Did Ellen White’s ‘closing work of atonement’ in the heavenly sanctuary pass your biblical scrutiny? What about this ‘soul sleep’ business?
Mmm…we can’t have people going to heaven while some sort of ‘investigative judgment’ is underway, can we? Saint Peter at the pearly gates wouldn’t know whether to welcome you in or send you back down!
Another Fundamental Belief is Clause 26: Death and Resurrection. "God....will grant eternal life to His redeemed. Until that day death is an unconscious state for all people. When Christ, who is our life, appears…"
…and of course this agrees with Ellen White saying: “The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go immediately to heaven.”
Is that what the
Scriptures say? Haven’t these people found the eternal life bubbling from John’s
Gospel in their Bibles?...
Chapter 3: “…whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” v16 “He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life…” v36
Chapter 4: “…the water that I
shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life.” v14
Chapter 5: “…He that heareth
my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” v24
Chapter 6: “…He that believeth
on me hath everlasting life.” v47
“Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” v54
“Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” v54
Chapter 10: “My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal
life; and they shall never perish…” vv27-28
Chapter 11: “I am the
resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die…”
vv25-26
Chapter 17: “…and this is
life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent.” v3
…and what about John’s letters?...
Chapter 5: “…God hath
given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son.” v11
Didn’t Jesus refer to death as sleep?
Sure He did, but who proved He had power over the death of Lazarus? John 11
So where do Adventists get this ‘soul sleep’ idea from?
If you go back
nearly a thousand years before the hope from Christ’s first advent, you find
Man’s vain earthly struggle ‘under the sun’ 29 times in Ecclesiastes,
in a book with death in every chapter, e.g. “the
dead know not anything”; also “…for there is no work, nor device, nor
knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.”
Hardly the place to look for eternal life, hey?
In the same era you have the Psalms: “Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.” / “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” / “The dead praise not the Lord…” / “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?”
Of course, if you’ve ever been to a funeral with
an open casket – there’s not much response from a corpse is there?
Hardly the place to look for eternal life, hey?
In the same era you have the Psalms: “Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.” / “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” / “The dead praise not the Lord…” / “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?”
Is that your idea of hope?......or is this more like it?...
“We are confident, I say,
and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the
Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8
“…even so them also which
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14
What do we make of a doctrine that denies our present enjoyment of eternal life, regardless of death, by believing in Jesus Christ our Lord, according to the Holy Scriptures?
NEXT: Hell no!
Acknowledgements:
White E, ‘The Great Controversy’, United Publishers, 1971 sdanet.org/atissue/doctrines/gc28
Photo credit: sleep.com
White E, ‘The Great Controversy’, United Publishers, 1971 sdanet.org/atissue/doctrines/gc28
Photo credit: sleep.com
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