West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1901-06-20
A HUMAN SOUL.

HhS the ofesth OF hteAltveS-pluTal; and
man became living soul" Gen. 7:zl
The general idea OF soul is the reverse
OF the Scriptural statement and instead of
man being soul the prevalent error is
that he possesses soul which Is inde.
struetible. intangible. and incomprehensi-
BILE without body or parts. vagary "a
nothing.
The breath of lives" (neshamah) occurs
twenty six times in the Hebrew Scriptures.
and is translated breath" nineteen OF
these. The word simply signifies life pow.
er. and conveys no idea OF everlasting life.
or immortality.
''Ali flesh died that moved upon the
earth. both of fowl and OF cattle. and of
beasts. and of everything that creepeth
upon the earth and every man: all la
whose nosuils was the breath (neshamah)
OF life of all that was in the dry land died +"
tGen. 7:7I. 77)
These two texts alone prove that the
same vitality is declared to be in all the
dry land animals: fowls. cattle. beast and
creeping things. as well as in man. and all
died alike. when deprived of this breath OF
life. except that there is divine purpose.
which in due time provided a ransome for
man. and will in further due time deliver
from the power OF death by resurrection
OF the being, OF the human soul. This is
the conflict between the Word OF God and
all the human theories OF earth amongst
the civilized as well as amongst the heath
en-. The human theory is that there must
be something that never dies, else there
can be no future lite. The same God who
created in the beginning is able to resur.
rect the dead. All human theories teach
that man does not die. The Bible teaches
that man does die. and that without the
Life-giver. and without a resurrection.
death would indeed end all, and there
could be no future life. In support of the
theory OF the world. all it's religious books.
ana the majority of works written by pro-
tessed friends of the Bible. teach the doct.
rine OF the immortality OF the soul--that
there is soul in man. having a seperate
life from his body. and that IL is immortal.
indestrucuble. and therefore destined to
an eternity of pain or pleasure.
The word soul" as found in the Scrip.
lures. signifies sentient being. a being pos.
sessed OF sense-perception. In the ac-
count Of mans creation IL is shown that the
body is not the soul nor the spirit or
breath OF life the soul but when these
two were united by the Lord. the result.
ant condition was living man. living being
a living soul. possessed OF perceptye pow
ers. The word soul is applied in the
Scriptures to all sentent creatures. to fish.
birds. reptiles. beasts. man. They are all
souls. Not that they all have souls. but
yf eat,lu L.. L. g..
ond and ninth chapters Of Genesis the
words living souls" are applied in the
Hebrew language TO the lower animals
nine times 0he common vagary respecting
soul is protected by translating so as to
keep the English reader as far as possible
in ignorance. So carefully has this been
guarded that only one place in the Bible Is
this word translated soul" in connection
| with the lower creatures-Numbers 81 28-
compelled by the peculiar construction of
| the sentence). The word is "neh. .phesh"
aud is rendered creature in the chapters
mentioned as in Gen. 1890 the lower ami.
mails are specified and IL is distinctly de
clared that they are all living souls in ex-
actly the same terms that refer to man.
There is no room for cavil as to the mean.
ing when the veil OF mistranslated is lifted.
and all claims or theories built upon the
idea that mans hopes OF fulure life and
his present superiority over the lower ami.
mails result from his being a soul and they
not. are false theories and need radical
reconstruction II we would see matters
from the true stanpoint OF divine reyela.
tion.
AS IN Adams creation, the bringing to-
gether OF an organism and the breath of
liie' produced sentient being or soul, so
the dissolution Of these from any cause
puts an end to sentient being-stoppinR
thoughts and feelings OF every kind. The
soul d. e. sentient being ceases: the body
returns to dust as IL was. while the spirit
or breath OF life returns TO God who i'm
parted II to Adam and to his race through
him. IL returns to God and is no longer
amenable to human control and can never
be recovered but by divine power. So then
had not God made provision for mans
future lie by a ransom and a promised
resurrection, death would have been the
end OF all hope for humanity But God
has thus made provision for our living
again and ever since lie has made known
His gracious plan the inspired writer's as
| II by Common consent speak of the I'm.
conscious interim between death and
resurrection morning as a sleep. a state
OF suspended Consciousness The conso.
lstion offered in the Scriptures for those
who mourn through this night of weeping
IS that all our friends-all maukind-"sleep
! in Jesus C Thcss 4.f4. Their life is in
| Him II is clear from the context that the
| apostle has this thought in mind. he is ex.
horting believers to sorrow not as unbe.
levers who have no (such) hope and gives
the reason Jesus died and rose again" "a
ransom for all. to be testified in due time).
Had the apostle referred only 20 the dead
/ IN Christ the whole anointed bodyl there
| would bc very little consolation I'm his
words. Tor the vast majority Of friends OF
believers. then and since. are not in Christ.
We arc aware that some Scriptures might
| oe twisted and misundersto TO contra
dict these presentations but all are in
/ absolute harmony when the veil Of error is
drawn aside and the Scnpiural use and
meaning Of words made clear.
The hope Of future life based upon the
| doctrine Of the immortality OF human
soul is not consolation to enlightened in
telligence. II fills the future with anguish
for the fate Of relatives and friends and
loved ones II multiplies the doubts and
intensides the sorrows Of the night OF
weeping and wholly ignores the morning Of
joy proclaimed BY angels to be unto an
/ people"
| Truth. like the light is pure.
And no device TO rob IL Of It's glory.
| Or drag il down base purpos TO serve
/ Can Ger succeed o no its heavily elorv
Shall in due time the universe pervad,.