davidbu@loowit.wr.tek.com (David E. Buxton) (04/23/91)
Have been reading an excellent book by George Wisbrock, "DEATH & the SOUL".
Recently published by ZOE-Life Books, P.O. Box 5171, Oakbrook, IL. 60522-
5171.
A friend of mine met the author quite by accident while traveling and was
later invited to read and contribute to the pre-publication manuscript. I
am told that George Wisbrock is a Baptist. Nowhere does the book say
anything about his church.
Forward by F. F. Bruce, Emeritus Professor, University of Manchester,
England.
It would be a great step forward if those who set themselves to expound
the Biblical teaching on these matters defined their terms clearly.
This is particularly so with the terms "immortal" and "immortality".
In Biblical usage immortality belongs inherently to God alone; other-
wise it belongs only to those to whom God gives it. Again, where human
beings are concerned, Immortality in the Bible is predicated of the
body, not of the soul.
In our western culture, thought and language about immortality have
been largely determined by Plato's doctrine of the immortality of the
soul. But any attempt to combine Plato's doctrine with the teaching of
the Bible can lead only to confusion. For Plato did not mean by immor-
tality what the biblical writers mean by it, and what Plato meant by
the soul is not what the biblical writers mean by the soul.
For the Christian, the hope of immortality is bound up with the
resurrection of Christ, who "has brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel." By His conquest of death Christ has made . . . .
Introduction by David Lounsberry, M.D.
In "Death and the Soul", George Wisbrock has given us a clear, logical
and driving explanation of death by exploring key texts from all parts
of the Bible. He carefully lays the groundwork for a proper interpre-
tation of many Biblical passages which deal with the meanings of death,
soul and spirit. At the same time he emphasizes the importance of our
honesty when considering these statements.
"Death and the Soul" pointedly reveals both philosophical and theologi-
cal inconsistencies in the many popular man-made theories, supersti-
tions and myths about the meaning of death. In doing this, it also
explains why all the vastly different beliefs about the supposed desti-
nation of human souls immediately after death could not possibly all be
true.
Surprisingly, even shockingly, to varying degrees these unbiblical
beliefs are presently being taught in many contemporary Christian
churches. This book is therefore one that the entire Christian commun-
ity needs to study thoroughly with Bible in hand. It is an absolute
"must read" for every Bible class teacher, minister and seminarian.
We are all deeply indebted to George for his seven years of research,
thought and prayer during the preparation of this treatise. It is
clearly the most important book I have ever read on the subjects of
death, life after death, and the nature of man. Through this book the
Biblical teachings about Everlasting Life take on new clarity and
relevance. Through this book we learn the answer to Job's question, "If
a man die, shall he live AGAIN?" (Job 14:14).
The rear cover of the book - Samuele Bacchiocchi, PhD, 1974 summa cum laude
graduate of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
From a historical, linguistic, and Biblical perspective, Mr. Wisbrock
has handled the subject well. I have nothing but commendation for the
fine work he has done. No Future discussions either about death or the
human soul will be complete unless the material in this book is seri-
ously considered."
On page 9, George Wisbrock writes:
". . . . Yet very few people alive today, if any at all, have actually
developed a belief that they have an immortal "soul" or an "immaterial
self" dwelling within their physical bodies because of a [thorough]
personal study of the Bible. Instead, most people have merely accepted
whatever they have been told about "the soul" being both immaterial and
immortal without ever questioning the basis of that belief. (Until
doing extensive research for this book, I, too, was among those who had
never questioned mankind's traditional belief in the immaterial nature
of an alleged immortal soul living within the human body.)"
The author quotes from "The New Catholic Encyclopedia":
The above summary indicates that there is no dichotomy of body and soul
in the OT. The Israelite saw things concretely, in their totality, and
thus he considered men as persons and not as composites. The term
'nepes,' though translated by our word soul, NEVER means soul as dis-
tinct from the body of the individual person. Other words in the OT
such as spirit, flesh, and heart also signify the human person and
differ only as various aspects of the same being.
The Jewish Encyclopedia - Immortality of the Soul
The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution
of the body is a matter of philosophical of theological SPECULATION
rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly
taught in Holy Scripture . . . . The belief in the immortality of the
soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly
through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to
it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Bablyonian and
Egyptian views were strangely blended.
