of psychic phenomena, including the American psychologist William James, Dr. Richard Hodgson, Sir Oliver Lodge, Dr. Walter Leaf and many others, made a study of Mrs. Piper for years. They even had detectives to shadow her to learn if she got her information by normal methods. In vain. They could find out nothing. Mrs. Piper would go into a deep trance and then start writing. She would impart information, such as names, dates and facts of all kinds, which she could not possibly learn by herself. William James wrote she knew things that she could not have acquired by the normal use of her eyes and ears and wits.
13 There are other evidences of secret or occult power, enabling ordinary persons to do things superhuman or ordinarily impossible for a human, that science is unable to explain or account for. In the practice of Voodooism (Vodun, as the Haitians call it) extraordinary feats have been performed. The French naturalist Descourtilz, for instance, awed by the manifestation of the occult, describes a woman who, under the seizure of her god, took a live coal in her hand without being burned. In the Gold Coast, Africa, the mediums are called woyei, and profess to act as mouthpieces of the gods and of the dead. There when a medium becomes seized by the occult power, it is said, “she speaks with a voice not her own, and greater than that of any human being.” Under possession of the mysterious power, a medium will jiggle and shake in every limb and will remain on her feet in continual motion for hours. She will often perform feats of endurance that are impossible for ordinary humans.—Religion and Medicine of the Gā People by M. J. Field.
14 Medical science is at a loss to explain such a feat as reported in the New York Times under the date line “Bombay, India, Feb. 19, 1950 (United Press Dispatch)”:
“Huge crowds saw a 45-year-old yogi, Swami [Master] Ramdasji, dug out alive today [Sunday] from an ‘air-tight’ cement crypt in which he had been ‘buried’ for eighty-seven hours [or three days fifteen hours] on a bed of nails. The mystic had been ‘completely submerged’ in water from 4 p.m. Saturday [Feb. 18] until his release at 7:30 a.m. today [Sunday]. He climbed into the wooden coffin at 5 p.m. Wednesday [Feb. 15]. He lay on a bed of nails and the sides of the coffin also had nails jagging into his flesh. The coffin was sealed inside an 8-by-8-by-6-foot cement crypt. Ramdasji’s disciples then sat by the crypt day and night chanting Vedic prayers while keeping a sacred fire burning. Saturday [Feb. 18] his disciples bored a small hole into the crypt, pushed in a hose and immersed the air-starved Hindu in water. Thousands of spectators watched tensely as the disciples hacked the cement away with picks and lifted Ramdasji, still in a trance, onto a dais. The followers massaged Ramdasji’s head, arms and body until he opened his eyes and smiled. Dr. Jal Rustom Vakil, a heart specialist, examined Ramdasji immediately. The doctor said Ramdasji’s respiration was slow, but otherwise he was normal in every way.”
According to medical science, such a feat would have killed an ordinary human within two or three hours.
15 Instances of fire walking, which have been observed in India and elsewhere, have generally been attributed to some occult influence or power, but science has been able to prove with some success that there is a trick about this, dependent upon ordinary laws of nature, thus removing this from the realm of the really occult. But the more science investigates the more it is faced with the evidences of a truly occult power, of invisible forces producing supernatural acts and happenings among men.
16 Whether superstitious or not, many people have a peculiar fascination for the occult, for powers with a hidden source, for happenings of a supernormal kind. There are also many sorrowful persons who crave to get in touch with dead loved ones. Naturally they are inclined to seek mediums who claim to be able to communicate with the dead, for the seeming comfort that this brings. Increasing numbers of persons are worried about the uncertainties of life or face great problems or are anxious about the outcome of political, commercial, sporting or other developments and desire some guidance for the future. They look to some higher, hidden power, unidentified though it may be, that promises to foretell the future and thus guide them, relieve them of fears, safeguard them from possible dangers or lead them to success. Hence there are many who do not ordinarily claim to be spiritualists or spiritists and who may be members of orthodox churches, yet who resort to spiritistic practices. In America, although some 131,100 profess to be spiritualists or members of spiritualist societies, yet there are far more who dabble with spiritism. An appeal to the spiritualistic or spiritistic has become the fashion, not only of the grief-stricken, comfort-seeking ordinary man or woman or the superstitious theatrical people or the worried, success-seeking businessman, but also of high political circles, world-wide.
THE OCCULT IN POLITICAL CIRCLES
17 July 17, 1918, the date of Nicholas Romanoff’s execution by the Bolsheviki, is not too long ago for us to remember the last of the Russian czars, Nicholas II. Of him The Encyclopedia Americana (volume 20, page 315) says: “His superstition was shown by his consultation of fortunetellers, spiritualists, mystics and charlatans in his desire to secure a male heir, his first four children being all girls.” He is all too well known for his connections with the notorious Russian Monk Gregor Novikh, nicknamed “Rasputin,” meaning “dissolute, profligate, libertine, licentious,” because such he was. Rasputin came of a peasant family with an inherited gift of mesmerism. He started a new cult, in which dancing and debauchery were mixed in with mystical seances. He was introduced to the Russian Imperial Court, where for years he exercised a powerful influence with Nicholas II, who retained him in his court, even against the protest of others.
18 Today political science alone does not figure in running political government. Astrology does also. “Astrology” first meant the “science of the stars.” Now it means the study of the stars to foretell human and earthly events by the aspect and position of the stars, as though stars exercised some hidden or occult influence upon the inhabitants of earth and upon the earth itself. Astrology was long ago practiced by the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs and others. It developed from the belief in survival after death, and that the stars were notable humans who had been transported after death to the position of the stars and planets, from there to exercise their influence upon earthly affairs.
19 In the thirteenth century A.D. priests from India introduced astrology into the Siamese court life, since which time both kings and the common people have hesitated to make a move without first consulting their horoscope or the position of the planets with regard to the twelve signs of the zodiac. As his consultant each Siamese king appointed a royal astrologer, with a rank of nobility. King Mongkut was the only monarch who refused the services of a royal astrologer. He was a noted astrologer himself and preferred to read his own horoscope. In 1932 the absolute monarchy over Siam was overthrown, but astrologers continued with even a firmer hold on political matters. Numerous legislators planned their political careers only after secretly consulting astrologers. From their own observations the Siamese say: “Politicians make the best astrologers, and astrologers become the most successful politicians.” Due to spending so much time with the astrologers, such politicians develop the ability to read horoscopes. As a matter of course, by telling from the stars when to take up public activity, astrologers make a success in politics, so it is believed, and so it could be when practically all the people yield themselves to astrology. Astrology has a stronger grip on the Siamese or Thailanders than any science or religion.
20 Astrology exerts a power even on modern Western rulers, and that, too, in the matter of waging war. The January, 1952, issue of Mechanix Illustrated had this to say: “One of the most amazing, and least-known facts of World War II is that the Allies actually waged a counter-astrological warfare against Hitler. Knowing that the Nazi leader took his horoscope mighty seriously [while at the same time being a Roman Catholic], Britain established an agency known as the Psychological Research Bureau and placed at its head a noted astrologer, Louis de Wohl. Captain de Wohl plotted the horoscopes of Hitler and his chief aides, following as closely as possible the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ days. Britain thus knew at all times what Hitler’s astrologers were telling him. It was the first time since the Thirty Years’ War, De Wohl said later, that astrological warfare was waged.” Not that this resort to astrology aided the Allies to win the war against the Nazis and Fascists and their axis partners, but that it shows the willingness, even by rulers who claim to be Christian, to consult the occult powers for selfish advantages. It reminds one of the ancient Chaldean king, Nebuchadnezzar, when marching to conquest over Palestine six centuries before Christ. He came to a fork of the roads, one branch leading to Rabbah, capital of Ammon to the east, the other branch leading to Jerusalem, to the west. Says the Bible: “The king of Babylon stands at the parting of the ways, at the fork of the two roads, practicing divination; he shakes the arrows, he consults the teraphim, he inspects the liver. Into his right hand falls the lot marked ‘Jerusalem,’ calling for slaughter, for the shout of battle, for the planting of battering-rams against the gates, for the throwing up of mounds, for the building of a siege-wall.” (Ezek. 21:19-22, AT) So Nebuchadnezzar marched against Jerusalem. It fell before him.
21 Americans now have on their silver dimes and on their postage stamps the slogan “In God we trust” but the prevalence of astrological fortunetellers and their present prosperity in America bespeak a disturbed and hesitating America. So John R. Saunders, at the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., has said. As the Associate Curator of Education at the American Museum of Natural History he said, in 1946: “In Washington 10,000 customers weekly consult the capital’s astrologers. . . . Some of our most prominent people have patronized fortune tellers of one kind or another. Evangeline Adams, the astrologer, made $50,000 a year. J. P. Morgan, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Mary Garden and Richard Harding Davis were among her clients. On a horoscope, the Duke of Windsor cancelled a trip, some years ago. Hitler [although a recognized Roman Catholic] kept at Berchtesgaden a teeming nest of fortune tellers. Mussolini, Napoleon, Hitler, Julius Caesar, Alexander [the Great]—each believed in and talked about his Star. It is still told in Washington how President Harding and his wife had a ‘personal’ seer forecast for them weekly at the White House.” Fortunetelling, he continued, “flourishes now in Washington, D.C., where a number of our prominent legislators are reported to have their personal seers. One Congressman has his horoscope cast weekly at his office. By its dictates he votes for this bill, against that.”—The American Weekly, July 21, 1946.
22 There is a widespread reliance of politicians on psychometry or the finding out of certain facts or hidden knowledge about an object or its owners by contact with that object or by nearness to it. On October 19, 1952, the New Haven (Connecticut) Register published this statement by its Fulton Oursler: “I have actually seen reports of psychometrists sent to key officials of our Government, and have been taken by wives of important lawmakers to séances.”
23 Not altogether shocking, therefore, but quite to be expected comes the report of spiritism in the White House by the popular radio commentator Drew Pearson, in his column entitled “Washington Merry-Go-Round,” published throughout the land. In newspaper editions of August 24, 1953, such as that of the Oregon Journal, columnist Pearson reported that a “renowned fortune teller” had been dropping in at the White House during that summer as well as spring equipped with a crystal ball, namely, Mrs. Jeanne Dixon. For ten years she had been telling the future for General Eisenhower’s wife Mamie. So since Mamie moved into the White House, Mrs. Dixon has been called in at times to keep the first lady of the nation up to date on her future and she has even “done some crystal-ball gazing for the president, himself.” Mrs. Dixon said she could use three psychic mediums—the crystal ball, palmistry and astrology. She pointed to a starlike imprint on her own palm and explained it to be the mark of the “true psychic.” However, her usual way is to touch the subject’s fingertips and at the same time peer over her shoulder into the crystal ball. Mrs. Dixon refused to talk about the Eisenhowers or the rest of her clientele. Persons close to the White House, though, say she has amazed President Eisenhower by reading his golf scores in the crystal ball.
