Souls

Creation of the earth and man #23 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #7 Corporeal and spiritual change

Christadelphians5 Comments

In the previous chapters we have looked at the corporeal change of those, who have first been morally renewed unto knowledge after the image of Him that had created them from “sinful flesh” into spirit, which is an absolute necessity, before they can inherit the Kingdom of God. After people get to know God’s Word and come to understand Who created the earth and Who had sent His son for the good of man they shall have to come to see that even when we still have to face death in this system of things we may live by the hope of something better to come.

Though we have the sleep in death and shall perhaps have to face very difficult times, even facing persecution we should be convinced not to sorrow as the others. We should not react like the unbelievers, who may react heavily because they do not have such a hope the followers of Jeshua have.
For if we have given ourselves to become disciples of the sent one from God believe that this son of God, Jesus, died and rose again, we do have our hope in him because knowing that God can not die, but the son of man Jesus really died, we have hope in this example God has given the world. This man of flesh and blood is really take out of the dead and taken up in the skies to sit next to God, not on God’s throne, but at His right hand.

These who take Jesus to be their god and think no man is capable to be sinless and doing God’s Will, make from God a cruel God Who created beings who were not capable to follow His commandments. They deny the resurrection of the dead and are refuting God’s Power to have man following His commandments. Those gainsayers are as such believing that man can only do his own will and not believing that man is capable to transform and to become changed into spirit, or immortalized, by the Son of Man, doing God’s Will.

The believers in Jeshua, him being the son of God and not making him into a god son, may comfort one another with the words which are given to us in the Bible.

It will be seen from this, that survivors of the dead were not consoled in the first age of Christianity for the loss of their friends as they are now by those who “improve the death” of the influential among them. In “funeral sermons”, the “immortal souls” of the deceased are transported “on angels’ wings to heaven”, and the living are consoled with the assurance that they are singing the praises of God around the throne; feasting with Abraham, and the prophets, with the saints and martyrs, and with Jesus and his apostles in the Kingdom of God; and they are themselves persuaded, that the souls of their relations, now become angels, are watching over them, and praying for them; and that when they die their own souls will be re-united with them in the realms of bliss.

Need I say to the man enlightened in the word, that there is no such comfort, or consolation, as this in the law and the testimony of God?

A Goblin or legendary evil or mischievous grotesque dwarf-like daemon or monster that appeared in European stories and accounts during the Middle Ages. – Goblin from Warhammer

Such traditions are purely mythological; and come of the Nicolaitan dogma of saved “ghosts, and goblins damn’d” which has cancerously extirpated “the truth as it is in Jesus”.
No, the apostles did not point men to the day of their death, and its immediate consequents, for comfort; nor did they administer the consolations of the gospel to any who had not obeyed it. They offered comfort only to the disciples; for they only are the heirs with Jesus of the Kingdom of God. They taught these to look to the coming of Christ, and to the resurrection, as the time of a re-union with their brethren in the faith. At death, they should

“rest from their labours, and their works should follow them”;

and

“to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation”. {a Heb. 9:28.}

Such were the practical and intelligible “words” with which the apostles comforted their brethren; but words which have become sealed and cabalistic, both to the unlearned and “the wise”.

The Unisphere, attributed to “uribe”/Uri Baruchin

In conclusion, then, as far as power is concerned, God could have created all things upon a spiritual or incorruptible basis at once. The globe could have been filled with men and women, equal to the angels in nature, power, and intellect, on the sixth day; but the world would have been without a history, and its population characterless. This, however, would not have been according to the plan. The animal must precede the spiritual as the acorn goes before the oak. This will explain many difficulties which are created by systems; and which will for ever remain inexplicable upon the hypotheses they invent. The Bible has to do with things, not imaginations; with bodies, not phantasmata; with “living souls” of every species; with corporeal beings of other worlds; and with incorruptible and undying men; but it is as mute as death, and silent as the grave, having nothing at all to say about such “souls” as men pretend to “cure”; except to repudiate them as a part of that “philosophy and vain deceit”, {b. Col. 2:8} “which some professing have erred concerning the faith.” {c  1 Tim. 6:21}

– Thomas, D. J.; Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 45–46). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

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Notes & quotes

a Hebrews 9:28 (ESV): 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

b Colossians 2:8 (ESV): 8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

c 1 Timothy 6:21 (ESV): 21 for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.
Grace be with you.

