Page 4: A widely held belief is that a part of all humans is immortal and that only their bodies die. You certainly have heard such a claim. This part that is claimed to be immortal is referred to variously as "soul" or "spirit." It is said to survive the death of the body and continue to live elsewhere. Frankly, such a belief did not originate in the Bible.
Correction: People are composed of a body, soul, and spirit.
Job 7:11 "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth (body); I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Page 4: Further testifying to the early belief among the Israelites that they would come to life again at a later time (rather than have an immediate continuation of life in a spirit realm), the prophet Hosea wrote: "From the hand of Sheol (the common grave of mankind) I shall redeem them; from death I shall recover them." - Hosea 13:14.
Note: Hosea was talking about the body not the soul.
Luke 16:22-25 "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.' "
2 Peter 2:9 The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.
Page 5: The simple Bible truth is that the dead are "asleep," unconscious, with absolutely no feeling or knowledge.
Correction: The dead body is unconscious while a person's soul is conscious.
Acts 14:19-20 Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.
2 Corinthians 12:2-4 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago; whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows; such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And I know such a man; whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows; how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
Page 5: Consider these easy-to-understand scriptures: "The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all ... All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol, the place to which you are going." (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10)
Note: The dead body will not be able to work or think in Sheol.
Hebrews 9:27-28 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Page 5: The process of human death involves the entire person, not just the death of the body. According to clear Biblical statements, we must conclude that man does not possess an immortal soul that can survive the death of his body. The Scriptures clearly indicate that a soul can die. "Look! All the souls - to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son - to me they belong. The soul that is sinning - it itself will die." (Ezekiel 18:4)
Correction: Until a person receives Jesus their soul is dead while the body is alive.
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.
Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.
1 Timothy 5:6 But she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.
Note: Jesus Christ disagrees with the Watchtower.
Matthew 22:29-32 Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."
Page 5: The New Catholic Encyclopedia supplies this interesting background on the Hebrew and Greek words rendered "soul" in the Bible: "Soul in the OT (Old Testament) is nepes, in the NT (New Testament) ( psykhe').... Nepes comes from an original root probably meaning to breathe, and thus ... since breath distinguishes the living from the dead, nepes came to mean life or self or simply individual life....There is no dichotomy (division into two parts) 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 distinct from the body or the individual person ... The term ( psykhe') is the NT word corresponding with nepes. It can mean the principle of life, life itself, or the living being."
You can thus see that at the time of death, the previously alive person, or the living soul, ceases to exist.
Correction: The Bible disagrees with the New Catholic Encyclopedia and the Watchtower.
Psalm 31:9 Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; my eye wastes away with grief, yes, my soul and my body!
Isaiah 10:18 And it will consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field, both soul and body; and they will be as when a sick man wastes away.
Matthew 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Page 6: Only God can make someone live. When God created man in Eden and blew into his nostrils "the breath of life," in addition to filling Adam's lungs with air, Jehovah caused the life-force to vitalize all the cells in his body. (Genesis 2:7)
Note: Anyone who practices CPR must be God according to the Watchtower.
Page 6: According to God's will for the individual, the person is restored in either a human body or a spirit body, yet he retains his personal identity, having the same personality and memories as when he died.
Correction: In the resurrection, the body is glorified or made spiritual.
1 Corinthians 15:42-46 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.
Note: The body is "the material part or nature of a human being." Webster's Dictionary.
Page 6: Yes, the Bible speaks of two kinds of resurrection. One is a resurrection to heaven with a spirit body; this is for a comparative few. Jesus Christ received such a resurrection.
Correction: Jesus Christ was not a spirit after His resurrection.
Luke 24:38-39 And He said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have."
Page 6: This "first resurrection" is for a limited number, and the Scriptures themselves reveal that just 144,000 will be taken from among faithful men and women.
Correction: These Jewish people will be witnesses of God on earth during the tribulation.
Revelation 7:2-4 Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.
Page 6-7: After viewing the small number who qualify for a heavenly resurrection, the apostle John was given a vision of "a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues." What a happy time that will be when millions, possibly billions, come back to life here on earth! - Revelation 7:9, 16, 17.
Correction: The great crowd is in heaven during the tribulation.
Revelation 4:1-2 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.
Revelation 7:9-10 After these things I looked, and behold, a great
multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples,
and tongues, standing before the throne
and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in
their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation
belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"