24 In the political field Mrs. Dixon forecast the partitioning of India, President Harry S. Truman’s surprise victory over Thomas E. Dewey in 1948 and the Republican sweep in the presidential campaign in 1952 putting General Eisenhower into the White House. A real estate broker by profession, Mrs. Dixon does not charge for her psychic service. She takes no credit to herself for her occult powers, but says: “The Bible says that all events are foreshadowed. I am just the means of communication.” The published report of the invasion of the presidential White House by spiritism by means of this psychic has never been disputed, denied or disproved.
25 Now cross America’s northern border into Canada. There, too, spiritism has made inroads into the prime ministry. It was not generally known that the late W. L. MacKenzie King, one-time prime minister of Canada, was a secret spiritualist, although till his death July 22, 1950, a member of the Presbyterian church like President Eisenhower. In a biography of King entitled “The Incredible Canadian” by Bruce Hutchison (1953), the author lays open King’s deep spiritualistic convictions. Even as prime minister of Canada King consulted spirit mediums, and felt sure of “direct communion with the dead.” He approached every problem, personal and political, dominated by his belief in human immortality as taught by religion in general and now apparently confirmed by spirit mediumship. As he neared death, he patronized mediumship, especially over in England, to consult the dead. At a séance a year after President Franklin D. Roosevelt had died, King made contact with the dead Roosevelt by a medium and was told to stay in political office and that Canada and the world could not yet spare him. But at his frequent séances King would not consult the spirits on the affairs of government and told the mediums that he preferred to decide government matters for himself. Yet his handling of political matters could not but be influenced by his private spiritualistic convictions. By his seeming contact with the dead he increasingly convinced himself by such kind of proof that his earthly journey was nearing its end but his real journey was only beginning and then he in his real self would be free to take on his true shape. When he died, says author Hutchison, King “had completed one pilgrimage to begin, as he believed, a second.”—Pages 86-88, 423, 424, 450.
26 Though by no means everything has been told, yet from all the foregoing it is plain that spiritualism is spreading and already has a greater hold on human society than most people may realize. The groundwork for such spread of spiritualism still farther has been laid, as we shall show. Some spiritualists are very hopeful about their religion, as betrayed in the title of a book by Arthur Findlay, “The Rock of Truth or Spiritualism the Coming World Religion.” (Thirteenth impression, 1949) The spiritualists seem to produce the proof of their belief in their actual experiences and in the phenomena they are able to show, apart from all trickery. That they really get in touch with an unseen world and with intelligent spirits there can be proved by them and is not to be doubted. But the question arises, Is it really with the spirits of those who once lived on the earth and died that they get in communication? Is it truly “survival after death” that their getting in touch with the spirit world proves? Does it uphold “immortalism,” that is, the belief in and the doctrine of the immortality of the human soul? So is it possible for those living on earth to talk with the dead? Is it a genuine source of comfort for people who have lost loved ones, relatives or cherished friends, to go to spirit mediums in the hope of getting in touch with such dead ones or to make use of such other spiritistic means as table tipping or the planchette or the Yes-yes board or Ouija (Oui, French for Yes, and Ja, German for Yes)?
27 How shall we learn the safe, true and satisfying answers to these questions? By going to a book with ancient historical accounts and descriptions that are constantly being proved correct, a book of prophecy that has had its many marvelous predictions come true throughout the centuries and find fulfillment also in world events and conditions of our own day, particularly since A.D. 1914; by going to a book to which even spiritualists refer and in which many spiritualists claim to find support for their teachings and beliefs. What book is that? It is the Bible, the Holy Scriptures.
28 From Sweden we have the report: “Spiritists here seldom use the Bible to prove their belief; their ‘experiences’ are given as proof of what they claim as the death state.” However, in the book Spiritualism for the Busy Man, page 14, W. H. Evans has the subheading: “Spiritualism confirms Biblical facts.” V. D. Rishi, as already quoted, states: “The Bible is full of references regarding survival after death and communion between the dead and the living.” Adding to such argument Ernest Thompson, in The Teachings and Phenomena of Spiritualism, pages 115-120, has this to say:
“All religions are based upon the conception of an ‘after life,’ for without the hope of a spiritual future, the idea of God would never have evolved in man’s mind. The Christian Religion is based upon the evidence of survival which is contained in the Bible, particularly of course upon the evidence of the return of Jesus from the dead . . . The principal figure in the New Testament is Jesus, . . . his works can be classified as the achievements of a highly developed medium and healer. . . . Jesus was certainly the most remarkable medium that ever lived. From his period of ‘trial’ in the wilderness up to his resurrection his story is mainly impressive because of his ‘supernormal powers.’ The fact that he was clairvoyant and clairaudient was indicated when, ‘angels came and ministered unto him.’ He was not only clairaudient to the spirit people, but to those about him, for he often received their thoughts telepathically. . . . He apparently used Peter, John and James as materialisation mediums as in the instance of the materialisation of Moses and Elias. . . . Like D. D. Home, Jesus permitted himself to be levitated. ‘In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea.’ . . . It is notable too that he made certain that his ‘conditions’ were favourable for the specific phenomenon desired. . . . Conditions in the upper room were favourable when, with the mediumistic aid of his disciples, Jesus ‘appeared unto the eleven’ after his crucifixion, and ‘and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart.’”
WHY BRING IN THE SCRIPTURES?
29 Since spiritualist authors themselves bring the Bible into their argument and interpret it as they do, we are all the more compelled to turn to the Bible and examine directly the questions, Does it uphold spiritualism? May it be used as a handbook of spiritualism? Or does it hold out another hope and comfort for bereaved, sorrowing, distressed, perplexed, groping, imperiled mankind? We cannot get to the truth of the matter any quicker than by examining first and at once the really one foundation upon which spiritualist teaching rests. What? Immortalism. As stated by Rishi: “The knowledge regarding life after death is commonly called Spiritualism. Its principles though as old as humanity are being proved by new methods. As affirmed by the International Congresses in Europe [of spiritualists] they are:—1. Existence of God, supreme Intelligence and first cause of everything. 2. Existence of the soul, linked during earthly life to the physical corruptible body by an intermediary element called perispirit or fluid body. 3. Immortality of the soul and its continual evolution towards perfection by successive stages. 4. The possibility of communication, by mediums between the visible and the invisible, namely, between the living and the dead.” The question that faces us, then, is, Does the soul survive the death of the human body? Is the human soul immortal? What do the Holy Scriptures of the Bible say?
30 Take the first five books of the Bible. The prophet Moses wrote them. Whether as a prophet he was a spirit medium, as spiritualists claim of Bible prophets, we shall let our discussion go on to show. But right here we note that this Moses was “instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” because he was reared at the king of Egypt’s court in the sixteenth century before the Christian era. He was acquainted with the wise men and wonder-working men of Pharaoh the king. When Moses appeared before Pharaoh with the demand that Pharaoh let the enslaved people of Jehovah God go free and backed up his demand by turning his shepherd rod into a big snake by God’s power, then, as we read Moses’ own account, “Phar′aoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and the magic-practicing priests of Egypt themselves also proceeded to do the same thing with their magic arts.” When Moses later turned water into blood, these men seemingly duplicated the miracle. When Moses miraculously produced frogs Pharaoh’s men did the same. Ah, but when Moses turned the dust of Egypt into lice or into gnats, “the magic-practicing priests tried to do the same by their secret arts, in order to bring forth gnats, but they were unable. And the gnats came to be on man and beast. Hence the magic-practicing priests said to Phar′aoh: ‘It is the finger of God!’”—Ex. 7:10, 11, 20-22; 8:6, 7, 17-19, NW.
31 So Pharaoh’s wise men, sorcerers and magicians admitted that Moses was able by his God Jehovah to do wonders that they themselves with their secret or occult power were unable to do. Now it is this Moses who under the power of God’s spirit or under inspiration gives us the first definition to be found in the Bible of the human soul. Also from the opposition between this Moses and the men of occult power in Egypt we can begin to form correct ideas as to whether Moses was a spirit medium or not.
WHAT THE HUMAN SOUL IS
32 Religious teachings of Christendom surround the human soul with mysteries that philosophers need to explore. Differently from them, Moses calls all the fish, birds and land animals that God created before making man “souls,” “living souls.” (Gen. 1:20, 21, 24, 30; 2:19, NW; Ro; Da) So, long before man’s creation, billions of animal souls or earthly souls had died. Moses then tells how the first human soul came to be, saying: “Then Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7, NW; AS; Da) This flatly disproves what is stated about the wherefrom of man by the spiritualist author, Arthur Findlay, in advertising his book On the Edge of the Etheric or Survival After Death Scientifically Explained. He states: “We retain in the Etheric, to which we pass at death, our bodily appearance, our memories, and our affections. . . . As we are now so shall we be hereafter; as we sow so shall we reap. We have come from the Etheric; we return to the Etheric. Our physical life is but a small part of our life, which, coming from the Etheric, returns to it at death. There it continues to function in a world both real and tangible.” Moses says nothing about “the Etheric.”
33 Nor does Moses’ inspired account of the creation of the human soul agree with V. D. Rishi and say anything about an “intermediary element called perispirit [surrounding spirit] or fluid body.” The Creator, Jehovah God, gave the first man just one body, made from the different elements in the dust of our earth. What made that material body come to life? It was God’s blowing into man’s nostrils, thus into man’s lungs, the “breath of life.” It was not by his breathing into man an invisible soul and connecting that soul with the material body by a fluid body or a surrounding spirit of the same form as the earthly body. God breathed, as it were, into the lifeless body his life-giving force, which was to be sustained by man’s breathing. What resulted? The body came to life. What did that mean? It meant a soul, a visible, touchable, feelable human soul, came into existence. “The man came to be a living soul.” That living soul did not come from “the Etheric,” so called, for it had never existed before. By God’s combining body and breath of life it now came to life. Thus the explanation of what a human soul is may be reduced to this simple, unmysterious “soul equation”:
human soul = body + breath of life from God.
34 This is not just the thought of the pre-Christian Hebrews or Jews; it is also the true Christian thought. The Christian apostle Paul, writer of fourteen books of the Bible, supports Moses’ writings, saying: “It is even so written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul.’ . . . The first man is out of the earth and made of dust.” (1 Cor. 15:45, 47, NW) Thus the first living human soul was the first man Adam. The living human soul is the living human creature. For that reason Young’s English translation of the Bible (1862) uses the word “creature” instead of “soul” here.
35 The Bible is the final authority on the soul. In the Hebrew part of the Bible the word neph′esh (translated “soul”) is found about 800 times; in the Christian Greek part of the Bible the word psy·che′ (also translated “soul”) is found 102 times. In each case the New World Translation renders this Greek word “soul.” This yet uncompleted translation is also consistently rendering the Hebrew word neph′esh “soul.” Thus the readers of the Bible may see how the Creator of the soul uses the word in his inspired Bible.
