People Have Not Thought It Through: It Being Being
By Rick Capps
If one were to start up a conversation with people, it would not take long for the state of the world in terms of wickedness and violence to be broached. Such is a global consideration. Especially epidemic are the abuses of drugs and alcohol which in turn impact social and economic areas in terms of crime, heinous violence, healthcare, prisons, the care of children, homelessness, and so many other matters. The high rate of crime and violence has become so commonplace that people are not surprised anymore at the brutality and gore. Studies indicate that America surpasses most all other countries in the abuse of opioids and prescription narcotics such as OxyContin. 1 Per capita, the U.S. has a higher rate of amaphetamine-type stimulants –a category including methamphetamine and ecstasy.–than any European country.”2 But we do not have to look at statistics to realize the world-wide evil, devastation, and abject despair to come from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, alcohol and drug abuse are not the only culprits of despair; myriad is the list of objects, ideas, devices, concepts and creations from the mind of man to help him cope with unhappiness and ennui. “ …God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). One only has to note a next door neighbor, friend, or family member to see the effects from the various methods and means used to cope with life’s problems and the subsequent devastation from substance abuse. Coping in life does not just pertain to the effects of using alcohol and drug abuse specifically, but to the myriad effects of coping with despair by any means.
I. A WORLD OF DEMENTIA, EMOTIONAL IMPOTENCE, AND DESPAIR
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Astonished would be a lawyer who was told in the court room that he could not refer to any law books or to any previously published resources while representing his client. Likewise would a chemist respond to being told that he could not refer to the periodic table or previously published chemical resources. And yet the believer is asked to refrain from referencing the one book in all the world that creates, informs, and sustains his “being”. So much for fair play and open-mindedness.The subject of man’s “being” is put on hold and to be continued later in this discussion. to rain,” or “It is just in his/her genes.” One eventually might track down a noun referent of some kind, but it is a rather nebulous concept Some one might also say to a person who has arrived late, “It is about time!” The context of the situation could give clarity to the meaning of it, but again it stands for no specific thing. Shakespeare had Hamlet to ask in his play Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question?” Yet more inquisitively, we would ask what does this mean “to be”? That is, what is being? What does it mean with “it” being being? One is the settled understanding of being or existence in this world and what it means to be human and alive. What does it mean to be a specific and unique person! Rather than a sure statement what being means, many there are who walk this earth without a clue as to who they are. Still being tossed around is whether or not a human being is a mix of spit and dirt, or a spiritual being created in God’s own image? What more important question can man research and mindfully entertain than one’s constitution as a being in this present life, especially when Eternity beckons? This question can not be shrugged away (although legions do this everyday). The philosopher will look at such a question through the lens of what he calls epistemology, or the branch of inquiry concerning how knowledge is accrued. The scientist will do this through the lens of science, while the religionist will do this through the lens of scripture (the Bible). Whatever subject one endeavors to become knowledgeable and adept in to the point of expertise, one must use previously gained information and resources to become,say, a master plumber, a master chemist, a master carpenter, a master philosopher, a master lawyer, etc. To be in the know and understanding of most any subject area, one must rely upon previously learned knowledge and skills. For example, a minister once appeared on a talk show with the conversation relating to religious issues. When the talk show host would ask the minister a specific question, the minister would respond by quoting scripture. After a bit of scripture quoting, the dismayed talk show host finally asked the preacher to cease referencing Bible scripture.
II. DESPAIR: DISEASE, MENTAL DISORDER, OR SOMETHING GREATER?
I want to introduce another writer perhaps not so well known to modern-day readers. His name is Soren Kierkegaard and he lived back in the early 19th century (1813-1855). No man was more prolific as a writer, even though he died at the early age of 42. His reputation has been tainted in part because of being associated with other philosophers who were considered to be anti-religionists. Though Kierkegaard considered himself to be a Christian, he was kind of “ganged upon” by the other non-believing philosophers in that era. Yes, he was a philosopher and credited as being the father of existentialism; however, he was a strong believer in God and the bible. He had a brillant mind and had much to offer to the fair-minded reader interested in delving into God’s Word. The reader is strongly requested to withhold prejudgment and give his relevant ideas a fair hearing. Profuse reference is now made to his book, entitled The Sickness Unto Death.3, written by Soren Kierkegaard. Hereafter, Kierkegaard will be referenced as Kg and his book as SUD.
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Kg had much to say about the subject of despair and its origin. He witnessed great despair even in his time and had much to say about despair’s origin and its connection with one’s “being” or one’s self. Remember earlier mention was made about one’s consideration of the self or personhood? An event occurred in John concerning the death of Lazarus and how that affected his followers upon hearing of Lazarus’ demise. When Lazarus’ sisters learned of his death, they summoned for Jesus. When Jesus addressed Mary and Martha, he said to them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 4:11). Though Christ said those words, at that time Lazarus was dead. We see that when Jesus steps toward the grave, in John 11:43, he “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Mention was made of the fact that after four days of lying in the grave, Lazarus’ decaying body smelled of putrefaction (John 11:39). I don’t think it was clear to the others at the grave what Jesus meant. Here, Jesus tells them that Lazarus only was asleep. What did Christ mean when He said that Lazarus did not have “the sickness unto death? Though Lazarus had died a physical, earthly, final (?) death, he had not died from a death which was 1) still pending, 2) other than physical, 3) eternal, as in beyond a physical, temporal death.
Thus, Kg opens up this discussion by saying, “The human being is a spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?” (SUD, p 43). A human is more that earth! I would postulate that most people in the world would tend to believe that there is more to man than a few elements of earth. I would believe that most people believe they have something within them that exists beyond a mere physical existence. Recall in Genesis 2:17 that Adam and Eve were told that eating forbidden fruit would mean that doing so would mean “…thou shalt surely die.” They did not die physically, but they did die in another way. In what way? Remember that God interacted with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden daily conversing, teaching, and guiding them (spiritually) as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 9:6). Does not reason itself dictate that man is a spirit? So said Job in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” When Adam and Eve died in the garden, they died a spiritual death, and a spiritual death is when one’s relationship with God is severed and man is cut off, separated, from the spiritual Being that created him as a spiritual being. The writer of Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us what happens to man after he dies as he says “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (the body will return to the dust it came from) and the spirit shall return to the God who made it.” By extension and connection, man as a spiritually- created being is a self, a person, a soul. So many Hebrew and Greek words pertain to a human self, e.g., the Hebrew rauch (spirit–God and man), nephesh (breath), basar (body,flesh), nephesh (spirit), and kardia (heart), zoe (life), and nous (mind). One would need to obtain an accurate Hebrew and Greek dictionary, look these words up, and study them in the context of scripture for a clearer, more objective understanding of their use in defining the self, the person,the human, the being of man. Is man a spirit or spit and dirt? Again, these words must be understood in their scriptural context, and thus one must be careful to avoid using words wrongly out of context. One can find many places on the internet where students, scholars, and philosophers have done in-depth word studies of these biblical terms and provide much use and assistance in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject under consideration. Therefore,be extremely cautious in reading the interpretations of other people. There is a story from antiquity about an individual trying to find Truth. Although he had inquired near and far in many directions, he failed to receive help in finding a solution to his search. Finally a day came when someone revealed to him about a faint rumor about there being a man in a far away country in a remote, isolated part of that country who might be able to help him find Truth. After receiving rather puzzling directions, the inquirer set out to find this other man living in a place so far away. Thus, after trudging across continents for what seemed like months upon months, the inquirer informed the Truth knower that he had learned that this brilliantly-minded sage knew where to find the Truth. The inquirer informed the sage that he (the inquirer) would “give anything in the world” to find the Truth. The sage asked the man to follow him and do absolutely as instructed. Then, the knower told the inquirer to follow him; so they both walked out in the sea from the shore to a point where they each had the water level up to their chins. The sage grabbed the other man’s head and forced him under the water as if to drown him. Finally, after struggling with all of his strength to resurface with his head above the water while flailing about with all of his strength, the truth knower let go of the man’s head and shouted out, “What is it that you want now more than anything?” The frantic, screaming, singular reply was, “Air! I want air!” At last the sage said to the inquirer, “When you want to know the Truth like you just wanted air, you will find it.”
Though a story, the lessons are poignant: 1) the inquirer learned that he must find the Truth for himself; 2) he learned how much work would be involved; and 3) he learned how much passion he would need to find the Truth. How much is one willing to give up in this world to save his soul? No question is more important or relevant than when the temporal is compared with the eternal.
How many either do not know or do not care where they go after the physical death? I would like to recommend a scholarly think tank at Apologetics Press, which is under the care of Wayne Jackson. He has written a paper entitled “What is the difference between the spirit and soul of a human being?”4 Somehow I do not believe the masses will care much about what the bible has to say about the question no matter how expert the scholars may happen to be. Those individuals who reject the bible reject the only source book concerning the spirit in man and his eternal abode. The snub of God’s Holy Word takes away the spiritual legs upon which the believer stands. Without the bible how can anyone have any kind of sense or comprehension of who man is, where he came from, or where he is going after this short life? The bible gives man answers to his “being” or “self” and to the mysteries surrounding his origin. Without the bible man does not know whether he came from an asteroid, a pumpkin, or a planet six billion miles away from planet earth? While alone in the darkest wee hours of the night one must grapple with one’s “being” or “self.” He will admit to this if he is honest! John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” That is, He does not have a corporeal body as man does. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that God created “man in our image.” “IT” would stand up to reason, then, as something man can use reason to so reason. God said to the prophet in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together…” Another indication that God made man a spirit is that man can reason with Him.
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The Greek philosopher Democritus was one of the first men to discover the atom (source: Wikipedia). Though he had no kind of microscope to assist him, he reasoned through philosophy to the existence of the unseen atom. Note the irony: man can reason discovering the atom, but so many can not reason to the existence of God. What does one need to comprehend and see the existence of God? One could use a mix of reason, philosophy (reasoning?), logic, understanding, and how about common sense! But the cry will be, whose common sense?, whose understanding?, whose logic?, whose philosophy?, etc. Today, common sense seems often to be in short supply. The philosophers seem to get to a point of often enjoying the game of playing word ball and meandering in umpteen directions with philosophical jargon (that many people do not comprehend) and get more of a rise through word play than staying rigidly with the original problem and trying to solve ‘IT.’ I am just saying, the philosopher sometimes enjoys to show that he or she has studied philosophy mightily. One should study to show “…thyself approved unto God” rather than to men (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that the “..invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. “ Note also Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man was able to reason to the unseen atom, but he can not reason to God through his seen handiwork (i.e., visual evidence). The question then is, is there another way that we can comprehend God? Keep reading….
III. SOUL, SPIRIT, PERSON, SELF, DESPAIR CONTINUED.
When man despairs, he must despair over something. Kg says that the possibility of man having this sickness (of despair) “…is man’s advantage over the beast, and it is an advantage which characterizes him quite otherwise than the upright posure, for it bespeaks the infinite erectness or lofti-ness of his being spirit. The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the beast; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian’s blessedness. Consequently, it is an infinite merit to be able to despair” (SUD, 45, 46).
Did the reader ever contemplate over the fact that creation, minus man, does not have to worry or despair or feel depressed over something. The birds “toil” nor “spin” over anything. It is always man who toils, spins, worries, despairs, and becomes sick concerning life issues. Yet, the very ability to do such gives him an advantage that animals do not have. Why does man need such an advantage? Well, he would not need it if he were going to end up at the same place as do the animals. God did not create the animals with spirit nor in His image. Kg calls despair an imbalance. Many there are in today’s world who are harboring an imbalance in being! Does this constitute ++n gets an imbalance, he is told that such and such is not his fault but is the fault of some disease A preacher was asked once in an open forum whether or not alcoholism was a disease? His response was, “Well, if it is, it is the only disease I know that a man can catch out of a bottle.” A lot of people world-wide are unstable and deranged (some perhaps insane) and are sick with despair Else, why would so many people feel the need to drug themselves or numb themselves and impale themselves emotionally with things in life that hide and blur the state of reality (Truth) and what at one time in the past was a state of purity and uprightness? Kg asks where this sickness, this imbalance comes from? He writes,
From the relation in which the synthesis (i.e., with one thing relating to another, RDC) the fact that God, who made man this relation, as it were, lets go of it…and in the fact that the relation is spirit, is the self…” (SUD, 46).
Man had a relationship with God in the garden of Eden, but once he broke the covenant with God, his relationship ceased, as did his spiritual being or self. For Kg says further,
“…the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die. In this it has much in common with the condition of the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death but cannot die. Thus to be sick unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though there were hope of life. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone. When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death. When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair is the hopelessness of not even being able to die” (SUD, 48).
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Recall how Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves once “their eyes were opened.” There was a tremendous transition which occurred within their being. They realized that they had sinned against their Creator, had brought sin and shame upon themselves, had created a great divide between themselves and God, and experienced the sting of spiritual death. So many people have, since that enormous event, been running, are still running, and who will continue running from Almighty God Him and will not have to give an eternal account. When Jesus told the friends and family of Lazarus that he did not have the sickness unto death, though dead and rotting in the grave, friends and family thought (just like we would today) that that would have been the end (the finality) of Lazarus. Lazarus had a sickness that led to his physical demise; this still did not lead to his spiritual sickness, for those who have this sickness and ultimately die from it, will have died from the sickness that ends in eternal death (death # 2). When an individual has a grave sickness such as terminal cancer, he or she may get to a point where continued treatment would not prove beneficial. At such a place in medical care a person might choose to discontinue medical treatment rather than continue in pain and suffering. Rather than prolong the agonies of living, one might choose to let nature take its natural course and die. If that were to happen, one (though dying, RDC) would still not experience “the sickness unto death” as alluded to in John 11:4. A person can die a natural death or die from a physical illness (cancer) and still may have to face a final, eternal death (i.e., a second, final death) if lost in sin. Again as Kg remarks,.
“And the relation to himself is something a human cannot be rid of, just as little
as he can be rid of himself, which for that matter is one and the same thing, since
+elation to oneself” (SUD, 47).
This self is the self created by God: the body, the soul, and the spirit. Man was created in God’s image as a spirit. The former relationship with God was terminated during man’s fall. The relationship man had with God was severed to the extent that Adam died a spiritual death when God walked with man no more. Man had a God-given breath of life in him with a low-grade of soulishness in him that still placed him above the beasts of the field, and made man into a natural, soulish being. The terminal cancer patient would think that his physical death would end the sickness and illness from the disease of cancer. Death would mean that this physical sickness would end this ickness and the man would have no more sickness to deal with. Kg states further on this:
“…death is no doubt the end of the sickness, but death (physically,RC) is not the
end. If in the strictest sense, there, is to be any question of a sickness unto death,
it must be one where the end (finality, RC) is death and where death
(finality, RC) is the end. And thinking that (the finality, RC) is precisely to despair.
