From Death to Life Issue 42

8/9/2019 From Death to Life Issue 42

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issue 42

june 2009

bible teaching life death resurrection eternal destinies


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WWW.ACMISSIONZ.ORG.NZ


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This quarterly newsletter is produced, printed and

published by Resurrection Publishing, PO Box202-162, Southgate, Takanini 2246,New Zealand.

Subscriptions may be sent tothe above address in the amountof NZ$15 for four issues or themagazine may be accessed freevia the internet at

www.afterlife.co.nz

To join the Association see p. 24or print out & send in the mem-bership form from our website.

Editorial: Conference 2010 p. 4

David BurgeAnd I Quote ... p. 5

David Burge

This is My Story p. 6

David W. Davis

Resurrection Revealed (Part 10) p. 11 Beryl Ching

Justin Martyr: Gods Philosopher p. 16 David Burge

Resurrection Reflections p. 20

Richard Eric Gunby

Do Animals Have Souls? p. 22

David Burge

issue 42june 2009


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Conference 2009 has come and

gone. The first part of our Confer-ence address on Justin Martyr:Gods Philosopher is found onpage 16 of this magazine. The au-dio can be found on our website(www.afterlife.co.nz).

Throughout the year just gone we

have been focusing our efforts inthe following areas:

Developing From Death To Life;

Developing the Website; Promoting CI Literature; Developing a CI Seminar; Finding Christian magazines andperiodicals in which to publisharticles;

Growing our membership andexecutive; and,

Growing our Conference.It seems to me that, though wehave made more progress in someareas than in others, our Associa-tion continues to have an ever in-creasing impact around the worldas we seek to action these goals tothe glory of God in Jesus Christ.

Once again, we want to thankthose of you who support the As-

sociation, in prayer, financially, by

writing for the magazine, or by oth-erwise giving of time and talents.Without your help we would not bereaching the people that we do.

We are receiving a growing volumeof email through our website frompeople all around the world hurt by

the "traditional view" of eternal tor-ment. Please pray with us that wewill be able to pastor these peoplefrom a distance and provide newlight from the Scripture.

One suggestion we received regard-ing Conference 2010 was that we

change from an evening event to alunchtime conference to enablethose who travel from afar to gethome a little earlier. We also havesome older members who no longerlike to drive at night.

We have decided to go with this id-

era for 2010. The date for Confer-ence next yearwill be SaturdayMay 8. My con-tact details are inthe panel at thebottom of page5. Perhaps we

could arrange afree lunch for thefirst reply?

editorial: conference 2010

page 4from death to life


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issue 42 page 5

And I Quote . . .J.H. Pettingell (1815-1887), District Secretary of the CongregationalBoard of Foreign Missions, stated: It is worthy of remark, that the doc-trine of eternal torment is found neither in the Apostle's Creed, nor theNicene Creed, nor in two of the principal Confessions of Faith of the 16thcentury, viz., the otherwise rigid Creed of the French Reformed Churchand the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican Church.

This was an oversight on somebodys part, if indeed, the doctrine of

eternal conscious torment is an essential part of Christian faith assome would have us believe. The absence of this teaching from thesegreat creeds is, however, understandable once we realise that thisabominable teaching was never part of the original Apostolic Christianity.

HELP! SENDING LETTERS AND PARCELS OVERSEAS

From July 2009 the cost of posting this magazine is set to increase. Thereare some people we are posting to overseas that we have not heard fromfor many years. In an effort to be good stewards of Gods resources weare asking you to let us know if you still want to receive print copies ofthis magazine. You can write to us at:

Resurrection PublishingPO Box 202-162Southgate

Takanini 2246New Zealand

Alternatively, you can email us at:[email protected]

If we do not hear from you, you may fall off our mailing list. You canread the magazine online at any time by going to our website at

afterlife.co.nzIf at anytime you wish to go back on the mailing list you can always con-tact us via the website and request to be put back on the mailing list.

.


