In science no part of the body survives after death. Why do some people believe that when someone dies...?

Question

...their spirit does not? I am a christian and believe in the bible, but the bible says in Ezekiel 18:20 that the soul dies. Is there any reason why people believe that the soul lives on after death?

Also, you don't have to, but I would like to know if the person answering is older than 17 or not so if you are younger or 17 write (young) otherwise write (adult). Thank you for your help in explaining this to me.

All answers and opinions are appreciated:

There are many bible translations, but I believe the original hebrew or aramaic words used meant soul not person.

If you are going to heaven, it does not really matter that you died and your soul ceased. God can re-make you in heaven.

Ezekiel 18:4 also says that the soul's die at the end.

Thanks to all for your contribution to my question. I am glad to see that the question was answered peacefully!

By the way I would fall under the young category myself.

Answer 1

You are correct, the bible does not teach that the soul lives on.
Other bible references say:

"The dead are conscious of nothing" Ecc. 9:5 & 10

"His spirit goes out, he goes back to the ground, in that day his thoughts do perish" Ps. 146:4

"Lazarus our friend has gone to rest, but I am journeying there to awaken him from sleep....Jesus said to them outspokenly: 'Lazarus has died.'" John 11:11-14

"Do look upon me; answer me, O Jehovah my God. Do make my eyes shine, that I may not fall asleep in death." Ps 13: 3

"He is pouring out his soul to the very death." Isa. 53:12

"They are dead; they will not live. Impotent in death, they will not rise up." Isa 26:14

"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 became a living soul." Gen. 2:7

"They will strike every soul that was in it with the edge of the sword." Josh. 11:11

"God went on to say: "Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls.." Gen 1:20, 21, 24, 25

In the Bible "soul" is translated from th Hebrew ne'phesh and the Greek psy.khe'. Bible usage shows the soul to be a person or an animal or the life that a person or an animal enjoys.

"Immortality of the soul is a Greek notion formed in ancient mystery cults and elaborated by the philosopher Plato." Presbyterian Life, 05/01/70 p. 35

"The concept of immortality is a product of Greek thinking, whereas the hope of the resurrection belongs to Jewish thought...Following Alexander's conquests Judaism gradually absorbed Greek concepts."

Adult

Answer 2

I am 26.
I think you've misread both verses in Ezekiel. It says that the SINNING soul will die. Now, the question is, is that the first death (when all bodily functions cease and the body itself begins to decay), or the second death (when a sinful soul is sent to Hell)?
The Hebrew word for soul is
נפשׁ
nephesh
pronounced neh'-fesh
It literally means that it's "properly a breathing creature, that is, animal or (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental)."
You can get the KJV version of the Bible with the original Hebrew and Greek translations at www.esword.net.

Answer 3

Read the whole passage not just part of a sentence. The subject is addressing who bears iniquity for wrongdoing. The soul that sins will bear it's own iniquity (unless they are under the blood of Christ) as compared to some who were thinking the guilt of the parent is inherited by the offspring.

Souls can be destroyed by God (see Matt. 10:28) and at the end of the millennium God will destroy some souls. Others will be rewarded with eternal life. The soul is not automatically going to die and the soul is not automatically immortal as so many believe.

As has always been the message, eternal life is in and by and through Jesus Christ.

Answer 4

First, the word soul is often misused or misunderstood. A true soul is the combination of the spirit and the body. In physical death, the spirit is separated from the body. This is the meaning of the death of the soul. The body dies, therefore the soul dies, but the spirit continues to live on.

When Jesus was resurrected, he opened the door for all of us to be resurrected. When that happens, the spirit will rejoin the body and the soul will live again. Only this time, the body/soul will be perfect and never die again. There will be no illness and no physical pain.

There is a second death which is a separation of the person from God. This is called spiritual death. In this case, the soul can die if separated from God. As to whether this death is permanent or not is wholly dependent upon whether or not we choose to follow Jesus Christ.

Answer 5

Over 18 and counting faster than I used to.

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. (KJV)

This is from Hebrew, muwth, which means to die or be executed.

The Hebrew word nephesh can mean soul, or it can mean living being. Here in the KJV it is translated as Soul and Die.

