Souls and spirits? And what should make you afraid!
10/27/2008
When we die physically our bodies are buried or cremated by one means or another. Yet, even though our body dies, the Jewish and Christian scriptures teach our soul and spirit live on. Not scary yet!
You might be wondering what spirit and soul mean since they do live on after death. The distinction between spirit and soul are difficult to understand in the Bible, but the distinction between body and spirit is clear. From James 2:26 we know it is our spirit that gives us life, because the body without the spirit is dead. So you could say, our bodies are a shell for living on this earth. Our spirit is our inner self. In other words who you are will live on. Since our spirit and soul live on, we are eternal beings. In other words, we either live eternally with God in heaven or are eternally dead to God in hell.
In 1 Corinthians 15 you are told that you will get a renewed body for living in heaven if you are a Christian. Yet, the scary truth is if you aren’t a Christian, you won’t go to heaven, but you will end up in a place that will be worse than anything imaginable, hell. And you will get a body that will be suited to live on forever in hell. Now that’s frightening! But you can choose where to go! If you believe in Jesus then you are a Christian and you will go to heaven.
For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son (Jesus Christ), so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its Savior. Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son. John 3:16-18 (GNT)
But if you haven’t believed in Jesus - be afraid, be very afraid!
Because of God's love, Gini