…Yet despair is the sickness unto death in another and still more definite sense.
For there is not the remotest possibility of dying of this sickness in the straight-
forward sense, or of this sickness ending in physical death. On the contrary,
the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die (in the final sense, RC). In
this it has much in common with the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death
but cannot die. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone.
When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns
to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death (as in extinction,
RC). When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair
is the hopelessness of not even being able to die. ..Thus to be sick (in the
final, eternal sense, RC) unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though
there is hope for eternal life” (SUD, 47-48).
If the christian with a terminal illness dies, then just before his death his hope is to end his physical illness to begin a new life after death. He thinks his death (referenced as death #1) will end his pain and suffering, but, there awaits for all men who are outside the body of Christ (i.e., christian) another death (death # 2) and that comes after the judgment. Note that it “is appointed unto men once to die (death # 1), but after this the Judgement (death # 2 for those outside Christ, Hebrews 9:27). Also, we read in Revelation 20:13,14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Was there ever a point in your life, even now, dear reader that you could have wished that you could just go back to nonbeing before existence so that you wouldn’t have to deal with drudgeries of life? If you could go, would you choose to go back to nonbeing, never to have been born? Think of all those souls who will be sentenced to eternal death in hell “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
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IV. CONFRONTING A UNIVERSE FULL OF HAYSTACKS LOOKING FOR ONE NEEDLE
Yes, the universe is a big place and still keeps expanding. Scientists and astronomers keep discovering new worlds and new information. Searching through the mountains upon mountains of available information seems similar to looking through a universe of haystacks for a one needle of Truth. Such an endeavor seems almost impossible to do. Man has a deep and abiding yearning to understand where he comes from, what his purpose is, and what happens after he dies. These are not just casual questions of curiosity, but metaphysical questions that rivet to the core of one’s inner being. Many millions of people are not satisfied with asteroids, electric sparks, matters of chance, and bag-of-dirt responses as answers to man’s origin? Science deals well with matters involving the natural, physical world, but can say nothing about spiritual life as revealed by God. Only do fools reject and ignore the Scriptures. Reject the bible and there is nowhere else to go to comprehend, meditate, and wrestle with the matter of man as a spiritually-created being. With God and His Word, there is hope beyond the grave. The scientist looks at things from the standpoint of the petri dish, the telescope, microscope and the ever present empirical eye. So far as he is concerned, one must not even mention something called spirit. At this point alone, man is no more than a bag of dirt with a smattering of corpuscles, neurons, sinews, blood, and guts. From that standpoint, man just has to live with that very shallow and superficial idea of temporal existence and live out his life until his time is spent and he dies–end of story. Such is hardcore science! What more despicable, grave-stomping, and dishonorable discharge of selfishness than to pay such an appalling tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died in wars so that we have freedom today
to think for ourselves and honor those who died in a spiritual sacrifice that others may so live? All those men and women did not die thinking they were sacrificing their lives just to save other bags of dirt! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 135:13). The petri dish and the telescope have no reply. However, there is another prominent view of life that has been in existence as long as man has existed. Some of the greatest minds from the past have contemplated man as a spirit being. Putting aside for the moment that man is no more than a body of earth (dirt), we believe that man is made up of earth, soul, spirit, mind (spiritual) heart (spiritual) with there being somewhere within the spirit of man a place for intellect, will, emotions,conscience, etc. Along with the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the believer understands that the spirit within man is comprised of soul and spirit and that residing within man’s soul and spirit are found his heart and mind (rather than just a physical heart and physical brain). Many thinkers and writers have produced charts, schematic drawings, and outlines made to comprehend in all honesty what is the true physical and spiritual makeup of man.
Somewhere within the soul is also found man’s spirit; and somewhere within man’s spirit are found man’s kardia (heart) and nous (mind). How/where to place these all together on a chart or map is problematic. The bible student knows that in the bible heart and mind are often interchangeable. For example, in Psalms 73:21 we read, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.” This is an example of synonymous parallelism where the two halves of the verse refer to the same thing. Another example is taken from Luke 24:25 where we read, “…O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” compared with Luke 24:45 that says, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures.” These two scriptures teach that there is no difference between believing with the heart and believing with the mind. Many other passages exist, but we press on concerning IT.
V.. THE FORMS OF A WORLD OF DESPAIR
As the world is full of despair, the irony is that though many people live in despair, they are often unaware of IT. With a common view among people that being in despair is just a minor problem with being bored or in being a little depressed, Kg says that such a view
“overlooks (just to mention something which, properly grasped, brings thousands
upon thousands and millions under the category of despair)–it altogether overlooks
that the very fact of not being in despair, of not being conscious of being in despair,
is itself a form of despair” (SUD, 53).
He further adds,
“as soon as man ceases to be regarded under the aspect of spirit (and unless he
3336+++666 is regarded in that way, neither can there be any question of despair), but merely
as a synthesis of soul and body, when health becomes an immediate characteristic,
and it is only in the soul’s or the body’s sickness that the dialectical (i.e. in the
argot of a particular class or social structure, RC) arises. But despair is exactly
man’s unconsciousness of being characterized as spirit…But the connoisseur of
souls will no doubt concede, the normal situation is exactly this: that most people
live without being properly conscious of being characterized as spirit–and to this
one can trace all the so-called security, contentment, with life, etc., which is exactly
despair…Ah! So much is spoken about human misery; I try to understand it, have
been closely acquainted with not a little of it. So much is spoken about wasting
one’s life. But the only life wasted is the life of the one who lived it, deceived by
life’s pleasures or its sorrows, that he never became decisively, eternally, conscious
of himself as spirit, as self, or what is the same, he never became aware–and gained
in the deepest sense the impression–that there is a God, and that he (man, RC).
himself, his self, exists before this God, which infinite gain is never come by
except through despair” (SUD, 56-57).
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Essentially, people just do not think about the inner man (spirit), do not conclude that he does exist, and he has needs that go beyond the pail of gold, diamonds, and pleasures. Jonathan Edwards preacher from 1703-1758), wrote a sermon entitled, “God Makes Men Sensible of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy” in which he used Hosea 5:15: as his text: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” Yet, so many in affliction and despair, rather than go down deep into the inner, inner man turn to every kind of fake apothecary and false cure under Solomon’s sun. And all for what
temporal purpose?: to ease and soothe man’s body, his bag of dirt. Wrote Edwards,
“When Israel revolted, God gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let
them continue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress, and
saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought to reflect on them-
selves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then God raised them up a deliverer.
And when they cried unto God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled
them, and brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God’s hands” (cf. Judges 10:10 vv).5
These are various levels of despair depending upon the circumstances one lives in. There is 1) living in despair but being ignorant of it or not willing to take note, and 2) being conscious of despair but in terms of a) there is weakness in despair (i.e., one is not willing to do what is necessary to help cure the despair) as the individual is unwilling to recognize one’s true self as a spiritual being; and b) willing despairingly to be one’s self with a total, defiant disregard for what the self should be. Again, the reader is to keep in mind that the true self (as originally created by God) consists of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit ceased in man when Adam sinned and God removed Himself from a spiritual relationship with man.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: “It (the body, RC) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body, There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (I Corinthians 15:43-46). Then note what he said in I Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And what of the supposed “hidden” needle? The irony of all ironies is
that the needle is and always has been in plain view!
Although a person can live in ignorance of being in despair, he is in despair whether he knows this or not. Determined by the circumstances in which one lives, many people are able to live in comfort and imagined peace. Things may be perceived to be going pretty well. Writes Kg,
“Certainly this self-righteousness is not highly regarded. It is regarded
as little as people in general regard the relationship to truth, the relating
of oneself to the true, as the highest good, and even less see it
Socratically as the greatest misfortune to be in error–their sensuous
reactions usually far outweigh their intellect. A person supposedly
fortunate in this way, who imagines himself blessed by good fortune but
when considered in the light of truth is unfortunate, is usually very far
from wanting to be snatched out of this error. On the contrary, he grows
the reason? He is totally dominated by his sensuous and psycho-
sensuous reactions; he lives in the categories of the sensate, the pleasant
and the unpleasant, poo-poos spirit, the truth, etc; he is too sensate
to have the courage to risk and endure being spirit” (SUD, 73).
I would like to add concerning the sensate man, he not only does not have the courage, but he does not have the interest or needed will to fight, scratch, and claw (if need be) to find the one needle of eternal truth. However, an individual who is numbed by drugs, alcohol, wealth, fame, and a seemingly endless bounty of life’s pleasures and distractions (and rest assured that our age is the age of deception), is one who cannot fathom the eternal self God created, but spends his time and efforts addressing the needs of the beast. The individual who is conscious of his self that is incorporated with soul and spirit, ultimately quits, gives up, and turns his back to God thinking, “God’s standards are too high–I cannot measure up.” He cannot recognize what God and Eternity offer. The individual who at one time heard or read and considered the truth is like the man who “…beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24). Thus, this individual is satisfied in wallowing in the mire of temporary,sensuous pleasures. The third individual over time becomes hardened, cynical, and angry. Life has dealt him with too many “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” This person has earned his/her stripes and has earned the right to live in “demonic” despair. The world has paid him/her enough pain and misfortune, and now it is time for repayment. None of the people living in despair (where the spirit is ignored) are able (willing) to listen long enough to hear, to truly hear! So, the atheists, nonbelievers, deceivers, falsehood weavers, and gluttons of the temporal domain are able and willing to discourse concerning the physical landscape, but shy away from the spiritual landscape. God teaches spirit man that “…it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The soulish man (minus a spiritual self) teaches that “greed is good” (Wallstreet). The spiritual man will teach that good is better than evil; but the soulish man teaches that evil is sometimes (maybe all the time) good. What ends up are two differing world views: one spiritual, where good is always the best system of existence; and, one where evil has its place. Then, one will start the argument,“Well, what do you call evil?” And thus the word ball game starts and one is “…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
7
Kg says of such,
“…they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute that a person can
be; but vain and conceited they remain–comparatively speaking. If one were to imagine a house consisting of a basement, ground floor and first
floor, tenanted or planned in such a way that there is, or is meant to be,
a difference of social class between the occupants of each floor–and if
now one were to compare being a human being with such a house, then
the sorry and ludicrous fact with most people is, alas, that in their own
house they prefer to live in the basement. Every human being is the
psycho-physical synthesis (created as, RC) planned as spirit; this is the building, but he prefers living in the basement, that is, in the categories
of sensation. Moreover, he not only prefers living in the basement–no,
he loves it so much that he is indignant if anyone suggests he occupy
the fine suite lying vacant for him…” (SUD, 73, 74).
That is an excellent metaphor that Kg writes of contemporary society. It is not only the idea of people who are not interested in the outlay of the upper suite, people in the comfort of the sensate have grown accustomed to living in the domain of the animal kingdom and in the noxious fumes of despair. Note what Paul said in Romans 1:20, 21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they Knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” “IT” goes beyond being more impressed and satisfied with a fake sense of happiness from the sensate, and further beyond being satisfied with living in the basement; like those people in Paul’s day, people are not thankful even though they have a pretty good idea that God is. I believe that no matter if God gave to mankind machines that produced unlimited supplies of gold and unlimited supplies of any hind of drugs to take, such people would not be thankful to God and follow Him anyway–no matter what greatness He did for man. So many do not care; so many do not care enough to think; so many who can think, think more of the flesh than the spirit. In not knowing God, or in not studying to know Him at a deeper level,I conclude that there are many who dislike, even hate the Sovereign Creator. In summary we now come face to face directly with the “IT.” In the end that which people will not have thought through is the “IT” of eternity spent in having to realize that God IS and that one must exist in anguish and torment forever wishing to die (i.e., wishing to be nonexistent as one was in eternity past never to be born) but eternally unable to do so. Of those who suffer at the hands of the wicked and violent, Paul wrote, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Though many run rampant in a rage of iniquity and mock Him, God is not mocked (cf. Galatians 6:7). Read Luke 6:25, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Read Luke 9:47, 48, where Mark wrote, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.” “IT”? “IT”?! Why, an eternity of pain and suffering, wishing eternally not to be, wishing to be totally extinct, totally dead, but unable to die. Having one’s “being” cast into eternal fire, burning passionately with the desire to cease “being.” Many have long held that the body will literally burn eternally in hell, where the fire is not quenched. But there is no physical body to burn in flames in hell. Just as there will not be any streets paved in gold in heaven. God uses language that man can understand to help him understand physically what will happen spiritually. Either way, the pain and suffering is just as unbearable. On
Judgment Day the lost will with their own eyes see the eternal reality of God. Now, here are the years of temporal life (to ponder, meditate, search, deliberate, question, analyze, etc.) what they either will or will not be doing throughout eternity. “BEING” wrong will mean having to die the sickness unto death, where the worm never dies, and where nonexistence never comes.
Some visitor once came into the room of W. C. Fields as he was being cared for in the hospital. Upon seeing the pleasantly surprised expression on the face of the visitor catching Mr. Fields reading the bible, his abrupt reply was, “Just looking for loopholes.”
Endnotes
1 https://recoverybrands.com/drugs-in-america-vs-europe/
People Have Not Thought It Through: It Being Being
2 Ibid
3 Kieregaard, Soren, The Sickness Unto Death, published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-140-44533-6,
translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay, 1989.
4 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/526-soul-and-spirit-whats-the-difference
5 http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/misery.htm
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By Rick Capps
A college professor once stated in a linguistics class that the pronoun it did not stand for anything. One might say something like “It looks like it’s going to rain,” or “It is just in his/her genes.” One eventually might track down a noun referent of some kind, but it is a rather nebulous concept Some one might also say to a person who has arrived late, “It is about time!” The context of the situation could give clarity to the meaning of it, but again it stands for no specific thing. Shakespeare had Hamlet to ask in his play Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question?” Yet more inquisitively, we would ask what does this mean “to be”? That is, what is being? What does it mean with “it” being being? One is the settled understanding of being or existence in this world and what it means to be human and alive. What does it mean to be a specific and unique person! Rather than a sure statement what being means, many there are who walk this earth without a clue as to who they are. Still being tossed around is whether or not a human being is a mix of spit and dirt, or a spiritual being created in God’s own image? What more important question can man research and mindfully entertain than one’s constitution as a being in this present life, especially when Eternity beckons? This question can not be shrugged away (although legions do this everyday). The philosopher will look at such a question through the lens of what he calls epistemology, or the branch of inquiry concerning how knowledge is accrued. The scientist will do this through the lens of science, while the religionist will do this through the lens of scripture (the Bible). Whatever subject one endeavors to become knowledgeable and adept in to the point of expertise, one must use previously gained information and resources to become,say, a master plumber, a master chemist, a master carpenter, a master philosopher, a master lawyer, etc. To be in the know and understanding of most any subject area, one must rely upon previously learned knowledge and skills. For example, a minister once appeared on a talk show with the conversation relating to religious issues. When the talk show host would ask the minister a specific question, the minister would respond by quoting scripture. After a bit of scripture quoting, the dismayed talk show host finally asked the preacher to cease referencing Bible scripture.
