September 2011
Dear Friends,
On August 6 Taliban forces shot down a helicopter carrying 38 American and Afghani military men. There were no survivors. Aboard that Chinook was the son of one of my dearest friends, a U.S. Navy SEAL. He and my son Andy grew up together.
The news hit hard. My friend lost her only son. Her heartache is worsened by the fact that unfortunate circumstances had kept him from her for much of the past several years. Any hope of earthly reconciliation was dashed.
The devastating loss sent waves of crushing grief over her and over the whole family. And me. I love my friend. I loved her son.
We sat together one sad evening, the family and I, talking, grieving, sharing memories and hope. Then someone asked, “So where does the soul go? Does it go straight to heaven? Is it floating around out there somewhere?”
In times like these, a natural, deep repugnance toward the unspeakable cruelty of eternal torment constrains a person from even imagining that the soul could go straight to a place of eternal burning.
Alternative ideas were bounced around.
“His soul must have gone to heaven. After all, he died a hero.”
“But don’t souls have to wait somewhere for awhile?”
“What about Judgment - does that happen for each person when they die?”
“Isn’t there some part of a person that God takes back and keeps?”
I’ve been living this theme for months. I can ask questions too: “What if there is no consciousness in death? What if there is no remembrance, no giving of thanks (Job 6:5), no work nor device nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave (Ecc 9:10)? What if death really means death, and not an alternative form of life?”
That was an entirely new thought to some. We explored it.
The Bible doesn’t say man has a living soul. It says he IS a living soul. Formed from the dust of the earth, God breathed into him the breath of life, and he “became a living soul” (Gen 2:7). And when he dies, he returns to dust (Gen 3:19), and his breath returns to God who gave it (Ecc 12:7). His thoughts perish (Psalm 146:4). There is no consciousness.
There was thoughtful silence. Then, “I’ve never heard that before....”
Why the confusion? Why do most Christians believe that a conscious, living “soul” survives the death of the body and goes somewhere else? Why do so many suppose that the souls of lost sinners are consigned to a fiery hell to live on in torment forever, while the souls of the saved go straight to heaven?
Furthermore, this idea that man is made up of two parts, a body and a soul – where did that come from? And the idea that the physical part of man is mortal and dies, but the soul is immortal and cannot die?
It’s kind of a shock for some of us to realize that it did not come from the Bible.
This dualistic view of man came straight from Greek philosophy, having been expounded by Socrates and popularized by his student, Plato, nearly four hundred years before Christ.
The Christian view of the nature of man was distorted by influential Greek converts who interpreted the plain teaching of Scripture through the filter of their philosophical ideas.
This warped picture has been with us so long that few people even question it. Except when folks like my friends lose someone they love and wonder where their soul is going; and maybe they wonder whether a God who calls Himself Love could be ok with His lost children burning forever and ever.
We went together, my friends and I, to see our young warrior laid in the ground, dust to dust, to await the sound of the trumpet and the voice of a merciful, fair and loving God.
You can understand why I want to shout the truth about God and His arrangements for those who come under the curse of death!
You can see why I want to do this project on hell and eternal torment. People I know, people you know, people whose sorrow we share – are grasping for answers that really make sense, answers that befit a loving God. They, and millions like them, need something solid to hold on to. Not confusion, but the real truth.
May God give us opportunities to share His character. And may He provide the means to accomplish this film and the documentary. And may He get them out where people will watch them, where searching people will find answers.
Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your faithful support. We need it, we thank you for it and we praise God for it!
In the hands of a merciful God,
Pat Arrabito
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