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Beals Advent Christianchurches, both in Beals,Maine (an island town-ship along the north-eastern part of thecoast). However, be-

cause I spent a greatamount of time with mypaternal grandparentsas I was growing-up, Iwas influenced in myearly years mainlythrough the Alleys BayWesleyan Mission and

the Beals WesleyanChurch, though therewere times that I wentwith my mother to herchurch, either at the

Alleys Bay Advent

Christian Church or theBeals Advent ChristianChurch. Please notethat Beals was uniquein that it had two Ad-vent ChristianChurches in the town-ship. The Alleys Bay


An AC Heritage

I was born to RalphJr. and Phyllis Davisinto a family with gen-erations of AdventChristian heritage. Mymaternal grandparents(Riley and Elmira Al-ley) were AdventChristians as weretheir parents. My pa-ternal grandparents(Ralph Sr. and Velma

Davis) were split. Myfathers father wasraised an AdventChristian as was hismother and as wereher parents. Whenmy great-grandmother married a

second time, mystep grandfather andhis parents were Ad-vent Christians.However, my fathersmother was Re-formed Baptist (nowpart of the WesleyanChurch). My ances-tors helped establishthe Alleys Bay and Alleys Bay Advent Christian Church


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Advent ChristianChurch building was

constructed first froman old school house inthe late 1800s or veryearly 1900s, and theBeals Advent ChristianChurch building wasconstructed in theearly 1900s about two

miles away. AlleysBay is on Great WassIsland and Beals is anisland, so the two is-lands make-up themunicipality of Beals,Maine. When there

was no bridge to themainland and no cars,the Advent Christiansin Alleys Bay wouldmeet in the morningsat the little chapel andthen walk at nightover to Beals for the

evening worship ser-vice. They would alsohold their own prayermeetings separately.This tradition contin-ued even for methroughout highschool and college in

the 1980s. A bridgewas built in the 1950sand there is a plethora

issue 42 page 7

of cars on the island.Needless to say, in themid-1990s, services atthe Alleys Bay chapelwere suspended andthe Advent Christianwork is now carried onby the Beals AdventChristian Church,though some of uscontinue to meet ir-

regularly for monthlyservices at the AlleysBay Advent ChristianChurch facility.

CI Beliefs

I came to believe inconditional immortality

by a direct challengeby Pastor Gary Have-ner of the Beals Ad-vent Christian Church.

I started attendingsome of the AdventChristian youth activi-

ties when I was in highschool. There weretimes when we woulddiscuss matters of es-chatology, and one dayas I was railing onabout dying and goingto Heaven, Pastor Gary

challenged me withhow Biblical thatthought was. He askedme to read throughthe Bible and see whatit said about death andthe afterlife. At first,my teenage mind re-

jected this idea as silly,but I did finally makethe attempt and I read

Alleys Bay


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publications about con-ditional immortality,which also helped melearn how to thinkabout the message ofthe Scriptures.

Why I t Matters

Conditional immortality

matters greatly to meas I believe it is the

key to unlocking thetruth and message ofScripture. Namely thatGod gave humanity a

choice about living ordying. Genesis 2:16-17is the first record ofsuch, And the LORDGod commanded the


through the Bible. Iwas struck by themany places wheredeath was describedas sleep and of be-ing awakened through

resurrection as wellas the destructionof the wicked. I be-came convinced of

the truth of this doc-trine as a result ofreading the Biblethrough. Of course,there were other in-fluencing factorsIwould spend ex-tended times in con-

versation with my fa-thers brother, UncleDanny as well aswith my fathers great-grandmother Gram-mie Nora, both de-vout Advent Chris-tians and believers in

conditional immortal-ity. I would also visitother Advent Chris-tians around AlleysBay and engage themin discussionsMyrtleand Ernest Libby Jr.

and Isaac and EulalaSeavey are two exam-ples. I would also read

man, saying, Of everytree of the garden youmay freely eat; but ofthe tree of the knowl-edge of good and evilyou shall not eat, for inthe day that you eat ofit you shall surely die.Before the first cou-ples expulsion from

the Garden of EdenGod said, Behold, theman has become likeone of Us, to knowgood and evil. Andnow, lest he put outhis hand and take alsoof the tree of life, and

eat, and live forever--therefore the LORDGod sent him out ofthe garden of Eden totill the ground fromwhich he was taken.Again Moses empha-sized in Deuteronomy

