CHAPTER VI


CONSCIOUSNESS OF SOULS AFTER DEATH


It has been proved from the Scriptures that man's soul separates from the body at death, and we have learned that it departs to either of two places the third heaven, paradise, for the righteous, or the abode in hades, for the unrighteous. It has been shown in Chapter V that the "soul-sleep" theory (the teaching that the dead are unconscious and non-existent) is not taught in. the Bible. We are now ready to consider scripture references which prove beyond a doubt the consciousness of souls after bodily death.

1. The consciousness of souls after death is clearly taught in the account of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16:19-31. This is the authentic account given by Christ Himself.

The rich man "died and was buried; and in hell (hades) he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." And "the beggar" died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

Both had died, but in their disembodied condition, their souls were conscious. They could see, recognize each other, hear, talk, feel and remember, being comforted or tormented after death.

Those who oppose the teaching of consciousness after death say that this was only a parable that Christ was relating, and therefore it cannot be submitted as evidence to show conscious life after death.

Dear reader, there is no indication whatsoever that this is a parable. Our Lord is telling a true history of what happened to two men who once lived and died. The experience was a statement of fact. "There was a certain rich man" and "there was a certain beggar named Lazarus." Further evidence that this is not a parable is seen in the fact that parables of our Lord begin with words such as these, "And he spake unto them a parable, saying." Furthermore, parables do not give proper names such as Abraham and Lazarus. No parable mentions any person's name.

But let us suppose for a moment that this is a parable. We know that a parable is an illustration that is purposed to make clear an obscure truth. Then to be true to its purpose, every detail of a parable must distinctly and accurately portray the obscure truth. Therefore. even if this were a parable, the very same doctrine is taught. In either case, whether we regard the account as a parable or as veritable history. the souls of the dead are presented as living talking, remembering. being "comforted" or "tormented" after death.

Indeed this teaches that the soul is alive and conscious after the body dies, and is happy or miserable in the spirit world. Language could scarcely teach the doctrine more plainly, and the mind that car. misinterpret or pervert such language, would pervert any language that could be used.

The fact that the soul lives and is conscious after death is plain from Matthew 10:28. Our Saviour teaches that the soul cannot be killed. "And fear not them which kill the body, but are NOT ABLE to kill the soul." The body can be killed, but the soul cannot be killed. Killing the body does not kill the soul. Certainly the soul is alive and conscious after the death of the body.

The same truth is taught in Matthew 17:3. In the account of Christ's transfiguration we are told that "there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. (Christ)."

We know that Moses died on Mount Nebo fourteen hundred and eighty-three years before, Deuteronomy 34:5-6. "So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab and He (Jehovah) buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth the place of his sepulchre unto this day."

Notice that Moses was dead and buried. Here then, we have the spirit of Moses, with Christ and Elias on the summit of Mount Tabor, nearly fifteen hundred years after his body had died.

It is certain therefore, that the soul survives the death of the body, and lives and thinks, and even talks, if necessary, ages after its "earthly house" has crumbled to dust.

One of the strongest passages in the entire Bible which conclusively shows that the souls of the dead are alive and conscious, and not non existent, is Hebrews 12:1. Hebrews II mentions many of God's heroes from Abel down to David, who died in the faith. Hebrews 12:1 says (referring to all these faithful ones who died) "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us etc. Then the souls of the faithful dead are not unconscious and out of existence, but they are living witnesses. The word used for witnesses in the Greek is "Marturon," the same word that we find in Acts 1-8, "Ye shall be witnesses unto me," etc. This word is used only of those who have life and conscious intelligence, therefore it would never have been used here if these who had died in the faith had not been alive and possessed of conscious intelligence at that very moment. The faithful dead are not out of existence, but they are living, conscious witnesses.

The words "eternal life" are full of significance and are worthy of our consideration in this discourse on consciousness of souls after the death of the physical body.

If a dying person has accepted Christ as his personal Saviour, and is a born-again child of God, he has eternal life he is in present possession of eternal life.

John 3:36. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." John 5:24, "He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life." Also John 10:27-30.

This "eternal life" cannot be destroyed by death. "Eternal life" cannot possibly be broken, by a period of non-existence from death till resurrection, for "life" interrupted by a period of non-existence would not be "eternal." Eternal life is eternal consciousness.

The death of the body does not mean non-existence of the soul, for death cannot possibly break "eternal" life, or that life would not be "eternal."

John 11:25, 26, "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."

Here is the assurance given by the Son of God, for the dying believer, that he shall "live" forever, because he is in possession of the spiritual eternal life that never comes to an end. That life flows on forever.

