What do you think happens to your soul when you die?

Answer 1

Jesus Christ spoke about the condition of the dead. He did so with regard to Lazarus, a man whom he knew well and who had died. Jesus told his disciples: “Lazarus our friend has gone to rest.” The disciples thought that Jesus meant that Lazarus was resting in sleep, recovering from an illness. They were wrong. Jesus explained: “Lazarus has died.” (John 11:11-14) Notice that Jesus compared death to rest and sleep. Lazarus was neither in heaven nor in a burning hell. He was not meeting angels or ancestors. Lazarus was not being reborn as another human. He was at rest in death, as though in a deep sleep without dreams. Other scriptures also compare death to sleep. For example, when the disciple Stephen was stoned to death, the Bible says that he “fell asleep.” (Acts 7:60) Similarly, the apostle Paul wrote about some in his day who had “fallen asleep” in death.


The Bible teaches that the dead “are conscious of nothing at all.” They are not alive and have no conscious existence anywhere. The account of Lazarus confirms this. Upon returning to life, did Lazarus thrill people with descriptions of heaven? Or did he terrify them with horrible tales about a burning hell? No. The Bible contains no such words from Lazarus. During the four days that he was dead, he had been “conscious of nothing at all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) Lazarus had simply been sleeping in death. John 11:11.
The account of Lazarus also teaches us that the resurrection is a reality, not a mere myth. Jesus raised Lazarus in front of a crowd of eyewitnesses. Even the religious leaders, who hated Jesus, did not deny this miracle.

Think about this too: If Lazarus had been in heaven for those four days, would he not have said something about it? And if he had been in heaven, would Jesus have made him come back to earth from that wonderful place? Of course not!

Yet, many people say that we have a soul, and they say that the soul lives on after the body dies. They say that Lazarus’ soul was alive somewhere. But the Bible does not say that. It says that God made the first man Adam “a living soul.” Gen. 2:7, Adam was a soul. The Bible also says that when Adam sinned, he died. He became a “dead soul,” and he returned to the dust from which he had been made. The Bible also says that all Adam’s offspring inherited sin and death too.

The Scriptural teaching of the resurrection, however, is not compatible with the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. If an immortal soul survived death, no one would need to be resurrected, or brought back to life. Indeed, Martha expressed no thought about an immortal soul that was living on elsewhere after death. She did not believe that Lazarus had already gone to some spirit realm to continue his existence. On the contrary, she showed her faith in God’s purpose to reverse the effects of death. She said: “I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” (John 11:23, 24) Likewise, Lazarus himself related no experiences of some afterlife. There was nothing to report.

Clearly, according to the Bible, the soul dies and the remedy for death is the resurrection. You enjoy the best sleep ever, until Jesus resurrects you, sometime in the future.

Answer 2

I could give you my opinion, but in the end that is what it will remain, my opinion. As a protestant Christian I believe that the answer to this question has already been given in the Holy Bible. The first thing we must define is the soul. What is the soul? The Soul is a living person. Biblically a soul is made up of two things. Remember when God made Adam? Dust (from the ground) + Breath (from God). Therefore Dust + Breath = Living Soul
Gen 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul"
Again, biblically a soul is just a person Acts 27:37 "we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls" Also (Acts 7:14, Ex 1:1-5)

Therefore, a soul cannot exist BY ITSELF. You must have two things: A body + the breath of God. If you just have breath there is no soul. And if you just have a body there is no soul. Notice James 2:26 "the body without the spirit is dead" (spirit in the margin means breath)

In conclusion, to answer the question what happens to the soul when you die. The answer is that it doesn't go to heaven and it doesn't go to hell. When someone or a soul dies the process is reversed. The breath goes back to God who gave it, and the body goes back to the ground where it was taken from. Biblically speaking Ecc 12:7 "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." And that body will remain in the ground until Jesus returns the second time, but that is another topic. That is the answer anything outside of the Bible answer is spectulation, human reasoning, and philosophy. There is much more that I have left out. If you would like to know more or have questions just contact me!

Answer 3

I would invite anyone who is considering this subject from a Christian perspective to read Journey Out of Time by Arthur C. Custance, which is fully available on the web at http://www.custance.org/library/journey/... It reconciled for me many passages from the Bible that seemed to differ with respect to whether existence continues immediately after death, or whether the afterlife will begin in the future with the general resurrection of the dead at the second coming of Christ, with no conscious existence for individuals or for their souls/spirits in the interim. I had always found the prospect of an immediate conscious afterlife very comforting. But if (as the afterlife is commonly pictured) the disembodied soul or spirit would have basically all the attributes that constitute our "personhood" here on Earth, it made me wonder what the purpose of the resurrection of the body was -- that is, what would the joining of the body with the soul add to the individual's existence that was not already present? Dr. Custance's thoughts on this subject shifted the whole paradigm of my thinking, and allowed me to see many Biblical references in a new and very exciting way.

Answer 4

The soul is part of the internal being that allows you to either believe in something higher or nothing at all. Who can say what happens when we pass and for all we know, it's already decided on anyway.

Answer 5

That's a good question. I still have yet to receive a straight answer from the clergy. We are led to believe that when we die, we go to heaven. However, Revelations says we will meet Jesus in the air at the Rapture, in that case are we resting in limbo until that time? Does our soul remain in our corpse until Rapture? Makes you think.

Answer 6

In Christianity, those who are Christians will go directly to Heaven. Everyone else stays dead until Judgment Day. At Judgment Day, the bad guys will be chucked into a lake of fire, and presumably the good guys will go to Heaven.

Answer 7

When I die physically, my soul is no longer bound to my body. It is free to go where it pleases, which I hope will be on the path to my Creator.

.

Answer 8

This answer depends on your spiritual beliefs. Many people believe that your soul lives on for eternity, than there are others that believe that we are reincarnated and our souls inhabit another body or being. I believe that our souls live on for an eternity...where is totally up to the life you live now.

Answer 9

You either go to heaven or hell. Hell is not much of a place of "firey-torment", but of self-realization. It's a place to reflect on your life and to really judge how you lived live before you go to heaven. There is no love there, and it is gloomy though. In order to escape hell, you must choose love, which most people do. Everyone has a chance of going to heaven in the end. It just takes longer for some people.

Answer 10

Lost man (Not born again) - Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments,

Saved - Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;