30:19-20, I callheaven and earth aswitnesses todayagainst you, that Ihave set before you lifeand death, blessingand cursing; therefore

choose life, that bothyou and your descen-dants may live; thatyou may love the


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LORD your God, that you mayobey His voice, and that you maycling to Him, for He is your life and

the length of your days; and thatyou may dwell in the land whichthe LORD swore to your fathers,to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, togive them. There are many otherexamples in the poetic books andthe writings ofthe prophets,

but of course,the focus of thisinterview is notto be compre-hensive in a sur-vey of the entireOld Testament,but instead toanswer whyconditional im-morality mattersto me. Never-theless, I dowant to pointout some of the

things that Je-sus said in theNew Testament.Is there any greater example ofconditional immortality than John3:16-17? Jesus beautifully lays outthe choice God gives concerninglife or death, For God so loved

the world that He gave His onlybegotten Son, that whoever be-lieves in Him should not perish but

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have everlasting life. For God didnot send His Son into the world tocondemn the world, but that the

world through Him might be saved.In John 11:25-26 Jesus is comfort-ing Martha over the loss of Lazaruswho had died. In the face of deathand seemingly human hopelessnessat the loss of life our Lord declared,

I am the resurrec-tion and the life.

He who believes inMe, though hemay die, he shalllive. And whoeverlives and believesin Me shall neverdie. He make asimilar declarationin John 14:6, Iam the way, thetruth, and the life.No one comes tothe Father exceptthrough Me. Inthe Revelation Je-

sus says, I am Hewho lives, and wasdead, and behold,

I am alive forevermore. Amen. AndI have the keys of Hades and ofDeath (verse 18). Of course, thethemes of resurrection and eternallife through Jesus Christ, the

Lamb, are two of the importantthemes of this revelation of Jesus,especially in chapters 20-22.

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THE AUTHOR

David is pastor of the Sunshine Advent

Christian Church in Deer Isle, Maine,

where he has served nearly eight years.

He has been in ministry in one form or

another since 1989. He is married to his very loving and suppor-

tive w ife Vicki L. Davis and he and Vicki have four children: Kel-

sey, Nathan, Kristyn and Noah. For relaxing, David enjoyswatching the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots, the

Boston Celtics, gardening, reading and photography.

Conclusion

After surveying theabove references, one

can see the truth andmessage of Scriptureis that if we love andfollow God by turningto him through Jesusin faith and repen-tance, we will see life,living forever with

God. If we persist insin and in going ourown way, we will notsee life, but will per-ish. Knowing this mes-sage and this truthshows us who we are

(mortal creatures ofan immortal God). Wecome to understandthe dire straights inwhich humanity founditself after the wrong

choice in Eden, andwhy it was necessaryfor Jesus Christ, to diein our place and to be

raised to life as thefirst fruits from thedead. We can furtherunderstand why deathis such a part of life,and why there is suchgrief and pain at the

loss of a loved one. Forif Jesus did not hold the

keys of Hades and ofDeath there wouldtruly be no hope for hu-manitys rescue fromthe enemy death. Fi-nally, we see that even

though cemeteries areeerie in their silence,they are still beds ofgreat hope for thoseresting there that are

sleeping in Jesus.

It is myfirmly held belief inconditional immortalitythat causes me to holdtenaciously to my Sav-iour, Jesus, to the Ad-vent Christian faithand to give my life inChristian service for itspromotion and ad-vancement. As said

Paul in 2 Timothy 1:1,I serve in ministry bythe will of God, ac-cording to the promiseof life which is inChrist Jesus.

from death to life page 10


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issue 42 page 11

urrection of Lazarus isconcrete evidence thatJesus was the Lord oflife and the Conqueror

of death.61The Parables ofthe Kingdom

In Matthew 13the Lord gives aseries of parablesabout the king-

dom of God. Invv. 24-29 He givesthe Parable of theTares. The expla-nation of the par-able is given in vv.36-43, so we canbe very clear that

the harvest is theend of the world.Both the wheatand the tares are al-lowed to grow untilthis time, when theSon of Man will sendhis angels to do theharvesting. If this is tomean only those whoare alive at the end of

the world, it becomesmeaningless. It infersa resurrection, and thedividing of the wheat

from the tares is thejudgement. As wehave seen, Jesus didnot always argue for or

against resurrection,but just took it forgranted. At the end ofthis parable and its ex-

planation, the taresare those who do iniq-uity, and they are con-

CHRISTS

RESURRECTION(AND AN EXCURSUS

ON PARABLES)

It is because He haspower to raise Himselfand others from thedead, that Christ couldsay, I am the resur-rection and the life.No-one else could

make this claim. Allwere raised by thepower of that OneWho is Himself the life.