The fact that souls are alive and conscious after bodily death is plainly taught in Luke 20, 27, 37, 38. The Sadducees, a certain sect of Jews, came to Christ on one occasion and asked him questions concerning the Resurrection. Various scripture and historical references tell us that the Sadducees did not believe in life after death. They denied all future existence. Josephus, a learned Jewish historian, who lived about that time, wrote, "the doctrine of the Sadducees is this, that souls die with the bodies." (Antiquities b. 28:4)

"They take away the belief of the immortal existence of the soul, and the punishment and rewards of hades." (War b. 8:14). In Acts 23:8, St. Luke tells us that "the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit," and in Luke 20:27, we read that the Sadducees" - deny that there is any resurrection."

Now these Sadducees who denied that souls live after death, and who said that there will be no resurrection, came to Jesus intending to ridicule and make fun of the doctrine of the resurrection. Christ told them, Luke 20:37, "Now that the dead are raised even Moses showed at the burning bush." God spoke to Moses out of the midst of the bush, and said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Jehovah spoke to Moses from the bush 1491 'years before Christ was born in Bethlehem. Abraham had been dead 330 years, Isaac 225 years and Jacob 198 years. And yet God declared himself to be the God of these three persons who had long been dead. He said, "I am the God of Abraham, etc." present tense, not "I was" past tense. God was at that time the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, therefore these patriarchs must have still been alive. And this is supposed by the plain declaration of Scripture. "For all live unto Him." If all live unto Him, then all are alive.

Remember Christ was addressing the Sadducees who denied that the soul existed after death, and who said that there will be no resurrection. What was Christ's purpose in using the quotation "I am the God of Abraham, etc." from Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible)? The purpose is clearly seen, the Sadducees accepted only the Pentateuch as the Divinely Inspired Word of God. Therefore if any life beyond the grave could be proved from the Pentateuch, their theory would be in ruins, because with the Sadducees the two doctrines, the Consciousness of the Soul, and the resurrection of the dead, stood or fell together; and to prove that the souls of men live after death was, effectually, to overthrow the system of the Sadducees, and silence their objection to the resurrection of the body. Christ settled, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the question of consciousness and existence after death. He proved that there was life after death. He affirmed that God was still the God of those patriarchs and that they were not dead but still alive. He could not be the God of those who had no existence. "For all live unto him."

Christ chose the words from the Pentateuch and directed them at the Sadducees, and proved both conscious life after death and the resurrection of the dead. The Scripture says, "After that they (the Sadducees) durst not ask Him any question at all." Luke 2:40.

It is well to notice that those who now teach that there is no "spirit" distinct from the body, or that the spirit or soul dies with the body, are only reproducing the ancient doctrines of the Sadducees which Christ so often sternly refuted.

Consciousness after death is implied in II Corinthians 5:6-8. Paul uses strong words in expressing his confidence that to be absent from the body (in death) is to be present with the Lord. "We are always confident" (literal translation. We can say with absolute boldness). Knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. In verse 8 he says, "We are confident, / repeat, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord, wherefore we labour, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him."

Paul was "willing" to be "absent from the body" to be "present with the Lord." Certainly Paul believed that in the presence of the Lord he would be conscious, for there could possibly be no satisfaction, in being unconsciously present with the Lord. Why should Paul be "willing" or want to be with Christ if he would not be conscious? Certainly this teaches consciousness of the soul after death.

The same truth is taught in Philippians 1:21-24 where Paul says, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain . . . For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart (die) and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you." Paul said it would be "gain" it would be "far better," to be out of flesh and with Christ. How could Paul "be with Christ" after death, if he became unconscious and non-existent? Would it be "gain" and "far better" to be unconscious and out of existence, cut off from conscious fellowship with God for perhaps centuries awaiting the resurrection? No child of God can say that oblivion is "far better" than living in this world. This passage teaches conscious life after death. There can be no other explanation. Paul desired to "depart to be with Christ," because he knew he would be conscious.

Luke 23:42, 43, tells us that the dying thief upon the cross said to Jesus, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." And Jesus said unto him, "Verily, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Now, the promise of the Saviour was that the thief should be with Him in paradise that day.

Now then, Rutherford and those who do not believe in conscious being after death try to do away with this clear evidence that the soul of the thief that day met Christ in paradise by telling us that the sentence, "Verily I say unto thee. Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" is not correctly punctuated. They say that the comma before the word "today" should be placed behind it, to make the sentence read as follows, "Verily I say unto thee today, shalt thou be with me in paradise," which completely changes the meaning, and makes the verse read as if Jesus said "I make it known unto you right now - today, that sometime in the future you shall be with me in paradise."

Dear reader, such an interpretation cannot possibly be correct. There are many verses in which Jesus said "Verily, I say unto thee," etc., but never did He say "Verily, I say unto thee, today," except in this one particular instance. Therefore because Jesus used the word "today" in the above passage, it is certain that He meant that He would meet the saved thief in Paradise that very day, and not sometime in the future, perhaps after the resurrection.

