The Truth of Death

Though this study of heaven and hell has proven and disproven a lot of commonly assumed assumptions, we are back to the same question we first left: What really does happen after someone dies? Many philosophers, religions, peoples, and scientists of all types through history have tried to make sense of death but ultimately death still remains the ultimate mystery! But what does the Bible, this book of ultimate truth and the very words of God, have to say about what happens to someone who dies? How does it describe death as?

First off, the Bible makes a clear distinction between death from life when mentioned together:

“I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

“...if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die.”

You see all through the Bible there is this constant contrast of life and death: Death in the Bible is strongly described as the exact opposite of being alive:

But, what is it actually like for your soul/conscience being dead? Do you go to a hot or cold place? Is it a fun place or boring place? What is it like being the exact opposite of alive, as the Bible seems to describe death as so far? What is it like according to the Bible?

Fortunately for us, the Bible does describe what being dead is like, so we don’t have to wonder about the mystery of death anymore. So, let’s see what the Bible describes where your soul/consciousness goes to after death:

“But man (human) dies, and is laid low (in the grave): man gives up the ghost (the spirit), and where is he? (Now that he is dead, buried, and his spirit has gone back to God?)…”

We also need to ask this question: “where exactly is he now?” And then we need to honestly seek out what the Bible says about where a persons consciousness goes to at death.

“Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? … For now…I would have been asleep”

“...Look on me and answer, Lord my God…or I will sleep in death,…”

“I will make her officials and wise men drunk,…they will sleep [die]…”

Another common term for death in the Bible (clearly comparing it to sleep) was to say “rest with your ancestors” that is to say “Go sleep in the grave with your ancestor.” (this term is especially used often thought Samuel to the end of Kings to describe someone who had died) [1]

“…Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father…”

“Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in his palace garden,….”

(and there are many other examples of this term being used through these books) [1]

Along with Death being described as sleep, the grave (Sheol) is also described as the ‘bed/home’ for this sleep:

“If I wait (if I remain sick) the grave is my house I have made my bed…”

“For I will soon lie down (rest: as in lying down in a bed!) in the dust (grave);…”

“...the grave,…maggots are spread out beneath you (like a sheet) and worms cover you (like a cover).”

But this comparison to sleep was not just used by humans; angels and even God himself describes death as sleep:

“…go your way till the end (of your life: you die). [then: after your death] You will rest,…”

“…the Lord said to Moses: ‘You are going to rest with your ancestors (die like your ancestors did),…”

“...When your days[lifespan] are over (you die, especially from old age from reaching the lifespan limit)…you…[will]…rest with your ancestors,…”

This description of Death to sleep does not just end in the Old Testament either: it continues right along through the New Testament

“... he..[told]…them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep;…’ His disciples replied ‘Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.’ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep (when you go to sleep at night). So then he told them plainly ‘Lazarus is dead…’”

Jesus clearly described death as sleep: Notice Jesus did not say Lazarus was in heaven or in Abraham’s Bosom partying or worshiping God, he said he was asleep!

“...the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had fallen asleep…” [2]

Death is described like this even after Jesus had come back to life and gone back to heaven, to the very end of the Bible:

“And they stoned (threw heavy stones at him) Stephen (An early Christian), calling upon God, and saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit .’…when he had said this, he fell asleep (died).”

Paul (an apostle who minister long after Jesus had went to heaven) describes those who have died in the early church as fallen asleep:

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep (who are dead)…”

“That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep (died).”

“...we who are still alive,…will certainly not precede (happen before) those who have fallen asleep (who have died).”

“...five hundred of the brothers and sisters (fellow Christians)…most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.”

Notice Paul also did not say these Christians who died had gone home to be with the Lord like many pastors say today, he said they had fallen asleep.

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death…”

As we continue to read the Bible we find out how death is like sleep by the descriptions of how a soul/consciousness is in death:

“Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? … For now [being dead at this time] I would have…been quiet,…”

king David writes about the dead and worshiping God saying dead humans do not worship God:

“...neither any that go down into the place of silence (That is Sheol/the grave).”

“What is gained if I am silenced? If I go down to the pit (the grave)?…Will it proclaim your faithfulness? (that is a rhetorical question: He is saying the grave [with him in it] cannot praise God!)”

“For the grave [the dead] cannot praise you, death cannot celebrate you those that go down into the pit (the grave) cannot hope for your truth.”

The dead cannot praise/sing to God, nor can they pray to him or even hear a peaceful truth to calm them: nothing but silence!

There is no singing, talking, or even whispering in death; it doesn’t even seem you can hear anything in death! This is a very different description from the typical description we get from screaming tormented souls in Hell or even joyful happy souls in Heaven praising God. According to all these verses, there is none of that going on in death: it is just described as complete forced silence!