Astonished would be a lawyer who was told in the court room that he could not refer to any law books or to any previously published resources while representing his client. Likewise would a chemist respond to being told that he could not refer to the periodic table or previously published chemical resources. And yet the believer is asked to refrain from referencing the one book in all the world that creates, informs, and sustains his “being”. So much for fair play and open-mindedness.The subject of man’s “being” is put on hold and to be continued later in this discussion.
I. A WORLD OF DEMENTIA, EMOTIONAL IMPOTENCE, AND DESPAIR
If one were to start up a conversation with people, it would not take long for the state of the world in terms of wickedness and violence to be broached. Such is a global consideration. Especially epidemic are the abuses of drugs and alcohol which in turn impact social and economic areas in terms of crime, heinous violence, healthcare, prisons, the care of children, homelessness, and so many other matters. The high rate of crime and violence has become so commonplace that people are not surprised anymore at the brutality and gore. Studies indicate that America surpasses most all other countries in the abuse of opioids and prescription narcotics such as OxyContin. 1 Per capita, the U.S. has a higher rate of amaphetamine-type stimulants –a category including methamphetamine and ecstasy.–than any European country.”2 But we do not have to look at statistics to realize the world-wide evil, devastation, and abject despair to come from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, alcohol and drug abuse are not the only culprits of despair; myriad is the list of objects, ideas, devices, concepts and creations from the mind of man to help him cope with unhappiness and ennui. “ …God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). One only has to note a next door neighbor, friend, or family member to see the effects from the various methods and means used to cope with life’s problems and the subsequent devastation from substance abuse. Coping in life does not just pertain to the effects of using alcohol and drug abuse specifically, but to the myriad effects of coping with despair by any means.
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II. DESPAIR: DISEASE, MENTAL DISORDER, OR SOMETHING GREATER?
I want to introduce another writer perhaps not so well known to modern-day readers. His name is Soren Kierkegaard and he lived back in the early 19th century (1813-1855). No man was more prolific as a writer, even though he died at the early age of 42. His reputation has been tainted in part because of being associated with other philosophers who were considered to be anti-religionists. Though Kierkegaard considered himself to be a Christian, he was kind of “ganged upon” by the other non-believing philosophers in that era. Yes, he was a philosopher and credited as being the father of existentialism; however, he was a strong believer in God and the bible. He
had a brilliant mind and had much to offer to the fair-minded reader interested in delving into God’s Word. The reader is strongly requested to withhold prejudgment and give his relevant ideas a fair hearing. Profuse reference is now made to his book, entitled The Sickness Unto Death.3, written by Soren Kierkegaard. Hereafter, Kierkegaard will be referenced as Kg and his book as SUD.
2
Kg had much to say about the subject of despair and its origin. He witnessed great despair even in his time and had much to say about despair’s origin and its connection with one’s “being” or one’s self. Remember earlier mention was made about one’s consideration of the self or personhood? An event occurred in John concerning the death of Lazarus and how that affected his followers upon hearing of Lazarus’ demise. When Lazarus’ sisters learned of his death, they summoned for Jesus. When Jesus addressed Mary and Martha, he said to them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 4:11). Though Christ said those words, at that time Lazarus was dead. We see that when Jesus steps toward the grave, in John 11:43, he “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Mention was made of the fact that after four days of lying in the grave, Lazarus’ decaying body smelled of putrefaction (John 11:39). I don’t think it was clear to the others at the grave what Jesus meant. Here, Jesus tells them that Lazarus only was asleep. What did Christ mean when He said that Lazarus did not have “the sickness unto death? Though Lazarus had died a physical, earthly, final (?) death, he had not died from a death which was 1) still pending, 2) other than physical, 3) eternal, as in beyond a physical, temporal death.
Thus, Kg opens up this discussion by saying, “The human being is a spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?” (SUD, p 43). A human is more that earth! I would postulate that most people in the world would tend to believe that there is more to man than a few elements of earth. I would believe that most people believe they have something within them that exists beyond a mere physical existence. Recall in Genesis 2:17 that Adam and Eve were told that eating forbidden fruit would mean that doing so would mean “…thou shalt surely die.” They did not die physically, but they did die in another way. In what way? Remember that God interacted with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden daily conversing, teaching, and guiding them (spiritually) as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 9:6). Does not reason itself dictate that man is a spirit? So said Job in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” When Adam and Eve died in the garden, they died a spiritual death, and a spiritual death is when one’s relationship with God is severed and man is cut off, separated, from the spiritual Being that created him as a spiritual being. The writer of Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us what happens to man after he dies as he says “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (the body will return to the dust it came from) and the spirit shall return to the God who made it.” By extension and connection, man as a spiritually- created being is a self, a person, a soul. So many Hebrew and Greek words pertain to a human self, e.g., the Hebrew rauch (spirit–God and man), nephesh (breath), basar (body,flesh), nephesh (spirit), and kardia (heart), zoe (life), and nous (mind). One would need to obtain an accurate Hebrew and Greek dictionary, look these words up, and study them in the context of scripture for a clearer, more objective understanding of their use in defining the self, the person,the human, the being of man. Is man a spirit or spit and dirt? Again, these words must be understood in their scriptural context, and thus one must be careful to avoid using words wrongly out of context. One can find many places on the internet where students, scholars, and philosophers have done in-depth word studies of these biblical terms and provide much use and assistance in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject under consideration. Therefore,be extremely cautious in reading the interpretations of other people. There is a story from antiquity about an individual trying to find Truth. Although he had inquired near and far in many directions, he failed to receive help in finding a solution to his search. Finally a day came when someone revealed to him about a faint rumor about there being a man in a far away country in a remote, isolated part of that country who might be able to help him find Truth. After receiving rather puzzling directions, the inquirer set out to find this other man living in a place so far away. Thus, after trudging across continents for what seemed like months upon months, the inquirer informed the Truth knower that he had learned that this brilliantly-minded sage knew where to find the Truth. The inquirer informed the sage that he (the inquirer) would “give anything in the world” to find the Truth. The sage asked the man to follow him and do absolutely as instructed. Then, the knower told the inquirer to follow him; so they both walked out in the sea from the shore to a point where they each had the water level up to their chins. The sage grabbed the other man’s head and forced him under the water as if to drown him. Finally, after struggling with all of his strength to resurface with his head above the water while flailing about with all of his strength, the truth knower let go of the man’s head and shouted out, “What is it that you want now more than anything?” The frantic, screaming, singular reply was, “Air! I want air!” At last the sage said to the inquirer, “When you want to know the Truth like you just wanted air, you will find it.”
Though a story, the lessons are poignant: 1) the inquirer learned that he must find the Truth for himself; 2) he learned how much work would be involved; and 3) he learned how much passion he would need to find the Truth. How much is one willing to give up in this world to save his soul? No question is more important or relevant than when the temporal is compared with the eternal.
How many either do not know or do not care where they go after the physical death? I would like to recommend a scholarly think tank at Apologetics Press, which is under the care of Wayne Jackson. He has written a paper entitled “What is the difference between the spirit and soul of a human being?”4 Somehow I do not believe the masses will care much about what the bible has to say about the question no matter how expert the scholars may happen to be. Those individuals who reject the bible reject the only source book concerning the spirit in man and his eternal abode. The snub of God’s Holy Word takes away the spiritual legs upon which the believer stands. Without the bible how can anyone have any kind of sense or comprehension of who man is, where he came from, or where he is going after this short life? The bible gives man answers to his “being” or “self” and to the mysteries surrounding his origin. Without the bible man does not know whether he came from an asteroid, a pumpkin, or a planet six billion miles away from planet earth? While alone in the darkest wee hours of the night one must grapple with one’s “being” or “self.” He will admit to this if he is honest! John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” That is, He does not have a corporeal body as man does. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that God created “man in our image.” “IT” would stand up to reason, then, as something man can use reason to so reason. God said to the prophet in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together…” Another indication that God made man a spirit is that man can reason with Him.
3
The Greek philosopher Democritus was one of the first men to discover the atom (source: Wikipedia). Though he had no kind of microscope to assist him, he reasoned through philosophy to the existence of the unseen atom. Note the irony: man can reason discovering the atom, but so many can not reason to the existence of God. What does one need to comprehend and see the existence of God? One could use a mix of reason, philosophy (reasoning?), logic, understanding, and how about common sense! But the cry will be, whose common sense?, whose understanding?, whose logic?, whose philosophy?, etc. Today, common sense seems often to be in short supply. The philosophers seem to get to a point of often enjoying the game of playing word ball and meandering in umpteen directions with philosophical jargon (that many people do not comprehend) and get more of a rise through word play than staying rigidly with the original problem and trying to solve ‘IT.’ I am just saying, the philosopher sometimes enjoys to show that he or she has studied philosophy mightily. One should study to show “…thyself approved unto God” rather than to men (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that the “..invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. “ Note also Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man was able to reason to the unseen atom, but he can not reason to God through his seen handiwork (i.e., visual evidence). The question then is, is there another way that we can comprehend God? Keep reading….
III. SOUL, SPIRIT, PERSON, SELF, DESPAIR CONTINUED.
When man despairs, he must despair over something. Kg says that the possibility of man having this sickness (of despair)
“…is man’s advantage over the beast, and it is an advantage which characterizes him
quite otherwise than the upright posture, for it bespeaks the i nfinite erectness or lofti-
ness of his being spirit. The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the
beast; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian’s blessedness. Consequently, it is
an infinite merit to be able to despair” (SUD, 45, 46).
Did the reader ever contemplate over the fact that creation, minus man, does not have to worry or despair or feel depressed over something. The birds “toil” nor “spin” over anything. It is always man who toils, spins, worries, despairs, and becomes sick concerning life issues. Yet, the very ability to do such gives him an advantage that animals do not have. Why does man need such an advantage? Well, he would not need it if he were going to end up at the same place as do the animals. God did not create the animals with spirit nor in His image. Kg calls despair an imbalance.Many there are in today’s world who are harboring an imbalance in being! Does this constitute
a disease? When man gets an imbalance, he is told that such and such is not his fault but is thefault of some disease A preacher was asked once in an open forum whether or not alcoholism was a disease? His response was, “Well, if it is, it is the only disease I know that a man can catch out of a bottle.” A lot of people world-wide are unstable and deranged (some perhaps insane) and are sick with despair Else, why would so many people feel the need to drug themselves or numb themselves and impale themselves emotionally with things in life that hide and blur the state of reality (Truth) and what at one time in the past was a state of purity and uprightness? Kg asks where this sickness, this imbalance comes from? He writes,
“From the relation in which the synthesis (i.e., with one thing relating to another, RDC)
relates to itself, from the fact that God, who made man this relation, as it were, lets go
of it…and in the fact that the relation is spirit, is the self…” (SUD, 46).
Man had a relationship with God in the garden of Eden, but once he broke the covenant with God, his relationship ceased, as did his spiritual being or self. For Kg says further,
“…the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die. In this it has much in common
with the condition of the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death but cannot die.
Thus to be sick unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though there were hope of life.
No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope,death, is gone. When death is the greatest
danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns to know the even more horrifying danger,
one hopes for death. When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then
despair is the hopelessness of not even being able to die” (SUD, 48).
4
Recall how Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves once “their eyes were opened.” There was a tremendous transition which occurred within their being. They realized that they had sinned against their Creator, had brought sin and shame upon themselves, had created a great divide between themselves and God, and experienced the sting of spiritual death. So many people have, since that enormous event, been running, are still running, and who will continue running from Almighty God
thinking they are hiding from Him and will not have to give an eternal account. When Jesus told the friends and family of Lazarus that he did not have the sickness unto death, though dead and rotting in the grave, friends and family thought (just like we would today) that that would have been the end (the finality) of Lazarus. Lazarus had a sickness that led to his physical demise; this still did not lead to his spiritual sickness, for those who have this sickness and ultimately die from it, will have died from the sickness that ends in eternal death (death # 2). When an individual has a grave sickness such as terminal cancer, he or she may get to a point where continued treatment would not prove beneficial. At such a place in medical care a person might choose to discontinue medical treatment rather than continue in pain and suffering. Rather than prolong the agonies of living, one might choose to let nature take its natural course and die. If that were to happen, one (though dying, RDC) would still not experience “the sickness unto death” as alluded to in John 11:4. A person can die a natural death or die from a physical illness (cancer) and still may have to face a final, eternal death (i.e., a second, final death) if lost in sin. Again as Kg remarks,.
“And the relation to himself is something a human cannot be rid of, just as little
as he can be rid of himself, which for that matter is one and the same thing, since
the self is indeed the relation to oneself” (SUD, 47).
This self is the self created by God: the body, the soul, and the spirit. Man was created in God’s image as a spirit. The former relationship with God was terminated during man’s fall. The relationship man had with God was severed to the extent that Adam died a spiritual death when God walked with man no more. Man had a God-given breath of life in him with a low-grade of soulishness in him that still placed him above the beasts of the field, and made man into a natural, soulish being. The terminal cancer patient would think that his physical death would end the sickness and illness from the disease of cancer. Death would mean that this physical sickness would end this ickness and the man would have no more sickness to deal with. Kg states further on this:
“…death is no doubt the end of the sickness, but death (physically,RC) is not the
end. If in the strictest sense, there, is to be any question of a sickness unto death,
it must be one where the end (finality, RC) is death and where death
(finality, RC) is the end. And thinking that (the finality, RC) is precisely to despair.
…Yet despair is the sickness unto death in another and still more definite sense.
For there is not the remotest possibility of dying of this sickness in the straight-
forward sense, or of this sickness ending in physical death. On the contrary,
the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die (in the final sense, RC). In
this it has much in common with the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death
but cannot die. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone.
When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns
to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death (as in extinction,
RC). When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair
is the hopelessness of not even being able to die. ..Thus to be sick (in the
final, eternal sense, RC) unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though
there is hope for eternal life” (SUD, 47-48).
