plaisted@cs.unc.edu (David Plaisted) (08/16/90)
Thomas Carl Price recently asked for postings from others who hold to the view that death is a state of unconsciousness awaiting the resurrection. Here are some further comments about death as a sleep (which Seventh-day Adventists believe): I saw a book recently by a non-Adventist which said that the apocrypha and pseudopigripha (sp?) are divided on the doctrine of death, and that either position can be supported from them. Likewise on the testimony of the Christian martyrs and the early church fathers. So he concludes that in the early Christian church there was a division of opinion on this matter. Josephus (I think) says that the doctrine of an immortal soul came from the Greeks and was not a Jewish concept. (This should be distinguished from the doctrine of a resurrection.) Many throughout history have held this view, even one Pope, who is said to have recanted on his deathbed. For New Testament witness, Jesus said that Lazarus was asleep. The New Testament writers looked forward to the resurrection, not to going to heaven at death. The problematical texts about Lazarus and the rich man can be seen as parables; likewise Revelation 14:11 is a reference to a verse in Isaiah 34:10 about smoke ascending forever, which actually refers to a desolate, uninhabited region. As mentioned by Thomas Price, the Old testament witness is clear that death is a state of unconsciousness. When we die, we are unconscious until the resurrection, which to us seems to be at the next moment of time. So the first death is not of much consequence to the Christian.