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Preceding article:

Creation of the earth and man #22 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #6 Spirits, spiritual bodies and illusory perception

Necessity of a revelation of creation 11 Believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God

Bible, God speaking words profitable for doctrine, for reproof and for correction

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Additional readings

  1. Bible, sword of the Spirit to come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man
  2. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
  3. The chosen ones to fear or not to fear
  4. God won’t ask
  5. Kingdom of God, a journey
  6. The one who set the standard
  7. Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them
  8. Signs of the the last days when difficult times will come
  9. After the Sabbath after Passover, the resurrection of Jesus Christ
  10. Jesus is risen
  11. Outflow of foundational relationship based on acceptance of Jesus
  12. Exceeding Great and Precious Promise
  13. Invitation to all who believe
  14. Dying or not
  15. Immortality, eternality – onsterfelijkheid, eeuwigheid
  16. God’s wrath and sanctification
  17. With God All Things Are Possible
  18. The world is but a great inn
  19. A concrete picture of what is to come in the future
  20. Empire with Jesus the emperor
  21. The builder of the Kingdom
  22. Not all will inherit the Kingdom
  23. Receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken
  24. A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
  25. Elul Observances
  26. January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works
  27. Salvation and Righteousness
  28. We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”
  29. Failing Man to make free choice
  30. Knowing where to go to
  31. A Living Faith #1 Substance of things hoped for
  32. Faith and trial
  33. Faith Alone Does Not Save . . . No Matter How Many Times Protestants Say It Does
  34. A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
  35. A Living Faith #6 Sacrifice
  36. First man’s task still counting today
  37. He who knows himself, is kind to others
  38. Luther’s misunderstanding
  39. January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works
  40. Our life depending on faith
  41. Romans 4 and the Sacraments
  42. Is Justification a process?
  43. Letter to the Romans, chapter 3
  44. Letter to the Romans, chapter 4
  45. Additional comments to the 3rd Letter to the Romans
  46. Additional comments to the Letter to the Romans 4
  47. Comments to James remarks, about Faith and works
  48. Be holy
  49. Those who make peace should plant peace like a seed
  50. Times of the Gentiles
  51. How do you keep people from stealing your joy?
  52. Learn how to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News of the coming Kingdom
  53. Bringing Good News into the world
  54. United people under Christ
  55. The work of the angels in guiding national affairs

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Further related articles

  1. You believe in one God? Good, so do the other gods.
  2. Weeping and gnashing of teeth
  3. Bible, God speaking words profitable for doctrine, for reproof and for correctionSatan in the New Testament (2)
  4. Satan in the New Testament (3): The Devil and his angels
  5. Angels and Princes in Daniel 10
  6. Bible, God speaking words profitable for doctrine, for reproof and for correction Was David “a man after God’s own heart”?
  7. Jesus on hell (1)
  8. Waiting
  9. Kingdom Timing
  10. …as is Israel’s eternal duty…
  11. …as is Israel’s eternal duty. part 2.
  12. On the Joy Train I Go!
  13. Kingdom of God – river of lifeThe Kingdom of God and Non-Violence (Part 2)
  14. The kingdom of heaven is the Christian disciple’s true home
  15. The Kingdom’s Authority
  16. Why We Shouldn’t Call Ourselves Born-Again Christians
  17. New Creation: Here, But Not Yet
  18. The Return of The Native
  19. Next Scheduled Stop: The Judgment Seat of Christ (Part 3)
  20. The faithful remnant
  21. Unseen Servants
  22. You’re not a Slave, You’re a Son
  23. Have Courage!
  24. Jesus’ First Sermon (Mark 1. 14-15)
  25. Politics, Christianity, and the End of the World
  26. Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
  27. Rhymer of God series (#3)
  28. Not a Christian Bubble
  29. The Poor in Spirit (Matt. 5:3)
  30. (In)justice and (in)action
  31. Kingdom of the Son
  32. Go with the Flow
  33. A Bus Called Heaven. Bob Graham
  34. Stand Up For Jesus
  35. Third Friday in Ordinary Time
  36. Third Sunday in Ordinary Time: Are you Working to Fulfill Scripture?
  37. Going Home
  38. Quaker Faith & Practice for the 21st Century: IIj
  39. God is Jehovah Jireh – The LORD Will Provide
  40. Lay Your Burden Down And Let God Be God And Just Be Yourself
  41. Michael Horton Differentiates Law and Gospel
  42. The Subnormal Christian Life
  43. 14 How to Work Your Way to Hell

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Related articles

Creation of the earth and man #15 Formation of man #7 Living creatures of the natural world

Christadelphians3 Comments

From these testimonies it is manifest that the ruach or spirit is all pervading. It is in heaven, in sheol, or the dust of the deepest hollow, in the uttermost depths of the sea, in the darkness, in the light, and in all things animate, and without life. It is a universal principle in the broadest, or rather, in an illimitable sense. It is the substratum of all motion, whether manifested in the diurnal and ellipsoidal revolutions of the planets, in the flux and reflux of the sea, in the storms and tempests of the expanse, or in the organism of reptiles, cattle, beasts, fish, fowl, vegetables, or men. The atmospheric expanse is charged with it; but it is not the air: plants and animals of all species breathe it; but it is not their breath: yet without it, though filled with air, they would die.
File:Earth's atmosphere.svgThe atmosphere, which extends some forty-five miles in altitude, and encircles the globe, is styled the expanse, by Moses; and the breath of God, in Job. It is a compound body, consisting, when pure, of nitrogen and oxygen, in the proportion of 79 of the former and 21 of the latter, in 100 parts.* These are considered as simple bodies, because they have not yet been decomposed; though it is probable they have a base, which may be the ruach. This may exist free or combined with the elementary constituents of the neshemeh. Uncombined, it is that wonderful fluid, whose explosions are heard in the thunder, whose fiery bolts overthrow the loftiest towers, and rive the sturdy monarchs of the woods; and in less intensity gives polarity to light, the needle, and the brain. These three together, the oxygen, nitrogen, and electricity, constitute “the breath“ and “spirit” of the lives of all God’s living souls.

File:Rouach-goslar.jpg
Statue representing the Rouach (ruach) Holy Spirit in the church market (Marktkirche) Goslar; contemporary work

Thus, from the centre of the earth, and extending throughout all space in every direction, is the Ruach Elohim, the existence of which is demonstrable from the phenomena of the natural system of things. It penetrates where the neshermet el, or atmospheric air, cannot. When speaking, however, of the motivity and sustentation of organized dust, or souls, they are co-existent within them. In this case, the ruach Elohim becomes the ruach chayim, or “spirit of lives”; and the neshemet el, the neshemet chayim, or “breath of lives”; and both combined in the elaboration and support of life, the neshemet ruach chayim, or “breath of the spirit of lives”. Living creatures, or souls, are not animated, as physiologists and speculative “divines” erroneously imagine, by “a vital principle”, capable of disembodied existence as the ghost of a man, or the transmigrating spectres of other animal species: — ghostly things, the laws and functions of which in the animal economy physiologists are unable to discover; and theologists are nonplussed to prove the existence of from the word of God. On the contrary, “souls” are “made living” by the coetaneous operation of the ruach chayim and neshemet chayim upon their organized tissues according to certain fixed laws. When the as yet occult laws of the all-pervading ruach, or spirit, shall be known, this subject will be understood; and men will then be as astonished at the ignorance of the “divines” and physiologists of this “cloudy and dark day”, respecting “living souls”, as we are at the notion of the ancients, that their ”immortal gods“ resided in the stocks and stones they so stupidly adored. This, however, is quite as reasonable a theory as that of “immortal souls” dwelling in sinners of Adam’s race.

The ruach chayim and neshemet chayim are lent to the creatures of the natural world for the appointed period of their living existence. But, though lent to them, they are still God’s breath, and God’s spirit; nevertheless, to distinguish them from the expanse of air and spirit in their totality, they are sometimes styled, “the spirit of man”, and “the spirit of the beast”; or collectively, “the spirits of all flesh”, and “their breath”. Thus, it is written,

“They have all one ruach, or spirit; so that man hath no pre-eminence over a beast; for all is vanity or vapour.”

“All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.” {a}

And in the sense of supplying to every living creature, or soul, “spirit” and “breath”, Jehovah is styled by Moses,

“God of the spirits of all flesh”. {b}

Besides the ruach and neshemeh without, there are certain elementary principles, in a state of combination, within all living souls, which are related to them by fixed and appropriate laws, for the manifestation of living actions. The light to the eye, and the eye to the light; so also, the breath and the spirit of God to the constituents of blood, and the blood to them. These, acting and re-acting upon each other in the lungs of all breathing frames, cause that motion throughout their structure which is termed life. The following testimonies will throw some light upon this part of our subject.

– Thomas, D. J.; Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 34–35). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

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Notes:

  • *. Since this was written argon and other rare gases have been discovered; but all scientific research favours the hypothesis here laid down.—Publisher.

  • {a} Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 (ESV):19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

  • {b}: Numbers 27:16 (ESV): 16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation

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Preceding article:

Creation of the earth and man #14 Formation of man #6 The Uncreated One, neshemet ruach chayim and nephesh

to be continued

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Further readings:

  1. The In-Between
  2. 10 September ― 3 ‘Izzat
  3. Contemplation
  4. Our Place
  5. Saints and Souls and Fairies
  6. The Petition For Souls
  7. What awakens our soul?
  8. Divinity of man.
  9. Time of Souls aka Halloween in Estonia
  10. Transhumanism in Light of the Bible
  11. Your Soul Is The Prize

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