GROK 3 ON IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

Posted on by

Does the Bible teach that a human soul is immortal? If so, which scriptures?

The Bible does not explicitly teach that the human soul is inherently immortal. Instead, its teachings on the soul and immortality are nuanced and depend on interpretation. Let’s explore this:

The Old Testament uses the Hebrew word nephesh (often translated as “soul”) to refer to a living being—both humans and animals—emphasizing life or breath rather than an immortal essence. For example, Genesis 2:7 says, “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” (KJV). Here, nephesh suggests a living creature, not an eternal entity separate from the body.

In the New Testament, the Greek word psyche (also translated as “soul”) similarly refers to life or the self, not necessarily an immortal component. The idea of immortality is more closely tied to God’s nature and the gift of eternal life through Christ, rather than an innate quality of the soul. For instance, 1 Timothy 6:16 describes God as the one “who alone has immortality” (ESV), implying that immortality is not inherent to humans but granted by God.

A key scripture often cited in discussions of eternal life is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (NIV). This suggests that immortality (eternal life) is conditional, received through faith, rather than a default state of the soul. Similarly, 1 Corinthians 15:53-54 speaks of a future transformation: “For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality” (NIV), indicating that humans are mortal by nature and only gain immortality at the resurrection.

Some Christian traditions interpret these and other passages (like Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul“) to argue for an immortal soul that persists after death. But it goes on to say, ” Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Others, such as those who hold to “soul sleep” or conditional immortality, argue that the soul is not naturally immortal and that eternal life is a divine gift, not an intrinsic property.

In short, the Bible does not explicitly state that the human soul is immortal on its own. Scriptures like 1 Timothy 6:16 and John 3:16 suggest immortality is a gift from God, not an inherent trait, though interpretations vary widely among theologians.

WHO AM I? Solving the identity puzzle (2)

Posted on by

This is part 2 of my review of Martyn Isles’s book WHO AM I? Solving the identity puzzle. If you have not read my first post I suggest you do. It refers to the serious error of all humans being immortal.

This post will deal with the serious omission from Martyn’s book and that is the role the Holy Spirit played in Adam’s life and now plays in believers’ lives.

When God breathed life into Adam he became a living creature.

“then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Genesis 2:7

Proverbs 20:27 tells us that the “spirit of a man” is the lamp of the Lord. A lamp requires oil to function. The Holy Spirit is the oil required to make the lamp of the Lord function. Hence, Adam received from God the Holy Spirit so Adam’s spirit could function as the lamp of the Lord. Adam was then able to function in the spiritual dimension and communicate with God as he did in the Garden of Eden.

“The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.” Proverbs 20:27

What was immediately lost in The Fall is the Holy Spirit departed Adam and Eve’s spirits so they and we as their descendants are no longer able to communicate directly with God.

The good news is that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour our Heavenly Father will send the Holy Spirit to once again indwell our spirit to be our helper, our counselor, teacher, and comforter.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.“ John 14:26

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.“ John 16:7

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16:13-15

“Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:3

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20

The Holy Spirit produces the fruit of the spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and self-control. He is also the one who provides the gifts for ministry.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.“ Galatians 5:22-23

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

“For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.” 1 Corinthians 12:8-11

Jesus told His disciples not to do anything until the Holy Spirit came to indwell their spirits at Pentecost. It was only then that they were empowered to live the Christian life. Likewise for us, unless we have received the Holy Spirit we cannot live the Christian life, it is impossible.

WHO AM I? Solving the identity puzzle (1)

Posted on by

I have just finished reading Martyn Isles’s book Who Am I? Solving the identity puzzle. It is a good book to make Jesus known and reveal more about God. Martyn makes the good point that we all like to think that we are made in God’s image but the reality is that while Adam was created in God’s image, as a result of the Fall, we are no longer in God’s image, we are in Adam’s image.

Now that I have finished the book, from my standpoint there is one major error and one significant omission. The error is that God made humans eternal. Martyn says that when God breathed into Adam He made him eternal, in essence immortal, yet all the Bible says is that he became a living creature.

“breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.” Genesis 2:7

Eternal/immortal means not subject to death. The Bible says God alone has immortality.

“Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no person has seen or can see.” 1 Timothy 6:16

In this passage, we see that immortality is something that is part and parcel of the nature of God. He alone has it. The Scripture teaches that only God has life in Himself.

“For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26

The New Testament also says that God grants immortality to humans who trust in Him.

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” John 17:3

From the following passage we discover three things about immortality.

“So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’” 1 Corinthians 15:53-53

1. Immortality is given only to believers, there is no mention of unbelievers receiving it.

2. It is a gift from God that believers will receive in the future at Christ’s coming.

3. Immortality refers not only to the soul or spirit but the body is also included. Believers become immortal when this mortal body puts on an immortal one.

The Biblical error of an immortal soul leads directly to a second error the fate of unbelievers. Despite Jesus making it clear that the wages of sin is death and unbelievers perish much of the church teaches unbelievers suffer conscious torment for eternity.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.“ John 3:16

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.” Matthew 7:13

“Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die.” Proverbs 11:19

“Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.” James 1:15

Note that sin ultimately brings forth death not life in everlasting conscious torment. Four times in Revelation we learn the fate of unbelievers is a second death.

“The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:7-8

I like to keep my posts relatively short so they can be read in 5 to 10 minutes. Hence, I will cover in my next post, what I believe is a serious omission. Martyn makes no mention of the fact Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit to be our helper. He is our Counsellor, Teacher, and Comforter. He produces the fruit of the spirit (all nine) in our lives and He provides the gifts of the spirit for ministry (all nine). Without Him, it would be impossible to live a Christian life.

TRULY AN END TIMES SIGN

Posted on by

This metaverse provides “immortality”…

Popular metaverse Somnium Space just made an interesting announcement, called the “live forever” mode. The idea is that Somnium Space will enable users to interact with their loved ones in its metaverse after they pass away.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has advanced to the point where we can train an AI to be a virtual representation of anyone. It’s possible to do this by training an AI with information about an individual from the past.

Pictures, videos, voice recordings, writing samples, and social media posts – we can use all of them to train the AI to “embody” an individual within a metaverse. A digital avatar can be created that looks, talks, and moves just like a real person.

We are creating an Open, Social, Virtual Reality world. A world with its own economy and its own currency. A VR world with its own Marketplace, Games, Social experiences, and Virtual Land ownership

Somnium’s CEO Artur Sychov said the goal here is to produce an AI that’s so lifelike that family members would not discern a difference between the AI and their loved one for at least 10 minutes. This could allow people to regularly interact inside of this metaverse with loved ones who have passed on.

In a fallen world that rejects the offer of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, it is understandable that people would want to act as if their loved ones had not died. This world is all they have and they will seek any and all possible ways to hang on to life.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:13

THE FIRE THAT CONSUMES

Posted on by

The fire that torments forever or The fire that consumes or The Fire that purifies

How often do we hear mention of Hell and its purpose in God’s plans for us, His creation. The creation He loves so much, He sent His son to die in our place that we might be restored as His sons and daughters, and even reign with His son Jesus in a new heaven and earth.

Is what the Bible teaches on the eternal fate of the unrepentant what the traditional church now teaches on the their fate? They teach eternal conscious torment is what they will endure. Does this line up with what Jesus taught? Does it line up with God’s justice, His mercy. let alone God is love? The wages of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus. Eternal life only comes from believing in Jesus blood sacrifice for us. God alone is immortal as revealed by Timothy: “He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honour and everlasting power.” 1 Timothy 6:16

“For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13)

“The one who sows to please the sinful nature from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the spirit, from the spirit will reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:8)

“The truly righteous man attains life, but He who pursues evil goes to his death.”  (Proverbs 11:19)

Given that life in immortality is a gift to the righteous alone, and that the soul, not being innately immortal, exists only as long as God wills it to exist (as the early church father, Justin Martyr argues), will anyone argue that a loving God would wish the soul of any human being alive throughout endless ages for no other purpose than to inflict upon them perpetual torment?

Listen to the humble American Christian theologian and lawyer, Edwin Fudge, best known for his book The Fire that Consumes. He has been called “one of the foremost scholars on hell” by The Christian Post. He is also subject of the 2012 independent film Hell and Mr Fudge.