Not "More Alive Than Ever," As Billy Graham Had Said,
Nor "Dead Eternally," As Atheists Suppose—
But rather Sleeping Until Resurrection Morn
Excerpt from Intro to “The Doctrine of Immortality in the Early Church” by Dr. John H. Roller Most modern evangelical Christians believe that every human being has within him (or her) a naturally immortal soul which, being separated from the body at the moment of physical death, continues to exist forever, either in the enjoyment of God’s presence or in the everlasting torment of hell-fire --in the latter case, in particular, consciously experiencing the pain of burning, but never actually being burnt up. This position is well stated by the popular evangelist, Dr. Billy Graham, in his book, Peace With God, chapter 6, paragraph 25, where he says, “The Bible teaches that you are an immortal soul. Your soul is eternal and will live forever. In other words, the real you --the part of you that thinks, feels, dreams, aspires; the ego, the personality --will never die. The Bible teaches that your soul will live forever in one of two places --heaven or hell.” In the same chapter, in paragraph 28, he adds, “The Bible teaches that whether we are saved or lost, there is conscious and everlasting existence of the soul and personality.” This belief is actually written into the Statements of Faith of many Protestant denominations --for example, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God, the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, the American Baptist Association, the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and the Evangelical Free Church of America (to name just a few). Thus it is held to be both Biblically supportable and doctrinally essential by those churches that so include it. On the other hand, a small but vocal minority, who refer to themselves as “Conditionalists”, believe that the soul (by which term they mean, the “whole personality”) is naturally mortal, not immortal, and consequently cannot, and will not, live forever (in any condition) unless immortality is granted to the individual by God --and that God only grants immortality to those who trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and follow Him as their Lord. This position is well stated by Dr. David A. Dean, of Berkshire Christian College, in his book, Resurrection Hope, on page 83, where he says, “Nothing in the Bible teaches that the wicked are immortal. Such expressions as ‘to live forever’, ‘to exist forever’, ‘never to die’, ‘to be immortal’, nor any equivalent expressions, are ever applied to the nature of the soul, or the destiny of the lost. They are only applied to the destiny of the righteous. Death is the inevitable wages for sin. Eternal life is God’s gift to only those who believe in Jesus Christ.” In the same book, on page 84, he adds, “The second death destroys the whole person completely and irreversibly. Jesus said, ‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell’ (Matt. 10: 28). In the second death there is a complete and never-ending destruction of the total personality (or personhood) of the sinner. One’s life is taken away and eternal life is withheld.”
Excerpt from FUNERAL SERMON OF HENRY N. WHITE By Uriah Smith Preached on December 21, 1863—(Eulogy of a Young Man based on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) If the grave is such a place, and if death is a sleep, is it, as atheism and infidelity assert, an eternal sleep?… Job puts the question direct: "If a man die shall he live again?" This is the very question at issue; and he answers it in the language that immediately follows: "All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come." Job xiv, 14. But how do we know that this is an answer to the preceding question? How do we know what he means by waiting, and what the change is, that shall afterwards come? Turning to some further testimony of Job's we read, "If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness… And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it?" Job xvii, 13, 15 If he once went into a state of death, where was his hope? If he waited, the grave was to be his house. This shows us, plainly enough, that the waiting to which he refers, is waiting in the grave; and that the change that is to follow is the change that takes place from that condition. And what is that change? The next verse declares: "Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands." That is it. The Lord will call him from his lowly resting-place. Man, the noblest work of God, will not be forgotten and left to perish. The Lord will have a desire to the work of his hands. The voice of the archangel and the trump of God, will be heard, calling them forth, and they will arise at the summons. "Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee."
Again Job bears testimony on this question. He writes in a manner to show that his subject is one of vast importance. Job xix, 23-27. He says: "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! that they were grave with an iron pen, and lead in the rock forever." As much as to express a desire that they might be preserved for all generations in all coming time. And what is his testimony, apparently so important? It is this: "For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." David says, "I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." The prophet Isaiah exclaims. "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." The prophet Hosea also testifies...: "I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be thy plagues. O Grave, I will be thy destruction. Repentance shall be hid from mine eyes." We come to the New Testament, to the teachings of Him through whom life and immortality are said to have been brought to light, and we find not only the same great fact stated of a redemption from death, but also the time when, and the means by which this glorious event shall be accomplished. Paul, in writing to the Corinthian brethren, says, "Behold I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep; but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O, Death, where is thy sting? O, Grave, where is thy victory?" [Now for our text] …Paul again, after saying that he would not have us ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that we sorrow not as others which have no hope, says: "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. [Bring with him from the dead.] For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words." 1 Thessalonians iv, 13-18 Thus all our inquiries are answered. The state of the dead is revealed unto us. And though the grave is declared to be a place of unconsciousness, we also learn that it is not the final abode of the saints; but they shall be redeemed therefrom with a great and glorious redemption.- .... death, whenever and wherever it is seen, has a voice for us. As we behold it even in the vegetable, or more especially in the animal kingdom, it is impressive. When it takes one of the human race, it calls still more loudly upon us. The thought which it then suggests is this: That class of beings of which I am a member, is subject to the destroyer, so that I, too, am under his power. But when it comes still nearer to us; when it enters a neighborhood, and an acquaintance is taken, a friend, a school-mate, a class-mate, how much more impressive is its solemn presence. There is, therefore, a lesson for the young in the event which we here contemplate today. I would then say to them, Look upon these relics of mortality, these emblems of the grave, and ask yourself if you have any guarantee of life which he had not. Reduced in one short week from all the activity of life, to the silence of death - have you a lease of life even as long as that? Think, then, that you may fall as suddenly, but not as safely. He has fallen, triumphing in a Saviour's love, and in firm hope of a part in the first resurrection. Place yourselves in his condition, and inquire, When and where would be your waking? Would it be with the just in the first resurrection, or with the rest of the dead who live not again till the thousand years are finished? Are you not called upon, then, if you are without hope, to haste to secure an interest in that arm upon which he leaned? or if you think you have a hope, to examine well the grounds upon which it rests? ... Henry has left a dying testimony for his friends and for the young, by which he being dead yet speaketh. It is embodied in a brief sketch of his experience, prepared by One who was with him during his last sickness. I would say to the church here, that we as a church, are partakers in this bereavement. As one of our number, we have felt a great interest in the welfare of Henry. We rejoiced when he first gave his heart to the Lord. We were glad when we first heard him inquiring the way to Zion, and turning his face thitherward. We were glad when we saw him, less than a year since, go down into the water, obedient to his Lord in the ordinance of baptism. Of the thirteen who then went forward together, two have already fallen in death. Scarcely one short year elapsed, and two already gone! What shall I say to the remaining eleven? Are they not called to renewed diligence, faithfulness, and constant readiness, should a like summons come for them?— From An Appeal to the Youth, 1864