Let’s consider the word “Afterlife”.
Definition: Afterlife - The afterlife is the belief that the essential part of an individual’s identity or the stream of consciousness continues after death of the physical body.
I am in agreement with 1 Timothy 6:7 in the New World Translation .
For we have nothing brought into the world, and neither can we carry anything out.
That means we do not carry anything
physical into this world, no clothes, no possessions, etc. We come into this world when we are born from the womb of our mother naked and with no possessions.
“and neither can we carry anything out” means we are going
out of this world when we die, not that we are staying in this world and living here for eternity. The reason we are not carrying anything out is because we cannot carry anything physical into the spiritual world (heaven) where we are going.
What do you think that Jesus meant by this verse?
John 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
Where do you think Jesus was
going, to the corner store? No, Jesus was referring to heaven, His Father’s house.
We’re created from the ground or dust.
No we weren’t created from the ground or dust, we were created in the womb of our mother and at the moment of conception the soul came into existence and from that moment on the soul continued to develop throughout our lives, just as the body developed through childhood and adulthood and old age. But the difference between the soul and the body is that the body is mortal, so it will eventually die, but the soul is immortal so it cannot die. Thus the soul will continue to exist after the physical body dies. When we die our soul will pass into another world, another realm of existence that is purely spiritual.
Genesis 3:19
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.
That is correct, our bodies will return to the ground when we are buried, and there the body will remain forever. Dead bodies do not come back to life and rise from their graves.
This Christian explained what happens to our bodies and our spirits when we die. He used the word ‘spirit’ but within the context of this paragraph, spirit means the same thing as soul.
421. When the body is no longer able to perform the bodily functions in the natural world that correspond to the spirit’s thoughts and affections, which the spirit has from the spiritual world, man is said to die. This takes place when the respiration of the lungs and the beatings of the heart cease. But the man does not die; he is merely separated from the bodily part that was of use to him in the world, while the man himself continues to live. It is said that the man himself continues to live since man is not a man because of his body but because of his spirit, for it is the spirit that thinks in man, and thought with affection is what constitutes man. Evidently, then, the death of man is merely his passing from one world into another. And this is why in the Word in its internal sense “death” signifies resurrection and continuation of life. Heaven and Hell, p. 351
Was anything mentioned that something would separate from the physical body and continue to live somewhere else? Let’s consider some more scriptures.
Psalm 146:4 says: His spirit (or life force) goes out, he returns to the ground; On that very day his thoughts perish.
Exactly, just as that paragraph above explains. When his spirit (or life force) goes out of the body and
passes from one world into another, his body returns to the ground. On that very day the thoughts that were associated with his brain and body perish because the brain dies. But as the paragraph above says:
“It is said that the man himself continues to live since man is not a man because of his body but because of his spirit, for it is the spirit that thinks in man, and thought with affection is what constitutes man.” It is the soul (spirit) that is responsible for our thinking process, so that thought process will continue unabated in the spiritual world.
Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10 says: For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing at all, nor do they have any more reward, because all memory of them is forgotten.
That’s right, a dead body knows nothing at all, because it no longer has a brain to think; but when the soul leaves the body it continues to think, and thinks a lot more clearly once it is no longer impeded by the body.
Mankind has the desire to live, even forever, but if we don’t exist anymore after death, what hope is there for humans.
The soul is
eternal, thus it exists forever. After we die, the soul passes into another world and takes on a new form. We cannot understand what that world will be like from this world, because that world is
so different from this world.
“The answer to the third question is this, that in the other world the human reality doth not assume a physical form, rather doth it take on a heavenly form, made up of elements of that heavenly realm.” Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 194
“The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother. When the soul attaineth the Presence of God, it will assume the form that best befitteth its immortality and is worthy of its celestial habitation.” Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 157
A Resurrection ! Jesus resurrected individuals while on earth, (Lazarus John 11:38-44) He will do it again in the future.
Jesus did not say that the
body of Lazarus would rise again. He said rise:
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
Then apparently Martha assumed Jesus meant the body:
24 Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Then Jesus said that He was the resurrection and the life and that whoever believes in Him will never die.
Jesus was talking about the eternal life of the soul, NOT the life of the physical body.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
The Martha said Yes, I believe in you Jesus:
27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
The following verses are congruent with John 11:25-26 and
they refer to the eternal life of the soul, not the eternal life of the body. The physical body was never created by God to live forever.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
John 5:28, 29
Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, and those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.
That verse does not refer to a resurrection of the physical body from its grave. The physical body once dead remains dead in the grave. These verses refer to the resurrection of the spirit,
a resurrection to spiritual life. That spiritual resurrection is followed by a
judgment wherein the wheat (those who rose to spiritual life) are separated from the chaff (those who remained spiritually dead in the grave of ignorance.)
Deeje explains it briefly in her reply above. If you have more questions please ask away! Wishing everyone a good and safe day.
With all due respect,
@Deeje wants to live on this earth forever, in a paradise as she
believes that Adam and Eve lived in, a new earth, but that
belief is derived from a complete misinterpretation of scriptures that led to a complete misunderstanding of
what will actually happen when we die. That misinterpretation also led to a complete misunderstanding of what “the new earth” in the Bible refers to. The new earth also referred to as the Kingdom of God on earth refers to a new world order that will replace the old world order that we are presently living under. This Kingdom is a physical Kingdom, and that is why Jesus asked us to pray as follows:
Matthew 6:9-10 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
This is a physical Kingdom that humans will build for those who are living in physical bodies on earth and this physical kingdom will be there for future generations of living people, people alive in physical bodies. It
will not be kingdom for people who rose out of their graves, as those people have passed on to the spiritual world (heaven).
Moreover,
paradise is in heaven, not on earth. This is a material world and it will never be a paradise because all suffering comes from the material world. It will be much better in the future, after the Kingdom of God is established, because justice and equity will prevail, and everyone will believe in God, but it will never be FREE of suffering; only heaven is free of suffering because there is nothing physical there that can cause suffering.
Nobody rises from the grave once they are dead, not even Jesus.
You can
believe that if you want to, but it is not supported by the Bible.
Cherry picking scripture to prove your beliefs won’t work, because those verses do not mean what you believe they mean, as noted above.
I suggest you and
@Deeje read this article with serious intent on understanding it, because it could change your perspective on life and death, and nothing could be more important than understanding what the Bible really means.
Won’t the Dead Rise Again?