In him was life (John1:4). He it is who

brought life and im-mortality to light

through the gospel (2Tim. 1:10). Speakingof the raising of Laza-rus, G. E. Ladd says,

He was brought backto mortal, physical ex-istence. He couldnever say, as Jesus

could, I am the resur-rection and the life.Nevertheless, the res-


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though the disciples,because of their for-gone decision thatChrist would take upthe reins of power, de-feat the Romans, andrule, could never take itin. In fact, G. CampbellMorgan says, It should

ever be rememberedthat our Lord is neverrecorded as speaking ofhis coming Cross with-out at the same timeforetelling His resurrec-

tion.

62

Early in His ministry,after the first cleansingof the temple, Christ

foretold His resurrec-tion in a cryptic man-ner, Destroy this tem-ple, and in three days Iwill raise it up. No-one at all understoodthis, thinking He wastalking about the build-ing of a material tem-

ple. However, John

explains that Hewas actually refer-ring to the templeof His body. (John2:19-21). It is notsurprising that thiswas not understooduntil after His death

and resurrection(John 2:22), in viewof the fact that Hisown disciples couldnot understand Hisstraightforwardprophecies of Hisresurrection, even

after they had beenwith Him for years.

In Matthew 16:21(see Mark 8:31, 32;Luke 9:22), after Peterhad confessed thatthey acknowledged

Him to be the Christ,the Son of the livingGod, He first informsthe disciples of His


demned to the furnaceof fire.

(The tares have the

ability to wail andgnash their teeth,pointing to the factthat they are actuallypeople.) The wheatare the righteous whowill shine as the

sun in the kingdomof their Father.

A similar parableis the Parable ofthe Net. In thisparable also, at theend of the worldthe angels sort out

the good and thebad, the wickedand the just, andthe wicked arecondemned to thefurnace of fire,with wailing andgnashing of teeth.

Again, the refer-ence to the end ofthe world infers res-urrection (Matthew13:47-50).

The Resurrectionof Christ

Christ foretold Hisown resurrection overand over again,


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coming death and res-urrection. But insteadof accepting whattheir Lord said, Petertook Him aside and re-buked Him, saying itwould never happento Him!

When Christ told Pe-ter, James and John as

they descended fromthe Mount of Trans-figuration that theyshould not speak ofthis event until afterHe was risen from thedead, they could notunderstand it, but only

discussed amongstthemselves what the

rising from the dead

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could mean (Matt.17:9; Mark 9:9,10).They did, however,keep the whole inci-dent to themselves atthat time (Luke 9:36).

Some time later, inGalilee, Jesus againtold all the disciples ofHis coming death, add-

ing and the third dayhe shall be raisedagain. (Matt.17:22,23; Mark 9:31).The comment made isthat they were ex-ceedingsorry (Matt.17:23),

but we can understandfrom later events thatthey had not actually

taken in what He wassaying.

In John 10:17,18 Je-sus speaks of layingdown His life, and tak-ing it up again. He de-clares that no-one cantake His life from Him,He lays it down volun-tarily Himself. He has

this power, and He hasthe power to take it upagain. This, of course,refers to his risingfrom the dead.

It was on the lastjourney of Jesus andHis disciples toward

Jerusalem, that Hetried to share withthem more fully. He


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His kingdom! (SeeMark 10:32-37; Luke18:31-34).

Christ still persisted intrying to inform Hisdisciples of what wasgoing to happen rightup to within hours of

His being seized.Even after the lastsupper, when He hadled them out to theMount of Olives, Hetold them that thatvery night they wouldbe offended becauseof Him, and that theOld Testament scrip-

ture was going to be ful-filled, I will also smitethe shepherd, and the

sheep of the flock will bescattered abroad. ButHe still added a word,which if they could havetaken it in, would have

confirmed whatHe had beentelling them pre-viously, that Hewould die, butwould riseagain. But afterI am risenagain, I will gobefore you into

Gali-lee. (Matthew26:32). At lastthere seems tohave been a dimunderstandingof trouble tocome, because

Peter stood upand declared that even ifeveryone else was of-fended, he wouldnt be.But because it was only adim understanding, whenChrist was on trial, Peterwas not prepared, andwe know that he was of-fended, even to denyingChrist. But still the


knew what awaited Himthere, but was unable toget the disciples to un-

derstand it, even thoughHe used plain language.In Matthew 20:18,19 Hedescribed exactly whatwould happen - the be-trayal to thechief priests,the death sen-tence, themocking,scourging andcrucifixion, de-scribing it inthe third per-son as hap-

pening to theSon of Man.Then Headded, andthe third dayhe shall riseagain. Thedisciples un-

derstood Hewas referring to Himself,but they still could notbelieve it would reallyhappen to Him. It wasstraightaway afterwardsthat James and Johnsmother asked Him to

ensure that her twosons would sit on Hisright and left hands in


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thought of resurrec-tion did not enter theirheads, because we

know that after thecrucifixion they wereall in utter despair,hiding behind lockeddoors (Matt. 26:31-33;Mark 14:27-29; John20:19).

