Lesson 12
I watched a recorded Bible study series on the book of Daniel. About half way in, the presenter said she believed the Bible taught that when you died you shed off your physical body like a coat and that your soul lived on, not even losing consciousness. That seems to be the common belief of Christians and non Christians alike. Most people seem to believe that after death a human lives on as a conscious, actively thinking, disembodied soul, or spirit.
Is this belief biblically accurate? If it is, how do you define the term dead, if the person is still consciously thinking? Do you believe this is merely an inocquies belief that has little relevance or importance to your Christian life? A Biblist would want to know and a Berean would study to find out.
Let’s start with a good definition of the terms so we will know what we are looking for.
Terms such as dead, die, deceased can be used several different ways within an english sentence. Dead can be hard to define as it is the opposite of life and alive. Just as dark is the opposite or absence of light, they are both measured by how much light or life there can be found. To have darkness there can be no light and to have death there can be no life. Here are some terms commonly used for life.
A·live /əˈlīv/ adjective.
(of a person, animal, or plant) living, not dead.
“hopes of finding anyone still alive were fading”
1 Similar: living, live, having life, not dead, breathing, moving, vital, vigorous, flourishing, dynamic, energetic, functioning, animate, organic, biological, sentient, existing, existent, in the land of the living, among the living, alive and kicking, quick.
2 (of a person or animal) alert and active; animated.
“Ken comes alive when he hears his music played”
Similar: animated, lively, full of life, alert, active, energetic, vigorous.
How do you define dead? Can a person be dead and alive at the same time? If so, how emotionally active is a dead person? Do they feel sorrow and pain, love or happiness? Can they feel any phantom, physical pains like those experienced by amputees, or are they just numb? Take note of your thoughts.