Showing posts with label immortality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label immortality. Show all posts

Sunday 5 July 2015

Who Through Jesus Sleep

Who Through Jesus Sleep

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Who Through Jesus Sleep is a compendium of essays about the mortality of the soul (254 pages, ISBN 978-0-9574460-9-0, June 2015).
 
The book analyses what the biblical writers believed about the nature of the soul and the opportunity for life after death. It explores both the beliefs of the ancient Israelites, as presented in the Old Testament, and those of the early Christians, as presented in the New Testament. It traces the development of these biblical ideas to the emergence of the notion of the immortality of the soul in both Judaism and Christianity through the influence of Greek philosophy. It describes thinkers throughout history, as well as modern scholars, who have affirmed the biblical idea of the mortality of the soul. Common “proof” texts for the immortality of the soul are also examined.

Thursday 28 February 2013

Last day of Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI

For over two decades Joseph Ratzinger has dealt with the question if a pope resign. John Paul  considered retiring at 75, an ordinary bishop's retirement age, according to the best-selling book Why He Is a Saint, and discussed it with Ratzinger, but he eventually abandoned the idea of a papal retirement age,



Could it be that Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI has lost control?

Child abuse and the financial secret happenings should worry all believers as well as the protectionshield the Church of Rome is creating for Joseph Ratzinger. Namely, he will remain a permanent resident of Vatican City after his resignation. Doing so will offer him legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources said on Friday the 15th of February.

"His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless". announced Vatican officials.
Vatican City
Vatican City (Photo credit: @Doug88888)


This startling admission of guilt by the church is also a direct obstruction of justice, and lends more weight to the charge by the ITCCS and others that the Vatican has arranged with the Italian government to shield Ratzinger from criminal prosecution, in violation of international laws ratified by Italy.

The Vatican decided two weeks ago to give permanent sanctuary to a proven war criminal by allowing Joseph Ratzinger to obstruct justice and evade prosecution for crimes against humanity. And the government of Italy is colluding in this abrogation of international law.
This decision validates the claims of International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) – Brussels, about the criminal conspiracy surrounding Ratzinger and his Vatican co-conspirators. It also makes it clear that the Vatican is a rogue power that is flaunting every law to conceal its own criminality.

Fifteen countries have now become  part of the movement against abuse, trafficking, torture and murder of children and historic genocide of indigenous peoples at the hands of European Christendom.

Kevin Annett of ITCCS says:

Protecting Ratzinger within the walls of the Vatican may halt justice for a moment, but it violates a basic rule of warfare, which is to never give your enemy a permanent focus for their attack. Ratzinger, the evil Emperor, now a permanent fixture in the Vatican? The absurdity of offering such an ongoing focus to the civilized world's hatred of catholic criminality is also a sign that the church is adrift and improvising. But it also shows how genuinely worried is the Vtaican about the legal offensive mounted by our affiliates, lawyers for torture survivors, and the International Criminal Court.
Ratzinger non aprirà l'anno accademico. The st...
Ratzinger non aprirà l'anno accademico. The students told "No Pope in the University!". The Pope won't go to the Rome's university. (Photo credit: Zingaro. I am a gipsy too.)

The Vatican is pulling out all stops to keep Ratzinger out of court. Their loyal, one-man owned Italian media is assaulting the crap out of yours truly and our ITCCS these days, playing the "Deny, Distract and Discredit" strategy of any damage-controlling corporation.
This Friday, California Public Television will broadcast the complete Proceedings, Evidence and Verdict of our Common Law Court of Justice, to a viewership of millions of people.
This Saturday, the ITCCS global online radio program will feature some of the Citizen Jurors who found the Pope, Queen Elizabeth and Canada guilty of Genocide – On March 2 at 4 pm EST, 9 pm GMT on www.blogtalkradio.com/wethejury

The top Catholic official in England, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, suddenly resigned this week and announced he would not vote at the Vatican Conclave on March 15 to elect a new Pope. This unprecedented defiance may indicate a collapse in the disciplinary chain of command within the church, since Cardinals' attendance at the Papal Conclave is normally mandatory.
Meanwhile, Common Law Court officers have begun to serve the Order of Compliance to the thirty officials found guilty of Crimes against Humanity last Monday, including Joseph Ratzinger, Elizabeth Windsor, top Roman Cardinals and Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada. All of the accused parties seem to be in hiding.

The Vatican has forever been an organization that is mainly, not to say only, interested in its own power and preserving its own reputation and its own finances. Already in early times it was clear that lots of people in charge prefered to be on good terms by those in power. For that reason they agreed even to Constantine and his successors to come to terms with certain Greek and philosophical teachings. Soon the so called 'Apologists' arose with the goal to blend Christianity and Greek philosophy. They said that although God was one, which Moses, Jesus and Paul unite in their testimony and can be found in many books of the Bible (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29; Galatians 3:20; 2 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 4:6 just to give some examples). Also on the mortality of man the church gave a twist to confirm with the powerful Roman Emprie. Genesis 2:7 and 3:19 clearly tell us that man is a material and mortal thing. Our body is corruptible and mortal (1 Corinthians 15:47,53-54) but the men in power wanted to give in into tradition and other favoured beliefs that the 'soul' and 'body' were separate things, the 'soul' being immortal. Thus Christendom, became virtually a Christianized Greek philosophy.