Though the disciplesstruggled to under-stand what He wassaying (no doubt be-cause they had thefixed idea that He hadcome to deliver them,as the Messiah, from

the Romans, and setup His kingdom imme-diately), His enemiesunderstood what Hesaid as a plain proph-ecy! After His deathand burial they desiredthat Pilate seal the

tomb and set guardsto it, so the disciplescould not indulge inany trickery, takingaway the body andlater declaring that Hehad risen from thedead (Matt.27:63, 64).

The fulfilment of allthese prophecies of

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resurrection is found inMatt. 28:2-4 where thehappenings around the

resurrection of theLord are recorded - anearthquake, the angelof the Lord comingdown from heaven androlling away the stone,and the fear of theguards, who shookand fell like dead men.Later events wouldprove that the stonewas not rolled away sothat the Lord couldcome out of the tomb(as had had to be

done for Lazarus), forthe Lord could passthrough the closeddoors (John 20:19),but so that the disci-ples could see thatHe was no longer inthe tomb.

Beryl ChingFootnotes

61. Bible Charactersand Doctrines. Scrip-ture Union. Vol. 16,Study 44.

62. G. Campbell

Morgan. Searchlightsfrom the Word, onMatt. 28:6. p.308.

The Author

Beryl Joy Ching, spentover 40 years on themission field in India.Returning to New Zea-land to retire, Berylwas for a long timesecretary of this Asso-ciation. RESURREC-TION AS REVEALED IN

THE OLD TESTAMENTAND CONFIRMED INTHE NEW TESTAMENTis the full title of herThesis presented tothe Faculty of theFreelandia InstituteBiblical Theological

College in partial fulfil-ment of the require-ments for the DegreeMaster of Biblical Stud-ies.


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Justin attached himselfto a succession of phi-losophical schools, fi-nally content to becalled a follower ofPlato. That was until(in about AD 130) hemet an old man whilewalking along the sea-shore. This un-known man offaith pointed outto Justin some

weaknesses inhis Platonic sys-tem. He showedhim how the OldTestament pre-dicted the com-ing of Christ.Seeing the cour-

age of the mar-tyrs in facingdeath, Justin was con-vinced. Justin drank forhimself from the waterof life. Still content towear his philosopherscloak, as a token of his

belief that Christianitywas true philosophy,he dedicated the rest of

his life to explainingChristianity to theGreeks and the Ro-mans and defendingthe faith against its in-tellectual opponents.During the reign of An-toninus Pius (AD 138-161), Justin ministered

in Rome. There he de-fended the faithagainst pagans andagainst those Jewswho argued against Je-sus being the Messiah

of the Hebrew Scrip-tures. He earned hissurname after he was


PART ONEWhat the early churchreally believed aboutthe immortality of thesoul, hellfire and itsrelevance to today,

from the life of JustinMartyr An addressdelivered to the Asso-ciation Conference,May 2009.

Who Was JustinMartyr?

Justin [AD 110-165]came from a Greek-speaking Gentile fam-ily living in Flavia Nea-polis, Biblical She-chem, in Samaria .This was near JacobsWell where Jesus of-

fered another non-Jewish seeker the

living water of eter-nal life, the abundantlife that comes onlythrough faith in JesusChrist as Saviour(John 4:10, 14). A welleducated, well trav-elled young man,searching for truth,

Justin Martyr: Gods

Philosopher


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beheaded during thepersecution of Chris-tians by the philoso-

pher Emperor MarcusAurelius (AD 161-180)in AD 165.