After death that day Jesus met the believing thief in paradise. This proves that there is life after death. In answer to this some say that paradise means the grave and that they met in the grave that day. If the Saviour simply meant to say that they would both soon be in the grave, then it was no news to the thief for he already knew that he was going to die physically on the cross and that there was no escape from the grave. Such a statement for Christ to make surely would have been no answer to his prayer. And if paradise simply meant "a paradise" of unconsciousness and nonexistence, what kind of a "remembrance" was that which the dying thief obtained? What better off was he who repented and prayed than he who railed and was forgotten? The passage cannot be twisted to mean unconsciousness or non- existence in the grave. It can have but one meaning. Christ and the thief met in the paradise section of hades and were conscious. "Paradise" signifies, "pleasure" or "delight." These are emotions that demand consciousness. If the thief were not conscious of the presence of Christ in paradise, there could not possibly have been any comfort in the promise.

In harmony with other scriptural references which testify that the soul is conscious after death is I Corinthians 2:11, "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?"

This passage proves that the seat of knowledge in man is not in the flesh and bone, nor even in the brain, but in the "spirit which is in him." It shows that the physical brain is not the source of thought and will and consciousness. Therefore, merely because the physical brain ceases to function at death, it does not mean in the least that death destroys the conscious thinking powers of the individual. Since it is not the body, but the spirit that thinks, wills, plans, and holds communion with God, it follows that man's continued existence after death is not dependent on the body. This is sufficient proof that the spirit which departs from the body at death is conscious.



THE ATTITUDE OF EARLY CHRISTIANS AND MARTYRS TOWARD CONSCIOUSNESS OF SOULS AFTER DEATH


It is very clear from the study of church history that the early Christians and martyrs understood the Scriptures to teach the consciousness of the soul after death as it has been explained in this chapter. It is certain that they looked for conscious joy in paradise immediately after death.

Of the thousands of Christian martyrs who sealed the truth with their blood during the first centuries of the Christian era, not one of them expressed in his last moments, so far as can be determined, the idea that his soul would die, or become unconscious when the body was dissolved. On the contrary they all expressed the hope of immediate and conscious happiness after death.

For example, one of the thousands of martyrs was a Christian by the name of Polycarp. He was the companion of St. John, and had often heard him preach. Polycarp suffered martyrdom in 166 A.D. at the age of 87. From the account of his death it is clear that he looked for an immediate life with Christ in paradise when the pains of martyrdom were over. Such was the testimony of the first martyrs it was the doctrine they learned from the apostles and from the Holy Scriptures. Hour after hour has been spent in research work, and the author has found that during the first three centuries not one instance can be cited in which a Christian ever expressed any other hope in his last hours than that of entering at once upon the joys of conscious and endless life.

In the catacombs of Rome (the underground tunnels and rooms, in which the bodies of the martyrs were buried during the first three centuries of the Christian era) the inscriptions upon the tombs throw great light upon the faith of the early Christians. The following are samples of the inscriptions found on these tombs.

"In Christ, Alexander is not dead, but lives his body rests in the tomb."

"One who lives with God." "Gone to dwell with Christ." "Snatched home eternally."

It is worthy of note that the word death is never used in reference to even one of all the vast company of the departed.

To the martyrs who died it was death and immediate glory. And so it is with other Christian believers. Among the millions of Protestant Christians who have had the privilege to make the Bible their study during the last sixteen hundred years, how very few have understood it to teach any other doctrine. Not one in ten thousand! They read the blessed Bible to learn the way to heaven, and they understood it to teach that death was merely the separation of the soul from the body, and that the souls of the righteous entered immediately into the conscious joys of paradise. In faith they lived, and in this hope they died.

Now then, were all the early saints and martyrs in error? Have nine hundred and ninety-nine out of every thousand Christians who have had the opportunity to study the Bible lived in error upon this vital point,' and died with a false hope? Who can believe it?

And now Russell and Rutherford come along with the teaching that the dead are unconscious and non-existent, and make a "big thing" out of what they call the "due time." According to their false doctrine, God didn't reveal to the Disciples what He did to Russell and Rutherford, because the time wasn't due. According to their teaching, Polycarp and Ignatius and all the early Fathers didn't know what they were writing about. Augustine and all the other great theologians were clear off. Luther and the other reformers were in darkness but now, "in due time" the light is shirring brightly the light that the dead are unconscious and out of existence, and Russell and Rutherford with their followers have been the first and only ones to see it.

Now, from all this, it is evident that when men like Russell and Rutherford come along and put a black eye on all the scholarship of the past and claim to be the only right interpreters of the Bible, Christian people should not be so quick to adhere to the so-called "scriptural" teachings.