Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The First Great Deception,” Pages 531-550, in The Great Controversy.
If you have ever been in surgery and were put out with general anesthesia, you might have a faint idea of what it must be like for the dead.
But even then, when under anesthesia, your brain still functions. Imagine what it would be like for the dead, when all brain function, everything, has totally stopped. Their experience in death, then, is to close their eyes and, as far as each dead person who ever lived is concerned, the next thing they will know is either the second coming of Jesus or His return after the millennium (see Revelation 20:7-15). Until then, all the dead, the righteous and the wicked, rest, for what will seem to them to be an instant. For those of us who remain alive, death seems as if it lasts for a long time. For the living it does; but for the dead it seems to last only an instant.
“If it were true that the souls of all men passed directly to heaven at the hour of dissolution, then we might well covet death rather than life. Many have been led by this belief to put an end to their existence. When overwhelmed with trouble, perplexity, and disappointment, it seems an easy thing to break the brittle thread of life and soar away into the bliss of the eternal world.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 539.
“Nowhere in the Sacred Scriptures is found the statement that the righteous go to their reward or the wicked to their punishment at death. The patriarchs and prophets have left no such assurance. Christ and His apostles have given no hint of it. The Bible clearly teaches that the dead do not go immediately to heaven. They are represented as sleeping until the resurrection.” — Pages 549, 550.
Discussion Questions:
|
The post Friday: Further Thought ~ Understanding Human Nature first appeared on Sabbath School Net.
The post Friday: Further Thought ~ Understanding Human Nature appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-further-thought-understanding-human-nature/