What is a "soul?"

[Charlie744]

7 minutes ago, Frits said:

Hi bro,

Thanks Charlie for your extensive response, this will bring us even further into the subject. Nice to do this together!

"I did mention that" Solomon AND MANY OTHERS "in the Scriptures have spoken on death being" as sleep ".... and this would include Jesus Himself. He specifically told His disciples that Lazarus was not dead by asleep ....
(once again, my opinion)."

Quite correct. When the Christian dies, he/she is not dead but lives with the Lord Jesus, in His heavenly Kingdom. Hallelujah!

The Lord Jesus spoke about the 'sleep' of Lazarus —means, "God is my help" —because the person who 'goes to sleep' is by no means dead, he has only temporarily withdrawn from his earthly activities.

(Solomon)
"He was THE MOST INTELLIGENT MAN WITH WISDOM THAT HAD AND MOST LIKELY WOULD EVER EXIST - AND THIS WAS GIVEN TO HIM BY GOD HIMSELF. God certainly wanted him to put all of the wisdom FROM GOD to us for our benefit and salvation."

It is true, Solomon was initially a very wise man, but the Lord Jesus said: 'and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.' (Mt.12:42)
Solomon's wisdom consistently applied to everything that was "under the sun," that is, everything that concerned earthly  natural life. (v13)

The wisdom of the Lord Jesus, however, is from 'above' and concerns the invisible Kingdom of heaven.
This requires the baptism with the Holy Ghost, who searches even the innermost thoughts of God. (1Cor.2:10) (Oh, I love my Lord Jesus!)

Hence the Lord Jesus could say:

'... but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.' (Lk.7:28)

Now, many adherents of the-soul-dies-too-theory have built their entire paradigm right on Ecclesiastes 9:5.
Think, for example, of the Adventists and the Jehovah Witness. Following the example of the Jewish Sadducees!

But King Solomon in 9:1-5 was not talking about (escaping) his hundreds of wives, but rather about the lives of good people and the lives of sinners. (v3)
After their death, according to Solomon, neither of them know anything anymore!
In v10 he says, "for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."

Then I notice that the apostle John wrote:

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors;  and their works do follow them. (Rev.14:13)
 

And with that, Solomon said something different from what the Lord Jesus taught us.  Solomon had limited insight, while the Lord Jesus Christ has ALL insight, He IS the truth and He has brought us the knowledge of the full truth.
Jesus Christ has begun to reveal things which have been kept secret since the foundation of the world. (Mt.13:35)

Did God make mistakes in the Bible?  NO, definitely not!
How, then, is it that Solomon has written something completely different from what the Lord Jesus taught us?

'And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.  Believest thou this?'
(Jn.11:26)

The answer to these and many other questions is that the Old Testament prophets had a very limited understanding of the Kingdom of Heaven. Heaven was closed and they wrote down a great amount of valuables, without understanding or explaining them themselves.
After all, in the first place they did not serve themselves either with their prophecies and writings, but they served us with that. (1Pt.1:10)

I'm now going to give you a small example.

In 2 Samuel it says:

"The LORD was angry with Israel again, and he made David think it would be a good idea to count the people in Israel and Judah." (2Sam.24:1)

Then in 1 Chronicles it says:

"And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." (1Ch.21:1)

Well now who prompted David to number the people, the devil or God?
We know from the New Testament, from the letter of James, that God the Father does not tempt anyone.
(Jm.1:13)

So the correct answer must be that the devil provoked David to number the people! Which is also admitted by David in verse 10, that he had sinned.

Thanks to God, we can open the Old Testament with the bright Light of the New Testament.

God bless you.

Thank you Fritz, it is always nice to read your responses and comments!

You clearly have put some time and consideration in your response and it only adds to the quality of these posts.

Your correct also that even given so much “unnatural” wisdom from God Himself, Solomon used in in a worldly way... He was just human, but He still was given truth to place in the Scriptures for our benefit. 

We might want to drill down a little further on whether Solomon and John are saying something different... I am not sure they are.

Also, regarding my comments/remarks in my previous post about Solomon’s 700 wives and his desire to “get away from them”, ALL of that was meant to be a joke! Sorry it did not come across that way. 

Look forward to your response, Charlie 

 

[Your closest friendnt]

10 minutes ago, Charlie744 said:

Thank you Fritz, it is always nice to read your responses and comments!

You clearly have put some time and consideration in your response and it only adds to the quality of these posts.

Your correct also that even given so much “unnatural” wisdom from God Himself, Solomon used in in a worldly way... He was just human, but He still was given truth to place in the Scriptures for our benefit. 

We might want to drill down a little further on whether Solomon and John are saying something different... I am not sure they are.

Also, regarding my comments/remarks in my previous post about Solomon’s 700 wives and his desire to “get away from them”, ALL of that was meant to be a joke! Sorry it did not come across that way. 