“If I wait (if I remain sick) the grave is my house I have made my bed in the realm of darkness,…”

So it seems to be described as a very dark place where nothing is seen: not surprising seeing how the grave is described as covered in Biblical Hell, but it also seems it's dark for the human consciousness/soul as well. Once again, still very different from the bright flames you might see in Hell or the glorious light you might see in heaven: according to this, there is none of that in death: just complete darkness!

“Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? … For now I would have lain still…”

“...there is…[no]…working…. in the realm of the dead (that is Sheol: the grave), where you are going…”

So there is no activity or even any movement at all: complete stillness! Still very different from the idea of running panicking souls in hell or joyful floating souls in heaven: According to these verse, there is also none of that at death: there is no activity or even any body/soul movement at all!

So it seems after death you enter into silence, darkness, and complete inactivity, so what exactly does happen?

The divinely inspired prophet king David describes what happens to the person at death in one days’ time that explains all this:

“His breath goes forth (gives up the spirit=dies), he returns to his earth (by immediate decomposition); in that very day (the same day he died) his thoughts perish (perish means to die/ be destroyed!).”

So we see not only does the body die the thoughts/consciousness of a human dies as well! So we see in death there is no thinking going on whatsoever!

Written by King Solomon (the wisest man on earth) he writes concerning the present mental state of dead and living:

“For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing (!!!).”

King Solomon wrote people who are still alive know they are going to die one day, and this is true! Humans often think, once in a while: mostly when they see other people/animals dying they know too that one day they are going to die as well. However, Solomon in this sentence makes an interesting statement about those who are already dead:

“For the memory of them (the dead) is forgotten (dead lose all their memory). Also their love (for other…or themselves), and their hatred , and their envy , is now perished (their emotions are destroyed= they die);...”

“...in the realm of the dead (sheol/Grave), where you are going, there is…[no]…planning nor knowledge nor wisdom (no thinking or knowledge).”

Those that are dead obviously are not aware that they are dead, or have died! They are not aware that they use to be alive, or what they did in their former life they lived: They don’t know who they are or remember who they used to be or know. They don’t love anymore, they don’t envy anymore, they don’t hate anymore, or experience any type of emotion. All their former wisdom and knowledge they might have known is completely forgotten.

Why does absolutely nothing happen at death for a human’s consciousness/soul? Job explains exactly why that is:

“...The eye (God’s eye) that now sees me will see me no longer; You (God) will look for me, but I will be no more (I will no longer exist). As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave…For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more (I will no longer exist).”

Job says once he dies, he will no longer exist and then compares this nonexistence to a cloud fading away:

Clouds begin by frozen water droplets sticking together, but they don’t stay that way. Eventually these water droplets will begin to float apart once again and the cloud will slowly begin to vanish into non-existence.[3]

The exact same thing happens to humans: Humans are living beings made from organic material (dirt-like material), but this does not last forever because after death the body begins to break back down into simple dirt-like material: and thus, vanishes away into non-existence.

Because both a human’s body and soul/consciousness are destroyed and then cease to exists at death!

“But man dies, and waste away man gives up the ghost, and where is he? (Now that he is dead ) As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, So man lies down (as in lying down to sleep), and rises not (and does not wake up):…they will not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.”

The answer is he is right there where his body is buried: in the grave fast asleep!

According to the Bible, your soul/consciousness does not leave your body to be whisked away to an afterlife somewhere else: it stays with your body and is destroyed with it (into a total unconsciousness/non-existence)! Therefore, there is no afterlife after death: there is just life (physical consciousness existence) and then death (destroyed unconscious inactivity). The only true afterlife awaiting someone after death is the grave, they are put in.

Recall in the first article what is death? It was said that death was defined as “the body shutting down” and therefore “the end of physical life”. But then we assumed (like most humans do) that the body was only the “shell” for the real human within: this real human within is usually though of as a ghost like soul/spirit that contains the consciousness of a human. However, we have proven from the Bible that a soul does not come out of a dead human’s body ( the only thing close to this is the spirit leaving the body, but this was proven not to be the same thing as a soul) but rather a human’s consciousness/identity is directly linked to a human body and when a human body dies a human consciousness dies with it. But some might wonder how is this possible if God had given humans immortal souls ,like he has, that have to go somewhere at death. In order to answer this we need to know what exactly a soul is according to the bible

So, this article proves that humans do not have immortal souls that have to go somewhere else at death: humans' souls are mortal and can/do die at death!

A human's soul does not go anywhere at death but the grave and stays there forever!

Solomon said that human mortality is no better than any animals’ mortality: both have bodies that will either get some type of injury, disease, or poisoning that will kill them (causing their body to stop working and to shut down) or will just live until they reach their lifespan limit and their aged body breaks down and begins to shut down:

“For what happens to the sons of men (human beings) also happens to animals; one thing befalls them (like a sickness, injury, old age etc.): as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all (animals and humans alike) have one breath (or spirit); man (humans) has no advantage over animals,…”

But if humans had an immortal soul that went to heaven/hell then this would not necessarily be true but since they don’t have an immortal soul and just go into non-existence this is true: human have NO advantage whatsoever over an animal in their physical lives: because all die and go to the same place (decompose):

“Man [humans] has no advantage over animals,...All go to one place (notice animals and humans go to the same place at death): all are from the dust (corruptible material) , and all return to dust (die and decompose!).”