Throughout history the Roman Catholic Church used its power to get more power and to get more money in their banks, doing everything to secure  their power of having something to say and to dictate in the world. today nothing has changed, but some may think there is moving a lot, and even in the own ranks there is a contra movement.

Keith Porteous Wood:

The Vatican has forever been an organization that is only interested in its own power and preserving its own reputation and its own finances - it has always been thus. But with the kind off communications we have today, they can’t get away with that any longer.
I’m certainly aware of two major issues over child abuses that are going to come up and are going to be very, very hard for the Vatican to swallow. Because it is not like it is the child abuse, bad though that is, is the issue - it is actually that the finger of blame is going to be pointed at the Vatican for having obstructed justice and all the secret files that it won’t release.
So, that is going to look very, very bad, and I think people will get less and less tolerant about that. And the Vatican has shown no real sign of actually coming to terms with this, of putting its hands up and really atoning for its past sins, and being much more open and dealing more properly with victims and actually getting the people who perpetrated these crimes turned over to the police.
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives on St Peter's square for his last weekly audience on February 27, 2013 at the Vatican. (AFP Photo / Tiziana Fabi)
Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives on St Peter's square for his last weekly audience on February 27, 2013 at the Vatican. (AFP Photo / Tiziana Fabi)




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Read also:

  1. John Paul to Ratzinger: Should I resign?
  2. Roman Church admits the Pope’s Guilt: Joseph Ratzinger to Evade Justice and Hide out in the Vatican for his own legal immunity and “protection”
  3. Celebrating a Pope-Free World
  4. Vatican policies ‘catastrophic in their implications’
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Monday 12 November 2012

Is there an Immortal soul

In the 2001 Translation – An American English Bible we did find:

The Immortal Soul Problem

One of the reasons why there can be no Hell of eternal torture is because a person would need an 'immortal soul' to be sent there. In other words, a portion of his or her personality would have to be incapable of dying. And although this doctrine is taught by almost all religions, it simply can't be found in the Bible. In fact, one of the things that differentiates the Bible from most (if not all) pagan religions and their sacred writings (such as the Koran), is that the Bible alone teaches that a dead person can be resurrected (brought back to life)… but only if God wills it. So nothing inside us is incapable of dying (immortal).
Why, if you go to Genesis the Third Chapter, you'll find that it was the Opposer (Satan) who first taught that men wouldn't die, for we read at Genesis 3:5, 'Then the snake told the woman, You won't stop living and die. But, God knows that on whatever day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be gods who know good and evil.'
We find this first lie directly contradicted what God had just said at Genesis 2:16, 17, 'You are free to eat from all the trees of paradise, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Bad. Because, on whatever day you eat from it, your life will end and you will die (Gr. thanato apothaneisthe, or, death from dying).'
Obviously souls can die, for notice what a soul is. Genesis 2:7 tells us this: 'Then God formed man from the dust of the ground, breathed the breath of life against his face, and he became a living creature (Gr. psychen zosan, or, person/soul living).'
Now, the words we translated as living creature here were psyche in Greek and Nephesh in Hebrew, and both words are the same ones that are translated as soul in other Bibles. So the Bible's own definition of a soul, is that it's something made from the dust of the ground and has the breath of life… thus, it is a whole living person or animal, not something that lives inside. In fact, throughout the Bible animals are referred to as souls also. So psyche really means (as we have often translated it) a living creature.
Actually, the best true Bible definition of the Greek word psyche is what the word implies in modern psychology, 'the inner person,' not, 'the immortal person.' With this understanding, we can see how God could refer to 'My Soul.' He wasn't speaking of the individual we all believe that we know, but of the person He is on the inside.
As history shows, the pagan Egyptians believed that they had immortal souls, but righteous Hebrews made no mention of such a belief anywhere in the Sacred Scriptures of Israel (OT). It was only in the latter part of the millennium proceeding the time of Jesus that we first see this doctrine starting to creep into Jewish teachings.
Then, did Jesus and his Apostles teach that we have an immortal soul? No, for those two words (immortal soul) don't appear together anywhere in the Bible. In fact, the words immortal and immortality (Gr. athanasia or undying) can only be found in three places in the Bible, and let's see how the word is used in each of these cases:
  • 1 Timothy 6:15, 16 – 'He will show himself at his own set time… the blest and only ruler, the King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords; the only one who has immortality and who lives in unapproachable light; he who no man has seen or can see.
  • 1 Corinthians 15:53, 54 – 'Then that which is decaying will put on cleanliness, and that which is dying will put on immortality. But, when that which is dying puts on immortality, the words that were written are fulfilled, Death is swallowed in victory.'
So in the first case, we can see that Jesus is immortal, and in the second case we can see that immortality is offered as a reward to the righteous… so, it is not a possession of the wicked… thus they have no immortal soul that can be sent to burn in Hell.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Immortality, eternality - onsterfelijkheid, eeuwigheid

An endless life, is it possible? - Een leven zonder einde, is het mogelijk?

