I understand where you are coming from. It is a very complicated topic and if I'm wrong I'm wrong because nobody can change the truth.
There are these considerations.
Jesus breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. John 20:22
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.1 Corinthians 2:11
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. Romans 8:16
The body cannot function without the breath or spirit. As more than likely the spirit cannot function without the body.
Jesus said " she was asleep"
There is so much about being asleep. Only many different interpretations.
Of course as we agree on the resurrections.
The bible mentions true children of God to have the imperishable seed and will be raised to have an imperishable body.
The bible has not said that about unbelievers. That would mean that all have eternal life but the bible speaks of the second death, which cannot be an existance.
Although many interpret death as seperation. I don't think so.
The body can be destroyed relatively easily but the entire person can only be destroyed by God and some do not have the imperishable seed, in their spirit.
There are so many different views .
I am not sure of the spirit when leaving the body , whether he or she is conscious but I don't think so because of the way they are said to be asleep.
It seems we're in agreement on several points. My position is this. There are four words that are translated spirit or breath. Two Greek and two Hebrew. The Greek words are noe and pneuma. The Hebrew words are neshamah and ruach. The all mean wind or breath. That's the fundamental meaning. Sometimes they are used figuratively, and translated spirit. For example, the Bible says, 'God is Spirit'. Literally, God is wind. We know that God isn't literally moving air. So, it's a figure of speech. So, what would that figure of speech mean? I think Jesus gives us a great definition of it in John 3.
8 The
wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the
Spirit. (Jn. 3:8 KJV)
Both bolded words are the same word pneuma. God comes and goes we don't know where He comes from or where He goes. We do see evidence of Him all around. When the Bible says God is wind I think this description Jesus gives of pneuma is accurate of God.
Regarding man, I believe the spirit is that animating force that comes from God. Here is a clip I posted in another thread. I'll pasted it here. It explains how I see the spirit in man. The questions are not directed at you.
And the LORD God formed
man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a
living soul. (
Gen. 2:7 KJV)
In this passage we have, the body, the spirit, and the soul. These are the three that most people claim that man consists of. Most say that man is body, soul, and spirit. We have all three right here in the passage about the creation of man. So, let's look at them. The man is formed from the dust. That's the body. Moses records that God breathed into the body, the breath of lives. God is breath or spirit. He breathed breath or spirit into the man. When He did that there was a transformation. Moses records that the man "Became" a living soul. Before man had the breath of lives, he was not a soul. After he received the breath of lives, he was a soul. This shows us that the body of dust and the breath of lives combined to form something new, a soul. From this we conclude that a soul consists of two elements, the body and the breath of lives. That's the creation man. In this passage there is only "One" spirit mentioned, it is God's. It's the breath of lives. This passage doesn't say anything at all about any other spirit that "is" or is in man. nothing. We know that this spirit that is in man is God's because it came out of God. In addition the Scriptures tell us that it is God's sprit, breath. Job said that if God retrieved His Ruach and His Neshamah all flesh would die. Paul tells us that God gives, or is giving, it's present tense, life to all things. So, if God stopped giving life all things would die. That tells us that the spirit that is in man, the breath of lives, is God's. However, in Ezekiel 37 He tells us plainly. Ezekiel sees a vision of Israel's resurrection. In it there is a valley of dry bones. After being told to prophesy he sees bones coming together, then skin come on them etc. However, they are not alive. Then he's told to prophesy to the ruach, the wind. after doing this, ruach, breath, comes into them and they live. This is the exact same thing we see in
Gen 2:7. However, after seeing the vision God gives him the interpretation. He tells him that the bones are the whole house of Israel and that He is going to bring them out of their graves. And then God say to Israel, I will put "MY' Ruach, spirit, in you and you shall live. So God says plainly here that it is "HIS" spirit that is giving them life. It's not a spirit of the man. It's not "their" spirit. God says it is "HIS" Ruach, spirit, that He puts in them and they live. So, Ezekiel sees the same thing Moses recorded in
Gen 2:7. And God said it was "His" Ruach, spirit.
Now, let me ask a question . In all of this that I've written, and please check Ezekiel 37 and
Gen 2:7, and in the passages, do you see any other spirit put in man, besides God's spirit? I don't. If you don't, then let me ask, what is this man's spirit that lives on after death?
So, if we have only one spirit in man and that spirit is God's spirit, I have to conclude that the only spirit in man is God's spirit. I see no other spirit, so I have to conclude that man is of the dust of the earth. We're told in Scripture that when man dies, the spirit returns to God who gave it and the body returns to the dust. We've seen from the above passages that the spirit is God's spirit, and it returns to Him. That only leaves the body. The soul has ceased to exist as it's two components, the body and God's spirit have separated. That only leaves the body. The body returns to the dust. All three are accounted for. So, my question is, what lives on?
Here's a link to the other thread. In that thread I've been discussing whether or not the spirit lives on after death. There's been a lot of discussion about the spirit. You may find it interesting.
Two main points: All sin is of equal merit in separation from God. Not equal in severity of judgment by God. As best as I can, I try to deal with my most common sins. Anger is still a large problem for me. I would rather be judged for Anger and the fact I did better than being a rapist...
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