Understanding what this means can only be achieved through the Holy Spirit. (Luke 24:45) Translation of words from one language into another is very difficult. Jesus compared people to sheep. Translating "God Speak" into "Man Speak" is kind of like translating "Man Speak" into "Sheep Speak". We can't do that, but God can. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot understand scripture in any language and with the Holy Spirit we can understand the scripture in any language.

This is why Muslims study the Qumran in Arabic and Jews study the Torah in Hebrew. Neither of them have the benefit of the Holy Spirit that Christ gave those who follow the path he created. This is also why these groups live by the Law or Works. Christians live by Grace and the Forgiveness of Christ.

That said, if we assume that the spiritual death actually occurs as the KJV tells us it does, what does "death" mean?

Is death the change from one existence to another as I believe it is, or is death the ending of everything as you imply with your question?

If death is the transition from one existence into another existence then the Soul "dies" and is transitioned into a new existence in the lake of fire, where the worm never dies.

BTW: In Science the body continues to exist after death, in fact the atoms the body is made from will exist until and even after the next "big bang". The energy will transition from one form into another.

The "law" of conservation of energy tells us that mass can only change form. There is no reason to believe we know every type of energy in existence so there is no reason to believe we know every transition mass can go through.

I kind of figure this is another "pretend" Christian question, but, just in case it isn't I hope the answer helps.

Answer 6

People are naturally afraid of death. From an evolutionary perspective, we've evolved essentially for the purpose of reproducing and passing on our genes (in that the genes that get passed on are the ones that enable the organism to do that). So it's highly adaptive to do everything you can to avoid dying. That instinct not to die manifests is experienced as fear of dying. People would rather think that they'll have some sort of eternal life, even though they can clearly see that their body will eventually die. So they cling to stories of an afterlife as a way to comfort their instinctive fear of death.

From a more philosophical perspective, we don't really know what the human conciousness is. Science suggest that it should be nothing more than the result of complex interactions between neurons in the brain, but so far we can't really explain how that works, so it remains something of a mystery. Without a much more advanced understanding of human neurology than we currently have, what makes up our experience of being remains a mystery. It's hard to imagine that our entire identity, thoughts, everything that makes up the human mind, is nothing more than a series of chemical reactions. Since the processes encompassed by the spirit or the soul are so difficult to rationalize that way, people tend to conceptualize our experience of being with something outside the realm of normal physiology (i.e. a spirit or a soul). If our experience of being isn't part of normal physiology, and is separate from the body, then it follows that it wouldn't necessarily be bound by the same limitations as our physical body.

Good question, btw. And to answer your other question, I'm 20, which I guess by your definition makes me an adult :)

P.S. Hair and figernails actually don't actually grow after death. All that happens is that the tissue around them shrinks as it loses moisture, which can create the illusion that they've grown: http://www.snopes.com/science/nailgrow.asp

Answer 7

There are many passages in the Gospels that point to eternal life and Jesus only spoke the truth,there are times when the soul of a person dies in the sense that a life of deliberate sin causes it to become so weak that it is like death to the soul,another way the soul is said to die is if it is in Hell, other than these considerations the soul is immortal and cannot expire like the body.(Adult)

Answer 8

The bible explains many times that the soul can indeed die, and does die. The text you showed are good proof of this. I agree with you 100% once more.

(young)

By the way, the energy in the body is maintained in the body. That is why cannibals could eat people after they died. If the person's energy left the person when he or she died, cannibals would not exist. (Which would probably be a good thing)

Answer 9

Human bodies have been weighed before and after death. After death they were six ounces lighter. Why? Ezekiel 18:4-" Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine:"(adult)

Answer 10

The tangible area human beings ... hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, etc., survives our deaths. The 'intangible' affiliation of those chemical substances into the range of a residing creature is what does not proceed to exist. everlasting disruption of this affiliation is what we propose by technique of lack of existence, and your body does not imagine once you die. although, Shakespeare died about 500 years in the past, and the authors of the Bible all died 1800-3000 years in the past, yet their recommendations and the very language they used are huge factors of our lifestyle today. So area of them survives in my innovations and yours and in our cloth lifestyle. an same is going for different innovations that flow out into the international and proceed to exist the shortcoming of existence of the brains in which they originated.