Molehills: The Doctrine Of Soul Sleep, Part One

What is the doctrine of soul sleep? Soul sleep is a euphemism for the annihilation of the soul upon the death of the body. To wit, this doctrine teaches that the body and soul are indivisible, and if one dies the other dies without it because one cannot survive the death of the other. Cults such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh Day Adventists have propagated this false doctrine for decades, and I firmly believe that its reception and practice in teaching is injurious to the spiritual welfare of those that espouse it. Why is it relegated to being a molehill, then? Because belief in soul sleep does not harm the gospel, which is the foundation of the Christian faith. Therefore, harmful or otherwise, it is not an impediment to one being saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, Spurning Wisdom

Ecclesiastes 9:13 This wisdom I have also seen under the sun, and it seemed great to me: [14] There was a little city with few men in it; and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it. [15] Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that same poor man. [16] Then I said: “Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. [17] Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard rather than the shout of a ruler of fools. [18] Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.”

The preacher would have obviously heard the story of the siege at Abel during the twilight years of David as king. In truth, he would have already been alive and likely a young man at this point, serving as a prince under his father. The history of the siege of Abel, and the events that led to it, are chronicled in 2 Samuel chapter 20. Sheba, a man of Benjamin and a rebel, tried to get Israel to defect from David after a dispute between Judah and the other tribes, 2 Samuel 20:1, 2.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, Time & Chance

Ecclesiastes 9:11 I returned and saw under the sun that–the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. [12] For man also does not know his time: like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.

The preacher returns from his visit to the grave–the ultimate abode of all the living, and sees under the sun that the outcome of life’s experiences does not necessarily occur to those supposedly most deserving. He begins with the idea of the foot race. The race is not always won by the swiftest athlete.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, Vain Effort

Ecclesiastes 9:9 Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your vain life which He has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity; for that is your portion in life, and the labor which you perform under the sun. [10] Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.

The proffered optimism of verses 7 and 8 give way to a brutal reality check in verses 9 and 10. That is why I believe the preacher was exercising satire regarding the prior passage. Combined, the reader is told to enjoy food and drink, make merry, practice pious external religion, and enjoy your marriage, for that is one’s portion from their labor.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, What Has Perished

Ecclesiastes 9:6 Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun. [7] Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works. [8] Let your garments always be white, and let your head lack no oil.

Verse 6 concludes the preacher’s thoughts, beginning in verse 5. Verse 5 explained how the living possess an awareness of death, but the dead, by the standard of what is under the sun, know nothing. Though unspoken, it is not just an awareness of death, but a fear of it, represented by the living dog and the dead lion. In Hebrews 2:15, the writer goes into a little detail as to how Satan, through fear of impending death, kept humanity enslaved. This amplifies the notion that being a live dog is better than something noble and dead; for at least the fear of death is held off a little longer, no matter what we have to do to prolong its visit.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, What The Dead Know

Ecclesiastes 9:4 But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. [5] For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. 

Verse 4 continues the preacher’s descent into morbidity regarding the estate of man under the sun. The concept of being joined to the living is simply a euphemism meaning that one is still alive. We are part of the global community of countries and ethnicities that comprise planet earth. As long as we live we may have hope. But if we pause without brushing past this initial statement, we must ask the question: hope in what? What does the man under the sun hope for, when the sky is leaden and the spirit is dismissed as fantasy?

Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, One Event For All

Ecclesiastes 9:2 All things come alike to all: One event happens to the righteous and the wicked; to the good, the clean, and the unclean; to him who sacrifices and him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath as he who fears an oath. [3] This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: one thing happens to all. Truly the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

As was explained in rather painful detail in the previous chapter, so now does the preacher launch into another lament about the frailty of human life and its inevitable end. Verse 2 begins with a sweeping universal incrimination: one event happens to all. Focusing on the single word, “all,” one can deduce that the preacher is inferring a universal theme, from which no member of Adam’s race is exempt.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Nine, What Awaits

Ecclesiastes 9:1 For I considered all this in my heart, so that I could declare it all: that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. People know neither love nor hatred by anything they see before them.

Chapter nine continues the thoughts the preacher is forming regarding the work of God and the labor of man from the previous chapter. In the concluding verses, he asserts that he applied his heart to understand, only to ascertain that God’s work is beyond man’s comprehension. Though even the greatest men search to understand, it will always remain beyond him. This culminates with the declaration of verse 1, stating that the preacher considered all of this in his heart.

Peripherals, A Brief Look At Exorcism

Today I would like to begin a new series I am calling Peripherals. To explain, as opposed to my Molehills series, Peripherals will deal with issues within Christendom that are not necessarily doctrinal items, but an observational commentary on something that has become entrenched in the church or even popular culture. For the first entry I would like to have a brief examination regarding the history of exorcism. Mind you, this is hardly exhaustive, but rather a glimpse into the concept of exorcism.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Eight, Seeking The Impossible

 Ecclesiastes 8:16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night, [17] then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.

Paradoxically, when the preacher attests that he applied his heart to know wisdom, he learned that man cannot learn what is done under the sun. In short, he realized that, through wisdom, he cannot know certain things. The sum of what is done under the sun is God’s providence: he says as much when he refers to it as “the work of God.”

Ecclesiastes Chapter Eight, Nothing Is Better

Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

The familiar phrase “under the sun” is used twice in this verse, just as “vanity” is employed twice in the last for added emphasis on the preacher’s current point of view. The preacher wants to emphasize the fact that he is viewing the reward or purpose of life from an entirely earthly perspective. His conclusion? To indulge in enjoyment.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Eight, Reversing What Is Just

Ecclesiastes 8:14 There is a vanity which occurs on earth, that there are just men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked; again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

Once more the preacher tackles the noticeable and pointless disparity in human culture and society. Twice in a single verse the preacher calls this practice vanity, futility, pointlessness. There is no reason or rationality behind it; it simply is, and to make an effort to define or understand why is a labor in pointlessness. It is, because people are. I am unfair in some of my behavior. I have biases, preferences, and emotional turns that do nothing to commend logic, intelligence, or objective fairness. This is a part of being human and possessing a sin nature.

Ecclesiastes Chapter Eight, Fearing Before God

Ecclesiastes 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. [12] Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him. [13] But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God.

The idea is laxity of justice in government when law breakers are caught and tried. The sentence, or verdict, is not speedily carried out and therefore it emboldens future wrongdoers to follow in the footsteps of their progenitors. There is, in the United States, a strange amount of criminals condemned to death row that, rather than die because of their sentence, die from old age or sickness. Some inmates last 30+ years behind bars after being sentenced to death. Think of it, if a murderer is convicted at 30, lives 30 years behind bars and is finally then executed, he has doubled his lifespan since the time of the crime that put him in prison. Meanwhile, his victim remains dead, and their family awaits justice to be done.