Past post on H2O............
THEN AND NOW
I used to believe as I was taught by Jehovah's Witnesses the soul is totally synonymous with all that man is. It was taught me it included the body which and is subject to death when the body dies for they are one and the same. Several scriptures literally and loosely interpreted are offered by JWs in support of their definition of a soul. The scripture stating how man was created tells us God blew into his nostrils and man became a living soul. I was taught that we must imply that from this statement that a soul is the entirety of a man which includes his body (false assumption). This is combined with the scripture that says that the soul that sins it itself wll die. I was taught that this proves that because the soul has been determined to be the body that the soul dies when does the body.
I now believe what I inherently know to be the truth. A person's body is not at all themselves. Their bodys are just their vehicles to carry them through this human existence. The soul in actuality is a part of a physical person that cannot be seen. It is their spiritual essence that is not subject to death at the same time man is. So to reinterpret the scripture stating the soul that sins shall die we must make note of the fact that a persons body, a thing and not a person is incapable of sinning. Only our spiritual selves can. It is for certain we are spiritual creatures physically embodied. Another scripture says "do not be afraid of he that can just destroy the body but fear him that can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna (hell). Clearly this is proof the soul or the person survives inherently the physical death of the body. The death of the soul being spoken of due to sin is not referring to physical death at all. That death is spiritual death allowing us to understand that by saying men are inherently everlasting for their souls continue past physical death does not mean it is being said they are immortal. Immortality implies one is incapable of dying. The bible assures us that God has the power to destroy the everlasting souls he created on the grounds of sin (???). All statements and physical occurences that have occurred in the lives of biblical characters are not intended to teach us anything of a physical nature but are object lessons meant to teach us how to live spiritual lives in or out of the flesh. Animals being souls would imply that they too have inherently everlasting spiritual lives. After physical death or seperation the soul can go to one of two places. They are:
Heaven- heaven is not a physical place seperated from us by physical distance. It is a different dimension of life which occupies the same physical space. It is a spiritual condition. At death as in sleep or out of body experiences the long journey in spirit can be made.
Hell is also not a place as JWs have described it. They say hell is the common grave of mankind. Hell is not a place but a spiritual condition where one is in darkness completely seperated from God. It is a condition that Jesus Christ voluntarily agreed to be subject to and so for three days was in hell. God could not help him during that time that began even prior to his physical death. They never could have killed Jesus unless God had abandoned him. This is the very reason Jesus cried out at his death, Father ..Why have you foresaken me? A complete darkness encmpass the place of Jesus death at high noon because God could not have people look upon his son as he gave up his life. Jesus returning to his fathers right hand at the end of this time spent in hell required a rebirth of spirit making Christ the first person ever to be reborn. The descriptions of hell as a place of fiery torment only can be interpreted in a spiritual sense. Somehow a everlasting soul that is abandoned by God will experience in some spiritual sense tormenting conditions of such magnitude. A lifetime without love and beauty would in my estimation be intolerable making anyone in that situation desirous of death but yet not being able to die. Everlasting torment. ......... Zechariah..........