Under the Tag "Onsterfelijkheid" (Immortality) you shall be able to find articles about the quality or condition of being immortal in the sense of having endless life or existence.

The the quality or state of being immortal, having or receiving an unending existence.

The articles shall look at the condition of being exempt from death or destruction, of living for ever. We shall bring forward that there are several doctrines about this matter were in many religions and philosophies there is spoken of a immortality of one part of a person and in a few instances there is a forthright belief in immortality of the body, but rare.

Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of living in a physical or spiritual form for an infinite length of time. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)


According the Catholic Encyclopedia immortality is ordinarily understood as the doctrine that the human soul will survive death, continuing in the possession of an endless conscious existence. Together with the question of the existence of God, it forms the most momentous issue with which philosophy has to deal. It belongs primarily to rational or metaphysical psychology and the philosophy of religion, though it comes also into contact with other branches of philosophy and some of the natural sciences.


Physical immortality or a state of life that allows a person to avoid death and maintain conscious thought can be there from the beginning or can enter after a stadium according certain believers. It can mean the unending existence of a person from a physical source other than organic life. By definition, all causes of death must be overcome or avoided for physical immortality to be achieved.

Biological immortality is an absence of aging, specifically the absence of a sustained increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience aging, or ceases to age at some point, is biologically immortal. (Wikipedia)

Spiritual immortality is the unending existence of a person from a nonphysical source, or in a nonphysical state, such as a soul. Specifically 'soul immortality' is a belief that is expressed in nearly every religious tradition. However any doctrine in this area misleads without a prior definition of 'soul'. Another problem is that 'soul' is often confused and used synonymously or interchangeably with 'spirit'. (Wikipedia)

The doctrine of immortality is essential to many of the world's religions. Many religions promise their faithful an eternal paradise in an afterlife. These presume perfection, as they are part of a divine plan, and are categorically desirable.


Adam and Eve lost physical immortality for themselves and all their descendants in the Fall of Man, though this initial "imperishability of the bodily frame of man" was "a preternatural condition." (Adler, Mortimer J., ed., et al. (1952). The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 784.)



According to some religions immortality
implies that the being which survives shall preserve its personal identity and be connected by conscious memory with the previous life, while others think the person shall start afresh and enter an new phase in his life without to be remembered to the old life.
Some have held that after a future life of greater or less duration the soul will ultimately perish. Throughout the East there has been a widespread tendency to believe in metempsychosis or transmigration—that individual souls successively animate different human beings, and even the bodies of lower animals. A special form of this view is the theory of metamorphosis, that in such a series of reincarnations the soul undergoes or can undergo evolution and improvement of its condition. (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Christadelphians and many Bible Students believe the word soul (nephesh or psykhe) as used in the Bible is a person, an animal, or the life a person or animal enjoys. Hence, the soul is not part of man, but is the whole man — man as a living being. Hence, when a person or animal dies, the soul dies, and death is a state of non-existence (Ezekiel 18:4) Hell (Hades or Sheol) not being a place of fiery torment, but rather the common grave of humankind, a place of unconsciousness is the place were every dying person goes to. Those death have to wait until the return of Christ to be taken out of the grave and to appear in front of Jesus to be judged. Jesus was the first to be rewarded with heavenly immortality. After the final judgment, it is expected that the righteous will receive eternal life and live forever in an Earth turned into a paradise. From that moment they, though perhaps still having the possibility to die, shall never have to face death again. So notice the distinction that those with 'eternal life' can die though they do not succumb to disease or old age, whereas immortal ones cannot die by any cause.

In the Christadelphian and other Bible Students idea the Grace of God becomes reality in the Ransom offer of Jesus Christ who has given his life for all, so those who are justified shall not have to offer their body, or anything else, any more. They shall be granted life in the Kingdom of God without any pressure of pain and death. They fully, and not just a certain part of them called soul, shall be able to enjoy life.

God had foreseen a Plan and promissed salvation and a marvelous life in the Kingdom of God. God is bound to preserve the believers in possession of its conscious life, at least for some time, after death. All previous Bible prophesies have come to reality, so we may believe that all the rest God promissed shall also become reality. In the Kingdom of God the future life is to continue for ever.



Onder de tag "Onsterfelijkheid" zal u in staat zijn om artikelen over de kwaliteit of de conditie van het onsterfelijk zijn, in de zin van het hebben van  of het bestaan van eeuwig leven te vinden.

De de kwaliteit of de staat van het onsterfelijk zijn, het hebben van of het ontvangen van een eindeloze bestaan.
De artikelen zulllen bekijken hoe het al of niet mogelijk is dat er een conditie bestaat waarbij men
vrijgesteld  kan worden van de dood of vernietiging van leven voor altijd. We zullen naar voor brengen dat er verschillende doctrines over deze kwestie zijn in veel religies en filosofieën waarin er gesproken wordt over een onsterfelijkheid van een deel van een persoon en in enkele zeldzame gevallen waar er een openhartig geloof in onsterfelijkheid van het lichaam is.