If the christian with a terminal illness dies, then just before his death his hope is to end his physical illness to begin a new life after death. He thinks his death (referenced as death #1) will end his pain and suffering, but, there awaits for all men who are outside the body of Christ (i.e., christian) another death (death # 2) and that comes after the judgment. Note that it “is appointed unto men once to die (death # 1), but after this the Judgement (death # 2 for those outside Christ, Hebrews 9:27). Also, we read in Revelation 20:13,14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Was there ever a point in your life, even now, dear reader that you could have wished that you could just go back to nonbeing before existence so that you wouldn’t have to deal with drudgeries of life? If you could go, would you choose to go back to nonbeing, never to have been born? Think of all those souls who will be sentenced to eternal death in hell “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
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IV. CONFRONTING A UNIVERSE FULL OF HAYSTACKS LOOKING FOR ONE NEEDLE
Yes, the universe is a big place and still keeps expanding. Scientists and astronomers keep discovering new worlds and new information. Searching through the mountains upon mountains of available information seems similar to looking through a universe of haystacks for a one needle of Truth. Such an endeavor seems almost impossible to do. Man has a deep and abiding yearning to understand where he comes from, what his purpose is, and what happens after he dies. These are not just casual questions of curiosity, but metaphysical questions that rivet to the core of one’s inner being. Many millions of people are not satisfied with asteroids, electric sparks, matters of chance, and bag-of-dirt responses as answers to man’s origin? Science deals well with matters involving the natural, physical world, but can say nothing about spiritual life as revealed by God. Only do fools reject and ignore the Scriptures. Reject the bible and there is nowhere else to go to comprehend, meditate, and wrestle with the matter of man as a spiritually-created being. With God and His Word, there is hope beyond the grave. The scientist looks at things from the standpoint of the petri dish, the telescope, microscope and the ever present empirical eye. So far as he is concerned, one must not even mention something called spirit. At this point alone, man is no more than a bag of dirt with a smattering of corpuscles, neurons, sinews, blood, and guts. From that standpoint, man just has to live with that very shallow and superficial idea of temporal existence and live out his life until his time is spent and he dies–end of story. Such is hardcore science! What more despicable, grave-stomping, and dishonorable discharge of selfishness than to pay such an appalling tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died in wars so that we have freedom today
to think for ourselves and honor those who died in a spiritual sacrifice that others may so live? All those men and women did not die thinking they were sacrificing their lives just to save other bags of dirt! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 135:13). The petri dish and the telescope have no reply. However, there is another prominent view of life that has been in existence as long as man has existed. Some of the greatest minds from the past have contemplated man as a spirit being. Putting aside for the moment that man is no more than a body of earth (dirt), we believe that man is made up of earth, soul, spirit, mind (spiritual) heart (spiritual) with there being somewhere within the spirit of man a place for intellect, will, emotions,conscience, etc. Along with the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the believer understands that the spirit within man is comprised of soul and spirit and that residing within man’s soul and spirit are found his heart and mind (rather than just a physical heart and physical brain). Many thinkers and writers have produced charts, schematic drawings, and outlines made to comprehend in all honesty what is the true physical and spiritual makeup of man.
Somewhere within the soul is also found man’s spirit; and somewhere within man’s spirit are found man’s kardia (heart) and nous (mind). How/where to place these all together on a chart or map is problematic. The bible student knows that in the bible heart and mind are often interchangeable. For example, in Psalms 73:21 we read, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.” This is an example of synonymous parallelism where the two halves of the verse refer to the same thing. Another example is taken from Luke 24:25 where we read, “…O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” compared with Luke 24:45 that says, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures.” These two scriptures teach that there is no difference between believing with the heart and believing with the mind. Many other passages exist, but we press on concerning IT.
V.. THE FORMS OF A WORLD OF DESPAIR
As the world is full of despair, the irony is that though many people live in despair, they are often unaware of IT. With a common view among people that being in despair is just a minor problem with being bored or in being a little depressed, Kg says that such a view
“overlooks (just to mention something which, properly grasped, brings thousands
upon thousands and millions under the category of despair)–it altogether overlooks
that the very fact of not being in despair, of not being conscious of being in despair,
is itself a form of despair” (SUD, 53).
He further adds,
“as soon as man ceases to be regarded under the aspect of spirit (and unless he
is regarded in that way, neither can there be any question of despair), but merely
as a synthesis of soul and body, when health becomes an immediate characteristic,
and it is only in the soul’s or the body’s sickness that the dialectical (i.e. in the
argot of a particular class or social structure, RC) arises. But despair is exactly
man’s unconsciousness of being characterized as spirit…But the connoisseur of
souls will no doubt concede, the normal situation is exactly this: that most people
live without being properly conscious of being characterized as spirit–and to this
one can trace all the so-called security, contentment, with life, etc., which is exactly
despair…Ah! So much is spoken about human misery; I try to understand it, have
been closely acquainted with not a little of it. So much is spoken about wasting
one’s life. But the only life wasted is the life of the one who lived it, deceived by
life’s pleasures or its sorrows, that he never became decisively, eternally, conscious
of himself as spirit, as self, or what is the same, he never became aware–and gained
in the deepest sense the impression–that there is a God, and that he (man, RC).
himself, his self, exists before this God, which infinite gain is never come by
except through despair” (SUD, 56-57).
6
Essentially, people just do not think about the inner man (spirit), do not conclude that he does exist, and he has needs that go beyond the pail of gold, diamonds, and pleasures. Jonathan Edwards preacher from 1703-1758), wrote a sermon entitled, “God Makes Men Sensible of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy” in which he used Hosea 5:15: as his text: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” Yet, so many in affliction and despair, rather than go down deep into the inner, inner man turn to every kind of fake apothecary and false cure under Solomon’s sun. And all for what
temporal purpose?: to ease and soothe man’s body, his bag of dirt. Wrote Edwards,
“When Israel revolted, God gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let
them continue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress, and
saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought to reflect on them-
selves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then God raised them up a deliverer.
And when they cried unto God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled
them, and brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God’s hands” (cf. Judges 10:10 vv).5
These are various levels of despair depending upon the circumstances one lives in. There is 1) living in despair but being ignorant of it or not willing to take note, and 2) being conscious of despair but in terms of a) there is weakness in despair (i.e., one is not willing to do what is necessary to help cure the despair) as the individual is unwilling to recognize one’s true self as a spiritual being; and b) willing despairingly to be one’s self with a total, defiant disregard for what the self should be. Again, the reader is to keep in mind that the true self (as originally created by God) consists of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit ceased in man when Adam sinned and God removed Himself from a spiritual relationship with man.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: “It (the body, RC) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body, There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (I Corinthians 15:43-46). Then note what he said in I Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And what of the supposed “hidden” needle? The irony of all ironies is
that the needle is and always has been in plain view!
Although a person can live in ignorance of being in despair, he is in despair whether he knows this or not. Determined by the circumstances in which one lives, many people are able to live in comfort and imagined peace. Things may be perceived to be going pretty well. Writes Kg,
“Certainly this self-righteousness is not highly regarded. It is regarded
as little as people in general regard the relationship to truth, the relating
of oneself to the true, as the highest good, and even less see it
Socratically as the greatest misfortune to be in error–their sensuous
reactions usually far outweigh their intellect. A person supposedly
fortunate in this way, who imagines himself blessed by good fortune but
when considered in the light of truth is unfortunate, is usually very far
from wanting to be snatched out of this error. On the contrary, he grows
the reason? He is totally dominated by his sensuous and psycho-
sensuous reactions; he lives in the categories of the sensate, the pleasant
and the unpleasant, poo-poos spirit, the truth, etc; he is too sensate
to have the courage to risk and endure being spirit” (SUD, 73).
I would like to add concerning the sensate man, he not only does not have the courage, but he does not have the interest or needed will to fight, scratch, and claw (if need be) to find the one needle of eternal truth. However, an individual who is numbed by drugs, alcohol, wealth, fame, and a seemingly endless bounty of life’s pleasures and distractions (and rest assured that our age is the age of deception), is one who cannot fathom the eternal self God created, but spends his time and efforts addressing the needs of the beast. The individual who is conscious of his self that is incorporated with soul and spirit, ultimately quits, gives up, and turns his back to God thinking, “God’s standards are too high–I cannot measure up.” He cannot recognize what God and Eternity offer. The individual who at one time heard or read and considered the truth is like the man who “…beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24). Thus, this individual is satisfied in wallowing in the mire of temporary,sensuous pleasures. The third individual over time becomes hardened, cynical, and angry. Life has dealt him with too many “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” This person has earned his/her stripes and has earned the right to live in “demonic” despair. The world has paid him/her enough pain and misfortune, and now it is time for repayment. None of the people living in despair (where the spirit is ignored) are able (willing) to listen long enough to hear, to truly hear! So, the atheists, nonbelievers, deceivers, falsehood weavers, and gluttons of the temporal domain are able and willing to discourse concerning the physical landscape, but shy away from the spiritual landscape. God teaches spirit man that “…it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The soulish man (minus a spiritual self) teaches that “greed is good” (Wallstreet). The spiritual man will teach that good is better than evil; but the soulish man teaches that evil is sometimes (maybe all the time) good. What ends up are two differing world views: one spiritual, where good is always the best system of existence; and, one where evil has its place. Then, one will start the argument,“Well, what do you call evil?” And thus the word ball game starts and one is “…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
7
Kg says of such,
“…they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute that a person can
be; but vain and conceited they remain–comparatively speaking. If one were to imagine a house consisting of a basement, ground floor and first
floor, tenanted or planned in such a way that there is, or is meant to be,
a difference of social class between the occupants of each floor–and if
now one were to compare being a human being with such a house, then
the sorry and ludicrous fact with most people is, alas, that in their own
house they prefer to live in the basement. Every human being is the
psycho-physical synthesis (created as, RC) planned as spirit; this is the building, but he prefers living in the basement, that is, in the categories
of sensation. Moreover, he not only prefers living in the basement–no,
he loves it so much that he is indignant if anyone suggests he occupy
the fine suite lying vacant for him…” (SUD, 73, 74).
That is an excellent metaphor that Kg writes of contemporary society. It is not only the idea of people who are not interested in the outlay of the upper suite, people in the comfort of the sensate have grown accustomed to living in the domain of the animal kingdom and in the noxious fumes of despair. Note what Paul said in Romans 1:20, 21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they Knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” “IT” goes beyond being more impressed and satisfied with a fake sense of happiness from the sensate, and further beyond being satisfied with living in the basement; like those people in Paul’s day, people are not thankful even though they have a pretty good idea that God is. I believe that no matter if God gave to mankind machines that produced unlimited supplies of gold and unlimited supplies of any hind of drugs to take, such people would not be thankful to God and follow Him anyway–no matter what greatness He did for man. So many do not care; so many do not care enough to think; so many who can think, think more of the flesh than the spirit. In not knowing God, or in not studying to know Him at a deeper level,I conclude that there are many who dislike, even hate the Sovereign Creator. In summary we now come face to face directly with the “IT.” In the end that which people will not have thought through is the “IT” of eternity spent in having to realize that God IS and that one must exist in anguish and torment forever wishing to die (i.e., wishing to be nonexistent as one was in eternity past never to be born) but eternally unable to do so. Of those who suffer at the hands of the wicked and violent, Paul wrote, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Though many run rampant in a rage of iniquity and mock Him, God is not mocked (cf. Galatians 6:7). Read Luke 6:25, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Read Luke 9:47, 48, where Mark wrote, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.” “IT”? “IT”?! Why, an eternity of pain and suffering, wishing eternally not to be, wishing to be totally extinct, totally dead, but unable to die. Having one’s “being” cast into eternal fire, burning passionately with the desire to cease “being.” Many have long held that the body will literally burn eternally in hell, where the fire is not quenched. But there is no physical body to burn in flames in hell. Just as there will not be any streets paved in gold in heaven. God uses language that man can understand to help him understand physically what will happen spiritually. Either way, the pain and suffering is just as unbearable. On
Judgment Day the lost will with their own eyes see the eternal reality of God. Now, here are the years of temporal life (to ponder, meditate, search, deliberate, question, analyze, etc.) what they either will or will not be doing throughout eternity. “BEING” wrong will mean having to die the sickness unto death, where the worm never dies, and where nonexistence never comes.
Some visitor once came into the room of W. C. Fields as he was being cared for in the hospital. Upon seeing the pleasantly surprised expression on the face of the visitor catching Mr. Fields reading the bible, his abrupt reply was, “Just looking for loopholes.”
Endnotes
1 https://recoverybrands.com/drugs-in-america-vs-europe/
2 Ibid
3 Kieregaard, Soren, The Sickness Unto Death, published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-140-44533-6,
translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay, 1989.
4 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/526-soul-and-spirit-whats-the-difference
5 http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/misery.htm
8
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People Have Not Thought It Through: It Being Being
By Rick Capps
A college professor once stated in a linguistics class that the pronoun it did not stand for anything. One might say something like “It looks like it’s going to rain,” or “It is just in his/her genes.” One eventually might track down a noun referent of some kind, but it is a rather nebulous concept Some one might also say to a person who has arrived late, “It is about time!” The context of the situation could give clarity to the meaning of it, but again it stands for no specific thing. Shakespeare had Hamlet to ask in his play Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question?” Yet more inquisitively, we would ask what does this mean “to be”? That is, what is being? What does it mean with “it” being being? One is the settled understanding of being or existence in this world and what it means to be human and alive. What does it mean to be a specific and unique person! Rather than a sure statement what being means, many there are who walk this earth without a clue as to who they are. Still being tossed around is whether or not a human being is a mix of spit and dirt, or a spiritual being created in God’s own image? What more important question can man research and mindfully entertain than one’s constitution as a being in this present life, especially when Eternity beckons? This question can not be shrugged away (although legions do this everyday). The philosopher will look at such a question through the lens of what he calls epistemology, or the branch of inquiry concerning how knowledge is accrued. The scientist will do this through the lens of science, while the religionist will do this through the lens of scripture (the Bible). Whatever subject one endeavors to become knowledgeable and adept in to the point of expertise, one must use previously gained information and resources to become,say, a master plumber, a master chemist, a master carpenter, a master philosopher, a master lawyer, etc. To be in the know and understanding of most any subject area, one must rely upon previously learned knowledge and skills. For example, a minister once appeared on a talk show with the conversation relating to religious issues. When the talk show host would ask the minister a specific question, the minister would respond by quoting scripture. After a bit of scripture quoting, the dismayed talk show host finally asked the preacher to cease referencing Bible scripture.
Astonished would be a lawyer who was told in the court room that he could not refer to any law books or to any previously published resources while representing his client. Likewise would a chemist respond to being told that he could not refer to the periodic table or previously published chemical resources. And yet the believer is asked to refrain from referencing the one book in all the world that creates, informs, and sustains his “being”. So much for fair play and open-mindedness.The subject of man’s “being” is put on hold and to be continued later in this discussion.
