Someone recently wrote to me about soul sleep. The e-mail address they gave doesn’t work, so I will reply here. Their text is in green and my reply in black.
WHY HAVE I BEEN SO CONFUSED ABOUT SOUL SLEEP??
SO WHAT U ARE SAYING IS THAT ASLEEP IN JESUS SIMPLY MEANS THE BODY KNOWS NOTHING..BUT THE SOUL IS AWAKE.
IT SAYS WE SLEEP IN THE DUST..THAT SOUNDS SO OBVIOUS THAT WE ARE NOT AWAKE ANYWHERE..BUT U MEAN IT REFERS TO OUR BODY ONLY?The context of the verses that say that shows that it is the body only. A tough thing to accept for people who have been taught otherwise, with selective interpretations given to them that ignore the actual context, but if you look deeper, you’ll see it.
WHAT ABOUT IN THE BIBLE WHEN IT SAYS WE WILL ALL SLEEP TILL THE LAST TRUMPET AND THEN WE WILL BE RAISED INCORUPTALE IMPERISHABLE IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE??
Man was made with a physical component AND a spiritual component. With only half, he’s incomplete. Therefore the body needs to rise in an immortal form to unite with the soul.
ALL OF MY WONDERING STARTED WHEN I READ A BOOK FROM THE CHURCH OF GOD INTERNATIONAL IN TYLER TEXAS.
IT SEEMS DIVIDED TO ME(THE BIBLE) SO MANY PLACES IT DOES LOOK AS IF THE SOUL SLEEPS TILL RAPTURE..BUT SEVERALOTHER PLACES IT SHOWS WE ARE AWAKE AS SOON AS WE DIE..WITH THE LORD OR IN SOME OTHER PLACE!!!It’s actually not that divided – if you understand the context, it all makes sense. And remember that as time went on, knowledge grew, so we can’t expect to find a detailed description of the afterlife in Genesis the way we find it in the later Old Testament or the New Testament.
ITS SOOOO CONFUSING TO ME.
ONE DAY IAM CONVINCED THAT WE SLEEP,
AND THE OTHER THAT WE DONT!!!
DOES IT REALLY MATTER EITHER WAY?
IF WE SLEEP ..TIME WILL BE NOTHING TO US. WHEN JESUS DOES COME BACK IT
WILL BE AS IF WE JUST DIED…
PLEASE WRITE BACK.I recommend you read this article at Truth or Fables – it goes into tremendous detail, more than my article does.
