"THE NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN"
BY BARRY .C. HODSON
ON TO CHAPTER 2 "WHAT IS MAN?"
PROPOSITION
The purpose of this thesis is to establish the following proposition: Man is wholly mortal and at death ceases to exist. In other words, no part of man is immortal. The body consists of many parts, but none of these parts live on and have conscious existence after the death of the body. Death is cessation of life - a state of unconsciousness. All hope in life after death rests entirely in the resurrection of the body. Immortality is a conditional gift to be bestowed at the resurrection, and is not, therefore, a present possession. The dead remain unconscious in the grave till the resurrection and judgment which take place at the second coming of Christ. The popular belief of departure to heaven or a place of fiery torment immediately after death in the form of a disembodied "spirit" or "soul" is not scriptural, and contradicts and negates the teaching of scripture concerning the nature of man, resurrection, judgment and the second coming of Jesus. It is impossible to fully understand and appreciate the "hope" of the gospel while holding to the doctrine of immortality of the soul.
The proposition, then, astounding as it may seem at first, is that the normal theological view of the nature of man is astray from the teaching of scripture. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is an untrue doctrine, which effectually prevents the believer of it from fully appreciating the truth concerning the work and teaching of Christ.
UNIVERSAL THEORY
The universal theory of the human constitution is that in his proper essential being, man is a "spiritual", immaterial, and immortal being, living in a material body comprised of organs necessary for the manifestation of his invisible and indestructible inner "self" in this external and material world. The organic body is not regarded as essential to man's identity or existence. His proper self is understood to subsist in the immaterial entity or divine spark called the soul or spirit. The organs composing the body are looked upon as things which the man uses as a mechanic uses his tools - the external agencies by which the behests of the "inner man" are carried out. Mental qualities such as reason, sentiment, disposition etc, are set down as the attributes of the spiritual "essence" which is supposed to constitute himself. The body is, of course, admitted to have a material derivation "from the dust of the ground", but the "essence" is believed to have come from God himself - to be, in fact, a part of the Deity - a spark, or particle, thrown out from the divine centre, having intelligent faculty and existence independently of the substantial organism with which it is associated. In accordance with this view, death is not considered to affect man's being. It is regarded simply as a demolition of the material organism, which liberate the deathless, intangible man from the bondage of this "mortal coil", which having "shuffled off", he wings his way to spiritual regions, for eternal happiness or misery, according to "deeds done in the body".
In opposition to this, it shall be shown that, according to the scriptures, man is destitute of immortality in every sense; that he is a creature of organised substance subsisting in the life-power of God, which he shares in common with every living thing under the sun; that he holds this life only on the short average tenure of three-score years and ten at the end of which he gives it up to Him from whom he received it, and returns to the ground, from which he originally came, and meanwhile ceases to exist. Such a proposition may well be shocking to ordinary religious susceptibility; but it demands investigation. Our business is to look at the proof. Evidence is the main thing with which we have to deal, and that evidence is contained in the inspired Word of God.
ON TO CHAPTER 2 "WHAT IS MAN?"