I. A WORLD OF DEMENTIA, EMOTIONAL IMPOTENCE, AND DESPAIR
If one were to start up a conversation with people, it would not take long for the state of the world in terms of wickedness and violence to be broached. Such is a global consideration. Especially epidemic are the abuses of drugs and alcohol which in turn impact social and economic areas in terms of crime, heinous violence, healthcare, prisons, the care of children, homelessness, and so many other matters. The high rate of crime and violence has become so commonplace that people are not surprised anymore at the brutality and gore. Studies indicate that America surpasses most all other countries in the abuse of opioids and prescription narcotics such as OxyContin. 1 Per capita, the U.S. has a higher rate of amaphetamine-type stimulants –a category including methamphetamine and ecstasy.–than any European country.”2 But we do not have to look at statistics to realize the world-wide evil, devastation, and abject despair to come from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, alcohol and drug abuse are not the only culprits of despair; myriad is the list of objects, ideas, devices, concepts and creations from the mind of man to help him cope with unhappiness and ennui. “ …God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). One only has to note a next door neighbor, friend, or family member to see the effects from the various methods and means used to cope with life’s problems and the subsequent devastation from substance abuse. Coping in life does not just pertain to the effects of using alcohol and drug abuse specifically, but to the myriad effects of coping with despair by any means.
.
II. DESPAIR: DISEASE, MENTAL DISORDER, OR SOMETHING GREATER?
I want to introduce another writer perhaps not so well known to modern-day readers. His name is Soren Kierkegaard and he lived back in the early 19th century (1813-1855). No man was more prolific as a writer, even though he died at the early age of 42. His reputation has been tainted in part because of being associated with other philosophers who were considered to be anti-religionists. Though Kierkegaard considered himself to be a Christian, he was kind of “ganged upon” by the other non-believing philosophers in that era. Yes, he was a philosopher and credited as being the father of existentialism; however, he was a strong believer in God and the bible. He
had a brilliant mind and had much to offer to the fair-minded reader interested in delving into God’s Word. The reader is strongly requested to withhold prejudgment and give his relevant ideas a fair hearing. Profuse reference is now made to his book, entitled The Sickness Unto Death.3, written by Soren Kierkegaard. Hereafter, Kierkegaard will be referenced as Kg and his book as SUD.
2
Kg had much to say about the subject of despair and its origin. He witnessed great despair even in his time and had much to say about despair’s origin and its connection with one’s “being” or one’s self. Remember earlier mention was made about one’s consideration of the self or personhood? An event occurred in John concerning the death of Lazarus and how that affected his followers upon hearing of Lazarus’ demise. When Lazarus’ sisters learned of his death, they summoned for Jesus. When Jesus addressed Mary and Martha, he said to them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 4:11). Though Christ said those words, at that time Lazarus was dead. We see that when Jesus steps toward the grave, in John 11:43, he “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Mention was made of the fact that after four days of lying in the grave, Lazarus’ decaying body smelled of putrefaction (John 11:39). I don’t think it was clear to the others at the grave what Jesus meant. Here, Jesus tells them that Lazarus only was asleep. What did Christ mean when He said that Lazarus did not have “the sickness unto death? Though Lazarus had died a physical, earthly, final (?) death, he had not died from a death which was 1) still pending, 2) other than physical, 3) eternal, as in beyond a physical, temporal death.
Thus, Kg opens up this discussion by saying, “The human being is a spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?” (SUD, p 43). A human is more that earth! I would postulate that most people in the world would tend to believe that there is more to man than a few elements of earth. I would believe that most people believe they have something within them that exists beyond a mere physical existence. Recall in Genesis 2:17 that Adam and Eve were told that eating forbidden fruit would mean that doing so would mean “…thou shalt surely die.” They did not die physically, but they did die in another way. In what way? Remember that God interacted with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden daily conversing, teaching, and guiding them (spiritually) as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 9:6). Does not reason itself dictate that man is a spirit? So said Job in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” When Adam and Eve died in the garden, they died a spiritual death, and a spiritual death is when one’s relationship with God is severed and man is cut off, separated, from the spiritual Being that created him as a spiritual being. The writer of Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us what happens to man after he dies as he says “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (the body will return to the dust it came from) and the spirit shall return to the God who made it.” By extension and connection, man as a spiritually- created being is a self, a person, a soul. So many Hebrew and Greek words pertain to a human self, e.g., the Hebrew rauch (spirit–God and man), nephesh (breath), basar (body,flesh), nephesh (spirit), and kardia (heart), zoe (life), and nous (mind). One would need to obtain an accurate Hebrew and Greek dictionary, look these words up, and study them in the context of scripture for a clearer, more objective understanding of their use in defining the self, the person,the human, the being of man. Is man a spirit or spit and dirt? Again, these words must be understood in their scriptural context, and thus one must be careful to avoid using words wrongly out of context. One can find many places on the internet where students, scholars, and philosophers have done in-depth word studies of these biblical terms and provide much use and assistance in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject under consideration. Therefore,be extremely cautious in reading the interpretations of other people. There is a story from antiquity about an individual trying to find Truth. Although he had inquired near and far in many directions, he failed to receive help in finding a solution to his search. Finally a day came when someone revealed to him about a faint rumor about there being a man in a far away country in a remote, isolated part of that country who might be able to help him find Truth. After receiving rather puzzling directions, the inquirer set out to find this other man living in a place so far away. Thus, after trudging across continents for what seemed like months upon months, the inquirer informed the Truth knower that he had learned that this brilliantly-minded sage knew where to find the Truth. The inquirer informed the sage that he (the inquirer) would “give anything in the world” to find the Truth. The sage asked the man to follow him and do absolutely as instructed. Then, the knower told the inquirer to follow him; so they both walked out in the sea from the shore to a point where they each had the water level up to their chins. The sage grabbed the other man’s head and forced him under the water as if to drown him. Finally, after struggling with all of his strength to resurface with his head above the water while flailing about with all of his strength, the truth knower let go of the man’s head and shouted out, “What is it that you want now more than anything?” The frantic, screaming, singular reply was, “Air! I want air!” At last the sage said to the inquirer, “When you want to know the Truth like you just wanted air, you will find it.”
Though a story, the lessons are poignant: 1) the inquirer learned that he must find the Truth for himself; 2) he learned how much work would be involved; and 3) he learned how much passion he would need to find the Truth. How much is one willing to give up in this world to save his soul? No question is more important or relevant than when the temporal is compared with the eternal.
How many either do not know or do not care where they go after the physical death? I would like to recommend a scholarly think tank at Apologetics Press, which is under the care of Wayne Jackson. He has written a paper entitled “What is the difference between the spirit and soul of a human being?”4 Somehow I do not believe the masses will care much about what the bible has to say about the question no matter how expert the scholars may happen to be. Those individuals who reject the bible reject the only source book concerning the spirit in man and his eternal abode. The snub of God’s Holy Word takes away the spiritual legs upon which the believer stands. Without the bible how can anyone have any kind of sense or comprehension of who man is, where he came from, or where he is going after this short life? The bible gives man answers to his “being” or “self” and to the mysteries surrounding his origin. Without the bible man does not know whether he came from an asteroid, a pumpkin, or a planet six billion miles away from planet earth? While alone in the darkest wee hours of the night one must grapple with one’s “being” or “self.” He will admit to this if he is honest! John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” That is, He does not have a corporeal body as man does. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that God created “man in our image.” “IT” would stand up to reason, then, as something man can use reason to so reason. God said to the prophet in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together…” Another indication that God made man a spirit is that man can reason with Him.
3
The Greek philosopher Democritus was one of the first men to discover the atom (source: Wikipedia). Though he had no kind of microscope to assist him, he reasoned through philosophy to the existence of the unseen atom. Note the irony: man can reason discovering the atom, but so many can not reason to the existence of God. What does one need to comprehend and see the existence of God? One could use a mix of reason, philosophy (reasoning?), logic, understanding, and how about common sense! But the cry will be, whose common sense?, whose understanding?, whose logic?, whose philosophy?, etc. Today, common sense seems often to be in short supply. The philosophers seem to get to a point of often enjoying the game of playing word ball and meandering in umpteen directions with philosophical jargon (that many people do not comprehend) and get more of a rise through word play than staying rigidly with the original problem and trying to solve ‘IT.’ I am just saying, the philosopher sometimes enjoys to show that he or she has studied philosophy mightily. One should study to show “…thyself approved unto God” rather than to men (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that the “..invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. “ Note also Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man was able to reason to the unseen atom, but he can not reason to God through his seen handiwork (i.e., visual evidence). The question then is, is there another way that we can comprehend God? Keep reading….
III. SOUL, SPIRIT, PERSON, SELF, DESPAIR CONTINUED.
When man despairs, he must despair over something. Kg says that the possibility of man having this sickness (of despair)
“…is man’s advantage over the beast, and it is an advantage which characterizes him
se than the upright posture, for it bespeaks the infinite erectness or lofti-
ness of his being spirit. The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the
beast; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian’s blessedness. Consequently, it is an infinite merit to be able to despair” (SUD, 45, 46).
Did the reader ever contemplate over the fact that creation, minus man, does not have to worry or despair or feel depressed over something. The birds “toil” nor “spin” over anything. It is always man who toils, spins, worries, despairs, and becomes sick concerning life issues. Yet, the very ability to do such gives him an advantage that animals do not have. Why does man need such an advantage? Well, he would not need it if he were going to end up at the same place as do the animals. God did not create the animals with spirit nor in His image. Kg calls despair an imbalance.Many there are in today’s world who are harboring an imbalance in being! Does this constitute
a disease? When man gets an imbalance, he is told that such and such is not his fault but is thefault of some disease A preacher was asked once in an open forum whether or not alcoholism was a disease? His response was, “Well, if it is, it is the only disease I know that a man can catch out of a bottle.” A lot of people world-wide are unstable and deranged (some perhaps insane) and are sick with despair Else, why would so many people feel the need to drug themselves or numb themselves and impale themselves emotionally with things in life that hide and blur the state of reality (Truth) and what at one time in the past was a state of purity and uprightness? Kg asks where this sickness, this imbalance comes from? He writes,
“From the relation in which the synthesis (i.e., with one thing relating to another, RDC)
relates to itself, from the fact that God, who made man this relation, as it were, lets go
of it…and in the fact that the relation is spirit, is the self…” (SUD, 46).
Man had a relationship with God in the garden of Eden, but once he broke the covenant with God, his relationship ceased, as did his spiritual being or self. For Kg says further,
“…the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die. In this it has much in common
with the condition of the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death but cannot die.
Thus to be sick unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though there were hope of life.
No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope,death, is gone. When death is the greatest
danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns to know the even more horrifying danger,
one hopes for death. When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then
despair is the hopelessness of not even being able to die” (SUD, 48).
4
Recall how Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves once “their eyes were opened.” There was a tremendous transition which occurred within their being. They realized that they had sinned against their Creator, had brought sin and shame upon themselves, had created a great divide between themselves and God, and experienced the sting of spiritual death. So many people have, since that enormous event, been running, are still running, and who will continue running from Almighty God
thinking they are hiding from Him and will not have to give an eternal account. When Jesus told the friends and family of Lazarus that he did not have the sickness unto death, though dead and rotting in the grave, friends and family thought (just like we would today) that that would have been the end (the finality) of Lazarus. Lazarus had a sickness that led to his physical demise; this still did not lead to his spiritual sickness, for those who have this sickness and ultimately die from it, will have died from the sickness that ends in eternal death (death # 2). When an individual has a grave sickness such as terminal cancer, he or she may get to a point where continued treatment would not prove beneficial. At such a place in medical care a person might choose to discontinue medical treatment rather than continue in pain and suffering. Rather than prolong the agonies of living, one might choose to let nature take its natural course and die. If that were to happen, one (though dying, RDC) would still not experience “the sickness unto death” as alluded to in John 11:4. A person can die a natural death or die from a physical illness (cancer) and still may have to face a final, eternal death (i.e., a second, final death) if lost in sin. Again as Kg remarks,.
“And the relation to himself is something a human cannot be rid of, just as little
as he can be rid of himself, which for that matter is one and the same thing, since
the self is indeed the relation to oneself” (SUD, 47).
This self is the self created by God: the body, the soul, and the spirit. Man was created in God’s image as a spirit. The former relationship with God was terminated during man’s fall. The relationship man had with God was severed to the extent that Adam died a spiritual death when God walked with man no more. Man had a God-given breath of life in him with a low-grade of soulishness in him that still placed him above the beasts of the field, and made man into a natural, soulish being. The terminal cancer patient would think that his physical death would end the sickness and illness from the disease of cancer. Death would mean that this physical sickness would end this ickness and the man would have no more sickness to deal with. Kg states further on this:
“…death is no doubt the end of the sickness, but death (physically,RC) is not the
end. If in the strictest sense, there, is to be any question of a sickness unto death,
it must be one where the end (finality, RC) is death and where death
(finality, RC) is the end. And thinking that (the finality, RC) is precisely to despair.
…Yet despair is the sickness unto death in another and still more definite sense.
For there is not the remotest possibility of dying of this sickness in the straight-
forward sense, or of this sickness ending in physical death. On the contrary,
the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die (in the final sense, RC). In
this it has much in common with the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death
but cannot die. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone.
When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns
to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death (as in extinction,
RC). When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair
is the hopelessness of not even being able to die. ..Thus to be sick (in the
final, eternal sense, RC) unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though
there is hope for eternal life” (SUD, 47-48).
If the christian with a terminal illness dies, then just before his death his hope is to end his physical illness to begin a new life after death. He thinks his death (referenced as death #1) will end his pain and suffering, but, there awaits for all men who are outside the body of Christ (i.e., christian) another death (death # 2) and that comes after the judgment. Note that it “is appointed unto men once to die (death # 1), but after this the Judgement (death # 2 for those outside Christ, Hebrews 9:27). Also, we read in Revelation 20:13,14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Was there ever a point in your life, even now, dear reader that you could have wished that you could just go back to nonbeing before existence so that you wouldn’t have to deal with drudgeries of life? If you could go, would you choose to go back to nonbeing, never to have been born? Think of all those souls who will be sentenced to eternal death in hell “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
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IV. CONFRONTING A UNIVERSE FULL OF HAYSTACKS LOOKING FOR ONE NEEDLE
Yes, the universe is a big place and still keeps expanding. Scientists and astronomers keep discovering new worlds and new information. Searching through the mountains upon mountains of available information seems similar to looking through a universe of haystacks for a one needle of Truth. Such an endeavor seems almost impossible to do. Man has a deep and abiding yearning to understand where he comes from, what his purpose is, and what happens after he dies. These are not just casual questions of curiosity, but metaphysical questions that rivet to the core of one’s inner being. Many millions of people are not satisfied with asteroids, electric sparks, matters of chance, and bag-of-dirt responses as answers to man’s origin? Science deals well with matters involving the natural, physical world, but can say nothing about spiritual life as revealed by God. Only do fools reject and ignore the Scriptures. Reject the bible and there is nowhere else to go to comprehend, meditate, and wrestle with the matter of man as a spiritually-created being. With God and His Word, there is hope beyond the grave. The scientist looks at things from the standpoint of the petri dish, the telescope, microscope and the ever present empirical eye. So far as he is concerned, one must not even mention something called spirit. At this point alone, man is no more than a bag of dirt with a smattering of corpuscles, neurons, sinews, blood, and guts. From that standpoint, man just has to live with that very shallow and superficial idea of temporal existence and live out his life until his time is spent and he dies–end of story. Such is hardcore science! What more despicable, grave-stomping, and dishonorable discharge of selfishness than to pay such an appalling tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died in wars so that we have freedom today
to think for ourselves and honor those who died in a spiritual sacrifice that others may so live? All those men and women did not die thinking they were sacrificing their lives just to save other bags of dirt! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 135:13). The petri dish and the telescope have no reply. However, there is another prominent view of life that has been in existence as long as man has existed. Some of the greatest minds from the past have contemplated man as a spirit being. Putting aside for the moment that man is no more than a body of earth (dirt), we believe that man is made up of earth, soul, spirit, mind (spiritual) heart (spiritual) with there being somewhere within the spirit of man a place for intellect, will, emotions,conscience, etc. Along with the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the believer understands that the spirit within man is comprised of soul and spirit and that residing within man’s soul and spirit are found his heart and mind (rather than just a physical heart and physical brain). Many thinkers and writers have produced charts, schematic drawings, and outlines made to comprehend in all honesty what is the true physical and spiritual makeup of man.
