walt
Jesus is King & Mighty God Isa.9:6-7; Lk.1:32-33
Thank You, I was wanting to do something a little different this time, to consider the words in each scripture as valuable, one scripture at a time.Within the context of Ecc 12:7, I believe that the word spirit means the soul.
So, after the physical body dies and returns to the ground the soul returns to God.
That is essentially what Baha'is believe, that the soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attains the presence of God.
“And now concerning thy question regarding the soul of man and its survival after death. Know thou of a truth that the soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God, in a state and condition which neither the revolution of ages and centuries, nor the changes and chances of this world, can alter. It will endure as long as the Kingdom of God, His sovereignty, His dominion and power will endure. It will manifest the signs of God and His attributes, and will reveal His loving kindness and bounty.”
(Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pp. 156-157)
I do not believe that we turn into a spirit. We are not a physical body that turns into a spirit.
We are a spirit (a soul) that is housed in a physical body while we are living on earth.
After we die, the soul will be housed in a spiritual body.
“The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother. When the soul attaineth the Presence of God, it will assume the form that best befitteth its immortality and is worthy of its celestial habitation.”
(Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 157)
“The answer to the third question is this, that in the other world the human reality doth not assume a physical form, rather doth it take on a heavenly form, made up of elements of that heavenly realm.” (Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 194)
- and the breath of life goes back to God who gave it
- and the life-giving breath returns to God.
- The breath of our life goes back to God, who gave it to us.
- the spirit-breath returns to God who breathed it, let us remember our Creator.
- The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.
Genesis 2:7 KJ21
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.
According to the verse above, man became a living soul when God gave man life (breathed life into man).
So the soul is the breath of life that goes back to God.
I do not know if the Bible explains that, but the Baha'i Writings explain that.
The Bahai Writings say that we (our soul) goes to the spiritual world when we die.
We will continue to think, since it is the soul that is responsible for our thought process.
The soul works through the brain while we are living in a physical body, but the soul will work through another mechanism after we die and have a spiritual body.
Wherever the Bible says the soul can die it means that such a soul will not attain to eternal life, which is defined by Jesus:
John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Eternal life does not refer to our physical bodies continuing to exist forever, it refers to souls that will exist forever with the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ.
All physical bodies will ultimately die because they are mortal, but no soul can die because the soul is immortal.
Soul Cannot Die
The Scripture says the spirit, or soul, cannot be annihilated. Though the body may die, the spirit will live on. Death, therefore is not the end of conscious life. It is the separation of the body and the spirit. The spirit, however, lives on in another realm. The body is only the temporary residence of humans.
Jesus said.
Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28).
Destroy has the idea of punish, not annihilate. The destruction of the soul means separation from the life of God. Though living, the soul of the unbeliever has no connection whatsoever to God.
Can the Spirit, or Soul, Be Destroyed?
The Bible teaches that humans are made up of both body and spirit. Life begins when the two are united, and life ends when the two are separated. Death Of Thewww.blueletterbible.org
Ecclesiastes 12:7 is translated in different Bibles with these different words: "spirit" "breath of life" "life-giving breath" "breath of our life"
"spirit-breath returns to God who breathed it" "The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it"
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