36 Since the Bible recognizes and teaches that the living human creature himself is the human soul, it is perfectly reasonable that the Bible should state that the human soul has blood—“the blood of the souls of the poor innocents” (Jer. 2:34)—God himself saying: “Your blood of your souls shall I ask back.” (Gen. 9:5, NW) In fact, God the Creator of souls shows the dependence of the human soul upon the blood stream to be so heavy that he says: “The soul of the flesh is in the blood.” More than that: “The soul of every sort of flesh is its blood.” “The blood is the soul and you must not eat the soul [yes, not eat the soul] with the blood.” (Lev. 17:11, 14 and Deut. 12:23, NW) Human souls can eat blood and fat, but God’s law forbids it: “For anyone eating fat from the beast from which he presents it as an offering made by fire to Jehovah, the soul that eats must be cut off from his people. Any soul who eats any blood, that soul must be cut off from his people.”—Lev. 7:25, 27, NW.
37 A human soul can also eat an animal body: “As for any soul that eats a dead body or something torn by a wild beast.” (Lev. 17:15, NW) The human soul craves material food: “Because your soul craves to eat meat, whenever your soul craves it you may eat meat.” (Deut. 12:20, NW) Also fruit: “You must eat enough grapes for you to satisfy your soul.” (Deut. 23:24, NW) Or a honeycomb.—Prov. 27:7.
38 The human soul is the living, intelligent creature himself, the material, visible, tangible person, and not an invisible, untouchable, ethereal something inside the human body. Hence the human soul can tear its own self or can be torn by a lion, can be delivered from a threatening sword, can fall into a pit dug for it, can be brought back again from a pit, or can be brought out of a prison. (Job 18:4, margin; Ps. 7:2; 22:20; Job 33:18, 30; Jer. 18:20; Ps. 142:7) The human soul can be bought for money; it can be kidnaped and sold; it can be hunted like a wild beast. (Lev. 22:11; Deut. 24:7; Ex. 4:19, NW) After the creation of the first human souls on earth, Adam and Eve, all other human souls have been born. They have not come out of “the Etheric.” They have come out of the bodies or loins of fatherly human souls and from the wombs of motherly human souls. Of Jacob’s wife Leah we read: “In time she bore these to Jacob: sixteen souls. All the souls who came to Jacob into Egypt were those who issued out of his upper thigh, aside from the wives of Jacob’s sons. All the souls were sixty-six.” (Gen. 46:18, 26, NW) “And all the souls who issued out of Jacob’s upper thigh came to be seventy souls.” (Ex. 1:5, NW) The soul is, therefore, not something separate and distinct from the human body that can leave the body in dreams and at death or that can transmigrate or pass at death into another body, to be thus reborn at death into another body.
39 Now a question; Does the Bible itself show a difference between body and soul? Indeed it does, and that right at the beginning, at Genesis 2:7, at man’s creation. The man’s body that Jehovah God formed out of the dust from the ground in Eden was not a human soul; it was just a lifeless, inactive body that neither saw, heard, tasted, smelled, felt nor thought. To make the body live and use all its sense organs and powers, God combined the perfect human body with the breath of life that he blew into the body. Thus there came to be a living human soul that had never existed before. So the human body is a necessary part of the human soul, and the human soul cannot exist apart from the human body. Many times the Bible speaks of the life that we human creatures enjoy as “soul.” Jesus said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate . . . even his own soul, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26, NW) “He that is fond of his soul destroys it, but he that hates his soul in this world will safeguard it for everlasting life.” (John 12:25, NW) “They did not love their souls even despite the danger of death.” (Rev. 12:11, NW) “I am the right shepherd; the right shepherd surrenders his soul in behalf of the sheep.”—John 10:11, NW.
40 In harmony with this unseparableness of the soul from its body, when a speaker uses the expression “my soul,” he really means “I myself,” or, “me myself.” Jesus gave an illustration of a rich man, who, after storing up his increased good things, said: “I will say to my soul: ‘Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, enjoy yourself.’ But God said to him: ‘Unreasonable one, this night they are demanding your soul from you.’” Without soul or life as a human creature, how could the rich man enjoy the good things he had stored up? (Luke 12:16-21, NW) Even God himself uses the expression “my soul,” saying: “Look! my servant whom I chose, my beloved, whom my soul approved!” (Matt. 12:18, NW; Isa. 42:1) “‘My righteous one will live by reason of faith,’ and, ‘if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’” (Heb. 10:38, NW) “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates.” (Isa. 1:14, RS) Likewise, the expression “your (thy) soul” is used to mean “you yourself,” and “his soul,” “him himself.” For example, “Yahweh of hosts hath sworn by his own soul.” (Jer. 51:14; Amos 6:8, Ro, margin) “So it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.” (Jer. 38:20; Isa. 55:2, 3) Thus the word “soul” is used to refer to the person himself.
41 What the prophet Elijah said regarding the child whom he was used to restore to life is no Biblical proof that the human soul is distinct and is merely linked to the human body by some element called a “perispirit or fluid body,” and that at death it carries on a separate, independent, outside existence in the immaterial, spirit world. We read: “The son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and his sickness came to be so severe that there was no breath left in him. And [Elijah] proceeded to stretch himself upon the child three times and call to Jehovah and say: ‘O Jehovah my God, please, cause the soul of this child to come back within him.’ Finally Jehovah listened to Elijah’s voice, and the soul of the child came back within him, so that he came to life.” (1 Ki. 17:17, 21, 22, NW) Does the Bible here say the child’s soul was alive in an invisible, spirit world and that the child was lucky that it had died and that it had never been so happy on earth as it was then in the spirit world? No! Did the child’s mother ask Elijah to act as a male medium and put her in touch with her dead son so that she could talk with the departed soul through Elijah? No! If the child was better off for having died, then it was an injustice and extreme selfishness for Elijah to pray as he did and for him to restore the child to life in the human body.
42 The same holds true for the Shunammite’s son whom Elijah’s successor, Elisha, restored to life. It holds true also for the dead whom Jesus and his apostles restored to life in the flesh on earth: Jairus’ daughter, the widow of Nain’s son, Lazarus the brother of Mary and Martha, Dorcas (Tabitha) of Joppa, and Eutychus of Troas. (2 Ki. 4:8-37; Matt. 10:1, 8; Luke 8:41-56; 7:11-15; John 11:1-44; Acts 9:36-41; 20:6-12) What the prophet Elijah really prayed for was, not for a departed soul to return from the spirit world into the child’s body, but for the child’s life as a human creature to return by Jehovah God’s power that his dead body might become alive again and the child might come to be a living human soul again. In agreement with this An American Translation reads here: “May this child’s life return into him again.” “So the LORD hearkened to the voice of Elijah; and the life of the child came back to him again, so that he lived.” “‘See, your son is alive,’ said Elijah.” (1 Ki. 17:21-24, AT; also Mo) Hence it is no more difficult for us in English to say a human soul has soul than it was difficult for a Jew to say in Hebrew that a neph′esh has neph′esh or that neph′esh is in a neph′esh (“soul”).—Lev. 17:10-14, NW.
THE SPIRIT IN MAN
43 But in this case does not the scripture, Ecclesiastes 12:7, apply: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it”? Yes. And does not the report, at Luke 8:54, 55 (RS), of Jesus’ raising Jairus’ daughter to life say: “But taking her by the hand he called, saying, ‘Child, arise.’ And her spirit returned, and she got up at once”? Yes. Are we, then, to reason from this that, before Elijah raised the widow’s dead son to life, and before Jesus raised Jairus’ girl to life, their spirit was alive in a spirit world and that it had returned to God who gave it and was living with him? No; for the “spirit” is not, as Rishi describes it, “the etheric body of an individual having all his characteristics. . . . the exact counterpart of the physical portion of the individual.” According to the Bible the spirit (ru′ahh, Hebrew; pneu′ma, Greek) is God’s invisible active force that causes life or makes alive.
44 As it is described in Revelation 11:8-11 (NW): “And their corpses will be on the broad way of the great city . . . And after the three and a half days spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet.” Also as it is described in Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones: “Thus saith My Lord Yahweh, unto these bones, Lo! I am about to bring into you spirit, and ye shall live; . . . And when I looked then lo! upon them were sinews, and flesh had come up, and there had spread over them skin above, but spirit was there none within them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the spirit, prophesy, Son of man, and thou shalt say unto the spirit, Thus saith My Lord Yahweh—From the four winds come thou, O spirit, and breathe into these [breathless] slain that they may live. And when I prophesied as he commanded me, then came into them the spirit and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”—Ezek. 37:5-10, Ro; also Yg; Le.
45 Jehovah God is the source of the life-imparting spirit or invisible life-giving active force. Hence when the dead body returns to the earth as it was, that spirit or active force that animated that body returns to its source; it quits operating in that body. So the power to make that human creature live again rests with God, the Source of life. By the sentence of death that God pronounced upon Adam and Eve he has subjected all their offspring to condemnation and at the limit of their condemned lives he requires of them their life force, for they are condemned to death through inheriting the sin from Adam and Eve. God’s just law requires that life force or spirit of them, and thus it returns to him. When God lifts that condemnation or removes it, then he can make the relieved offspring of Adam live again by his spirit or invisible activating force. Hence the inspired Psalm says to God: “Thou hidest thy face, they are dismayed, thou withdrawest their spirit, they cease to breathe, and unto their own dust do they return: thou sendest forth thy spirit and they are created, and thou renewest the face of the ground.”—Ps. 104:29, 30, Ro; also Yg; Le.
46 This life force sustained by breathing is what returned to Jairus’ daughter when Jesus took her by the hand and commanded: “Child, arise.” God heard Jesus and caused His life-imparting active force to make her body alive and breathe again and keep it from returning at that time to the dust of the earth. Jesus referred to such spirit or life force when, at his death on the stake at Calvary, he said to God: “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” (Luke 23:46, NW) On the third day afterward God restored that spirit or life force by resurrecting Jesus from the dead. (Acts 2:22-28, 32-36) So Ecclesiastes 12:7 cannot be used to teach that immortal spirits of the human dead are in a spirit world enjoying greater life, knowledge and freedom than ever before and that they have all, good and bad alike, returned to God. Instead, it proves that all mankind are under condemnation of death and hence must grow old and approach death and that when they die the body will return to the dust, for God’s righteous law requires their life force of them.