Onsterfelijkheid (of het eeuwige leven) is het concept van het leven in een fysieke of spirituele vorm voor een oneindige lengte van de tijd. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)
Volgens de Katholieke Encyclopedie wordt
onsterfelijkheid gewoonlijk opgevat als de leer dat de menselijke ziel na de dood zal overleven en in het bezit blijft van een eindeloze bewust bestaan. Samen met de kwestie van het bestaan van God, vormen zij het meest gedenkwaardige probleem met welk filosofie te maken heeft. Het behoort in de eerste plaats tot rationele of metafysische psychologie en de filosofie van de religie, maar het komt ook in contact met andere takken van de filosofie en een aantal van de natuurwetenschappen.



Fysieke onsterfelijkheid of een staat van leven dat een persoon de dood kan voorkomen en de bewuste gedachte kan
onderhouden vanaf het begin of na een stadium kan hiertoe kan komen  volgens bepaalde gelovigen. Het kan betekenen dat het eindeloze bestaan van een persoon uit een fysieke andere bron dan het organische leven zou kunnen zijn.
Per definitie moeten alle doodsoorzaken worden overwonnen of voorkomen om fysieke onsterfelijkheid te bereiken.
Biologische onsterfelijkheid is een afwezigheid van de vergrijzing, met name het ontbreken van het ouder worden, een afwezigheid van aanhoudende stijging van sterfte als functie van de chronologische leeftijd. Een cel of organisme zal indien het onsterfelijk is dan ook niet ervaren ouder te worden, of niet langer aan leeftijd gebonden zijn op een bepaald punt, om biologisch onsterfelijk te zijn.
Geestelijke onsterfelijkheid is het oneindige bestaan van een persoon uit een niet-fysieke bron, of in een niet-fysieke toestand, zoals een ziel. Specifiek 'ziel onsterfelijkheid' is een geloof dat wordt uitgedrukt in bijna elke religieuze traditie. Maar elke doctrine op dit gebied misleidt zonder voorafgaande definitie van 'ziel'. Een ander probleem is dat 'ziel' vaak verward en als synoniem of door elkaar met 'geest' gebruikt
wordt.

De leer van de onsterfelijkheid is essentieel voor tal van religies van de wereld. Veel religies beloven hun getrouwen een eeuwig paradijs in een hiernamaals. Deze leerstelling veronderstelt perfectie, omdat ze deel uitmaakt van een goddelijk plan, en is categorisch wenselijk.
Adam en Eva verloren fysieke onsterfelijkheid voor zichzelf en al hun nakomelingen door hun zondeval, hoewel deze eerste "onvergankelijkheid van de lichamelijke frame van de mens"  "een bovennatuurlijke toestand." was (Adler, Mortimer J., red., et al. (1952) de grote ideeën:... Een Syntopicon van Groot-boeken van de westerse wereld Chicago:... Encyclopaedia Britannica blz. 784)

Volgens sommige religies impliceert onsterfelijkheid dat het wezen dat overleeft haar persoonlijke identiteit zal weten te behouden en verbonden zal worden door het bewuste geheugen met het vorige leven, terwijl anderen denken dat de persoon opnieuw zal horen te beginnen en tot een nieuwe fase in zijn leven zal komen zonder te worden herinnerd aan het oude leven.Sommigen hebben geoordeeld dat na een toekomstig leven van meer of mindere duur de ziel uiteindelijk toch zal vergaan. Doorheen het oosten is er een wijdverbreide neiging om te geloven in zielsverhuizing of transmigratie, dat individuele zielen achtereenvolgens verschillende menselijke wezens, en zelfs de lichamen van lagere dieren zullen animeren. Een bijzondere vorm van deze opvatting is de theorie van de metamorfose, dat in een dergelijke reeks reïncarnaties de ziel verscheidene evoluties en verbetering van de conditie kan ondergaan. (Katholieke Encyclopedie)

Christadelphians en vele Bijbelonderzoekers geloven dat het woord ziel (nephesh of psykhe) zoals gebruikt in de Bijbel een persoon, een dier is, of het leven dat een persoon of dier geniet. Vandaar, de ziel is geen onderdeel van de mens, maar is de gehele mens - de mens als een levend wezen. Vandaar dat wanneer een persoon of dier sterft, de ziel sterft, en dood is en in een toestand van niet-bestaan (Ezechiël 18:4) Hel (Hades of sheool) is geen plaats van vurige pijniging, maar het gemeenschappelijke graf van de mensheid, een plaats van bewusteloosheid, de plaats waar elke stervende persoon naar toe gaat. Diegenen die gestorven zijn moeten wachten tot de wederkomst van Christus om te worden opgenomen uit het graf en te verschijnen  voor de rechterstoel van Jezus om te worden beoordeeld. Jezus was de eerste die werd beloond met hemelse onsterfelijkheid. Na de definitieve uitspraak wordt verwacht dat de rechtvaardigen eeuwig leven zullen ontvangen en eeuwig leven zullen op een veranderde aarde in een paradijs. Vanaf dat moment dat ze, hoewel misschien nog steeds de mogelijkheid zullen hebben om te sterven, zullen zij nooit meer worden geconfronteerd met de dood. Dus merk het onderscheid op dat mensen met 'eeuwige leven' kunnen sterven, alhoewel door de vervulling van de belofte zij niet meer zullen bezwijken voor ziekte of ouderdom, terwijl onsterfelijken niet kunnen sterven door welke oorzaak dan ook.

