4.1 THE NATURE OF MAN
Most people seem to spend little time thinking about death or about his own nature. This lack of self leads to a lack of self-knowledge, and therefore people go through life aimlessly taking decisions according to the dictates of their own natural desires. There is a refusal, while completely hidden, to address the fact that life is so short that all too soon the end of life will be upon us. "For what is your life? Are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." "For die, and are as water spilled on the ground, which can not be gathered up again." "As the grass of the morning. In the morning [our youth] flowers and grows in the evening it is cut and dried" (James 4:14, 2 Sam. 14:14, Psalm 90:5 : 6). Moses, a man truly thinking, recognized this and prayed to God: "So teach us to number our days, we bring a heart of wisdom" (Ps. 90:12). Therefore, in view of the shortness of life, we should make our acquisition of true wisdom, the number one priority.
Man's response to the termination of life is varied. Some cultures have tried to make death and funerals, a part of life to lessen the sense of loss and completion. Most of those who call themselves 'Christians' have concluded that man has within him an 'immortal soul' or some element of immortality that survives death, and then going to a place of reward or punishment. Given that death is the fundamental problem and tragedy of human experience is to be expected that the human mind has been trained to minimize the mental impact, therefore, there has been a complete range of false theories concerning the death and the nature of man. As always, these should be checked with the Bible to find the real truth about this vital issue. It must be remembered that the first lie recorded in the Bible is the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Contrary to the clear statement of God that man would surely die if he sinned (Gen. 2:17), the snake said, "Do not die" (Gen. 3:4). This attempt to deny the whole purpose and death has become a characteristic of all false religions. It is clear that especially in this area, a false doctrine leads to another and another and another. Conversely, a truth leads to another, as shown in 1 Corinthians 15: 13-17. Here Paul jumps from one truth to another (note the "if ... if ... if").
To understand our true nature, need to consider what the Bible says about man's creation. The story is in a language so clear that no doubt leaves us exactly what we are by nature (see Digression 18 regarding the literal reality of Genesis). "Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground ... because it [the land] you were [Adam] taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust you shall return" (Gen. 2:7, 3:19). Here there is absolutely no suggestion whatsoever that the man has any inherent immortality, there is no part of it to continue living after death.
There is a strong biblical emphasis on the fact that man is composed mainly of dust, only. "We [are] clay" (Isaiah 64:8); "The first man is of the earth, earthy" (1 Cor 15:47); "whose foundations [man] is in the dust" (Job 4: 19); "and the man would return to dust" (Job 34:14,15). Abraham admitted that he was "dust and ashes" (Gen. 18:27). Immediately after disobeying God's command in Eden, God "So he drove out the man ... [so] that reaches out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (Gen. 3: 24.22). If you have a man by nature immortal element within it, this would have been unnecessary.
IS CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY
The message of the gospel, constantly reiterated, is that man can find a way to gain eternal life and immortality through the work of Christ. Since this is the only kind of immortality that mentions the Bible, it is understood that the idea of \u200b\u200ban eternity of conscious suffering for sinful deeds, has no biblical support. The only way to gain immortality is through obedience to the commands of God, and those who are obedient will and immortality in a state of perfection - the reward of the righteous.
The following passages should be proof enough that this immortality is conditional, and it's not something we possess by nature
- "Jesus ... brought to light life and immortality by gospel "(2 Tim. 1:10, 1 Jn. 1:2).
- "If you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you [ie inherent in you]. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day "[to give this" eternal life "] (John 6:53,54). The reasoning of Christ throughout the chapter 6, John is that he is the "bread of life" and that only through proper response to it may be some hope of immortality (John 6:47,50,51,57,58).
- "God has given us [believers] eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (1 Jn. 5:11). There can be no hope of immortality for those who are not "in Christ." Only through Christ has made possible immortality, he is the "Author life [eternal] "(Acts 3:15)," author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him "(Heb. 5:9). Therefore, immortality for men originated through the work of Christ.
"The true believer seeks immortality, and be rewarded for this with the gift of eternal life, something that has not by nature (Rom. 2:7, 6:23; Jn. 10: 28). It is necessary that our mortal body "must put on immortality" the return of Christ (1 Cor. 15:53), so that promised immortality is something that is not currently own (1 Jn. 2:25) .
"If Christ had not risen, then those who have died in him perish (1 Cor 15:18). Hence they were not 'immortal souls' to be honored in heaven or hell.
"Only God has immortality by nature (1 Tim. 6:16).
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