47 In this respect, mankind, because of the condemnation to death that they inherited from Adam, are like the lower animals that die, not because animals are condemned to die for sin, but because their Creator did not decree that they should live forever. Showing that thus man’s spirit is just now like that of the lower animals, the inspired wise man says: “I said in my heart concerning the speaking of the sons of men, that God might make it clear to them, and that they might see that they by themselves are but beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even the same thing befalleth them; as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one kind of spirit: so that the preeminence of man above the beast is nought; for all is vanity. Every thing goeth unto one place: every thing came from the dust, and every thing returneth to the dust. Who knoweth the spirit of the sons of man that ascendeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that descendeth downward to the earth?” (Eccl. 3:18-21, Le; also Yg; Ro) We see, therefore, that the spirit or invisible, activating life force that makes animals live is the same as that which makes mankind live, and hence the only thing that can give man any pre-eminence above a lower animal is God’s decree or God’s arrangement concerning man’s future. By God’s undeserved kindness man does enjoy such a pre-eminence over lower animals, for God has willed and provided that believing, obedient mankind may enjoy everlasting life in a righteous, death-free new world. So the enjoying of such life does not begin when the body returns to the dust at death, for the spirit that then returns to God is not an invisible, immortal counterpart of that mortal body, having all its characteristics. Such an idea of the spirit in man is simply an imaginary theory that spiritualists invent to support their teaching of “survival after death.” Their “next world” is not God’s righteous new world.
IS THE HUMAN SOUL IMMORTAL?
48 For a human soul to live there must be (1) a human body and (2) the invisible, active force or spirit from God combining with that body to make it breathe and live. The human creature thus brought to life is the human soul. (Gen. 2:7) Now since the human soul must breathe earth’s atmosphere and must eat material food here on earth, and since it may be torn, be imprisoned and be laid in irons or be reached by the sword and may be brought down to the pit (Ps. 105:18, Da; Yg; Jer. 4:10; Luke 2:35), is the human soul deathproof, immortal? Spiritualism rests mainly upon the belief in the immortality of the human soul; it bases its teaching of “survival after death” upon the soul’s immortality, and it says that the Bible is full of references to survival after death and the communicating between the living and the dead. Consequently the claims of spiritualism require us to examine the special question, Does the Bible teach the immortality of the human soul, making survival after death possible?
49 Immortality is of course mentioned in the Bible, but does the Bible say the human soul has it? Look it up and surprise yourself to find that the word “immortality” does not occur once in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible; and in the Christian Greek Scriptures the Greek word a·tha·na·si′a, which is translated “immortality,” occurs only three times. Here are the three times:
50 “For this which is corruptible must put on incorruption, and this which is mortal must put on immortality. But when this which is corruptible puts on incorruption and this which is mortal puts on immortality, then the saying will take place that is written [at Isaiah 25:8]: ‘Death is swallowed up forever.’” (1 Cor. 15:53, 54, NW) Here the apostle Paul is discussing the Christian resurrection from the dead and he shows how the faithful Christians are raised from the dead and with what body. He does not say they now have immortality any more than they now have incorruptibility, for in Romans 2:6, 7 he tells Christians that God “will render to each one according to his works: everlasting life to those who are seeking glory and honor and incorruptibleness by endurance in work that is good.” (NW) Incorruptibleness as well as immortality is a future reward that is to be bestowed upon faithful Christians at their resurrection from the dead. The apostle showed that this resurrection and putting on of incorruptibleness and immortality was not to take place at death but at the second coming and presence of Jesus Christ when he raises his faithful followers from the dead. “For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be made alive. But each one in his own rank: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who belong to the Christ during his presence. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in incorruption. . . . and we shall be changed.”—1 Cor. 15:22, 23, 42, 52, NW.
51 Notice no mention here of the human soul. Instead of the inherent immortality of the human soul, the above two mentions of a·tha·na·si′a or immortality teach directly the contrary.
52 The remaining or third mention of a·tha·na·si′a or immortality is found in the following quotation: “Observe the commandment in a spotless and irreprehensible way until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. This manifestation the happy and only Potentate will show in its own appointed times, he the King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords, the one alone having immortality.” (1 Tim. 6:14-16, NW) The apostle Paul is here telling Timothy that of all the earthly potentates who rule as kings and as lords and who claim immortality none really have it, but the “happy and only Potentate” Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, has it exclusively since his own resurrection from the dead. We grant you that the pagan Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Hindus taught their heathenish doctrine of the inherent immortality and incorruptibility of the human soul. But Jesus Christ, who is the first one upon whom the immortal, ‘incorruptible God’ bestowed immortality and incorruptibility when raising him from the dead, is the first one that brought the truth concerning these to light by his preaching of the good news about God’s kingdom. “Now it has been made clearly evident through the manifestation of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death but has shed light upon life and incorruption through the good news.”—2 Tim. 1:10 and1 Tim. 1:17, NW.
53 From this it is seen that this third Scriptural mention of a·tha·na·si′a or immortality flatly denies that any humans, even earthly potentates, dictators, kings and lords, have inherent immortality of the human soul. In the Roman Catholic version of the Bible, in the apocryphal or deuterocanonical books of its “Old Testament,” the words “immortality” and “incorruption” do occur, but even these references do not show or prove that the human soul is inherently immortal. For instance, Ecclesiasticus 17:29 (Dy) plainly says: “For all things cannot be in men, because the son of man is not immortal.” See also Ecclesiasticus 6:16 and The Book of Wisdom 1:15; 2:23; 3:1, 4; 4:1; 6:19, 20; 8:13, 17; 15:1, 3, all of which, if showing anything, show that immortality is a prize to be gained in the future and is not possessed inherently.
DOES THE HUMAN SOUL DIE?
54 If, now, the Bible does not teach the inherent immortality of the human soul, it ought to say that the human soul is mortal, that it dies! Does the Bible do so? Directly so, in plain language that even a child can grasp. Since spiritualists, Roman Catholics and other religions of Christendom cannot produce one Bible verse saying or proving that the human soul is deathless, immortal, it ought to be enough if we produced just one Bible verse in witness that the human soul is mortal, dies. But we can produce many verses in witness, and the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, which regularly translates the Hebrew word neph′esh and the Greek word psy·che′ as “soul” from Genesis 1:20 onward, shows more fully than any other translation that the Bible says the human soul dies.
55 In the original garden or paradise of Eden the perfect human souls Adam and Eve did not have to die. Those two perfect human souls could have lived on forever in their earthly paradise. How? By sustaining their human, material bodies with the natural food that Jehovah God there provided and by obediently nourishing their hearts and minds with the spiritual food that he provided when he talked to them out of the invisible. But God warned them that the human soul, despite its ability to live on earth forever by God’s provisions, was mortal, able to die. Genesis, chapter two, after describing God’s creation of the first human soul Adam, goes on to say: “And Jehovah God proceeded to take the man and settle him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to take care of it. And Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: ‘From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.’” (Gen. 2:15-17, NW) If Adam the soul disobeyed God, then Adam the soul would die. If Adam the soul obeyed God and ate of all the trees in Eden except this forbidden one, then Adam the soul would continue living as long as his obedience kept up. This offered the opportunity for the human soul to live eternally, not in a spirit world, but in human perfection in the earthly paradise of Eden.
56 When God pronounced the sentence of death upon Adam after he disobediently accepted some of the forbidden fruit from the hand of his wife and ate it, God said: “In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen. 3:17-19, NW) Note that God did not say to Adam, ‘Your body will return to the dust but your spirit will be freed from the body and will live on consciously in the unseen world where I dwell, because your spirit is immortal and I cannot destroy it.’ No, but God said, ‘You [not your body, but you, the soul] were taken from the ground and to the ground you will return, for you [the soul] are dust and to the dust you [the soul under death sentence] will return.’
57 As a living soul Adam was just some animated, quickened, enlivened or vivified dust molded together in a man’s form, just the same as the other land animals. To put the death sentence into force God drove the man out of the paradise of Eden. Why? “Jehovah God went on to say: ‘Here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad, and now in order that he may not put his hand out and actually take fruit also of the tree of life and eat and live forever,—’ With that Jehovah God put him out of the garden of Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken [and to which he must now return]. And so he drove the man out and posted at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubs and the flaming blade of a sword that was turning itself continually to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Gen. 3:22-24, NW) God did not keep him away from the tree of life that Adam might die only as to his body but pass alive in spirit to a spirit world, beginning an immortal journey there, knowing more and being freer there and thus really benefiting by his having disobeyed his Creator and dying. God drove him out of the paradise of Eden away from the tree of life that the human soul Adam might not live at all anywhere but cease to exist, “positively die,” just the same as a brute beast.
58 Because he fell from human perfection, the human soul Adam lived many centuries even on the cursed ground outside the paradise of Eden. “Meanwhile he became father to sons and daughters. So all the days of Adam that he lived amounted to nine hundred and thirty years and he died.” (Gen. 5:4, 5, NW) On the very day that Adam sinned and God condemned him and drove him outside Eden’s paradise, Adam was dead from God’s viewpoint and so was dead in sin. He became a father of disobedience and produced sons of disobedience. For this reason the apostle Paul told the Christians: “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you at one time walked according to the system of things of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience.” (Eph. 2:1, 2, 5, NW) From that standpoint, too, Eve as well as Adam was “dead though she [was] living.” (1 Tim. 5:6, NW) Now being dead in sin was not the full measure of death for Adam and Eve, but when they ceased to breathe and when the spirit or life-causing active force returned to God who gave it to them, then the first two human souls, Adam and Eve, died. Adam lived seventy years less than a thousand years. So, if we take the apostle Peter’s time measurement, “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet. 3:8), then Adam as well as Eve positively died “in the day” that he ate from the forbidden tree. He died in the first thousand-year day of humankind’s existence. Is There Life After Death?
“WHERE does the soul go immediately after death? We have lost a small son and we wonder.” These were the words distraught parents directed to one of America’s foremost clergymen. How did he answer? He wrote: “For me, the words of Jesus spoken to the repentant thief are significant—‘This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.’ I think of your child . . . as being with him.”
No doubt about it, this clergyman believes that life continues after death. This is also what the ancient Greeks and Romans believed. Thus Socrates stated, “All men’s souls are immortal.” Plato followed his teacher Socrates, and hence this belief about the soul is said to be a Platonic teaching.
Why did these men believe the way they did? One of their arguments was that the human mind was too wonderful to have the same destiny as the brute creation. They also claimed that to have death end all would be weighting matters in favor of the wicked. And the ancient Roman essayist and orator Cicero argued that he himself, even as other noble men, suffered and endured only because of hope of life after death. He therefore referred to the day of his death as the “glorious day” when he would leave this earth to associate with “the divine assembly of departed spirits.”
Early church “fathers” let themselves be influenced by this pagan Greek belief, and, as a result, it has become part of many creeds in Christendom. However, the reasons given by the Greeks for their belief show that they believed as they did, not because of observable facts, but only because that is the way they wanted it to be.
What Does the Bible Teach?