Volgens de mening van Christadelphian en andere Bijbelonderzoekers over de genade van God wordt deze werkelijkheid in het Loskoopoffer van Jezus Christus, die zijn leven heeft gegeven voor iedereen. Aldus zullen al degenen die gerechtvaardigd zijn hun lichaam, of iets anders, niet meer moeten aanbieden als offer. Zij worden leven in het Koninkrijk van God verleend, zonder enige druk van pijn en dood. Zij zullen volledig, en niet alleen een bepaald deel van hen, genaamd de ziel, kunnen genieten van het leven.
God had voor een plan gezorgd en beloofde heil en een prachtig leven in het Koninkrijk van God. God is gebonden aan de gelovigen hun bezit van hun bewuste leven te bewaren, althans voor enige tijd, na de dood. Alle voorgaande Bijbel profetieën zijn werkelijkheid geworden, waardoor we kunnen geloven dat al de rest wat God beloofde ook werkelijkheid zal worden. In het Koninkrijk van God zal het toekomstige leven worden voortgezet tot in eeuwigheid.

Onsterfelijk, blijvend, levenslang, definitief, perpetueel, permanent, onvergankelijk
altoos, voor altijd, immer, in alle eeuwigheid, voor goed, voor immer, for ever, ad vitam, in perpetuum, in aeternum

onverderfelijk,

eeuwig

onvergankelijkheid, onsterfelijkheid, immortaliteit

eeuwigheid

verduurzamen, bestendigen, in stand houden, perpetueren, vereeuwigen

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Dying or not

Are there people who have no death in them? According to Scriptures nobody is going to escape death. Since what happened in Eden we all have to face pain, ageing, deterioration, dying. Immortality is not given to us worldly people.

We are all going to die, which means that we are going to cease to exist until resurrected.  In death, the grave, there is no knowledge, no remembrance, no praise. There is no extra element of us, an extraordinary being or sort ghost which is going to live on. Man is dust and to dust he returns (see Genesis 3:19; Job 10:9; Psalm 90:3).
A separate soul was not joined to a prepared body when we came into existence on this earth. We were born by receiving the breath of life.  Man became a living soul (being RSV) when the breath of the spirit of life was breathed into his nostrils. "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." (Genesis 2:7, KJV).


All our live we may have chosen to follow God, but this even lets us not live on after our death. Once we come to that point we also shall not be able to feel or do anything anymore. Even not praising God.
"For in death there is no remembrance of thee; in Sheol who can give you praise?" (Psalm 6:5)
"What profit will thee be in my blood when I go down to the pit?  Shall the dust praise thee?  Shall it declare thy truth?" (Psalm 30:9) "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence" (Psalm 115:17). We shall not be able to do anything, even not praise God. Because we would be like in a deep sleep. And we have to wait until we got woken up by Jesus like he called Lazarus (John 11:11). In "the last days", when God will show His power once more on the earth, at "a time of trouble such as never was "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:1-2). Some people will be raised from the dead when Jesus comes and others will sleep forever in the dust of the ground.

We die and return to the earth. If we have died "in Christ" we have that marvellous hope that we will rise again to eternal life. But that is not going to happen straight ahead after our death. That's why believers who have died in the new testament are said to be "asleep" while those who "understand not" as the Psalmist puts it have been destroyed.
Subjectively the dead have no sense of time between the moment of death and that of the resurrection. Objectively, thousands of years may have passed before they shall get resurrected.

“If (God) should set his heart on it, if he should gather to himself his spirit and his breath, All flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust” (Job 34:14,15) and stay dust, but He has given His promises and by those we do find life.

Whilst it is easy to focus on the mention of dust, and to think of the bodily corruption that occurs when anybody dies, think instead about what is being told us about life.
Life is a gift from God. He energised Adam in the Garden of Eden and made it possible for mankind to come into existence and He has perpetuated the race that Adam and Eve fathered.
Someone once said about God: “He gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25), and that generosity is evident all around us, all the time.  Life is the most marvellous thing we
possess: it is God’s free gift to all of us.

He gives and we receive. He is the source of life and we are creatures dependent upon Him. When our breath leaves the body, try as we might, we cannot get it back. Nobody can bring a dead body back to life: when it is dead it is dead. So here is a stark reminder of the difference
between God and mankind: He is immortal and we are not. The Bible often makes that  distinction and that is hard for some people to accept, but see for yourself.

