CHAPTER XXV
MAN: BODY + SOUL OR BODY + BREATH?
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TEACHES:
Man is composed of a Body and a Soul. Both are created at the moment of conception. At death, the Soul leaves the Body and has the Particular Judgment. The Soul then goes to Heaven Purgatory or Hell. The poor Souls in Purgatory can be helped by the prayers and sacrifices of the living. At the end of the world, our Souls will be reunited with incorruptible bodies and both the body and Soul will be in either Heaven or Hell forever and ever.
THE SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH TEACHES:[118]
Man is a soul and is composed of a Body and Breath. The Man (a living Soul) is formed when God puts breath into the Body. At death, the Body goes into the grave and the breath goes back to God and the Man (the Soul) ceases to exist. Therefore the dead know nothing. There is no Particular Judgment. At the end of the world, the Body will receive Breath again and be a Soul again. The righteous will meet God in the air, the bad will be burned up in Hell and then no longer exist. While the fires of Hell may be eternal, the suffering there is not forever, just till the bad guy burns up.
CATHOLIC RESPONSE:
The Apostles and the Christians (Catholics) at the time of Christ were taught that man is composed of a Body and a Soul. This Truth coming from Christ Himself. This is what the Christians the world over were taught and believed not only during the first 100 years but also throughout the first 500 years and even the first 1000 years and still do today in the 20th Century. The idea that man was composed of body and breath resulted from private interpretation of Scripture, which Scripture condemns. I guess the Adventist leaders, probably around middle 1800's or later, thought they discovered something that Christ Himself didn’t know! If Christ knew this, then He kept it a secret from His Church He established to teach mankind. The same Church that wrote the New Testament (the Apostles were the first Catholic Bishops). The same Church that years later decided which Books would make up the New Testament. The same Church that alone has the Authority to tell us what the various verses in Holy Scripture mean. If it wasn’t for The Catholic Church the Adventist leaders wouldn’t even have a Bible to misinterpret! What arrogance these early Adventist leaders had to introduce new Doctrine and at such a late date! Reminds us of 2 Thess. 2:10 where is says that in the latter days they do not love Truth and will believe lying. The poor victims of these errors are seduced away from The Catholic Church by “the blind leading the blind and both fall into the pit”!
Scriptural Arguments:
1. SDA: We know man is a Soul and is composed of Body and Breath because it says so in Genesis 2:7
“And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and
man became a living soul.”
Page 246
CATHOLIC RESPONSE:
It is the Soul that gives not only life to the body but also its personality. The phrase “and man became a living soul” means “man became a living being”. The man being alive because God gave him a Soul.
A little earlier in Genesis 1:27 we read:
“ And God created man to his own image; to the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them.”
Also in Wisdom 2:23:
“For God created man incorruptible and to the image of his own likeness he made him.”
Now God has no body and He is much more than mere “breath”, He is a Spirit. Therefore there is a spiritual component of man that was made “to the image of God”. This spiritual component is called man’s Soul.
Matt. 10:28 “And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Here is a clear reference of both the body and soul (independent components of man). When someone “kills” the body, the soul, which is immortal, is still alive. A soul is said to be “dead” when it is in the state of Mortal Sin. This is a figure of speech. The soul in Mortal sin is still alive but “spiritually” dead because it lacks Sanctifying Grace. Therefore this passage warns us to fear those who will tempt us to commit Mortal sin more than those who can kill us. For example fear those who try to lead us away from The Catholic Church (Mortal sin) with false interpretation of Holy Scripture, more than those who would just kill us. A similar comment is found in Luke 12:4-5.
Satan tried to tempt Christ while He was fasting in the desert, using Holy Scripture. Through the Centuries he continues to lead men away from the Catholic Church with faulty interpretations of the Bible. Only the Catholic Church has the Authority from God to correctly tell us what various passages of Holy Scripture mean. Private interpretation of the Bible is forbidden (according to the Bible).
2. SDA: When a person dies, his body turns back to dust and his spirit (good or evil) goes back to God.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”
CATHOLIC COMMENT:
The spirit (the Soul) indeed goes back to God. We know it is the Soul and not the “breath” going back to God because the “breath” is neither good or evil. After all breath is only the movement of air in and out of the lungs. However a Soul can be either good or evil and it goes back to God for the Particular Judgment which occurs right after death.
Ecclesiasticius (Sirach) 11:28 “For it is easy before God in the day of death to reward everyone according to his ways.”
Ecclesisaticius (Sirach) 1:13 “ With him that feareth the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed.”