Is the idea that man has a soul separate and distinct from his body, and that it lives forever, taught in the Bible? No, it is not. Thus the New Catholic Encyclopedia (Vol. 13, p. 449), under the heading “Soul (in the Bible),” states: “There is no dichotomy [division] of body and soul in the O[Id] T[estament]. . . . The term nepes, though translated by our word soul, never means soul as distinct from the body.” Thus also the New American Bible (a Roman Catholic translation), in its Biblical Theology Terms, under the heading “Soul,” states: “In the New Testament to ‘save one’s soul’ (Mk 8:35) does not mean to save some ‘spiritual’ part of man, as opposed to his ‘body,’ (in the Platonic sense) but the whole person with emphasis on the fact that the person is living, desiring, . . . in addition to being concrete and physical.”
Similarly Dr. H. M. Orlinsky, one of America’s foremost Hebrew scholars, said regarding the use of the word “soul”: “The Hebrew word in question here is ‘nefesh.’ . . . The Bible does not say we have a soul. ‘Nefesh’ is the person himself.” That God’s Word does indeed take this position is seen from Genesis 2:7: “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Thus the man became a living creature [nephesh].” (Other translations read “soul” or “being.”) Since this is so, it follows that when the man dies the soul dies. And so we read: “The soul that sins shall die.”—Ezek. 18:4, 20.
It is indeed of interest that in recent years one theologian after another has come out in support of this understanding. Professor Milton Gatch, in his book Death: Meaning and Mortality in Christian Thought and Contemporary Culture, states: “Not only do the biblical writers on the whole have no conception of a soul as a separable element of human existence, but also there is agreement that death is the . . . termination of existence and that there is no such thing as an individual afterlife.” Writing in the same vein is Professor O. Cullmann, a theologian of the Universities of Paris and Basel. In his book Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead? he states: “No other publication of mine has provoked such enthusiasm or such violent hostility.” In this book he underscores the fact that man’s hope for the future lies not in his having an immortal soul but in a resurrection.
The Issue: Life or Death
When the Creator placed man in the garden of Eden he did not place before man the alternatives of life in happiness or life in torment but simply the alternatives of life or death: “On the day that you eat from [the forbidden fruit], you will certainly die.” (Gen. 2:17) Thus also Jehovah repeatedly placed before the people of Israel the same: “I offer you the choice of life or death.”—Deut. 30:19.
According to the Greek idea, the wicked have immortality. But the Bible shows that life is a gift: “For sin pays a wage, and the wage is death, but God gives freely, and his gift is eternal life.” (Rom. 6:23) A gift is something that can be accepted or refused, rejected. Otherwise it cannot be said to be a gift. If those who refuse the gift of life everlasting are to be tormented forever, it can no longer be said that life is a gift, for one is given no choice. But God does give a choice. Anyone who refuses God’s gift of everlasting life simply chooses a state of nonexistence. Nonexistence was Adam’s choice, even as God told him, ‘dust to dust.’—Gen. 3:19.
Objections Considered
Professor Cullmann stated that his book aroused “violent hostility” on the part of some. Yes, many professed Christians feel very strongly that man has an immortal soul. Like the clergyman that sought to bring solace to the grieving parents, they take Jesus’ words to the repentant thief to hold out such a hope: “I tell you this: today you shall be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) But does it?
Let us first note that, since the Bible does not contradict itself, there must be some misunderstanding. The fact is that Jesus himself did not go to Paradise on that day, for the Bible says that he went to Hades, the common grave of mankind, and was resurrected on the third day. (Acts 2:23-32, Revised Standard Version) Jesus himself stated that just as “Jonah was in the sea-monster’s belly for three days and three nights, . . . the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the bowels of the earth.” (Matt. 12:40) That is why after his resurrection he said to Mary that he had not as yet ascended to heaven, to his God.—John 20:17.
Then how are we to understand Jesus’ words? Not as if he had said, “Today you will be with me in Paradise,” but, rather, “Verily I say unto thee this day: With me shalt thou be in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43, Rotherham’s translation; see also New World Translation.) The solution lies in correct punctuation. Jesus was on that day telling the repentant evildoer that at some future time he would be in Paradise. That is in harmony with the rest of the Scriptures. But may one change the punctuation? Most certainly. Why? Because punctuation was unknown when the Bible was written, it being systematized first in the sixteenth century of our Common Era. So it is up to the Bible translator to supply the punctuation, and reason would indicate that any text that can be punctuated in more ways than one be punctuated so as to make the text in harmony with the rest of the Bible.
Another common objection raised as to the dead being actually dead, unconscious, is the account of the rich man and Lazarus. It tells that the rich man died and went to Hades and that in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. (Luke 16:19-31) Seemingly this teaches life after death, but is this account historical? Did it actually happen or is it merely an allegory? It was written that Jesus “never spoke to them without a parable.” (Matt. 13:34) As A New Testament Commentary (1969) well notes, to consider it historical “ignores the element of symbolism that is quite apparent in the story,” such as “Abraham’s bosom, the great Chasm fixed and this flame.” It is also significant that Jesus said nothing about the rich man as being wicked or the poor man as being good. Considered as a parable, it cannot be used to prove life after death.
Another objection raised is that repeatedly in the book of Revelation “souls” are seen, such as “those who had been slaughtered for God’s word for the testimony they bore.” (Rev. 6:9; 20:4) But here again, are we not dealing with symbolisms, with which the Book of Revelation is filled? Surely! (See, for example, Revelation 9:7-10; 12:3.) In view of what Leviticus 17:11 says about the life or soul as being in the blood, it is quite evident that John’s words here mean that he saw the blood of faithful Christians who had been slaughtered because of their faithfulness to God and his Word. And let it be noted that there is a reasonable explanation for every other objection supposedly based on the Bible, such as the fact that some appear to have been able to talk with the dead.
Communication with the Dead
A seeming case in point is the record of unfaithful King Saul when having a witch call forth the deceased prophet Samuel. True, the witch of Endor claimed to get in touch with the dead prophet Samuel, but did she actually do so? She could not have, for the dead are unconscious, asleep in the grave. (Ps. 146:3, 4; Eccl. 9:5, 10) Then whom did the witch see? She saw a demon impersonating the prophet Samuel. (1 Sam. 28:3-25) A demon?
Yes, for throughout the Scriptures we find mention of demons, that is, wicked spirit creatures or fallen angels. Where did these come from? Obviously God did not create them as such, for all his work is perfect and righteous. (Deut. 32:4) However, just as the Bible tells of an angel’s making himself Satan the Devil by his slanderous opposition to God, so it tells of other spirit creatures who joined him in his opposition to God for selfish reasons. This was in the time before the flood of Noah’s day when these angels materialized and came to earth to enjoy the pleasures of sex by taking wives for themselves of the daughters of men. (Gen. 6:1-6) Their hybrid offspring, part angelic and part human, proved to be giants, who contributed to the wickedness and violence of those pre-Flood days. When the Flood came, these hybrid offspring perished, whereas their angelic fathers, being spirits, could dematerialize and reenter the spirit world. There they are kept in darkness and in bondage to Satan the Devil. Jesus when on earth repeatedly clashed with these wicked ones.—Luke 8:26-35; 1 Pet. 3:19, 20; 2 Pet. 2:4.
Hope Only in This Life?
Does this mean that man has no hope for the future, that death ends all? Such it will be for Adam and like willful sinners, for God did not hold out any hope for Adam when he sentenced him to return to the dust. Being a deliberate sinner, Adam justly deserved the penalty God pronounced upon him.—Gen. 3:19.
But not all of Adam’s offspring are of the same mind as was Adam. Many of these do have a love of righteousness, and yet, seemingly, they are no better off than Adam. But not so; there will be a difference and that is because of God’s provision of a resurrection. God in his goodness provided that his Son should ransom humankind that had been sold, as it were, to sin and death by the disobedience of Adam. (Rom. 5:12) This Jesus did by coming to earth, being born as a human and then laying down his life for humankind. By thus purchasing the human race, Jesus opened the way for removal of the legal disability resting upon mankind and now he has the right to raise mankind from death.—Matt. 20:28; 28:18.
So there is hope for humankind. Not in the Platonic immortality of the human soul belief, but through the resurrection of the dead, which both Jesus and his apostles believed and taught. In answering the Sadducees, who did not believe in a resurrection, Jesus said that God “is not God of the dead but of the living.” He foretold that “the time is coming when all who are in the grave shall hear his voice and come out.” (Matt. 22:31-33; John 5:28, 29) And his apostles, in particular the apostle Paul, time and again stressed the fact of the resurrection of the dead. Emphasizing the point that his hope was, not in man’s having an immortal soul, but in the resurrection, Paul wrote: “If it is for this life only that Christ has given us hope, we of all men are most to be pitied.” “If the dead are never raised to life, ‘let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”—1 Cor. 15:19, 32; Acts 17:31, 32; 24:15.
The teaching that there is life after death because man has an immortal soul contradicts the plain statements of the Scriptures and poses many dilemmas. To mention but one: ‘What happens to the heathen when they die?’ If at death all go either to heaven or to hell, what about them? The Bible says that only those who believe on Jesus can get saved. (John 3:16; Acts 4:12) Will these heathen be tormented forever? The Bible tells us that God is just and loving. Such a destiny for the heathen would be neither. Some counter, ‘Oh, God will save them because of their ignorance, so long as they did the best they knew how!’ But if God will save the heathen because of or in spite of their ignorance, why not keep all humankind ignorant and so save all? There is neither reason nor scripture for such a conclusion. But the Bible hope for the heathen who never heard of Jesus is the resurrection, at which time the heathen will have an opportunity to choose life.—Isa. 26:9.
So we see that man is not without hope. But that hope is not because man has an immortal soul but because of God’s loving and powerful provision of Christ’s ransom. By means of it future life is made possible by the resurrection of the dead under God’s kingdom.—Matt. 6:9, 10. How Strong Is Your Belief in the Resurrection?
“I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life.”—JOHN 11:25.
HOW strong is your hope in the resurrection? Does it fortify you against the fear of dying and comfort you when you lose loved ones in death? (Matthew 10:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:13) Are you like many of God’s servants of old, who endured scourgings, mockery, torture, and prison bonds, strengthened by belief in the resurrection?—Hebrews 11:35-38.
2 Yes, a sincere worshiper of Jehovah should have no doubts at all that there will be a resurrection, and his confidence should affect the way he lives his life. It is wonderful to reflect on the fact that in God’s due time, the sea, death, and Hades will give up the dead in them, and these resurrected ones will have the prospect of living forever on a paradise earth.—Revelation 20:13; 21:4, 5.
Doubts About a Future Life
3 Christendom has long taught that there is life after death. An article in the magazine U.S. Catholic said: “Down through the ages, Christians have tried to make the best of the disappointments and sufferings of this life by looking forward to another life, one of peace and contentment, of fulfillment and happiness.” Even though in a number of lands of Christendom, people have become secularized and somewhat cynical about religion, many still feel that there must be something after death. But there is much they are not certain about.
