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What is death? Is it the absence of life?
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I am aware that there are teachers who tell us that God has nothing to do with death. Death is seen strictly as the fiendish device of the Devil. All pain, suffering, disease, and tragedy are blamed on the Evil One. God is absolved of any responsibility.
This view is designed to make sure that God is free of blame for anything that goes wrong in this world. “God always wills healing,” we are told. If that healing does not happen, then the fault lies with Satan—Or with us. Death, they say, is not in the plan of God. It represents a victory for Satan over the realm of God.
Such views may bring temporary relief to the afflicted. But they are not true. They have nothing to do with biblical Christianity. They are intended to absolve God of any blame, but they contradict His sovereignty.
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die." Genesis 2:17
This view is designed to make sure that God is free of blame for anything that goes wrong in this world. “God always wills healing,” we are told. If that healing does not happen, then the fault lies with Satan—Or with us. Death, they say, is not in the plan of God. It represents a victory for Satan over the realm of God.
Such views may bring temporary relief to the afflicted. But they are not true. They have nothing to do with biblical Christianity. They are intended to absolve God of any blame, but they contradict His sovereignty.
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die." Genesis 2:17
Gatekeeper
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Death is the result of disobeying God. Our first parents were not to experiment with evil to see what it was like. They were clearly warned of the penalty if they did so. They had the power to make a choice.
They had life and life more abundantly but chose death.
And they should have trusted that God, who made them and all things around them, would know better than the tempter what was in their best interests. God’s best is always only available through faith and obedience.
Pancho Frijoles
Well-known member
Spiritual death (experiencing the sad separation from God) is the result of disobeying God.
Biological death, though, is something natural.
When you see how God created all living things, death is part of life. It is part of recycling he components of your body so that other beings can also exist.
Doug Brents
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Both physical death and spiritual death are the result of sin. Physical death does not appear to have been a part of the order of things when God created the Earth. The Tree of Life would have given man physical immortality if God had allowed man to eat of it, but man was prevented from eating from it (Gen 3:22-24).
Note that ALL animals were vegetarian up until the Flood. There was not a single meat eating animal on Earth before the Flood. All of what are carnivores today existed then, but they did not eat meat until after the Flood (Gen 1:29-30, Gen 6:21). While animals and men died between the Fall and the Flood, not a single animal was killed for food by anything during that time (even by man). Animals were killed by man as sacrifices to God (Gen 4:4), but not for food.
Aeliana
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If you haven’t been born again into the family of God, you not only have to die physically, but after you die physically, you have to face the second death—which means eternal separation from God. That’s spiritual death. That’s what Scripture calls the second death.
Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, and spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God. You don’t want to mess with the second death, I promise you. And the way you escape the second death is to be born twice.
Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body, and spiritual death is the separation of the soul from God. You don’t want to mess with the second death, I promise you. And the way you escape the second death is to be born twice.
Johann
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For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. (Joh_5:21-23 RSV)
When Jesus says, "the Father raises the dead" (and gives to the Son the same power), he is declaring the first of the "greater works" he is going to do: He has the power to give life to the dead. In the words, "the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son," he is saying that he is the final arbiter of human destiny; he is the One who determines where everybody will end up for eternity. He is the Judge, with all judgment in his hands.
When our Lord speaks of "the dead" (Verse 21), we have to ask: Does he mean the spiritually dead or the physically dead?
In Verses 24-27 he deals specifically with spiritual death. People who never think about their accountability to God are spiritually dead. People who never make any response to the things of God, who do not believe in the invisible realities of life but deal only with the material and the visible -- who believe that their existence is bounded by the womb and the tomb -- those people are spiritually dead.
They are unaware and unresponsive to anything beyond what appeals to the body and the soul. That is spiritual death.
Jesus has the power to give life to such people. But in Verses 28-30 he is talking about the physically dead, "those who are in the graves." He claims he has power to give them life also. Thus both forms of death are included in the statement of Verse 21.
We have great difficulty today understanding how the words of Jesus sounded to those who heard him on that day. These are amazing claims. When you read them, you are forced to conclude that Jesus was one of three things -- either He was a lunatic, a madman, suffering from delusions of grandeur; or He was a liar, a deceiver trying to pass himself off as something he was not, or, He is Lord of life, he holds all life in his hands. There are no other alternatives.
The claim of Jesus is that life belongs to him. He only loans it, for a while, to us. Think of that! It cuts right across the philosophy and the propaganda of our day! Television, radio, newspapers and magazines tell you that your life belongs to you, and you can do with it what you want; it is up to you to make of yourself whatever you desire. That is what is fed to us all the time. But that is a lie! Your life is not yours. You did not invent it, you were handed it, you were given it. One of these days you will have to give it back. Those two great facts underscore all of life, yet how easy it is to forget them.
Title: He's got the Whole World in His Hands
By: Ray C. Stedman
Series: The Gospel of John
Scripture: Joh_5:21-30
J.
e v e
Well-known member
we are not in eden correct?
and why is that?
so adam had something to do with
where we are now.
read genesis.
e v e
Well-known member
actually no...
that is the corrupt kjv version
we were all bullied into...
also you are paraphrasing a pagan - augustine.
this is not anything God said.
born again is when His souls meet Christ on the clouds... it will be so sweet and lovely