It is our Almighty God who has given immortality to His angels and to only one man. Namely Jesus who at his return to earth will manifest in his own time.  It is this Jesus who shall appear "our Lord Yahshua the Messiah: Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting.  Amen." (1 Timothy 6:14-16 KJBPNV)

If we want it or not, we are the lesser one. We are always given up to death. “For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4:11); “Here mortal men receive tithes…” (Hebrews 7:8).

God alone has inherent immortality. He is the only one who is eternal. Though certain Christian denominations proclaim that we become eternal, this shall always be impossible because we always had somewhere a beginning. And a person who had a beginning can not be eternal because that is one of the implications of eternity, having no beginning and no end.

We are mortal – dying creatures. But God, who first gave mankind the breath of life, can also give us life that lasts forever. The Bible calls this “eternal life” or “immortality” but there you have to be careful how you want to understand that immortality. Please do have before your eyes that you have two forms of immortality: 1. having no way to die or 2. the one (how I would put it and believe in) were we have the possibility in us to die but are give (by grace) the possibility to stay for ever, which is to stay a life in eternity. Here’s one of God’s promises about that wonderful
prospect: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). It is that life for eternal what we can get, because Jesus brought his Ransom Offer. "I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concernmg them which are asleep (he means in death), that ye sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope .... For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven ... with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise . . ." (1 Thessalonians 4:13,16) Christ personally (note "himself") will descend from heaven; and the faithful dead will rise-from the grave of course. Here are basic teachings which are found throughout the New Testament. They are foundation truths of the Gospel. ". . . The hour is coming, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his (Jesus') voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29).

The bad news is that we could earn death; the good news is that there is an alternative. We could be given eternal life: the chance to live forever in a perfect world. What a choice and
what an opportunity!

The reward of the righteous does not consist of some "spirit existence" somewhere; it will be the granting of an incorruptible body, one that will not waste away and perish as our present one does, but will no longer be subject to death.

Not having to endure pain or to be frightened to hurt ourselves or to die we shall be able to enter the "paradise" of the new Kingdom of peace and joy which Christ will establish when he returns to the earth.

Those who have listened to what God has to say, have taken the time to understand it, and who have made those promises their life’s aim, they shall, when they have repented and chosen to keep God's Commandments, be able to trust the Lord and shall receive the opportunity to live for eternal in God's Kingdom as true members of the family of God .

The Bible explains that we must be baptised if we want to enter the Kingdom of God and start to live with Him, here and now. It was the Lord himself who said: “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and he went on to explain that this means that we must be born again “of water and the Spirit” (3:5). do not postpone it, because you never what tomorrow brings.

Dutch version / Nederlandstalige versie: Al of niet onsterfelijkheid

Monday 8 November 2010

Onsterfelijkheid - Immortaliteit

Under the Tag "Onsterfelijkheid" (Immortality) you shall be able to find articles about the quality or condition of being immortal in the sense of having endless life or existence.

The the quality or state of being immortal, having or receiving an unending existence.

The articles shall look at the condition of being exempt from death or destruction, of living for ever. We shall bring forward that there are several doctrines about this matter were in many religions and philosophies there is spoken of a immortality of one part of a person and in a few instances there is a forthright belief in immortality of the body, but rare.

Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of living in a physical or spiritual form for an infinite length of time. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)


According the Catholic Encyclopedia immortality is ordinarily understood as the doctrine that the human soul will survive death, continuing in the possession of an endless conscious existence. Together with the question of the existence of God, it forms the most momentous issue with which philosophy has to deal. It belongs primarily to rational or metaphysical psychology and the philosophy of religion, though it comes also into contact with other branches of philosophy and some of the natural sciences.


Physical immortality or a state of life that allows a person to avoid death and maintain conscious thought can be there from the beginning or can enter after a stadium according certain believers. It can mean the unending existence of a person from a physical source other than organic life. By definition, all causes of death must be overcome or avoided for physical immortality to be achieved.

Biological immortality is an absence of ageing, specifically the absence of a sustained increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience ageing, or ceases to age at some point, is biologically immortal. (Wikipedia)

Spiritual immortality is the unending existence of a person from a non-physical source, or in a non-physical state, such as a soul. Specifically 'soul immortality' is a belief that is expressed in nearly every religious tradition. However any doctrine in this area misleads without a prior definition of 'soul'. Another problem is that 'soul' is often confused and used synonymously or interchangeably with 'spirit'. (Wikipedia)

The doctrine of immortality is essential to many of the world's religions. Many religions promise their faithful an eternal paradise in an afterlife. These presume perfection, as they are part of a divine plan, and are categorically desirable.


Adam and Eve lost physical immortality for themselves and all their descendants in the Fall of Man, though this initial "imperishability of the bodily frame of man" was "a preternatural condition." (Adler, Mortimer J., ed., et al. (1952). The Great Ideas: A Syntopicon of Great Books of the Western World. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. p. 784.)