From the Encyclopedia Judaica:
Only in the post-biblical period [many years after the Bible had been
written], did a clear and firm belief in the immortality of the soul .
. . . become one of the cornerstones of the Jewish and Christian
faiths.
The Wycliff Bible Encyclopedia, explaining that Sheol should not be
translated 'hell':
Sheol is much used in poetry and often parallels "death" or the
"grave." A uniform translation "grave" would solve several problems of
interpretation.
I have just sited a few of Wisbrock's quotes. For the most part he sticks
with the Bible and its Hebrew and Greek.
You could discover many of the truths of his book by obtaining a "Young's
Analytical Concordance" and looking up the words "nephesh" (Hebrew) =
"psuche" (Greek) = soul/life/person (English); "ruach" (Hebrew) = "pneuma"
(Greek) = spirit/wind/breath (English); "sheol" (Hebrew) = "hades" (Greek) =
hell/grave/pit. For example, here are the different ways in which the KJV
translates Nephesh into English: any(4 times), appetite (2), beast(2),
body(7), breath(1), creature(9), dead_body(8), desire(5), ghost(2),
heart(15), life(119), lust(2), man(3), mind(15), one(1), own(1), person(30),
pleasure(4), self(19), soul(428), thing(2), will(5), mortal(1). Look up the
texts and you will find that Biblical souls have blood, bodies, minds and
can indeed die. You will find that ancient nations have souls, clearly not
immortal. Even God has 'nephesh' and of course God is immortal. in Job
34:14,15 we see that if God withdrew 'nephesh' and 'ruach' from the earth,
all life would cease and return to dust.
Some insist that the Old Testament 'soul' (nephesh), is the soul of the
beasts, including man, the lower soul; and that the New Testament 'soul'
(psuche) is the higher soul that only man has. But when the Jews translated
the OT into Greek, they used 'psuche' to replace translate from 'nephesh'.
There are many texts where one or more translations use 'soul' and other
translations use a variety of ther words. Also, remember that when Jesus is
quoted, He spoke Aramaic which had to be translated into Greek. Look up all
the instantiations of 'psuche' in the NT and it becomes quite clear that the
Biblical 'psuche' matches that of the OT psuche are not immortal as Plato
would have it. Nowhere does the Bible attach immortality to these words.
We find the same sort of thing when we study 'ruach' and 'pneuma', most com-
monly translated 'spirit'.
Plato has been quoted and indulged by both Jews and the "early Fathers" into
fabulous fables of life before and birth and after death. But the Bible, if
we examine it closely and exhaustively, is abundantly clear that man has
neither pre-existance nor immortality. This is especially clear if we go to
the Hebrew and Greek to try and understand what the writers were saying when
their vernacular was contemporary.
Immortality is given only to the saints at the resurrection. It is prom-
isary until then. Just as Christ's death and resurrection was promisary
until He came and died and was raised again. So immortality is a promise
that we can count on. And we have the Biblical assurance that Satan and his
host will be destroyed in the lake of fire such that they will be thoroughly
consumed with eternal results and no hope of any sort of re-incarnation, to
rise and torment anyone in God's universe.
Dave (David E. Buxton)
From the Silicon RainForest of the Northwesttspyrou@uunet.uu.net (Tom Spyrou) (04/25/91)
The St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood in Platina , CA has translated a book from ancient Slavonic / Greek Fathers on the state of the soul after death called "The Soul After Death". It States the Orthodox Christian facts on the Soul After Death, from now until the Judgement day, and then after. St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood PO Box 70 Platina, CA 96076
jhpb@garage.att.com (Joseph H Buehler) (04/29/91)
In article <Apr.24.23.54.06.1991.11318@athos.rutgers.edu> decwrl!vlsisj!tspyrou@uunet.uu.net (Tom Spyrou) writes:
The St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood in Platina , CA has translated
a book from ancient Slavonic / Greek Fathers on the state of the soul after
death called "The Soul After Death". It States the Orthodox Christian facts
on the Soul After Death, from now until the Judgement day, and then after.
1. Who is St. Herman of Alaska?
2. Who wrote the original of the work you are referring to?
a Catholic interested in patrology