So why humans sometimes would like to think they have an advantage over animals at death by their immortal souls their own Bible says the exact opposite: they don’t! Death is just as lifeless and dark as it physically appears to be for both humans and animals alike! It truly is the exact opposite of life!

Why do you think people describe death even today as “taking a dirt nap” or even write on the very gravestones of loved ones “rest in peace” (R.I.P). [4]

Why do you think People who are about to die say “I going to sleep the sleep of death” or burying someone who has died as "Laying them to rest"? I don’t think it’s no coincidence at all that people refer to death as a type of sleep or rest! I think really all people, deep down whatever they believe in an afterlife or not, feel death as this silent uneasy end to life, And sadly, that’s exactly what it is!

Many might now wonder why a loving God would allow something so terrible as death to happen to his physical creations:

However, as covered in the first article “what is Death?”, death is revealed by God to be a bad thing to him: death is a curse brought on by Adam’s disobedience as Paul Summarizes:

“...sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin (sin brought on the curse of death), and in this way death came to all…”

Since everything on Earth has been tainted by sin in some way all of it is affected by the curse of death, Paul also says God’s punishment for sin IS death!

Notice the punishment of sin is not suffering in hellfire forever: the verse does not say that it simply says the punishment for (any) sin is (always) death! Some might reason and try to say, “well this verse means that when an evil humans died their soul goes to hell to be eternally separated from God which is a type of death.” but from the past article Biblical hell you can see there is no proof an afterlife hell exists nor proof that Gehennah hell will torture sinners forever and even in this article it proves that a human soul goes nowhere like that at death. Also, if this were the case Paul could have said something like “The wages of sin is eternal torment in hellfire” but he said no such thing: he simply said death itself was the punishment! This makes total sense when you realize that death is total destruction of your body and consciousness: it is the taking away of life from a creation because of sin!

So now that we know what happens when someone dies, and it’s no longer a mystery, let’s ask another very equally important question:

Once we die is total unconsciousness/non-existence all that await humans for eternity?

At first glance, it would seem death is an irreversible eternal fate for all humans reading the words of the Old Testament (especially Ecclesiastes) once death occurs the dead stay that way forever.

“…While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

Death is a one-way stream: David could go to the baby (join his baby in death) but the baby would not come back to him (be brought back to life again) death does not work like this: once dead the body/soul permanently breaks down into simpler materials (dirt-like materials) never to come back together and be activated again.

“As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return. He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.”

“Never again will they (the dead) have a part in anything (that is living their life) that happens under the sun (on Earth).”

This is talking about the grave because mourners are mentioned: and in this culture when someone died mourners (or people who cried for a loved ones death) would accompany a funeral and also death is talked about in the next verse:

Since all physical life ends at death forever, all physical lives are ultimately lived in vain:

“Man [humans] has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity [life for animals and humans is all for nothing].”

A physical creature is born learns as it grows but then gets sick/old then dies forgetting all the lessons and experiences it learned forever. their lives always ends in death, only to be repeated again and again by the next generation for infinity, for a single living being the life they live is all for nothing only to experience life for a single moment in time:

“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart,…Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun (on Earth)—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life…”

This is the exact reason king Solomon (the author and teacher here) says everything is meaningless at the end of this book: if it all ends in death, what’s the point of life?

So it seems like the answer is Yes: this is what ultimately awaits all humans for eternity. Though this might be a very hard and sad reality for many humans to accept; there is something far more questionable going on here: along with this ultimate doom for all humans, we are also left with a massive Biblical contradiction:

Though the Bible does say there is definitely a fiery punishment for wicked humans after death and a righteous reward for loyal humans after death. if this is true, then how do evil humans who have died go to the future fiery punishment if they are already destroyed in death forever? And how do loyal humans who died get to receive their ultimate reward of living in the kingdom of God in the future (not heaven as covered in “Heaven contradictions”) if they are forever destroyed in death as well? This does not make sense unless there is something we are missing: and there is something we are definitely missing!

all hope is not lost for the dead (and those who will die): the righteous will still receive their reward and the wicked will still receive their fiery punishment. God is still in control of all things and never wanted the curse of death for humans, especially Adam and Eve. And it turns out God reveals he has a grand plan to make this right.

Remember in Heaven contradictions, Jesus has power over all things especially over life and death:

This means he has the power to reverse the permanent effects of death and is able to miraculously bring a body's decomposed parts back together again and even bring back the breath of life to turn the body back on: he has the power to wake a dead human up out of their death sleep! And this is exactly what God has planned to make this right and make all this make sense: his plan is the Resurrection of the dead.

The Truth of Death:

If not Heaven or Hell, then what?