According to some religions immortality
implies that the being which survives shall preserve its personal identity and be connected by conscious memory with the previous life, while others think the person shall start afresh and enter an new phase in his life without to be remembered to the old life.
Some have held that after a future life of greater or less duration the soul will ultimately perish. Throughout the East there has been a widespread tendency to believe in metempsychosis or transmigration—that individual souls successively animate different human beings, and even the bodies of lower animals. A special form of this view is the theory of metamorphosis, that in such a series of reincarnations the soul undergoes or can undergo evolution and improvement of its condition. (Catholic Encyclopedia)

Christadelphians and many Bible Students believe the word soul (nephesh or psykhe) as used in the Bible is a person, an animal, or the life a person or animal enjoys. Hence, the soul is not part of man, but is the whole man — man as a living being. Hence, when a person or animal dies, the soul dies, and death is a state of non-existence (Ezekiel 18:4) Hell (Hades or Sheol) not being a place of fiery torment, but rather the common grave of humankind, a place of unconsciousness is the place were every dying person goes to. Those death have to wait until the return of Christ to be taken out of the grave and to appear in front of Jesus to be judged. Jesus was the first to be rewarded with heavenly immortality. After the final judgment, it is expected that the righteous will receive eternal life and live forever in an Earth turned into a paradise. From that moment they, though perhaps still having the possibility to die, shall never have to face death again. So notice the distinction that those with 'eternal life' can die though they do not succumb to disease or old age, whereas immortal ones cannot die by any cause.

In the Christadelphian and other Bible Students idea the Grace of God becomes reality in the Ransom offer of Jesus Christ who has given his life for all, so those who are justified shall not have to offer their body, or anything else, any more. They shall be granted life in the Kingdom of God without any pressure of pain and death. They fully, and not just a certain part of them called soul, shall be able to enjoy life.

God had foreseen a Plan and promised salvation and a marvellous life in the Kingdom of God. God is bound to preserve the believers in possession of its conscious life, at least for some time, after death. All previous Bible prophesies have come to reality, so we may believe that all the rest God promised shall also become reality. In the Kingdom of God the future life is to continue for ever.



Onder de tag "Onsterfelijkheid" zal u in staat zijn om artikelen over de kwaliteit of de conditie van het onsterfelijk zijn, in de zin van het hebben van  of het bestaan van eeuwig leven te vinden.

De de kwaliteit of de staat van het onsterfelijk zijn, het hebben van of het ontvangen van een eindeloze bestaan.
De artikelen zulllen bekijken hoe het al of niet mogelijk is dat er een conditie bestaat waarbij men
vrijgesteld  kan worden van de dood of vernietiging van leven voor altijd. We zullen naar voor brengen dat er verschillende doctrines over deze kwestie zijn in veel religies en filosofieën waarin er gesproken wordt over een onsterfelijkheid van een deel van een persoon en in enkele zeldzame gevallen waar er een openhartig geloof in onsterfelijkheid van het lichaam is.

Onsterfelijkheid (of het eeuwige leven) is het concept van het leven in een fysieke of spirituele vorm voor een oneindige lengte van de tijd. (Concise Oxford Dictionary)
Volgens de Katholieke Encyclopedie wordt
onsterfelijkheid gewoonlijk opgevat als de leer dat de menselijke ziel na de dood zal overleven en in het bezit blijft van een eindeloze bewust bestaan. Samen met de kwestie van het bestaan van God, vormen zij het meest gedenkwaardige probleem met welk filosofie te maken heeft. Het behoort in de eerste plaats tot rationele of metafysische psychologie en de filosofie van de religie, maar het komt ook in contact met andere takken van de filosofie en een aantal van de natuurwetenschappen.



Fysieke onsterfelijkheid of een staat van leven dat een persoon de dood kan voorkomen en de bewuste gedachte kan
onderhouden vanaf het begin of na een stadium kan hiertoe kan komen  volgens bepaalde gelovigen. Het kan betekenen dat het eindeloze bestaan van een persoon uit een fysieke andere bron dan het organische leven zou kunnen zijn.
Per definitie moeten alle doodsoorzaken worden overwonnen of voorkomen om fysieke onsterfelijkheid te bereiken.
Biologische onsterfelijkheid is een afwezigheid van de vergrijzing, met name het ontbreken van het ouder worden, een afwezigheid van aanhoudende stijging van sterfte als functie van de chronologische leeftijd. Een cel of organisme zal indien het onsterfelijk is dan ook niet ervaren ouder te worden, of niet langer aan leeftijd gebonden zijn op een bepaald punt, om biologisch onsterfelijk te zijn.
Geestelijke onsterfelijkheid is het oneindige bestaan van een persoon uit een niet-fysieke bron, of in een niet-fysieke toestand, zoals een ziel. Specifiek 'ziel onsterfelijkheid' is een geloof dat wordt uitgedrukt in bijna elke religieuze traditie. Maar elke doctrine op dit gebied misleidt zonder voorafgaande definitie van 'ziel'. Een ander probleem is dat 'ziel' vaak verward en als synoniem of door elkaar met 'geest' gebruikt
wordt.