Somewhere within the soul is also found man’s spirit; and somewhere within man’s spirit are found man’s kardia (heart) and nous (mind). How/where to place these all together on a chart or map is problematic. The bible student knows that in the bible heart and mind are often interchangeable. For example, in Psalms 73:21 we read, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.” This is an example of synonymous parallelism where the two halves of the verse refer to the same thing. Another example is taken from Luke 24:25 where we read, “…O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” compared with Luke 24:45 that says, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures.” These two scriptures teach that there is no difference between believing with the heart and believing with the mind. Many other passages exist, but we press on concerning IT.
V.. THE FORMS OF A WORLD OF DESPAIR
As the world is full of despair, the irony is that though many people live in despair, they are often unaware of IT. With a common view among people that being in despair is just a minor problem with being bored or in being a little depressed, Kg says that such a view
“overlooks (just to mention something which, properly grasped, brings thousands
upon thousands and millions under the category of despair)–it altogether overlooks
that the very fact of not being in despair, of not being conscious of being in despair,
is itself a form of despair” (SUD, 53).
He further adds,
“as soon as man ceases to be regarded under the aspect of spirit (and unless he
is regarded in that way, neither can there be any question of despair), but merely
as a synthesis of soul and body, when health becomes an immediate characteristic,
and it is only in the soul’s or the body’s sickness that the dialectical (i.e. in the
argot of a particular class or social structure, RC) arises. But despair is exactly
man’s unconsciousness of being characterized as spirit…But the connoisseur of
souls will no doubt concede, the normal situation is exactly this: that most people
live without being properly conscious of being characterized as spirit–and to this
one can trace all the so-called security, contentment, with life, etc., which is exactly
despair…Ah! So much is spoken about human misery; I try to understand it, have
been closely acquainted with not a little of it. So much is spoken about wasting
one’s life. But the only life wasted is the life of the one who lived it, deceived by
life’s pleasures or its sorrows, that he never became decisively, eternally, conscious
of himself as spirit, as self, or what is the same, he never became aware–and gained
in the deepest sense the impression–that there is a God, and that he (man, RC).
himself, his self, exists before this God, which infinite gain is never come by
except through despair” (SUD, 56-57).
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Essentially, people just do not think about the inner man (spirit), do not conclude that he does exist, and he has needs that go beyond the pail of gold, diamonds, and pleasures. Jonathan Edwards preacher from 1703-1758), wrote a sermon entitled, “God Makes Men Sensible of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy” in which he used Hosea 5:15: as his text: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” Yet, so many in affliction and despair, rather than go down deep into the inner, inner man turn to every kind of fake apothecary and false cure under Solomon’s sun. And all for what
temporal purpose?: to ease and soothe man’s body, his bag of dirt. Wrote Edwards,
“When Israel revolted, God gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let
them continue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress, and
saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought to reflect on them-
selves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then God raised them up a deliverer.
And when they cried unto God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled
them, and brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God’s hands” (cf. Judges 10:10 vv).5
These are various levels of despair depending upon the circumstances one lives in. There is 1) living in despair but being ignorant of it or not willing to take note, and 2) being conscious of despair but in terms of a) there is weakness in despair (i.e., one is not willing to do what is necessary to help cure the despair) as the individual is unwilling to recognize one’s true self as a spiritual being; and b) willing despairingly to be one’s self with a total, defiant disregard for what the self should be. Again, the reader is to keep in mind that the true self (as originally created by God) consists of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit ceased in man when Adam sinned and God removed Himself from a spiritual relationship with man.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: “It (the body, RC) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body, There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (I Corinthians 15:43-46). Then note what he said in I Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And what of the supposed “hidden” needle? The irony of all ironies is
that the needle is and always has been in plain view!
Although a person can live in ignorance of being in despair, he is in despair whether he knows this or not. Determined by the circumstances in which one lives, many people are able to live in comfort and imagined peace. Things may be perceived to be going pretty well. Writes Kg,
“Certainly this self-righteousness is not highly regarded. It is regarded
as little as people in general regard the relationship to truth, the relating
of oneself to the true, as the highest good, and even less see it
Socratically as the greatest misfortune to be in error–their sensuous
reactions usually far outweigh their intellect. A person supposedly
fortunate in this way, who imagines himself blessed by good fortune but
when considered in the light of truth is unfortunate, is usually very far
from wanting to be snatched out of this error. On the contrary, he grows
the reason? He is totally dominated by his sensuous and psycho-
sensuous reactions; he lives in the categories of the sensate, the pleasant
and the unpleasant, poo-poos spirit, the truth, etc; he is too sensate
to have the courage to risk and endure being spirit” (SUD, 73).
I would like to add concerning the sensate man, he not only does not have the courage, but he does not have the interest or needed will to fight, scratch, and claw (if need be) to find the one needle of eternal truth. However, an individual who is numbed by drugs, alcohol, wealth, fame, and a seemingly endless bounty of life’s pleasures and distractions (and rest assured that our age is the age of deception), is one who cannot fathom the eternal self God created, but spends his time and efforts addressing the needs of the beast. The individual who is conscious of his self that is incorporated with soul and spirit, ultimately quits, gives up, and turns his back to God thinking, “God’s standards are too high–I cannot measure up.” He cannot recognize what God and Eternity offer. The individual who at one time heard or read and considered the truth is like the man who “…beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24). Thus, this individual is satisfied in wallowing in the mire of temporary,sensuous pleasures. The third individual over time becomes hardened, cynical, and angry. Life has dealt him with too many “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” This person has earned his/her stripes and has earned the right to live in “demonic” despair. The world has paid him/her enough pain and misfortune, and now it is time for repayment. None of the people living in despair (where the spirit is ignored) are able (willing) to listen long enough to hear, to truly hear! So, the atheists, nonbelievers, deceivers, falsehood weavers, and gluttons of the temporal domain are able and willing to discourse concerning the physical landscape, but shy away from the spiritual landscape. God teaches spirit man that “…it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The soulish man (minus a spiritual self) teaches that “greed is good” (Wallstreet). The spiritual man will teach that good is better than evil; but the soulish man teaches that evil is sometimes (maybe all the time) good. What ends up are two differing world views: one spiritual, where good is always the best system of existence; and, one where evil has its place. Then, one will start the argument,“Well, what do you call evil?” And thus the word ball game starts and one is “…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
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Kg says of such,
“…they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute that a person can
be; but vain and conceited they remain–comparatively speaking. If one were to imagine a house consisting of a basement, ground floor and first
floor, tenanted or planned in such a way that there is, or is meant to be,
a difference of social class between the occupants of each floor–and if
now one were to compare being a human being with such a house, then
the sorry and ludicrous fact with most people is, alas, that in their own
house they prefer to live in the basement. Every human being is the
psycho-physical synthesis (created as, RC) planned as spirit; this is the building, but he prefers living in the basement, that is, in the categories
of sensation. Moreover, he not only prefers living in the basement–no,
he loves it so much that he is indignant if anyone suggests he occupy
the fine suite lying vacant for him…” (SUD, 73, 74).
That is an excellent metaphor that Kg writes of contemporary society. It is not only the idea of people who are not interested in the outlay of the upper suite, people in the comfort of the sensate have grown accustomed to living in the domain of the animal kingdom and in the noxious fumes of despair. Note what Paul said in Romans 1:20, 21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they Knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” “IT” goes beyond being more impressed and satisfied with a fake sense of happiness from the sensate, and further beyond being satisfied with living in the basement; like those people in Paul’s day, people are not thankful even though they have a pretty good idea that God is. I believe that no matter if God gave to mankind machines that produced unlimited supplies of gold and unlimited supplies of any hind of drugs to take, such people would not be thankful to God and follow Him anyway–no matter what greatness He did for man. So many do not care; so many do not care enough to think; so many who can think, think more of the flesh than the spirit. In not knowing God, or in not studying to know Him at a deeper level,I conclude that there are many who dislike, even hate the Sovereign Creator. In summary we now come face to face directly with the “IT.” In the end that which people will not have thought through is the “IT” of eternity spent in having to realize that God IS and that one must exist in anguish and torment forever wishing to die (i.e., wishing to be nonexistent as one was in eternity past never to be born) but eternally unable to do so. Of those who suffer at the hands of the wicked and violent, Paul wrote, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Though many run rampant in a rage of iniquity and mock Him, God is not mocked (cf. Galatians 6:7). Read Luke 6:25, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Read Luke 9:47, 48, where Mark wrote, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.” “IT”? “IT”?! Why, an eternity of pain and suffering, wishing eternally not to be, wishing to be totally extinct, totally dead, but unable to die. Having one’s “being” cast into eternal fire, burning passionately with the desire to cease “being.” Many have long held that the body will literally burn eternally in hell, where the fire is not quenched. But there is no physical body to burn in flames in hell. Just as there will not be any streets paved in gold in heaven. God uses language that man can understand to help him understand physically what will happen spiritually. Either way, the pain and suffering is just as unbearable. On
Judgment Day the lost will with their own eyes see the eternal reality of God. Now, here are the years of temporal life (to ponder, meditate, search, deliberate, question, analyze, etc.) what they either will or will not be doing throughout eternity. “BEING” wrong will mean having to die the sickness unto death, where the worm never dies, and where nonexistence never comes.
Some visitor once came into the room of W. C. Fields as he was being cared for in the hospital. Upon seeing the pleasantly surprised expression on the face of the visitor catching Mr. Fields reading the bible, his abrupt reply was, “Just looking for loopholes.”
Endnotes
1 https://recoverybrands.com/drugs-in-america-vs-europe/
2 Ibid
3 Kieregaard, Soren, The Sickness Unto Death, published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-140-44533-6,
translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay, 1989.
4 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/526-soul-and-spirit-whats-the-difference
5 http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/misery.htm
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People Have Not Thought It Through: It Being Being
By Rick Capps
A college professor once stated in a linguistics class that the pronoun it did not stand for anything. One might say something like “It looks like it’s going to rain,” or “It is just in his/her genes.” One eventually might track down a noun referent of some kind, but it is a rather nebulous concept Some one might also say to a person who has arrived late, “It is about time!” The context of the situation could give clarity to the meaning of it, but again it stands for no specific thing. Shakespeare had Hamlet to ask in his play Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question?” Yet more inquisitively, we would ask what does this mean “to be”? That is, what is being? What does it mean with “it” being being? One is the settled understanding of being or existence in this world and what it means to be human and alive. What does it mean to be a specific and unique person! Rather than a sure statement what being means, many there are who walk this earth without a clue as to who they are. Still being tossed around is whether or not a human being is a mix of spit and dirt, or a spiritual being created in God’s own image? What more important question can man research and mindfully entertain than one’s constitution as a being in this present life, especially when Eternity beckons? This question can not be shrugged away (although legions do this everyday). The philosopher will look at such a question through the lens of what he calls epistemology, or the branch of inquiry concerning how knowledge is accrued. The scientist will do this through the lens of science, while the religionist will do this through the lens of scripture (the Bible). Whatever subject one endeavors to become knowledgeable and adept in to the point of expertise, one must use previously gained information and resources to become,say, a master plumber, a master chemist, a master carpenter, a master philosopher, a master lawyer, etc. To be in the know and understanding of most any subject area, one must rely upon previously learned knowledge and skills. For example, a minister once appeared on a talk show with the conversation relating to religious issues. When the talk show host would ask the minister a specific question, the minister would respond by quoting scripture. After a bit of scripture quoting, the dismayed talk show host finally asked the preacher to cease referencing Bible scripture.
Astonished would be a lawyer who was told in the court room that he could not refer to any law books or to any previously published resources while representing his client. Likewise would a chemist respond to being told that he could not refer to the periodic table or previously published chemical resources. And yet the believer is asked to refrain from referencing the one book in all the world that creates, informs, and sustains his “being”. So much for fair play and open-mindedness.The subject of man’s “being” is put on hold and to be continued later in this discussion.
I. A WORLD OF DEMENTIA, EMOTIONAL IMPOTENCE, AND DESPAIR
If one were to start up a conversation with people, it would not take long for the state of the world in terms of wickedness and violence to be broached. Such is a global consideration. Especially epidemic are the abuses of drugs and alcohol which in turn impact social and economic areas in terms of crime, heinous violence, healthcare, prisons, the care of children, homelessness, and so many other matters. The high rate of crime and violence has become so commonplace that people are not surprised anymore at the brutality and gore. Studies indicate that America surpasses most all other countries in the abuse of opioids and prescription narcotics such as OxyContin. 1 Per capita, the U.S. has a higher rate of amaphetamine-type stimulants –a category including methamphetamine and ecstasy.–than any European country.”2 But we do not have to look at statistics to realize the world-wide evil, devastation, and abject despair to come from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, alcohol and drug abuse are not the only culprits of despair; myriad is the list of objects, ideas, devices, concepts and creations from the mind of man to help him cope with unhappiness and ennui. “ …God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). One only has to note a next door neighbor, friend, or family member to see the effects from the various methods and means used to cope with life’s problems and the subsequent devastation from substance abuse. Coping in life does not just pertain to the effects of using alcohol and drug abuse specifically, but to the myriad effects of coping with despair by any means.
.
II. DESPAIR: DISEASE, MENTAL DISORDER, OR SOMETHING GREATER?
I want to introduce another writer perhaps not so well known to modern-day readers. His name is Soren Kierkegaard and he lived back in the early 19th century (1813-1855). No man was more prolific as a writer, even though he died at the early age of 42. His reputation has been tainted in part because of being associated with other philosophers who were considered to be anti-religionists. Though Kierkegaard considered himself to be a Christian, he was kind of “ganged upon” by the other non-believing philosophers in that era. Yes, he was a philosopher and credited as being the father of existentialism; however, he was a strong believer in God and the bible. He
had a brilliant mind and had much to offer to the fair-minded reader interested in delving into God’s Word. The reader is strongly requested to withhold prejudgment and give his relevant ideas a fair hearing. Profuse reference is now made to his book, entitled The Sickness Unto Death.3, written by Soren Kierkegaard. Hereafter, Kierkegaard will be referenced as Kg and his book as SUD.