IntroductoryPoints

Justins universally ac-knowledged writingsinclude his First Apol-ogy (c. AD 155), hisDialogue with Trypho(c. AD 158), and hisSecond Apology (c. AD161). Several less wellknown works may befrom the hand of

Justin. We, however,will focus only onthose undisputedworks, his Apologiesand Dialogue.1. Justins writings arecounted among themost important to

have survived fromthe second century.He was not the first towrite in defence of theChristians, but hisApologies are the earli-est that have comedown to us. They give

an insight into the rea-sons for persecution ofChristians by pagans in

issue 42 page 17

those days and theChristians response.The Dialogue is the

first fully worked outexposition of the rea-sons for regarding Je-sus as Messiah and thefirst systematic at-tempt to argue againstthe position of theJews in regard to

Christianity. In all ofhis writings Justinshows himself chieflyconcerned to establishthe fact that Christ hascome in fulfilment of

the Scriptures, to bringlife and immortality tolight through the gos-pel (2Tim. 1:10) not to

speculate about deathand hell. We can learnfrom his example. Our

task is to presentChrist persuasively, notto win theological ar-guments.2. As we shall see,Justins presentation ofChristian truth is influ-enced by his philoso-

phical background,but to give Justin hisdue, his intention wasto use philosophy as atool to spread Christi-anity, rather than toturn Christianity intoan academic philoso-phical system. Justintook the great truthsof the faith and triedto package themanew, in ways which

connected with theculture around him.

We must do likewiseotherwise we will loseour ability to communi-cate effectively. At thesame time, we mustbe careful that the cul-ture does not so influ-ence the way we pre-

sent the message thatthe truth gets subtletydistorted. Those of uswho believe that Scrip-


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Immortality and oppos-ing it) and yet avoid be-ing repetitive. We must

take care. The result, Ihope, will be both sur-prising, enlighteningand at the same timeavoid the danger ofreading into the pagesof history exactly what

we want to find there.

On the Mortalityof the Soul

I now want to lookmore closely at whatJustin says on mattersrelated to ConditionalImmortality and turn

first to his view of theimmortality of the soul(or lack thereof). Fromthe account of the

death of Socrates,Plato derived his firmconviction as to the im-

mortality of the humansoul, which he passedon to his followers. Inhis Dialogue with Try-pho, Justin records aconversation with an

old man leading upto his conversion toChristianity. Even afterhis conversion, Justinwas influenced by hisphilosophical back-ground, particularly bythe teachings of Platoand the Stoics. As a re-

sult, Justin continuesto believe in the sepa-rable existence of thesoul and that the soulis conscious betweendeath and the resur-rection (More aboutthis latter). Now, in re-

lating his discoursewith this unnamedChristian mentionedabove, Justin tells usthat the old man askedif the soul was divineand immortal. Justinsimmediate answer, re-

flecting his back-ground, is, Assuredly.The old man then laid


ture teaches what wecall Conditional Im-mortality may judge

Justin harshly at thispoint. Overall, how-ever, Justin did an ad-mirable job of present-ing Christ to Greeksand Romans in waysthat made sense tothem and he literallybacked up his wordswith his life. Weshould wish to do noless.3. Lastly, by way of in-troduction, in light ofthe above, Justin does

not set out to system-atically address thedoctrines of the soul,the intermediatestate, or the questionof final destinies. Hisbeliefs on these mat-ters must be pieced

together from com-ments scatteredthroughout his works.Such an approach runsthe risk of being selec-tive. I have tried asmuch as possible to becomplete (quoting

passages that showJustin supporting as-pects of Conditional


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out his argument to showthat the soul is not in itsown nature immortal. His

argument is so convinc-ing that Justin is driven toconclude that the soulcannot be immortal bynature. Justin quotes theold man at length. Hiswords are recorded thus:"Now the soul partakes oflife, since God wills it tolive. Thus, then, it willnot even partake [of life]when God does not will itto live. For to live is notits [the soul's] attribute,as it is Gods; but as a

man does not live always,and the soul is not forever conjoined with thebody, since, wheneverthis harmony must bebroken up, the soulleaves the body, and theman exists no longer;

even so, whenever thesoul must cease to exist,the spirit of life is re-moved from it, and thereis no more soul, but itgoes back to the placefrom whence it wastaken." (Dialogue,6).