4 An article in Time magazine observed: “People still believe in [an afterlife]: it’s just that their concept of exactly what it is has grown foggier, and they hear about it much less frequently from their pastors.” Why do religious ministers speak less about an afterlife than they used to? Religious scholar Jeffrey Burton Russell says: “I think [clerics] want to stay off the subject because they feel they’re going to have to climb a wall of popular skepticism.”
5 In many churches, the afterlife includes a heaven and a fiery hell. And if clergymen are reluctant to speak about heaven, they are even more reluctant to speak about hell. One newspaper article said: “These days even churches that believe in eternal punishment in a physical hell . . . play down the concept.” Indeed, most modern theologians no longer believe in hell as a literal place of torment, the way it was taught in the Middle Ages. Rather, they favor a more “humane” version of hell. According to many modernists, sinners in hell are not literally tortured, but they suffer because of their “spiritual separation from God.”
6 Softening church doctrine so as not to offend modern sensibilities may help some to avoid unpopularity, but it leaves millions of sincere churchgoers wondering what to believe. Hence, when face-to-face with death, these often find that their faith is lacking. Their attitude is like that of the woman who lost several family members in a tragic accident. When asked whether her religious faith had brought her comfort, she replied hesitatingly, “I suppose so.” But even if she had replied confidently that her religious faith had helped her, of what long-term profit would it be if her beliefs were not well-founded? This is an important consideration because, in truth, what most churches teach about a future life is very different from what the Bible teaches.
Christendom’s View of Life After Death
7 Despite their differences, almost all denominations of Christendom agree that humans have an immortal soul that survives the death of the body. Most believe that when a person dies, his soul may go to heaven. Some fear that their soul might go to a fiery hell or to purgatory. But the idea of an immortal soul is central to their view of a future life. Theologian Oscar Cullmann, in an essay published in the book Immortality and Resurrection, commented on this. He wrote: “If we were to ask an ordinary Christian today . . . what he conceives to be the New Testament teaching concerning the fate of man after death, with few exceptions we should get the answer: ‘The immortality of the soul.’” Cullmann added, however: “This widely accepted idea is one of the greatest misunderstandings of Christianity.” Cullmann remarked that when he first said this, he caused a furor. Yet, he was correct.
8 Jehovah God did not create humans to go to heaven after they died. It was not his original purpose that they should die at all. Adam and Eve were created perfect and were given the opportunity to fill the earth with righteous offspring. (Genesis 1:28; Deuteronomy 32:4) Our first parents were told that they would die only if they disobeyed God. (Genesis 2:17) If they had remained obedient to their heavenly Father, they would have kept on living on earth forever.
9 Sadly, though, Adam and Eve failed to obey God. (Genesis 3:6, 7) The tragic consequences are described by the apostle Paul: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” (Romans 5:12) Instead of living forever on earth, Adam and Eve died. What happened then? Did they have immortal souls that could now be consigned to a fiery hell because of their sin? On the contrary, the Bible says that earlier, when he was created, Adam “came to be a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7) Man was not given a soul; he became a soul, a living person. (1 Corinthians 15:45) Why, not only was Adam “a living soul” but, as shown in the Hebrew language in which Genesis was written, the lower animals were “living souls” too! (Genesis 1:24) When Adam and Eve died, they became dead souls. Eventually, it happened to them just as Jehovah had said to Adam: “In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”—Genesis 3:19.
10 In substance, the New Catholic Encyclopedia agrees with this. In its article “Soul (in the Bible),” it says: “There is no dichotomy [division into two parts] of body and soul in the OT [“Old Testament,” or Hebrew Scriptures].” It adds that in the Bible, the word “soul” “never means soul as distinct from the body or the individual person.” Indeed, soul often “means the individual being itself whether of animals or men.” Such candor is refreshing, but one can only wonder why churchgoers in general have not been made aware of these facts.
11 How much concern and fear churchgoers would have been spared if they had known the simple Bible truth: “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die,” not suffer in hellfire! (Ezekiel 18:4) While this is very different from what Christendom teaches, it is entirely consistent with what the wise man Solomon said under inspiration: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages [in this life], because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol [mankind’s common grave], the place to which you are going.”—Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10.
12 Why does Christendom teach something so different from what the Bible says? The New Catholic Encyclopedia, in its article “Soul, Human, Immortality Of,” says that early Church Fathers found support for belief in an immortal soul, not in the Bible, but in “the poets and philosophers and general tradition of Greek thought . . . Later, the scholastics preferred to make use of Plato or principles from Aristotle.” It states that “the influence of Platonic and Neoplatonic thought”—including belief in the immortal soul—eventually was inserted “into the very core of Christian theology.”
13 Should professed Christians have turned to pagan Greek philosophers to learn about something as basic as the hope of life after death? Of course not. When Paul wrote to Christians living in Corinth, Greece, he said: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their own cunning.’ And again: ‘Jehovah knows that the reasonings of the wise men are futile.’” (1 Corinthians 3:19, 20) The ancient Greeks were idol worshipers. How, then, could they be a source of truth? Paul asked the Corinthians: “What agreement does God’s temple have with idols? For we are a temple of a living God; just as God said: ‘I shall reside among them and walk among them, and I shall be their God, and they will be my people.’”—2 Corinthians 6:16.
14 Revelation of sacred truths was initially given through the nation of Israel. (Romans 3:1, 2) After 33 C.E., it was given through the first-century anointed Christian congregation. Paul, speaking of first-century Christians, said: “It is to us God has revealed [the things prepared for those who love him] through his spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:10; see also Revelation 1:1, 2.) Christendom’s doctrine of the immortality of the soul is derived from Greek philosophy. It was not revealed through God’s revelations to Israel or through the first-century congregation of anointed Christians.
The Real Hope for the Dead
15 If there is no immortal soul, what is the real hope for the dead? It is, of course, the resurrection, a central Bible doctrine and a truly wonderful divine promise. Jesus held out the resurrection hope when he said to his friend Martha: “I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life.” (John 11:25) To believe in Jesus means to believe in the resurrection, not in an immortal soul.
16 Jesus had earlier spoken of the resurrection when he said to some Jews: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” (John 5:28, 29) What Jesus here describes is very different from an immortal soul surviving the death of the body and going straight to heaven. It is a future ‘coming out’ of people who have been in the grave, many for centuries or even for thousands of years. It is dead souls coming back to life. Impossible? Not to the God “who makes the dead alive and calls the things that are not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17) Skeptics may mock at the idea of people coming back from the dead, but it harmonizes perfectly with the fact that “God is love” and that he is “the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him.”—1 John 4:16; Hebrews 11:6.
17 After all, how could God reward those who proved to be “faithful even to death” if he did not bring them back to life? (Revelation 2:10) The resurrection also makes it possible for God to accomplish what the apostle John wrote about: “For this purpose the Son of God was made manifest, namely, to break up the works of the Devil.” (1 John 3:8) Back in the garden of Eden, Satan became the murderer of the whole human race when he led our first parents into sin and death. (Genesis 3:1-6; John 8:44) Jesus began to break up Satan’s works when he gave his perfect life as a corresponding ransom, opening the way for mankind to be released from the inherited slavery to sin resulting from Adam’s willful disobedience. (Romans 5:18) The resurrection of those who die because of this Adamic sin will be a further breaking up of the Devil’s works.
Body and Soul
18 When the apostle Paul was in Athens, he preached the good news to a crowd that included some Greek philosophers. They listened to his discussion about the one true God and his call to repentance. But what happened next? Paul concluded his speech, saying: “[God] has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has furnished a guarantee to all men in that he has resurrected him from the dead.” Those words caused a stir. “When they heard of a resurrection of the dead, some began to mock.” (Acts 17:22-32) Theologian Oscar Cullmann observes: “For the Greeks who believed in the immortality of the soul it may have been harder to accept the Christian preaching of the resurrection than it was for others. . . . The teaching of the great philosophers Socrates and Plato can in no way be brought into consonance [agreement] with that of the New Testament.”
19 Even so, following the great apostasy after the death of the apostles, theologians labored to merge the Christian teaching of the resurrection with Plato’s belief in the immortal soul. In time, some agreed on a novel solution: At death, the soul is separated (“liberated,” as some put it) from the body. Then, according to Outlines of the Doctrine of the Resurrection, by R. J. Cooke, on Judgment Day “each body shall be again united to its own soul, and each soul to its own body.” The future reuniting of the body with its immortal soul is said to be the resurrection.
20 This theory is still the official doctrine of mainstream churches. While such a notion may seem logical to a theologian, most churchgoers are unacquainted with it. They simply believe that they will go straight to heaven when they die. For this reason, in the May 5, 1995, issue of Commonweal, writer John Garvey charged: “The belief of most Christians [on the matter of life after death] seems to be much closer to Neoplatonism than to anything truly Christian, and it has no biblical basis.” Indeed, by trading the Bible for Plato, Christendom’s clergy extinguished the Biblical resurrection hope for their flocks.
21 On the other hand, Jehovah’s Witnesses reject pagan philosophy and adhere to the Bible’s teaching of the resurrection. They find such teaching to be edifying, satisfying, and comforting. In the following articles, we will see just how well-founded and how logical the Bible’s teaching of the resurrection is, both for those with an earthly hope and for those with the prospect of a resurrection to heavenly life. As a preparation for considering these articles, we recommend that you read carefully chapter 15 of the first letter to the Corinthians. Is There Life After Death?
“There exists hope for even a tree. If it gets cut down, it will even sprout again . . . If an able-bodied man dies can he live again?”—MOSES, AN ANCIENT PROPHET.
IN A funeral parlor in New York City, friends and family quietly file by the open casket. They gaze at the body, that of a 17-year-old boy. His friends from school hardly recognize him. Chemotherapy has thinned his hair; cancer has caused him to lose weight. Can this really be their friend? Just months before, he was so full of ideas, of questions, of energy—of life! The heartbroken mother of the boy tries to find hope and solace in the idea that somehow her son still lives. Over and over she tearfully repeats what she has been taught: “Tommy’s happier now. God wanted Tommy in heaven with him.”
2 Some 7,000 miles [11,000 km] away, in Jamnagar, India, the three sons of a 58-year-old businessman help lay their father’s corpse on a funeral pyre. In the bright midmorning sun, the eldest son begins the cremation procedure by lighting the logs of wood with a torch and pouring a sweet-smelling mixture of spices and incense over his father’s lifeless body. The crackling of the fire is overpowered by the Brahman’s repeated utterances of Sanskrit mantras meaning: “May the soul that never dies continue in its efforts to become one with the ultimate reality.”