2
Kg had much to say about the subject of despair and its origin. He witnessed great despair even in his time and had much to say about despair’s origin and its connection with one’s “being” or one’s self. Remember earlier mention was made about one’s consideration of the self or personhood? An event occurred in John concerning the death of Lazarus and how that affected his followers upon hearing of Lazarus’ demise. When Lazarus’ sisters learned of his death, they summoned for Jesus. When Jesus addressed Mary and Martha, he said to them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 4:11). Though Christ said those words, at that time Lazarus was dead. We see that when Jesus steps toward the grave, in John 11:43, he “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Mention was made of the fact that after four days of lying in the grave, Lazarus’ decaying body smelled of putrefaction (John 11:39). I don’t think it was clear to the others at the grave what Jesus meant. Here, Jesus tells them that Lazarus only was asleep. What did Christ mean when He said that Lazarus did not have “the sickness unto death? Though Lazarus had died a physical, earthly, final (?) death, he had not died from a death which was 1) still pending, 2) other than physical, 3) eternal, as in beyond a physical, temporal death.
Thus, Kg opens up this discussion by saying, “The human being is a spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?” (SUD, p 43). A human is more that earth! I would postulate that most people in the world would tend to believe that there is more to man than a few elements of earth. I would believe that most people believe they have something within them that exists beyond a mere physical existence. Recall in Genesis 2:17 that Adam and Eve were told that eating forbidden fruit would mean that doing so would mean “…thou shalt surely die.” They did not die physically, but they did die in another way. In what way? Remember that God interacted with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden daily conversing, teaching, and guiding them (spiritually) as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 9:6). Does not reason itself dictate that man is a spirit? So said Job in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” When Adam and Eve died in the garden, they died a spiritual death, and a spiritual death is when one’s relationship with God is severed and man is cut off, separated, from the spiritual Being that created him as a spiritual being. The writer of Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us what happens to man after he dies as he says “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (the body will return to the dust it came from) and the spirit shall return to the God who made it.” By extension and connection, man as a spiritually- created being is a self, a person, a soul. So many Hebrew and Greek words pertain to a human self, e.g., the Hebrew rauch (spirit–God and man), nephesh (breath), basar (body,flesh), nephesh (spirit), and kardia (heart), zoe (life), and nous (mind). One would need to obtain an accurate Hebrew and Greek dictionary, look these words up, and study them in the context of scripture for a clearer, more objective understanding of their use in defining the self, the person,the human, the being of man. Is man a spirit or spit and dirt? Again, these words must be understood in their scriptural context, and thus one must be careful to avoid using words wrongly out of context. One can find many places on the internet where students, scholars, and philosophers have done in-depth word studies of these biblical terms and provide much use and assistance in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject under consideration. Therefore,be extremely cautious in reading the interpretations of other people. There is a story from antiquity about an individual trying to find Truth. Although he had inquired near and far in many directions, he failed to receive help in finding a solution to his search. Finally a day came when someone revealed to him about a faint rumor about there being a man in a far away country in a remote, isolated part of that country who might be able to help him find Truth. After receiving rather puzzling directions, the inquirer set out to find this other man living in a place so far away. Thus, after trudging across continents for what seemed like months upon months, the inquirer informed the Truth knower that he had learned that this brilliantly-minded sage knew where to find the Truth. The inquirer informed the sage that he (the inquirer) would “give anything in the world” to find the Truth. The sage asked the man to follow him and do absolutely as instructed. Then, the knower told the inquirer to follow him; so they both walked out in the sea from the shore to a point where they each had the water level up to their chins. The sage grabbed the other man’s head and forced him under the water as if to drown him. Finally, after struggling with all of his strength to resurface with his head above the water while flailing about with all of his strength, the truth knower let go of the man’s head and shouted out, “What is it that you want now more than anything?” The frantic, screaming, singular reply was, “Air! I want air!” At last the sage said to the inquirer, “When you want to know the Truth like you just wanted air, you will find it.”
Though a story, the lessons are poignant: 1) the inquirer learned that he must find the Truth for himself; 2) he learned how much work would be involved; and 3) he learned how much passion he would need to find the Truth. How much is one willing to give up in this world to save his soul? No question is more important or relevant than when the temporal is compared with the eternal.
How many either do not know or do not care where they go after the physical death? I would like to recommend a scholarly think tank at Apologetics Press, which is under the care of Wayne Jackson. He has written a paper entitled “What is the difference between the spirit and soul of a human being?”4 Somehow I do not believe the masses will care much about what the bible has to say about the question no matter how expert the scholars may happen to be. Those individuals who reject the bible reject the only source book concerning the spirit in man and his eternal abode. The snub of God’s Holy Word takes away the spiritual legs upon which the believer stands. Without the bible how can anyone have any kind of sense or comprehension of who man is, where he came from, or where he is going after this short life? The bible gives man answers to his “being” or “self” and to the mysteries surrounding his origin. Without the bible man does not know whether he came from an asteroid, a pumpkin, or a planet six billion miles away from planet earth? While alone in the darkest wee hours of the night one must grapple with one’s “being” or “self.” He will admit to this if he is honest! John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” That is, He does not have a corporeal body as man does. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that God created “man in our image.” “IT” would stand up to reason, then, as something man can use reason to so reason. God said to the prophet in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together…” Another indication that God made man a spirit is that man can reason with Him.
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The Greek philosopher Democritus was one of the first men to discover the atom (source: Wikipedia). Though he had no kind of microscope to assist him, he reasoned through philosophy to the existence of the unseen atom. Note the irony: man can reason discovering the atom, but so many can not reason to the existence of God. What does one need to comprehend and see the existence of God? One could use a mix of reason, philosophy (reasoning?), logic, understanding, and how about common sense! But the cry will be, whose common sense?, whose understanding?, whose logic?, whose philosophy?, etc. Today, common sense seems often to be in short supply. The philosophers seem to get to a point of often enjoying the game of playing word ball and meandering in umpteen directions with philosophical jargon (that many people do not comprehend) and get more of a rise through word play than staying rigidly with the original problem and trying to solve ‘IT.’ I am just saying, the philosopher sometimes enjoys to show that he or she has studied philosophy mightily. One should study to show “…thyself approved unto God” rather than to men (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that the “..invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. “ Note also Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man was able to reason to the unseen atom, but he can not reason to God through his seen handiwork (i.e., visual evidence). The question then is, is there another way that we can comprehend God? Keep reading….
III. SOUL, SPIRIT, PERSON, SELF, DESPAIR CONTINUED.
When man despairs, he must despair over something. Kg says that the possibility of man having this sickness (of despair)
“…is man’s advantage over the beast, and it is an advantage which characterizes him
quite otherwise than the upright posture, for it bespeaks the i nfinite erectness or lofti-
ness of his being spirit. The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the
beast; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian’s blessedness. Consequently, it is
an infinite merit to be able to despair” (SUD, 45, 46).
Did the reader ever contemplate over the fact that creation, minus man, does not have to worry or despair or feel depressed over something. The birds “toil” nor “spin” over anything. It is always man who toils, spins, worries, despairs, and becomes sick concerning life issues. Yet, the very ability to do such gives him an advantage that animals do not have. Why does man need such an advantage? Well, he would not need it if he were going to end up at the same place as do the animals. God did not create the animals with spirit nor in His image. Kg calls despair an imbalance.Many there are in today’s world who are harboring an imbalance in being! Does this constitute
a disease? When man gets an imbalance, he is told that such and such is not his fault but is thefault of some disease A preacher was asked once in an open forum whether or not alcoholism was a disease? His response was, “Well, if it is, it is the only disease I know that a man can catch out of a bottle.” A lot of people world-wide are unstable and deranged (some perhaps insane) and are sick with despair Else, why would so many people feel the need to drug themselves or numb themselves and impale themselves emotionally with things in life that hide and blur the state of reality (Truth) and what at one time in the past was a state of purity and uprightness? Kg asks where this sickness, this imbalance comes from? He writes,
“From the relation in which the synthesis (i.e., with one thing relating to another, RDC)
relates to itself, from the fact that God, who made man this relation, as it were, lets go
of it…and in the fact that the relation is spirit, is the self…” (SUD, 46).
Man had a relationship with God in the garden of Eden, but once he broke the covenant with God, his relationship ceased, as did his spiritual being or self. For Kg says further,
“…the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die. In this it has much in common
with the condition of the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death but cannot die.
Thus to be sick unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though there were hope of life.
No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope,death, is gone. When death is the greatest
danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns to know the even more horrifying danger,
one hopes for death. When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then
despair is the hopelessness of not even being able to die” (SUD, 48).
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Recall how Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves once “their eyes were opened.” There was a tremendous transition which occurred within their being. They realized that they had sinned against their Creator, had brought sin and shame upon themselves, had created a great divide between themselves and God, and experienced the sting of spiritual death. So many people have, since that enormous event, been running, are still running, and who will continue running from Almighty God
thinking they are hiding from Him and will not have to give an eternal account. When Jesus told the friends and family of Lazarus that he did not have the sickness unto death, though dead and rotting in the grave, friends and family thought (just like we would today) that that would have been the end (the finality) of Lazarus. Lazarus had a sickness that led to his physical demise; this still did not lead to his spiritual sickness, for those who have this sickness and ultimately die from it, will have died from the sickness that ends in eternal death (death # 2). When an individual has a grave sickness such as terminal cancer, he or she may get to a point where continued treatment would not prove beneficial. At such a place in medical care a person might choose to discontinue medical treatment rather than continue in pain and suffering. Rather than prolong the agonies of living, one might choose to let nature take its natural course and die. If that were to happen, one (though dying, RDC) would still not experience “the sickness unto death” as alluded to in John 11:4. A person can die a natural death or die from a physical illness (cancer) and still may have to face a final, eternal death (i.e., a second, final death) if lost in sin. Again as Kg remarks,.
“And the relation to himself is something a human cannot be rid of, just as little
as he can be rid of himself, which for that matter is one and the same thing, since
the self is indeed the relation to oneself” (SUD, 47).
This self is the self created by God: the body, the soul, and the spirit. Man was created in God’s image as a spirit. The former relationship with God was terminated during man’s fall. The relationship man had with God was severed to the extent that Adam died a spiritual death when God walked with man no more. Man had a God-given breath of life in him with a low-grade of soulishness in him that still placed him above the beasts of the field, and made man into a natural, soulish being. The terminal cancer patient would think that his physical death would end the sickness and illness from the disease of cancer. Death would mean that this physical sickness would end this ickness and the man would have no more sickness to deal with. Kg states further on this:
“…death is no doubt the end of the sickness, but death (physically,RC) is not the
end. If in the strictest sense, there, is to be any question of a sickness unto death,
it must be one where the end (finality, RC) is death and where death
(finality, RC) is the end. And thinking that (the finality, RC) is precisely to despair.
…Yet despair is the sickness unto death in another and still more definite sense.
For there is not the remotest possibility of dying of this sickness in the straight-
forward sense, or of this sickness ending in physical death. On the contrary,
the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die (in the final sense, RC). In
this it has much in common with the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death
but cannot die. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone.
When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns
to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death (as in extinction,
RC). When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair
is the hopelessness of not even being able to die. ..Thus to be sick (in the
final, eternal sense, RC) unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though
there is hope for eternal life” (SUD, 47-48).
If the christian with a terminal illness dies, then just before his death his hope is to end his physical illness to begin a new life after death. He thinks his death (referenced as death #1) will end his pain and suffering, but, there awaits for all men who are outside the body of Christ (i.e., christian) another death (death # 2) and that comes after the judgment. Note that it “is appointed unto men once to die (death # 1), but after this the Judgement (death # 2 for those outside Christ, Hebrews 9:27). Also, we read in Revelation 20:13,14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Was there ever a point in your life, even now, dear reader that you could have wished that you could just go back to nonbeing before existence so that you wouldn’t have to deal with drudgeries of life? If you could go, would you choose to go back to nonbeing, never to have been born? Think of all those souls who will be sentenced to eternal death in hell “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
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IV. CONFRONTING A UNIVERSE FULL OF HAYSTACKS LOOKING FOR ONE NEEDLE
Yes, the universe is a big place and still keeps expanding. Scientists and astronomers keep discovering new worlds and new information. Searching through the mountains upon mountains of available information seems similar to looking through a universe of haystacks for a one needle of Truth. Such an endeavor seems almost impossible to do. Man has a deep and abiding yearning to understand where he comes from, what his purpose is, and what happens after he dies. These are not just casual questions of curiosity, but metaphysical questions that rivet to the core of one’s inner being. Many millions of people are not satisfied with asteroids, electric sparks, matters of chance, and bag-of-dirt responses as answers to man’s origin? Science deals well with matters involving the natural, physical world, but can say nothing about spiritual life as revealed by God. Only do fools reject and ignore the Scriptures. Reject the bible and there is nowhere else to go to comprehend, meditate, and wrestle with the matter of man as a spiritually-created being. With God and His Word, there is hope beyond the grave. The scientist looks at things from the standpoint of the petri dish, the telescope, microscope and the ever present empirical eye. So far as he is concerned, one must not even mention something called spirit. At this point alone, man is no more than a bag of dirt with a smattering of corpuscles, neurons, sinews, blood, and guts. From that standpoint, man just has to live with that very shallow and superficial idea of temporal existence and live out his life until his time is spent and he dies–end of story. Such is hardcore science! What more despicable, grave-stomping, and dishonorable discharge of selfishness than to pay such an appalling tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died in wars so that we have freedom today
to think for ourselves and honor those who died in a spiritual sacrifice that others may so live? All those men and women did not die thinking they were sacrificing their lives just to save other bags of dirt! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 135:13). The petri dish and the telescope have no reply. However, there is another prominent view of life that has been in existence as long as man has existed. Some of the greatest minds from the past have contemplated man as a spirit being. Putting aside for the moment that man is no more than a body of earth (dirt), we believe that man is made up of earth, soul, spirit, mind (spiritual) heart (spiritual) with there being somewhere within the spirit of man a place for intellect, will, emotions,conscience, etc. Along with the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the believer understands that the spirit within man is comprised of soul and spirit and that residing within man’s soul and spirit are found his heart and mind (rather than just a physical heart and physical brain). Many thinkers and writers have produced charts, schematic drawings, and outlines made to comprehend in all honesty what is the true physical and spiritual makeup of man.