Here, the unnamed Chris-tian says that the soul isnot immortal but that it

issue 42 page 19

lives only as long asGod wills it to live. Hespeaks of the discon-

nection of soul andbody as causing theman to cease to exist.He also speaks of thesoul ceasing to exist.This is conditional im-mortality.Justin relatesthis conver-sation as ittook place,without mak-ing any com-ment on theold man's

words. Itseems to methat whatthe old manbelieved,what we callconditional immortality,was not in any way re-

markable to Justin theChristian, though it wasa revelation to Justinthe unconverted phi-losopher. That is to say,Justin did not considerthe old mans words soout of order or

heretical from his lat-ter perspective as an

orthodox Christian as

to require further com-ment. What Justinhimself thought will be

gathered from else-where in the Dialogueand in the Apologies,but for now I am con-tent to put forwardthat this conversationsuggests that belief in

conditional immortality(or at least belief in

the natural mortality ofthe human soul) musthave been wide spreadamong Christians inJustins day, else Justinwould surely have re-marked that the oldman was so out of

step with his contem-poraries.

David Burge.


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I dont like the termconditional immortal-ity. I prefer, definiteimmortality (inthe same way, Cal-

vinists preferdefinite atone-ment to limitedatonement). Bythis term I wish toregard Gods workof immortality for

every believer ascentral, individuallyspecific, and sure.The clear, teachingof Scripture is thatevery redeemedpersonis slated forimmortality, hence

the term: definiteimmortality.

DefiniteImmortality

In this life: true be-lievers are now ac-counted (reckoned,

promised, assured)righteousness. This isknown theologically as

page 20

imputedrighteous-ness. This righteous-ness is ours now, only

by a kind of legal war-rant. It will be ours(that warrant will be

served) by impartationon the day of consum-mation.

In this life: true be-lievers are now ac-counted (reckoned,

promised, assured)resurrection. This is

a kind ofimputedresurrection. In-deed, positionally,we have been (pasttense) resurrectedalready. An imputedpositionalresurrec-

tion as it were. Wesit in the heavenlyplaces with Jesusnow (by legal reck-oning, you must un-derstand). We willsit with Jesus in ac-tual, objectively re-

alized, point of fact(i.e., rubber meetsthe road type ex-perience) in glorifi-cation after or on

the day of consumma-tion.

In this life: true be-lievers are now ac-counted (reckoned,promised, assured) im-

from death to life

Resurrection ReflectionsRichard Eric Gunby


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issue 42

(legally accounted asbeing) in Christ Jesusright now, we are im-puted immortalityright now. We will onlybe gifted with impartedimmortality via our

transformation to incor-ruptibility in that greatresurrection/transformation

event to come.Righteousness fortrue believers will

only be imparted to usin the resurrection/transformationevent (1Cor. 15:12-58) to come.

Resurrection for truebelievers will (of

course) only beimpartedto us, asan actual return to

life, to being a liv-ing creature, evena new creature, inthe resurrection/transformationevent (1Cor.15:12-58) tocome.

Immortality fortrue believerswill also be im-partedto us in thesame resurrec-tion/transformation

event (1 Cor.15:12-58).

God gifts us nowwith promised immor-tality; he will gift uswith actual immortalityin the life to come. But

this new life will onlycome by Resurrection.

Richard Eric Gunby

page 21

mortality. This is im-putedto us now by wayof promiseit being re-corded in the Bible. Wehave the certainty of im-mortality becoming oursby way of promise.

This is why Iwould proclaimthe Biblical truth

that immortal lifeis definite forevery true be-liever. It is im-puted now; and itis to be impartedthen.

A ResurrectionLife

The Bible explic-itly declares thatGod alonehastrue immortality(1 Tim. 6:16).

Man is mortal. Hehas by creationno inherent im-morality. None. We canhave immortality onlybyvirtue of being in ChristJesus. In Christ JesusHe shares all good

things with us. Becausein this life, true believ-ers are positionally


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Do AnimalsHave

Souls?There has been a'church signs' debatebeing played out in aSouthern US town, be-tween Our Lady of Mar-tyrs Catholic Church,

and Cumberland Pres-byterian, a

fundamentalistchurch.

A SIGN OF THETIMES

The debate went:

Catholics:All dogs go to heaven

Presbyterians:

Only humans go toheaven. Read the Bible.

Catholics:

God loves all his crea-

tions. Dogs included.Presbyterians:

Dogs dont have souls.This is not open for de-bate.

Catholics:

Catholic dogs go toHeaven. Presbyteriandogs can talk to theirpastor.

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page 23

Presbyterians:

Converting to Catholi-cism does not magicallygrant your dog a soul.

Catholics:

Free dog souls withconversion.

Presbyterians:

Dogs are animals. Therearent any rocks in

heaven either.