3 As the three brothers observe the cremation, each silently asks himself, ‘Do I believe in life after death?’ Having been educated in different parts of the world, they give different answers. The youngest feels confident that their beloved father will be reincarnated to a life of greater status. The middle brother believes that the dead are in a sense asleep, conscious of nothing at all. The oldest simply tries to accept the reality of death, for he thinks that no one can know for sure what happens to us when we die.
One Question, Many Answers
4 Is there life after death? is a question that has perplexed mankind for millenniums. “Even theologians are embarrassed when faced with [it],” says Hans Küng, a Catholic scholar. Over the ages, people in every society have pondered the subject, and there is no shortage of proposed answers.
5 Many nominal Christians believe in heaven and hell. Hindus, on the other hand, believe in reincarnation. Commenting on the Muslim view, Amir Muawiyah, an assistant at an Islamic religious center, says: “We believe there will be a day of judgment after death, when you go before God, Allah, which will be just like walking into court.” According to Islamic belief, Allah will then assess each one’s life course and consign a person to paradise or to hellfire.
6 In Sri Lanka, both Buddhists and Catholics leave the doors and windows wide open when a death occurs in their household. An oil lamp is lit, and the casket is placed with the feet of the deceased facing the front door. They believe that these measures facilitate the exit of the spirit, or soul, of the deceased from the house.
7 Australian Aborigines, says Ronald M. Berndt of the University of Western Australia, believe that “human beings are spiritually indestructible.” Certain African tribes believe that after death ordinary people become ghosts, whereas prominent individuals become ancestor spirits, who will be honored and petitioned as invisible leaders of the community.
8 In some lands, beliefs regarding supposed souls of the dead are a blend of local tradition and nominal Christianity. For example, among many Catholics and Protestants in West Africa, it is customary to cover mirrors when someone dies so that no one might look and see the dead person’s spirit. Then, 40 days after the death of the loved one, family and friends celebrate the soul’s ascension to heaven.
A Common Theme
9 Answers to the question about what happens when we die are as diverse as the customs and beliefs of the people giving them. Yet, most religions agree on one fundamental idea: Something inside a person—a soul, a spirit, a ghost—is immortal and continues living after death.
10 Belief in the immortality of the soul is all but universal in Christendom’s thousands of religions and sects. It is an official doctrine in Judaism too. In Hinduism this belief is the very foundation of the teaching of reincarnation. Muslims believe that the soul comes into being with the body but lives on after the body dies. Other faiths—African animism, Shinto, and even Buddhism—teach variations on this same theme.
11 Some take the opposite view, that conscious life ends at death. To them, the idea that emotional and intellectual life continues in an impersonal, shadowy soul separate from the body seems beyond reason. The 20th-century Spanish writer and scholar Miguel de Unamuno writes: “To believe in the immortality of the soul is to wish that the soul may be immortal, but to wish it with such force that this volition shall trample reason under foot and pass beyond it.” Among those who refused to believe in personal immortality are the noted ancient philosophers Aristotle and Epicurus, the physician Hippocrates, the Scottish philosopher David Hume, the Arabian scholar Averroës, and India’s first prime minister after independence, Jawaharlal Nehru.
12 The question is, Do we really have an immortal soul? If the soul actually is not immortal, then how could such a false teaching be an integral part of most of today’s religions? Where did the idea begin? And if the soul actually ceases to exist at death, what hope could there be for the dead?
13 Can we find truthful and satisfying answers to such questions? Yes! These and other questions will be answered in the following pages. First, let us examine how the doctrine of the immortality of the soul was born. Immortality of the Soul—The Birth of the Doctrine
“No subject connected with his psychic life has so engrossed the mind of man as that of his condition after death.”—“ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS.”
A 70-YEAR-OLD scholar and teacher is accused of impiety and of corrupting young minds by his teaching. Even though he presents a brilliant defense at his trial, a biased jury finds him guilty and sentences him to death. Just hours before his execution, the aged teacher presents to the pupils gathered around him a series of arguments to affirm that the soul is immortal and that death is not to be feared.
2 The condemned man is none other than Socrates, renowned Greek philosopher of the fifth century B.C.E. His student Plato recorded these incidents in the essays Apology and Phaedo. Socrates and Plato are credited with being among the first to advance the idea that the soul is immortal. But they were not the originators of this teaching.
3 As we shall see, the roots of the idea of human immortality reach into much earlier times. Socrates and Plato, however, polished the concept and transformed it into a philosophical teaching, thus making it more appealing to the cultured classes of their day and beyond.
From Pythagoras to the Pyramids
4 The Greeks prior to Socrates and Plato also believed that the soul lived on after death. Pythagoras, the famous Greek mathematician of the sixth century B.C.E., held that the soul was immortal and subject to transmigration. Before him, Thales of Miletus, thought to be the earliest known Greek philosopher, felt that an immortal soul existed not only in men, animals, and plants but also in such objects as magnets, since they can move iron. The ancient Greeks claimed that the souls of the dead were ferried across the river Styx to a vast underground realm called the netherworld. There, judges sentenced the souls either to torment in a high-walled prison or to bliss in Elysium.
5 In Iran, or Persia, to the east, a prophet named Zoroaster appeared on the scene in the seventh century B.C.E. He introduced a way of worship that came to be known as Zoroastrianism. This was the religion of the Persian Empire, which dominated the world scene before Greece became a major power. The Zoroastrian scriptures say: “In Immortality shall the soul of the Righteous be ever in Joy, but in torment the soul of the Liar shall surely be. And these Laws hath Ahura Mazda [meaning, “a wise god”] ordained through His sovereign authority.”
6 The teaching of the immortality of the soul was also a part of the pre-Zoroastrian Iranian religion. Ancient tribes of Iran, for example, cared for the souls of the departed by offering them food and clothing to benefit them in the underworld.
7 Belief in life after death was central to Egyptian religion. The Egyptians held that the soul of the dead person would be judged by Osiris, the chief god of the underworld. For example, a papyrus document claimed to be from the 14th century B.C.E. shows Anubis, god of the dead, leading the soul of the scribe Hunefer before Osiris. On a pair of scales, the heart of the scribe, representing his conscience, is weighed against the feather that the goddess of truth and justice wears on her head. Thoth, another god, records the results. Since Hunefer’s heart is not heavy with guilt, it weighs less than the feather, and Hunefer is allowed to enter the realm of Osiris and receive immortality. The papyrus also shows a female monster standing by the scales, ready to devour the deceased if the heart fails the test. The Egyptians also mummified their dead and preserved the bodies of pharaohs in impressive pyramids, since they thought that the survival of the soul depended on preserving the body.
8 Various ancient civilizations, then, held one teaching in common—the immortality of the soul. Did they get this teaching from the same source?
The Point of Origin
9 “In the ancient world,” says the book The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, “Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion.” This book goes on to explain: “In view of the early contact between Egypt and Babylonia, as revealed by the El-Amarna tablets, there were certainly abundant opportunities for the infusion of Babylonian views and customs into Egyptian cults. In Persia, the Mithra cult reveals the unmistakable influence of Babylonian conceptions . . . The strong admixture of Semitic elements both in early Greek mythology and in Grecian cults is now so generally admitted by scholars as to require no further comment. These Semitic elements are to a large extent more specifically Babylonian.”
10 But does not the Babylonian view of what happens after death differ considerably from that of the Egyptians, the Persians, and the Greeks? Consider, for example, the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. Its aging hero, Gilgamesh, haunted by the reality of death, sets out in search of immortality but fails to find it. A wine maiden he meets during his journey even encourages him to make the most of this life, for he will not find the unending life he seeks. The message of the whole epic is that death is inevitable and the hope of immortality is an illusion. Would this indicate that the Babylonians did not believe in the Hereafter?
11 Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr., of the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., wrote: “Neither the people nor the leaders of religious thought [of Babylonia] ever faced the possibility of the total annihilation of what once was called into existence. Death [in their view] was a passage to another kind of life, and the denial of immortality merely emphasized the impossibility of escaping the change in existence brought about by death.” Yes, the Babylonians also believed that life of some kind, in some form, continued after death. They expressed this by burying objects with the dead for their use in the Hereafter.
12 Clearly, the teaching of the immortality of the soul goes back to ancient Babylon. According to the Bible, a book bearing the stamp of accurate history, the city of Babel, or Babylon, was founded by Nimrod, a great-grandson of Noah. After the global Flood in Noah’s day, there was only one language and one religion. By founding the city and constructing a tower there, Nimrod started another religion. The Bible record shows that after the confusion of languages at Babel, the unsuccessful tower builders scattered and made new beginnings, taking along their religion. (Genesis 10:6-10; 11:4-9) Babylonish religious teachings thus spread across the face of the earth.
13 Tradition has it that Nimrod died a violent death. After his death the Babylonians reasonably would have been inclined to hold him in high regard as the founder, builder, and first king of their city. Since the god Marduk (Merodach) was regarded as the founder of Babylon, some scholars have suggested that Marduk represents the deified Nimrod. If this is so, then the idea that a person has a soul that survives death must have been current at least by the time of Nimrod’s death. In any case, the pages of history reveal that following the Flood, the birthplace of the teaching of the immortality of the soul was Babel, or Babylon.
14 How, though, did the doctrine become central to most religions of our time? Where to Turn for Answers
“The theory of everlasting suffering is inconsistent with belief in God’s love for created things. . . . To believe in the eternal punishment of the soul for the mistakes of a few years, without giving it a chance for correction, is to go against all the dictates of reason.”—NIKHILANANDA, HINDU PHILOSOPHER.
LIKE the Hindu philosopher Nikhilananda, many today are uncomfortable with the teaching of eternal torment. By the same token, others have difficulty understanding such concepts as the achieving of Nirvana and being at one with Tao.
2 Yet, because of the idea that the soul is immortal, religions of both the East and the West have developed a bewildering kaleidoscope of beliefs about the Hereafter. Is it possible to know the truth about what happens to us when we die? Is the soul really immortal? Where can we turn for answers?
Science and Philosophy
3 Does science or the scientific method of investigation hold the answers to questions pertaining to the Hereafter? Based on recent accounts of near-death or ‘out of body’ experiences, some researchers have tried to make observations about life after death. Reviewing some of their claims in his lecture “Death as Entry Into Light?,” Catholic theologian Hans Küng concluded: “Experiences of this kind prove nothing about a possible life after death: it is a question here of the last five minutes before death and not of an eternal life after death.” He added: “The question of a possible life after death is of immense importance for life before death. It requires an answer which must be sought elsewhere if it cannot be given by medicine.”
4 What about philosophy? Can it help us find the answers among the many possibilities of an afterlife that are offered by various religions? Philosophical exploration includes “speculative activity,” says 20th-century British philosopher Bertrand Russell. Philosophy, according to The World Book Encyclopedia, is “a form of inquiry—a process of analysis, criticism, interpretation, and speculation.” On the topic of a Hereafter, philosophical speculations have varied from calling immortality mere wishful thinking to proclaiming it a birthright of every human.