De leer van de onsterfelijkheid is essentieel voor tal van religies van de wereld. Veel religies beloven hun getrouwen een eeuwig paradijs in een hiernamaals. Deze leerstelling veronderstelt perfectie, omdat ze deel uitmaakt van een goddelijk plan, en is categorisch wenselijk.
Adam en Eva verloren fysieke onsterfelijkheid voor zichzelf en al hun nakomelingen door hun zondeval, hoewel deze eerste "onvergankelijkheid van de lichamelijke frame van de mens"  "een bovennatuurlijke toestand." was (Adler, Mortimer J., red., et al. (1952) de grote ideeën:... Een Syntopicon van Groot-boeken van de westerse wereld Chicago:... Encyclopaedia Britannica blz. 784)

Volgens sommige religies impliceert onsterfelijkheid dat het wezen dat overleeft haar persoonlijke identiteit zal weten te behouden en verbonden zal worden door het bewuste geheugen met het vorige leven, terwijl anderen denken dat de persoon opnieuw zal horen te beginnen en tot een nieuwe fase in zijn leven zal komen zonder te worden herinnerd aan het oude leven.Sommigen hebben geoordeeld dat na een toekomstig leven van meer of mindere duur de ziel uiteindelijk toch zal vergaan. Doorheen het oosten is er een wijdverbreide neiging om te geloven in zielsverhuizing of transmigratie, dat individuele zielen achtereenvolgens verschillende menselijke wezens, en zelfs de lichamen van lagere dieren zullen animeren. Een bijzondere vorm van deze opvatting is de theorie van de metamorfose, dat in een dergelijke reeks reïncarnaties de ziel verscheidene evoluties en verbetering van de conditie kan ondergaan. (Katholieke Encyclopedie)

Christadelphians en vele Bijbelonderzoekers geloven dat het woord ziel (nephesh of psykhe) zoals gebruikt in de Bijbel een persoon, een dier is, of het leven dat een persoon of dier geniet. Vandaar, de ziel is geen onderdeel van de mens, maar is de gehele mens - de mens als een levend wezen. Vandaar dat wanneer een persoon of dier sterft, de ziel sterft, en dood is en in een toestand van niet-bestaan (Ezechiël 18:4) Hel (Hades of sheool) is geen plaats van vurige pijniging, maar het gemeenschappelijke graf van de mensheid, een plaats van bewusteloosheid, de plaats waar elke stervende persoon naar toe gaat. Diegenen die gestorven zijn moeten wachten tot de wederkomst van Christus om te worden opgenomen uit het graf en te verschijnen  voor de rechterstoel van Jezus om te worden beoordeeld. Jezus was de eerste die werd beloond met hemelse onsterfelijkheid. Na de definitieve uitspraak wordt verwacht dat de rechtvaardigen eeuwig leven zullen ontvangen en eeuwig leven zullen op een veranderde aarde in een paradijs. Vanaf dat moment dat ze, hoewel misschien nog steeds de mogelijkheid zullen hebben om te sterven, zullen zij nooit meer worden geconfronteerd met de dood. Dus merk het onderscheid op dat mensen met 'eeuwige leven' kunnen sterven, alhoewel door de vervulling van de belofte zij niet meer zullen bezwijken voor ziekte of ouderdom, terwijl onsterfelijken niet kunnen sterven door welke oorzaak dan ook.

Volgens de mening van Christadelphian en andere Bijbelonderzoekers over de genade van God wordt deze werkelijkheid in het Loskoopoffer van Jezus Christus, die zijn leven heeft gegeven voor iedereen. Aldus zullen al degenen die gerechtvaardigd zijn hun lichaam, of iets anders, niet meer moeten aanbieden als offer. Zij worden leven in het Koninkrijk van God verleend, zonder enige druk van pijn en dood. Zij zullen volledig, en niet alleen een bepaald deel van hen, genaamd de ziel, kunnen genieten van het leven.
God had voor een plan gezorgd en beloofde heil en een prachtig leven in het Koninkrijk van God. God is gebonden aan de gelovigen hun bezit van hun bewuste leven te bewaren, althans voor enige tijd, na de dood. Alle voorgaande Bijbel profetieën zijn werkelijkheid geworden, waardoor we kunnen geloven dat al de rest wat God beloofde ook werkelijkheid zal worden. In het Koninkrijk van God zal het toekomstige leven worden voortgezet tot in eeuwigheid.

Onsterfelijk, blijvend, levenslang, definitief, perpetueel, permanent, onvergankelijk
altoos, voor altijd, immer, in alle eeuwigheid, voor goed, voor immer, for ever, ad vitam, in perpetuum, in aeternum

onverderfelijk,

eeuwig

onvergankelijkheid, onsterfelijkheid, immortaliteit

eeuwigheid

verduurzamen, bestendigen, in stand houden, perpetueren, vereeuwigen


Lees ook: Al of niet onsterfelijkheid

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