Page 247
Luke 16:19-31 This is the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus. After death the rich man was tormented in Hell and Lazarus enjoyed Heaven.
Luke 23:43 “And Jesus said to him (the good thief): Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”
2 Corinthians 5:8 “But we are confident, and have a good will to be absent rather from the body (our Souls are absent from the body at the moment of death), and to be present with the Lord.”
Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the (Particular) Judgment.”
The above seven passages prove the Catholic Doctrine that at the moment of death the Soul goes to God and is Judged and of course the dead are very much aware of what is going on!
3. SDA: “Your Breath and Spirit are the same thing. Nowhere in all of God’s book is the “spirit” given any life, wisdom, or feeling after the person dies. It is the ‘breath of life” and nothing more.”
CATHOLIC RESPONSE:
Breath is the movement of air in and out of the lungs. It is not your spirit (Soul). In the section above the Particular Judgment of the Soul is proven. If the spirit (Soul) is neither good or evil then why the Judgment? If the spirit (Soul) is not aware, then why the Judgment? If the “spirit” has no feeling after death then why did the rich man want Lazarus to bring him a drop of water?
4. Souls are not immortal. On God’s own authority, Souls, which are just living beings, die.
Ezekiel 18:20 “The Soul that sinneth it shall die.”
Apoc. (Rev.) 16:3 “Every living soul died in the sea....”
CATHOLIC RESPONSE:
Ha! Ezekiel 18:20 proves the Catholic point that Souls in sin are said to be spiritually “dead”. If “Soul” in this passage meant “person” as Seventh Day Adventist claim, then a person would physically die when he committed a sin! We know this doesn’t happen. Therefore, although a person is sometimes referred to as a “Soul”, a person is really composed of a body and a soul. A Soul can be spiritually dead (in Mortal Sin) while the body is still alive. Hence the Soul is not body and breath but something separate from these things. We already proved above that after death the Soul is not really dead.
In Apoc.(Rev.) 16:3 we have an example where persons are sometimes (loosely) referred to as souls. This is a prime example why Holy Scripture warns that private interpretation of Holy Scripture is “forbidden” and “leads to destruction”. Only The Catholic Church has the Authority from God to correctly tell us what the Scriptures mean.
5. SDA: People do not go to Heaven or Hell at death. They go to their graves to await the resurrection day.
John 5:28-29 “All that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth.”
Page 248
CATHOLIC COMMENT:
This refers to the end of the World when Souls will be reunited with their bodies for the General Judgment. It is no proof against the Doctrine that Souls go to Heaven or Purgatory or Hell at the moment of death.
6. SDA: At the end of the world: (1) The Just will have life everlasting in Heaven. (2) The wicked shall be destroyed and die in Hell. They are not immortal. They do not live forever in misery. An eternal Hell of torment is slander against the holy name of a loving GOD. The Bible says:
Rom. 6:23 The wicked suffer “death”.
Psalm 145:20 The wicked shall be “destroyed”.
Job 21:30 The wicked shall suffer “destruction”.
Psalm 37:20 The wicked shall “perish”.
Malachi 4:1 The wicked shall “be burned up”.
Psalm 37:38 The wicked shall “destroyed together”.
Psalm 37:20 The wicked shall be “consumed”.
Psalm 37:9 The wicked shall be “cut off”.
Psalm 21:9 The wicked shall be “devoured”.
Psalm 62:3 The wicked shall be “slain”
CATHOLIC RESPONSE: All of these things: death, destruction, perish, being burned up, consumed, cut off, devoured, slain, etc., happen to the wicked continuously forever and ever in Hell, the living death of Hell. It is not a one time event like the Seventh Day Adventist leaders try to make their victims think. The “End of the World” is also the “End of Time” as we know it - it is a forever “Now”. It is interesting that they avoid those passages that show this. For example:
Job 20:18 “He shall be punished for all that he did and yet shall not be consumed (shall not die): according to the multitude of his devices so also shall he suffer.”
Isaias 66:24 “And they shall go out, and see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: their worm (suffering) shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be a loathsome sight to all flesh.”
Dan. 12:2 “And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake; some unto life everlasting, and other unto reproach (suffering in Hell) to see it always.”
Matt. 25:46 “And these shall go into everlasting punishment; but the just into life everlasting.”
Mark 9:43-48 In this section of Holy Scripture, the phrase “Where their worm (suffering) dieth not, and the fire is not extinguished”, is repeated three times!
