Photo by rawpixel.com
When a person passes away, many people wonder if that is truly the end. Does everything just stop? The idea that our consciousness transcends death is a question for many people.
According to Living Life With Blinders On, a book about life after death, the physical end of life is not the cessation of our being.
Physical death is merely the start of our eternal existence.
For those who wish to understand whether consciousness transcends death, the Holy Scriptures provide the definitive answer.
The Bible reveals that what we refer to as the immortal soul is not a miracle, but rather a planned aspect of human existence.
Thus, we need to know what happens to us when we die, or else we are “living life with blinders on”.
Consciousness Transcends Death
Some people have experiences that suggest the mind continues after death, even when the body is failing. These are often called Near-Death Experiences, or NDEs. Dr. Julius Mosley II mentions his own frightening moments when he thought he was dead. He says that people who have an out-of-body experience will tell you a “different story”.
People who have had a near-death experience would tell you they saw their life “flash” before their mind’s eye very fast.
Photo by wirestock
Dr. Mosley II experienced this himself when he nearly drowned and when he was in a bad car accident. This suggests that the part of you that holds your memories and awareness can be active even when your body is on the edge of death.
The Bible makes it clear that we are appointed to die once, and after that comes the judgment. Death is a certainty, but it is not the final destination. It is just the start of the next phase of life.
How the Self Exists Beyond the Body
To grasp how consciousness transcends death, we must understand that people are not just one thing. The Holy Bible tells us that we are triune beings, comprising three distinct parts: a body, a soul, and a spirit.
The body is the part we can see. It is made from the “dust of the ground”. The body is what lets us interact with the world, but it is temporary.
Scripture says: “…dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return (Gen 3:19)”.
The body is a vessel, and Living Life With Blinders On explains that this vessel is “cursed” due to the first sin committed by Adam and Eve.
The soul and the spirit are the invisible parts. They are the real person inside. God made man: “…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Gen 2:7)”.
This act is what brings life to the body.
When physical death occurs, the body returns to dust.
But the soul and spirit shall return to God to be judged. This is the simple truth of soul survival.
What Scripture Says of the Eternal Soul
The Bible offers a powerful narrative that suggests the continuity of consciousness after death. Living Life With Blinders On uses the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the beggar, to illustrate what happens immediately after death.
In the story, both the rich man and Lazarus die. Lazarus, the beggar, goes to Abraham’s side, which is a place of comfort. The rich man, however, goes to hell. In hell, he immediately “lifted up his eyes, being in torments“ and saw Lazarus far off.
This story demonstrates that the soul remains fully aware and functioning immediately after death.
Therefore, in the soul resides all of the elements for existence, mind, emotion, and will…it’s the decision portion of man, which is invisible, but also cursed.
The ability of the soul to see, feel, and remember after the body is buried is a clear statement that consciousness transcends death.
The Non-Local Awareness of the Soul
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
The fact that the soul is separate from the body and yet still active suggests a form of non-local awareness.
The NDEs mentioned earlier, where a person sees their life “flash” outside their body, also hint at this. The inner self is not tied to the “fleshy body,” which “will grow old and die from either disease, crime, old age, or all manner of other factors”. When the heart stops, the invisible part of you—the soul and spirit—is set free from the body.
The body is a vessel, and the soul is COLORLESS. Treating people differently based on the color of their skin is “living life with blinders on.” This is because God has “no respect of persons,” meaning He judges the invisible soul, not the outer body.
Finding True Spiritual Consciousness
The spirit is the third part of man. It is able to worship, but because the spirit is also “cursed,” our natural tendency is to worship the “god of this world, who is Satan,” by focusing on things like jobs, celebrities, or money.
True spiritual consciousness means having a living spirit that can connect with the real God. Jesus said (John 4:24),
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
This means we need the Holy Spirit to be within us to truly worship God. Thinking you can please or glorify God without His Spirit is another example of “living life with blinders on”.
Photo from freepik
Where Death Beckons Us Towards
The Bible states clearly (Heb 9:27):
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment…
Every person must stand before God to “give an account for everything” they have done while in the body.
For the unrighteous person, the body returns to dust, but the soul and spirit are cast into a waiting place called Hades, or “outer darkness,” where they wait for the final judgment. This is the first death. The second death, called the Lake of Fire, is the final, eternal death for the soul and spirit.
The only way to escape this judgment and to confirm that your consciousness transcends death into eternal life with God is through Jesus Christ. As Ephesians 2:8-9 says:
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Living Life with Blinders On: Living Life As God Intended by Dr. Julius Mosley II is sure to open your eyes to God’s glory and to a life free of sin.
0 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks