Snoozeville or Heaven, Part 3 already

My new co-worker and I have been talking a lot when we've worked together. The boss doesn't mind, for three reasons. One---this gentleman is also a Christian, two----she has seen that even when we disagree on a matter, there is no conflict and three---we don't fall behind when we talk because we both have the capacity to work right along while talking. There has been some real laughter too, and that is always welcome in our workplace.

Yesterday, he again brought up the subject of whether or not the soul "sleeps" when the body dies. He is dwelling on a particular verse, Ecclesiastes 9:10, which reads; "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going." This verse is largely on what he bases his belief in "soul sleep."

He told me that the Bible states that the "dead have no knowledge" and are therefore not conscious of anything. He was again referring to Ecclesiastes 9:5. "For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten." This sparked quite a discussion. I asked him, "Who is dead, and who are the living?" I asked him if dead referred to the body or the soul, or to the saved and the unsaved?

A written word should be properly understood within the context in which it is being used, otherwise, what the reader interprets from a passage may end up being something entirely different than what the author intended. The same word used in one passage, may not mean the same thing when used in another passage. "Illegitimate totality transfer," is a term that some use to describe when the particular meaning of a word in context is transferred to every other place in which the word is used. I believe my new co-worker is making this error with the word, "dead."

I did finally remember to remind him of the Lord's account of Lazarus and the rich man, where both men were dead and buried, but continued to be conscious in their different predicaments in the spiritual realm. He said that he had considered that, but that he didn't take the account literally. I told him that I did. Jesus called this man by his name, and that I doubt that He would have done that were it not truly a man who had lived and walked upon the earth. Even the least tacitly deceptive type of reference is beyond the infinitely pure God. He could not throw out a name like that (But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus) if the man had not truly existed. This is just my opinion, but my co-worker is at least considering it.

I told him that I believe as always that our best example of how life should be lived is Jesus, and that as He lived and died and was resurrected, so shall we. I asked him to remember that at His gravesite He told Mary not to cling to Him, to His body, because He hadn't yet ascended to the Father, bodily. My co-worker asked me then where I thought Jesus was in the time between His death and His resurrection. I told him that His soul went straight to the Father, and that His body lay in the tomb, and that just as He was reunited with His body and His body was glorified, the same thing will happen to us, just the way that it is spoken of in 1st Thessalonians 4:13-17.

He asked me then if I thought Jesus went down into Hell at His death. Sheesh. One thing at a time, please.