2 Thess. 1:9 “Who shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.”
Apoc. (Rev.) 20:10 “And the false prophet shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
Here are seven passages that teach the eternal punishment of Hell and thereby the eternal life (living death) of the Souls in Hell.
Page 249
The Reality of An Eternal Hell is unavoidable because of both the Justice and the Mercy of God:
Hell is eternal because God is JUST:
Sin is an offence against God, Who is infinitely Good. This makes all sin infinitely EVIL. Finite Man is incapable of atoning for an infinite Evil. Hence The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity became man and died for all of our sins. This GRACE is available to all and It if free. In order to receive this free Gift of Grace we must ask for it. The main conduits through which this Grace passes to us are the Seven Sacraments, given to us by Christ for this purpose. He has appointed The Catholic Church to administer these Sacraments. Other sources of Grace are prayers (i.e. The Rosary), penance and sacrifices offered up to God. Those who end up in Hell have refused to make use of The Sacraments, particularly the Sacraments of Confession and Holy Eucharist!
“I hear your Doctrine on Confession and I reject it.”
“I hear your Doctrine on Holy Eucharist and I reject it.”
“I hear your Doctrine on Outside the Catholic Church there is no Salvation and I reject it.”
“I hear your Doctrine of praying to the Saints and I reject it.”
“I hear your Doctrine on Sacramentals and I reject it.”
“I hear your Doctrine on The True Mass and I reject it.”
Even many Catholics refuse to make use of most of these helps found only in The Catholic Church! Not out of ignorance but out of obstinacy. Many of the ignorant are ignorant by choice and such ignorance is culpable. Most people die the way they live, never asking for this free Gift of Sanctifying Grace that removes their sins - the infinite Evil on their Souls - Mortal Sin.
God is all Love and does everything He can to help us avoid Hell. God does not send Souls to Hell, they go there through their own fault. God is all JUST. He can’t help It. It’s all part of being God. God cannot be unjust. An infinite Evil demands (out of Justice) and infinite punishment (Hell). Out of Justice, an eternal Hell is unavoidable. Those who refuse God’s Mercy while they are alive, must face His Justice without His Mercy on Judgment Day. He does not take away our freewill.
Hell is Eternal because God in Merciful:
Fear of Hell is a good thing. It causes many to amend their lives and become Saints. It leads many back to The Church and The Sacraments. Fear of Hell, with time, often turns into Love of God. Many great sinners therefore become Great Saints. Famous examples are St. Augustine and St. Mary Magdalen.
It is also due to the Great Mercy of God that Hell is Eternal. It takes a great fear and reality of Hell to motivate many to strive for Heaven. For this reason, it is a Great Evil to play down the torments of Hell. It is a Great Evil to fool people into believing that the suffering in Hell is not forever and ever. Church leaders that do this are not friends of God but tools of Satan. They steal from their victims, sufficient fear of Hell, to bring them back to The Catholic Church and The Sacraments. They lull their victims into a false sense of security and dull their awareness of the great danger they are in.
[118]. Seventh Day Adventist Booklet: “Are The Dead Really Dead?” Information Folder A
Page 250
QUESTIONS
Apologetics Chapter XXV - MAN: BODY + SOUL OR BODY + BREATH?
ARE THE TORMENTS OF HELL EVERLASTING?
1. Write your name so I can read it.
2. Circle “T” or “F” when the following statements are True or False.
T F Man is composed of a Body and a Soul. Both are created at the moment of conception.
T F Man is a Soul. He is composed of Body and Breath.
T F “The wages of sin is death”. Therefore the wicked are cast into Hell and die there. The
suffering in Hell does not last forever.
T F When a person dies his breath goes back to God.
T F When a person dies his Soul goes to God and is Judged immediately.
T F Your breath and your spirit are the same thing.
T F “The Soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Therefore Souls are not immortal.
T F The reality of an Eternal Hell is unavoidable because God is Just.
T F The reality of an Eternal Hell is unavoidable because God is Merciful.
T F An Eternal Hell of torment is a slander against a Loving God!
3. The idea that man is composed of body and breath instead of a body and Soul is a relatively new idea in the history of Christianity. Use this fact to give an argument showing that this new innovation is an error.
Page 251
4. Give a Scriptural reference (other than Ezekiel 18:20) that shows that man is composed of body and Soul and not body and breath. Explain how the reference you site prove this point.
5. Explain how Ezekiel 18:20 proves that man is not a “Soul” composed of body and breath.
Page 252
6. What do we mean when we say Hell is eternal because God is Just?
7. What do we mean when we say Hell is eternal because God is Merciful?
Page 253