What the Bible Does Say
An "immortal soul" is not the Biblical understanding of a life after death. As a matter of fact, the phrase "immortal soul" is not even mentioned in the Bible. Ezekiel twice emphasized that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:4, 20). Jesus Christ plainly stated that both the body and the soul can be destroyed in gehenna fire (Matt. 10:28). And Paul concurred: "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. -6:23).
As for those who would interpret "death" to "really mean a conscious eternal life in hell," we can only conclude that they have apparently not read — or simply have chosen to overrule — the Psalmist who said of man, "He returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4). And Solomon has also been conveniently ignored — because he proclaimed that "the dead know not anything (Ecc. 9:5).
Now feeling a trifle cramped, some are sure to protest that we are dealing with a problem of translation. Not so. Both the Hebrew and Greek words translated "soul" — nephesh and psuche — literally mean "breath" and refer to both animals and humans. Remember, the expression "immortal soul" never appears in the Bible.
Since "immortal souls" didn't come from the Bible, where did our Judeo-Christian religions find them? The Jewish Encyclopedia freely admits that: "The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body . . . is speculation . . . nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture. . . . The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended." Plato is also the self-confessed authoritative source for the "Christian fathers" (e.g., Origen, Tertullian) who, two centuries after the death of Jesus, the supposed founder of the world's Christianity, first introduced "immortal souls" into Western Christians' thinking. (For further information, write for our free reprint article "Do You Have an Immortal Soul?")
Consequently, since very few Americans live by the Bible and since the immortal soul theory is irrefutably refuted by the Bible, we can safely conclude that the fact that 74 percent of all Americans believe in a life after death has little to do with this most misunderstood Book.
The 12 Percent Who "Can't Say!"
These are the people who have not succumbed to the traditional comforts of saying "YES" or the intellectual vanity of saying "No." They are honest — and ignorant!
Now we realize that many in the survey stated that they "didn't know" whether there was, or was not, a life after death because they have never even considered the question. Others perhaps were so wishy-washy that they were unable to commit themselves one way or the other.
So, the number of individuals who in fact seriously and candidly thought about and analyzed this most fundamental question of human life and then came up with the logically precise answer that they REALLY didn't know is preciously few indeed. But it is these few whom we salute. These are the ones who have both properly understood the limitations of science and correctly applied the scientific method of reasoning. These are the ones who have elevated themselves above the simpleminded, half-baked conclusions of both the intellectually vain philosophers and the immortal-soul-propounding religionists. These at least are intelligent, truly scientific individuals.
(It is interesting to compare the percentage of people in this "unaligned" category in the United States with the percentage of people in the same category in six other countries. See the accompanying box. Especially note that in Germany the number of "can't say" individuals is almost three times as large as in the U.S., while in Great Britain the number is more than twice as large as in the U.S.)
Where Do We All Stand?
All right. We have seen that the belief of those who do believe in a life after death is equally as irrational and equally as illogical as the belief of those who do not believe in such an "afterlife." Both do not apply anywhere near the carefully and correctly determined reasoning procedures which are absolutely necessary. And the few people who do reason properly are those who, after much consideration of the problem, CANNOT come to any conclusion at all!
What a paradox!
You can, of course, recognize the person who through correct reasoning procedures cannot come to any conclusion at all. He is the ideal agnostic. (And, by the way, the rare agnostic. Because most agnostics choose agnosticism — literally "not knowing" — as a result of their own intellectual ineptitude and/or laziness)
Are we then praising the intellectually sincere agnostic? Well, here is a man who has realized that the religious traditions of men are like a straitjacket. And here is the very same man recognizing that the proper use of the scientific method prohibits a person from using the data of the physical realm to in any way "prove" the supposed nonexistence of the non-physical realm. So we most certainly respect the agnostic's incisive reasoning.
But we are most assuredly not agnostics. Because we can neither praise nor respect ignorance. And the agnostic, by his own definition, is ignorant. He does not know the answer to the most fundamental question of human existence. And all too often — and incredibly — he is proud of it!
At a time when the whole human family is perilously perched on the brink of cosmocide, the logically consistent conclusions of the agnostic seem morbidly out of place. Like a meticulous old woman orderly arranging her trinkets on the living room table while a tornado packed with 250-mile-per-hour winds is headed directly for her little wooden house.
Humanity needs answers.
And soon.
Where Is the Answer?
Even the most casual first-time reader of this magazine can pretty well anticipate what the answer is going to be. We don't want to be trite — but we do want to present the truth.
The answer is IN the Bible.
Nothing could be plainer.
Skeptics delight in pointing out how many use the Bible to justify well near any doctrine that can be concocted. True! Take the "immortal soul" theory as one pregnant example. There are dozens of others. So we wholeheartedly agree with the skeptics. Nonetheless, the question we counter with is this: Where does the fault lie — with the Bible, or with the individual who uses it in an attempt to justify his personally conceived "beliefs"?
In this context it is our purpose in TOMORROW'S WORLD to show what happens when the Bible is allowed to interpret itself. For example, the issue under consideration in this article is the question of life after death. Here the Bible is surprisingly clear. (It's only "surprising" because we have been prejudiced by the conflicting and confusing religious ideas of men)
When a human being dies, he is dead — which means that his body, mind and soul are all dead. He simply stops "being." He becomes as dead as the earth itself — without thoughts (Psalm 146:4) and without any consciousness whatsoever (Ecc. 9:5).
If there ever was an individual who "deserved" to have a life after death, it was David, a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22), a man whose heart was perfect before God (I Kings 11:4). Yet over 1000 years after he had died, yes, even after Christ had been resurrected, Peter succinctly reported — under divine inspiration — that David was both dead and buried and was not ascended into the heavens (Acts 2:29, 34). This means that immediately after an individual's death — and perhaps for up to thousands of years to follow — there is absolutely no life after death.
But this brings us to the ultimate answer: There indeed IS a life after death — eventually!
It is discussed throughout the Bible. It is as sure as the rising of yesterday’s sun.
It is the fact of the RESURRECTION.
Of course the Bible speaks of more than one resurrection. And everybody must be in one of them! (Obviously, space does not permit us to fully discuss the various Biblical resurrections. The interested reader is encouraged to read our articles Is This the Only Day of Salvation? and What Is Death?)
The first resurrection will occur when Jesus Christ returns to this earth. This is the moment when all who have been dead in Christ will rise from their graves (I Thes. 4:16). David will be among them. And he knew it: "I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Psalm 17:15).
And finally, a little over a thousand years later, when God's Plan for this present earth has been completed, "Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (I Cor. 15:54).
Or as Goodspeed translates it, "Death has been triumphantly destroyed."
This is the revelation of God to man about life after death.
It is sure!