Look forward to your response, Charlie 

 

Can you please elaborate a little bit in what matter Solomon and John said the same thing, without prejudice. 

[Charlie744]

2 minutes ago, Your closest friendnt said:

Can you please elaborate a little bit in what matter Solomon and John said the same thing, without prejudice. 

In your response above you mentioned Solomon stated that “there is no more under the sun... etc.” meaning the dead know nothing.

In your Revelation reference it says, “they will rest from their labors... and their works do follow them”. 

If I understand correctly, you may be saying these two verses are in contradiction to each other? 

Charlie

[Frits]

20 minutes ago, Charlie744 said:

Thank you Fritz, it is always nice to read your responses and comments!

You clearly have put some time and consideration in your response and it only adds to the quality of these posts.

Your correct also that even given so much “unnatural” wisdom from God Himself, Solomon used in in a worldly way... He was just human, but He still was given truth to place in the Scriptures for our benefit. 

We might want to drill down a little further on whether Solomon and John are saying something different... I am not sure they are.

Also, regarding my comments/remarks in my previous post about Solomon’s 700 wives and his desire to “get away from them”, ALL of that was meant to be a joke! Sorry it did not come across that way. 

Look forward to your response, Charlie 

 

Charlie

In essence, what I am concerned with is that said the-soul-dies-too adherents, reject the words of the Lord Jesus.
With that they reject Him!
By their "teachings" they are trying to get the children of God back into the darkness!

They separate God's children from the Holy Spirit, by denying that He has given us eternal life today and that we continue to maintain it throughout all eternities.

And their paradigm is largely based on Solomon's statements in Ecclesiastes 9.
Solomon could be excused because his wisdom was limited to the earthly, the visible "under the sun".
The-soul-dies-too adherents are not, for one can come to a knowledge of the truth and be baptized in water and with the Holy Spirit, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Gby, Frits

[Charlie744]

2 minutes ago, Frits said:

Charlie

In essence, what I am concerned with is that said the-soul-dies-too adherents, reject the words of the Lord Jesus.
With that they reject Him!
By their "teachings" they are trying to get the children of God back into the darkness!

They separate God's children from the Holy Spirit, by denying that He has given us eternal life today and that we continue to maintain it throughout all eternities.

And their paradigm is largely based on Solomon's statements in Ecclesiastes 9.
Solomon could be excused because his wisdom was limited to the earthly, the visible "under the sun".
The-soul-dies-too adherents are not, for one can come to a knowledge of the truth and be baptized in water and with the Holy Spirit, in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Gby, Frits

Fritz, I apologize because I am not understanding your comment... sorry... I guess I am too tired and just not getting your message.

Also, what does Gby mean?

Is that goodby for now?

Charlie

[Justin Adams]

2 minutes ago, Charlie744 said:

Fritz, I apologize because I am not understanding your comment... sorry... I guess I am too tired and just not getting your message.

Also, what does Gby mean?

Is that goodby for now?

Charlie

GBY, God Bless You. I think Fritz is alluding to the folk that say upon death, everything dies. Body, soul, spirit.

[Justin Adams]

I do not see that idea as a coherent thought. God says, do not fear them that can kill the body, but Him that can kill the soul also. This implies a lot.

[Charlie744]

5 minutes ago, Justin Adams said:

GBY, God Bless You. I think Fritz is alluding to the folk that say upon death, everything dies. Body, soul, spirit.

Thank God! I thought it might be “go bite yourself” but Fritz would never say such a thing... well, not again!

Charlie

[Frits]

54 minutes ago, Charlie744 said:

Fritz, I apologize because I am not understanding your comment... sorry... I guess I am too tired and just not getting your message.

Also, what does Gby mean?

Is that goodby for now?

Charlie

Who is the first to think of?

God

What does He do?

He blesses

Who?

you.

Gby.

[Frits]

1 hour ago, Justin Adams said:

I do not see that idea as a coherent thought. God says, do not fear them that can kill the body, but Him that can kill the soul also. This implies a lot.

Hi Justin,

I was dead from my own sins and crimes. (Ep.2:1)
Then I was without God and I was in the darkness!
But the Lord Jesus sought me out and found me, and He raised me to life through His Word, by forgiving my sins.  Praise His holy Name!
Then the second grace: He gave me His Holy Ghost and I may, connected with God, share in His eternal life.
This applies to all sinners who convert(ed) to the Lord Jesus.
But the unrepentant, the unwilling, the God-haters, the anti-Christ, as well as the false prophets, the wrath of God remains upon them to the end. (Jh.3:36, 1Th.2:16)

They do NOT get life but come with the devil into the lake of fire. There is no way back or escape from it!

If the sinner does not cling to his sins but repents and calls on the Name of Christ, the Lord Jesus will save him.
The greater fear applies to those who never repent, so that God's Spirit cannot make contact with them, and there is nothing left for Him but to leave them to the eternal fire!