by Ivan Fraser

Created on: February 01, 2009

To understand what happens when one dies, let's go back to the beginning to the creation week. On the sixth day, God made Adam. Genesis says: God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life; and man became a living soul. So it takes the body plus the breath (or spark) of life to create a living soul. Only God has the breath of life. It has been passed on down through the ages from Adam.

So what happens when one dies? The body returns to dust and the breath of life goes back to it's Originator, God.

What about the soul, you may ask? Remember, a living soul is made up of the body + the breath of life. Take away the breath of life and you don't have a living soul. Someone described it like a computer. Without electricity (breath of life) it's just a piece of hardware with information laying dormant. It can't do a thing, nor does its memory work. Plug it into the source of power (breath of life)and Presto! It's functioning as it should. The same applies to humans. Let's take a deeper look at what the scriptures say.

Remember when Satan deceived Eve? She wandered away from Adam to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan spoke to her in the form of a serpent. He told her the first lie. He convinced her she wouldn't die if she ate the fruit. No doubt he enticed her with who knows what else. After all, now he, a serpent, could talk. Just imaging the level she'd attain if she ate the fruit. Well we know the rest of this sad story. Eve ate and went and told Adam. He knew she made a big mistake, but because of his deep love for her, he chose to face the consequences and ate the fruit too.

Of course the Old Man of Sin thought he now had God trapped. Adam and Eve could eat from the Tree of Life and be eternal sinners under his control. What a mess that would have created. But, if God forgave them, He'd have to forgive Satan and let him back into His presence. But Satan didn't plan on God sending Adam and Eve from the Garden and blocking its entrance. With no access to the Tree of Life, Adam and Eve eventually died.

Death of a loved one, is horrible. It's comforting to think they are in heaven, but that's not what the Bible teaches. Ecclesiastes makes it very clear that the dead know nothing. "Their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun." Ecclesiastes 9:5,6. Remember Lazarus, he was dead four days when Jesus raised him. He hadn't gone

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