Catholics:

All rocks go to heaven.

The dialogue is a littletongue in cheek but itdoes betray an underly-ing confusion as to the

nature of the soul andthe Christians hope.]

CONFUSION ABOUTTHE SOUL

Strictly, animals do nothave "souls". They areliving souls (See Gen.1:20; 1:21; 1:24; 1:30).Exactly the same thing istrue of human beings(Gen. 2:7).

Translators often fudgethis point. If it wereknown that soul isused of animals and it is

accepted that the soul isimmortal then not onlydogs but fish and birdsas well must have im-

mortal souls.

The truth is that thesoul is the whole crea-ture. And every crea-ture, human and animalalike, is mortal throughand through. We die andreturn to dust (Gen.3:19, Psa. 104:29, Ecc.3:20).

ANIM ALS IN THEKINGDOM

There will be animals inthe kingdom of Godwhen Jesus comes. Howelse could the wolf andthe lamb feed togetheror the lion eat straw like

the ox (Isa 65:25). Howelse could Zechariahspeak of the Day of theLord's return saying, Onthat day Holy to theLord will be inscribed onthe bells of the horses(Zec. 14:20).

However, this is NOTnow and this is NOTheaven. This is the fu-ture Kingdom of God onearth when Jesus comesagain to renew heavenand earth.

HUMANITYS

RESURRECTIONHOPE

Though there will be

animals in the king-dom we have nopromise from God that

individual pets will beraised to live foreverin Gods kingdom.

Resurrection seems tobe humanitys unique

hope.

Paul tells us mortal

flesh and blood cannotinherit the kingdom ofGod. However he of-fers us this hope: Thatthe trumpet will soundand the righteousdead of humanity willbe raised imperish-

able. (1Cor.15:50-54).We have mortal souls,in common with theanimals. We die andreturn to dust, in com-mon with the animals.But we have theunique hope that we

may yet live again.Just as Jesus died androse again, so too,those who have diedtrusting in him will beraised from the sleepof death when Jesuscomes again.

- David Burge

issue 42


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Statement of Faith

1. We believe in God and His one and only Son, Jesusthe Christ. Heb. 11:6; John 14:1; 3:16; 20:31; Mat.16:16.

2. We believe in the Holy Spirit. 2Pet. 1:21; 1Cor. 6:19;Jude 20; Eph. 3:5.

3. We believe that Jesus died for us and gavehimself a ransom for all. Rom. 5:8; 1Cor. 15:3; 1Tim.2:6.

4. We believe that God raised Jesus from the dead; thatby resurrection He became Lord of both the dead andthe living, and the first fruits of those who have fallen

asleep; and that whoever believes in Him shall notperish but have eternal life. Rom. 10:9; 14:9; 1Cor.15:20; John 3:16.

5. We believe that baptism is commanded by Christ,was practiced by His Apostles, and is taught in the NewTestament. Mat. 28:18,19; Acts 8:12,38.

6. We believe that all Scripture is God-breathed and isuseful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training inrighteousness, so that the people of God may be

thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2Tim.3:16,17.

7. We believe that human beings are by naturemortal. Gen. 2:7; 3:19; 1Tim. 6:16; 2Tim. 1:10; Rom.2:6-7.

8. We believe that human beings in death areunconscious. Psa. 6:5; 115:17; Ecc. 9:5,10. This islikened to "sleep". Job 14:12; Psa. 13:3; Jer. 51:39;Dan. 12:2; John 11:11-14; 1Cor. 15:51.

9. We believe that immortality is obtained only throughfaith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 1Cor. 15:21-23; 2Tim. 4:7-8; 1John 5:9-12.

10. We believe that there will be a resurrection of boththe righteous and the wicked, to be followed by theJudgment. Acts 24:15; John 5:25,28,29; Rev. 20:12,13.

11. We believe that evil and evil-doers shall be finallydestroyed. Psa. 145:20; Mat. 10:28 Rom. 6:21; Phil.

3:19; Heb. 2:14; 1John 3:8; Rev. 22:3.12. We believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Acts 1:11; John 14:3; 1Thes. 4:16.

Membership

I agree with theStatement of Faith & amapplying for membershipin the Association:

Name:__________________________________________

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Address:____________________________________________________________________________________

Email:_____________________

Denomination (if any):__________________________________________

Membership $15.00**$10.00 for non-earners.

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From Death to Life Issue 42