A Unique Source of Answers
5 There is, however, a book that contains truthful answers to important questions about life and death. It is the oldest book ever written, parts of it being composed some 3,500 years ago. The first part of this book was written a few centuries before the earliest hymns of the Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, were formulated and about a thousand years before Buddha, Mahāvīra, and Confucius walked the earth. This book was completed in 98 C.E., more than 500 years before Muḥammad founded Islam. This unique source of superior wisdom is the Bible.
6 The Bible contains the most accurate ancient history of any book in existence. The history recorded in the Bible goes back to the beginning of the human family and explains how we came to be here on earth. It even takes us back to the time before humans were created. Such a book can indeed give us insight into how man was made and what the soul is.
7 Additionally, the Bible is a book of prophecies that have had unerring fulfillment. For example, it foretold the rise and fall of the Medo-Persian and Grecian empires in great detail. These words were so accurate that some critics tried, in vain, to prove that they were written after the events took place. (Daniel 8:1-7, 20-22) Some prophecies recorded in the Bible are being fulfilled in detail in our very own time.—Matthew, chapter 24; Mark, chapter 13; Luke, chapter 21; 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13.
8 No human, however intelligent, could so accurately predict future events. Only the all-powerful and all-wise Creator of the universe could. (2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:20, 21) The Bible is indeed a book from God. Surely, such a book can give us truthful and satisfying answers about what happens to us when we die. Let us first see what it has to say about the soul. Is There Life After Death?
PEOPLE normally desire to believe that there is life beyond death. For without life there is no consciousness, hence no enjoyment of any kind.
Nevertheless, an increasing number of persons who claim to be realists maintain that death ends all. There is no basis, they say, for believing that there is life after death.
But the majority of persons today have no strong convictions on the subject. They may feel that death does not end human existence, yet they are not certain about this. At the same time, they are curious and wonder about the matter. Perhaps this is how you feel.
WHY PEOPLE DESIRE TO KNOW
Such interest is only natural, for death eventually affects everyone on earth. As one grows older and the human organism begins to deteriorate, one is conscious of death’s approach. Even the young are impressed by its apparent inevitability. As the Bible says: “The living are conscious that they will die.”—Eccl. 9:5.
So it is normal for you to wonder what happens when you or your loved ones die. Does death actually end all? Or is there a firm basis for believing that there is life after death? Can the person who dies really live again?
THE TRADITIONAL CONCEPT
It has long been a common belief that humans possess an immortal, invisible soul that survives death of the physical body. The ancient Egyptians believed this. However, the ancient Greeks are credited with developing this traditional concept. Catholic priest Anthony Kosnik, writing in The Michigan Catholic of January 23, 1969, explains:
“They [the ancient Greeks] conceived man as consisting of two distinct parts—a material, mortal body and a spiritual, immortal soul. When united, these elements formed a living person. When separated, they produced the effect of death. At death, the body was known to decompose and the soul was thought to continue on in separate existence in another world.”
In the centuries following the death Of Christ, as church leaders became influenced by Greek thought, this view also was adopted by Christendom. Kosnik notes: “This philosophical explanation appealed to St. Thomas Aquinas (a prominent church father] who borrowed freely from these ancient philosophers.” Thus, it eventually became a dominant belief in Christendom that ‘the human soul does not perish with the body, but lives on to receive reward or condemnation.’ Perhaps this has been your belief too.
IS THERE A FIRM BASIS FOR BELIEVING?
Is there a firm basis for believing this concept of life after death? Is it a realistic belief that is in full harmony with the Bible? Interestingly, although the Catholic church holds to the traditional concept set out above, Catholic priest Kosnik goes on to admit:
“The biblical understanding of man is quite different [from the traditional concept]. In the Bible, man is never presented as a ‘body-soul’ combination. In both the Old and New Testament, man is always thought of as a single totality. . . . What is more—this body-soul totality was regarded as being essentially mortal. Man does not possess immortality—neither in the whole nor in part of his being . . . Death, therefore, is equivalent to extinction. There is no immortal soul to survive or continue on.”
Yes, in no place does the Bible teach that the soul is immortal. Rather, such a concept was adopted from non-Christian philosophers. Acknowledged a special commission of forty-three Protestant theologians appointed by the United Church of Canada: “The idea that man consists of two separable parts, soul and body, does not come from the Bible; it comes from the Greek philosophers.”—Life and Death—A Study of the Christian Hope by the Committee on Christian Faith of the United Church of Canada.
Also, though Presbyterians in general believe in the immortality of the human soul, a Presbyterian minister reported, according to The Age of Melbourne, Australia, December 8, 1967:
“In our theological training it was pointed out fairly clearly, and to me conclusively, that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul was not one which is derived from the New Testament; that it was a concept which originated, it seems in Greek philosophy, particularly with Plato.”
The belief that man has a soul that lives on after death has no foundation in the Bible. God’s Word says: “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.” “As for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all.” (Ezek. 18:4, 20; Eccl. 9:5) It is an unchristian myth that the soul survives the death of the body. It is not Bible truth.
A REAL BASIS FOR HOPE
Does this mean, then, that life cannot be restored? Is there no hope for those who have died? Are they eternally extinct?
Happily this is not the case, for the Creator of man is a God of love. (1 John 4:8) And it simply is not reasonable for such a loving God to create man with an intense desire for life, and then not provide a prospect for fulfilling that desire.
In order to dramatize the fact that human life can be restored, Jesus Christ actually raised persons from the dead while he was on earth. The man Lazarus, for example, had been dead for four days, so that his sister said: “Lord, by now he must smell.” Yet, Lazarus lived again. Through God’s power Jesus brought him back to life again.—John 11:17-44.
Later, while hanging upon the torture stake, Jesus told the repentant evildoer: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) Jesus left no room for doubt. That man would live again. This promise of Jesus is in harmony with what he said earlier: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.”—John 5:28, 29.
So there is hope indeed for a return to life after death! However, life does not come through the release of a so-called “immortal soul.” Rather, it comes by means of a resurrection from the dead. This is the truth of the matter.
Now consider: Is God going to be pleased with persons who cling to untrue concepts that are in conflict with his Word the Bible? Is he pleased with those who openly acknowledge that church doctrines conflict with Bible teachings, but then choose to stay with the church? Would you yourself not rather enjoy associating with persons who really respect the Word of God? Your own life depends on doing so.
Have You Ever Wondered—
Is There Life After Death?
UNDOUBTEDLY the saddest experience in anyone’s life is his attending the funeral of a loved one. A father, a mother, a husband, a wife or a child—the nearer the relationship the greater the feeling of loss and emptiness.
During a grievous time like that the questions are often asked: “Is there life after death?” or, “Will I meet my loved one again?”
WHAT IS DEATH?
Perhaps it would be easier to consider life first. What is it? Life is existence. We can see, hear, talk and move. We can feel warmth or cold. We can be happy or sad. Yes, with life we are able to experience the full spectrum of emotions or feelings.
Now death is the direct opposite of life. One cannot see, hear, talk or move. One cannot feel warmth or cold, be happy or sad. It is unconsciousness, nonexistence.
But someone may ask . . .
DOESN’T THE SOUL KEEP ON LIVING?
By checking the oldest human language, the Hebrew found in the Bible, we can find the word that today is rendered in English as “soul.” It is interesting to know that this word, “ne′phesh,” does not refer to something that is separate or separable from the body. Rather, its use shows that it refers to the creature itself, whether human or animal. (Gen. 2:7; Num. 31:28) Literally it means “a breather.” If the creature stops breathing it dies, that is, the soul dies.—Ezek. 18:4, 20.
For people saddened by the death of a loved one, this can be a difficult thing to believe. As a result, a vast number of beliefs and customs have developed that are not in harmony with the facts about death.
WHERE DID THE TEACHING OF LIFE AFTER DEATH ORIGINATE?
We must go back some 6,000 years to when life began for the first human couple. Adam and Eve had a beautiful environment in which to enjoy perfect human life. But the right to continue to live was dependent on obedience. “As for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.” (Gen. 2:17) These are the words of the Creator of man, Jehovah God. Plainly the opposite of life would be death.
But sometime later another voice was heard claiming: “You positively will not die.” (Gen. 3:4) That was a lie, but regrettably Eve heeded the voice that said ‘You will not die,’ and ate from the forbidden tree. At her instance Adam also ate. As a result, they were expelled from their paradise home and all their children were born under the curse of sin and death. (Rom. 5:12) The expounder of the lie became known as Satan the Devil.
It soon became obvious that humans do die. Now what? Under Satan’s influence, there developed the teaching of immortality of an invisible human soul, and this has been handed down from one generation to the next.
HOW ARE THESE TEACHINGS KEPT ALIVE?
By religious traditions. People saddened by the death of a loved one are told that such a one is alive in the spirit world. They have been taught that bad persons who die go to a place of torment in hell; good ones, to bliss in heaven. Some religions teach a halfway place called purgatory. Religious teachers call on the people to pay for Masses, prayers and other forms of intercession to guarantee that the deceased will eventually get to heaven or nirvana.
Days are set aside for special activity. There is “All Saints’ Day” around November 1. In Japan it is called “Obon”; this comes in the middle of August, or in the middle of July in some areas. Buddhist temples keep records of the anniversaries of the death of those in families belonging to the temple. These are called on by the priests to offer prayers at the family altars.
If there is a misfortune, then pressure is brought to bear by the priest’s saying that it is because the deceased ancestors have been neglected and not worshiped as they should have been. Thus, the falsehood that the soul does not die is kept alive by compulsion and obligation.
WHAT IS THE HOPE FOR THE DEAD?
Prayers? Chanting? Candles? Or incense offered to the dead? No, it is the promise of Jehovah God to resurrect the dead through his Son, Jesus Christ. By means of his sacrificial death, Jesus Christ has provided the basis to wipe out the sin and death inherited from Adam. So the dead can be expected to be restored to life here on the earth, just as Jesus demonstrated when he was a man.—John 5:28, 29; 11:23, 39-44.
WHAT IS THE RESURRECTION?
It means that God re-creates the same person, with the same personality. He will bring a new body forth from the earthly elements, and in that body he will place the same characteristics, the same distinctive qualities, the same memory, the same life pattern that the person had built up until the time of his death. Is it really possible?
Can you remember some of the people with whom you went to school, even though it was 10, 15 or 20 years ago? Even with imperfect memories we can recall certain former associates.
Surely, then, God, the Originator of memory, can re-create men whom he has kept in his memory because he loves them. In God’s due time he will bring the dead to life again, just as he created the first man. Only, in the resurrection he will do it many times over.—Acts 24:15.
Yes, there is life after death—by means of the resurrection! Do you want to be on hand to welcome back those close to you? Then study the Bible to learn what God requires of you to share in that privilege. Jehovah’s Witnesses will be glad to assist you.