Somewhere within the soul is also found man’s spirit; and somewhere within man’s spirit are found man’s kardia (heart) and nous (mind). How/where to place these all together on a chart or map is problematic. The bible student knows that in the bible heart and mind are often interchangeable. For example, in Psalms 73:21 we read, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.” This is an example of synonymous parallelism where the two halves of the verse refer to the same thing. Another example is taken from Luke 24:25 where we read, “…O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” compared with Luke 24:45 that says, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures.” These two scriptures teach that there is no difference between believing with the heart and believing with the mind. Many other passages exist, but we press on concerning IT.
V.. THE FORMS OF A WORLD OF DESPAIR
As the world is full of despair, the irony is that though many people live in despair, they are often unaware of IT. With a common view among people that being in despair is just a minor problem with being bored or in being a little depressed, Kg says that such a view
“overlooks (just to mention something which, properly grasped, brings thousands
upon thousands and millions under the category of despair)–it altogether overlooks
that the very fact of not being in despair, of not being conscious of being in despair,
is itself a form of despair” (SUD, 53).
He further adds,
“as soon as man ceases to be regarded under the aspect of spirit (and unless he
is regarded in that way, neither can there be any question of despair), but merely
as a synthesis of soul and body, when health becomes an immediate characteristic,
and it is only in the soul’s or the body’s sickness that the dialectical (i.e. in the
argot of a particular class or social structure, RC) arises. But despair is exactly
man’s unconsciousness of being characterized as spirit…But the connoisseur of
souls will no doubt concede, the normal situation is exactly this: that most people
live without being properly conscious of being characterized as spirit–and to this
one can trace all the so-called security, contentment, with life, etc., which is exactly
despair…Ah! So much is spoken about human misery; I try to understand it, have
been closely acquainted with not a little of it. So much is spoken about wasting
one’s life. But the only life wasted is the life of the one who lived it, deceived by
life’s pleasures or its sorrows, that he never became decisively, eternally, conscious
of himself as spirit, as self, or what is the same, he never became aware–and gained
in the deepest sense the impression–that there is a God, and that he (man, RC).
himself, his self, exists before this God, which infinite gain is never come by
except through despair” (SUD, 56-57).
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Essentially, people just do not think about the inner man (spirit), do not conclude that he does exist, and he has needs that go beyond the pail of gold, diamonds, and pleasures. Jonathan Edwards preacher from 1703-1758), wrote a sermon entitled, “God Makes Men Sensible of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy” in which he used Hosea 5:15: as his text: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” Yet, so many in affliction and despair, rather than go down deep into the inner, inner man turn to every kind of fake apothecary and false cure under Solomon’s sun. And all for what
temporal purpose?: to ease and soothe man’s body, his bag of dirt. Wrote Edwards,
“When Israel revolted, God gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let
them continue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress, and
saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought to reflect on them-
selves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then God raised them up a deliverer.
And when they cried unto God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled
them, and brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God’s hands” (cf. Judges 10:10 vv).5
These are various levels of despair depending upon the circumstances one lives in. There is 1) living in despair but being ignorant of it or not willing to take note, and 2) being conscious of despair but in terms of a) there is weakness in despair (i.e., one is not willing to do what is necessary to help cure the despair) as the individual is unwilling to recognize one’s true self as a spiritual being; and b) willing despairingly to be one’s self with a total, defiant disregard for what the self should be. Again, the reader is to keep in mind that the true self (as originally created by God) consists of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit ceased in man when Adam sinned and God removed Himself from a spiritual relationship with man.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: “It (the body, RC) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body, There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (I Corinthians 15:43-46). Then note what he said in I Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And what of the supposed “hidden” needle? The irony of all ironies is
that the needle is and always has been in plain view!
Although a person can live in ignorance of being in despair, he is in despair whether he knows this or not. Determined by the circumstances in which one lives, many people are able to live in comfort and imagined peace. Things may be perceived to be going pretty well. Writes Kg,
“Certainly this self-righteousness is not highly regarded. It is regarded
as little as people in general regard the relationship to truth, the relating
of oneself to the true, as the highest good, and even less see it
Socratically as the greatest misfortune to be in error–their sensuous
reactions usually far outweigh their intellect. A person supposedly
fortunate in this way, who imagines himself blessed by good fortune but
when considered in the light of truth is unfortunate, is usually very far
from wanting to be snatched out of this error. On the contrary, he grows
the reason? He is totally dominated by his sensuous and psycho-
sensuous reactions; he lives in the categories of the sensate, the pleasant
and the unpleasant, poo-poos spirit, the truth, etc; he is too sensate
to have the courage to risk and endure being spirit” (SUD, 73).
I would like to add concerning the sensate man, he not only does not have the courage, but he does not have the interest or needed will to fight, scratch, and claw (if need be) to find the one needle of eternal truth. However, an individual who is numbed by drugs, alcohol, wealth, fame, and a seemingly endless bounty of life’s pleasures and distractions (and rest assured that our age is the age of deception), is one who cannot fathom the eternal self God created, but spends his time and efforts addressing the needs of the beast. The individual who is conscious of his self that is incorporated with soul and spirit, ultimately quits, gives up, and turns his back to God thinking, “God’s standards are too high–I cannot measure up.” He cannot recognize what God and Eternity offer. The individual who at one time heard or read and considered the truth is like the man who “…beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24). Thus, this individual is satisfied in wallowing in the mire of temporary,sensuous pleasures. The third individual over time becomes hardened, cynical, and angry. Life has dealt him with too many “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” This person has earned his/her stripes and has earned the right to live in “demonic” despair. The world has paid him/her enough pain and misfortune, and now it is time for repayment. None of the people living in despair (where the spirit is ignored) are able (willing) to listen long enough to hear, to truly hear! So, the atheists, nonbelievers, deceivers, falsehood weavers, and gluttons of the temporal domain are able and willing to discourse concerning the physical landscape, but shy away from the spiritual landscape. God teaches spirit man that “…it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The soulish man (minus a spiritual self) teaches that “greed is good” (Wallstreet). The spiritual man will teach that good is better than evil; but the soulish man teaches that evil is sometimes (maybe all the time) good. What ends up are two differing world views: one spiritual, where good is always the best system of existence; and, one where evil has its place. Then, one will start the argument,“Well, what do you call evil?” And thus the word ball game starts and one is “…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
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Kg says of such,
“…they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute that a person can
be; but vain and conceited they remain–comparatively speaking. If one were to imagine a house consisting of a basement, ground floor and first
floor, tenanted or planned in such a way that there is, or is meant to be,
a difference of social class between the occupants of each floor–and if
now one were to compare being a human being with such a house, then
the sorry and ludicrous fact with most people is, alas, that in their own
house they prefer to live in the basement. Every human being is the
psycho-physical synthesis (created as, RC) planned as spirit; this is the building, but he prefers living in the basement, that is, in the categories
of sensation. Moreover, he not only prefers living in the basement–no,
he loves it so much that he is indignant if anyone suggests he occupy
the fine suite lying vacant for him…” (SUD, 73, 74).
That is an excellent metaphor that Kg writes of contemporary society. It is not only the idea of people who are not interested in the outlay of the upper suite, people in the comfort of the sensate have grown accustomed to living in the domain of the animal kingdom and in the noxious fumes of despair. Note what Paul said in Romans 1:20, 21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they Knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” “IT” goes beyond being more impressed and satisfied with a fake sense of happiness from the sensate, and further beyond being satisfied with living in the basement; like those people in Paul’s day, people are not thankful even though they have a pretty good idea that God is. I believe that no matter if God gave to mankind machines that produced unlimited supplies of gold and unlimited supplies of any hind of drugs to take, such people would not be thankful to God and follow Him anyway–no matter what greatness He did for man. So many do not care; so many do not care enough to think; so many who can think, think more of the flesh than the spirit. In not knowing God, or in not studying to know Him at a deeper level,I conclude that there are many who dislike, even hate the Sovereign Creator. In summary we now come face to face directly with the “IT.” In the end that which people will not have thought through is the “IT” of eternity spent in having to realize that God IS and that one must exist in anguish and torment forever wishing to die (i.e., wishing to be nonexistent as one was in eternity past never to be born) but eternally unable to do so. Of those who suffer at the hands of the wicked and violent, Paul wrote, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Though many run rampant in a rage of iniquity and mock Him, God is not mocked (cf. Galatians 6:7). Read Luke 6:25, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Read Luke 9:47, 48, where Mark wrote, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.” “IT”? “IT”?! Why, an eternity of pain and suffering, wishing eternally not to be, wishing to be totally extinct, totally dead, but unable to die. Having one’s “being” cast into eternal fire, burning passionately with the desire to cease “being.” Many have long held that the body will literally burn eternally in hell, where the fire is not quenched. But there is no physical body to burn in flames in hell. Just as there will not be any streets paved in gold in heaven. God uses language that man can understand to help him understand physically what will happen spiritually. Either way, the pain and suffering is just as unbearable. On
Judgment Day the lost will with their own eyes see the eternal reality of God. Now, here are the years of temporal life (to ponder, meditate, search, deliberate, question, analyze, etc.) what they either will or will not be doing throughout eternity. “BEING” wrong will mean having to die the sickness unto death, where the worm never dies, and where nonexistence never comes.
Some visitor once came into the room of W. C. Fields as he was being cared for in the hospital. Upon seeing the pleasantly surprised expression on the face of the visitor catching Mr. Fields reading the bible, his abrupt reply was, “Just looking for loopholes.”
Endnotes
1 https://recoverybrands.com/drugs-in-america-vs-europe/
2 Ibid
3 Kieregaard, Soren, The Sickness Unto Death, published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-140-44533-6,
translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay, 1989.
4 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/526-soul-and-spirit-whats-the-difference
5 http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/misery.htm
8
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People Have Not Thought It Through: It Being Being
By Rick Capps
A college professor once stated in a linguistics class that the pronoun it did not stand for anything. One might say something like “It looks like it’s going to rain,” or “It is just in his/her genes.” One eventually might track down a noun referent of some kind, but it is a rather nebulous concept Some one might also say to a person who has arrived late, “It is about time!” The context of the situation could give clarity to the meaning of it, but again it stands for no specific thing. Shakespeare had Hamlet to ask in his play Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question?” Yet more inquisitively, we would ask what does this mean “to be”? That is, what is being? What does it mean with “it” being being? One is the settled understanding of being or existence in this world and what it means to be human and alive. What does it mean to be a specific and unique person! Rather than a sure statement what being means, many there are who walk this earth without a clue as to who they are. Still being tossed around is whether or not a human being is a mix of spit and dirt, or a spiritual being created in God’s own image? What more important question can man research and mindfully entertain than one’s constitution as a being in this present life, especially when Eternity beckons? This question can not be shrugged away (although legions do this everyday). The philosopher will look at such a question through the lens of what he calls epistemology, or the branch of inquiry concerning how knowledge is accrued. The scientist will do this through the lens of science, while the religionist will do this through the lens of scripture (the Bible). Whatever subject one endeavors to become knowledgeable and adept in to the point of expertise, one must use previously gained information and resources to become,say, a master plumber, a master chemist, a master carpenter, a master philosopher, a master lawyer, etc. To be in the know and understanding of most any subject area, one must rely upon previously learned knowledge and skills. For example, a minister once appeared on a talk show with the conversation relating to religious issues. When the talk show host would ask the minister a specific question, the minister would respond by quoting scripture. After a bit of scripture quoting, the dismayed talk show host finally asked the preacher to cease referencing Bible scripture.
Astonished would be a lawyer who was told in the court room that he could not refer to any law books or to any previously published resources while representing his client. Likewise would a chemist respond to being told that he could not refer to the periodic table or previously published chemical resources. And yet the believer is asked to refrain from referencing the one book in all the world that creates, informs, and sustains his “being”. So much for fair play and open-mindedness.The subject of man’s “being” is put on hold and to be continued later in this discussion.
I. A WORLD OF DEMENTIA, EMOTIONAL IMPOTENCE, AND DESPAIR
If one were to start up a conversation with people, it would not take long for the state of the world in terms of wickedness and violence to be broached. Such is a global consideration. Especially epidemic are the abuses of drugs and alcohol which in turn impact social and economic areas in terms of crime, heinous violence, healthcare, prisons, the care of children, homelessness, and so many other matters. The high rate of crime and violence has become so commonplace that people are not surprised anymore at the brutality and gore. Studies indicate that America surpasses most all other countries in the abuse of opioids and prescription narcotics such as OxyContin. 1 Per capita, the U.S. has a higher rate of amaphetamine-type stimulants –a category including methamphetamine and ecstasy.–than any European country.”2 But we do not have to look at statistics to realize the world-wide evil, devastation, and abject despair to come from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, alcohol and drug abuse are not the only culprits of despair; myriad is the list of objects, ideas, devices, concepts and creations from the mind of man to help him cope with unhappiness and ennui. “ …God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). One only has to note a next door neighbor, friend, or family member to see the effects from the various methods and means used to cope with life’s problems and the subsequent devastation from substance abuse. Coping in life does not just pertain to the effects of using alcohol and drug abuse specifically, but to the myriad effects of coping with despair by any means.
.
II. DESPAIR: DISEASE, MENTAL DISORDER, OR SOMETHING GREATER?
I want to introduce another writer perhaps not so well known to modern-day readers. His name is Soren Kierkegaard and he lived back in the early 19th century (1813-1855). No man was more prolific as a writer, even though he died at the early age of 42. His reputation has been tainted in part because of being associated with other philosophers who were considered to be anti-religionists. Though Kierkegaard considered himself to be a Christian, he was kind of “ganged upon” by the other non-believing philosophers in that era. Yes, he was a philosopher and credited as being the father of existentialism; however, he was a strong believer in God and the bible. He
had a brilliant mind and had much to offer to the fair-minded reader interested in delving into God’s Word. The reader is strongly requested to withhold prejudgment and give his relevant ideas a fair hearing. Profuse reference is now made to his book, entitled The Sickness Unto Death.3, written by Soren Kierkegaard. Hereafter, Kierkegaard will be referenced as Kg and his book as SUD.
2
Kg had much to say about the subject of despair and its origin. He witnessed great despair even in his time and had much to say about despair’s origin and its connection with one’s “being” or one’s self. Remember earlier mention was made about one’s consideration of the self or personhood? An event occurred in John concerning the death of Lazarus and how that affected his followers upon hearing of Lazarus’ demise. When Lazarus’ sisters learned of his death, they summoned for Jesus. When Jesus addressed Mary and Martha, he said to them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 4:11). Though Christ said those words, at that time Lazarus was dead. We see that when Jesus steps toward the grave, in John 11:43, he “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Mention was made of the fact that after four days of lying in the grave, Lazarus’ decaying body smelled of putrefaction (John 11:39). I don’t think it was clear to the others at the grave what Jesus meant. Here, Jesus tells them that Lazarus only was asleep. What did Christ mean when He said that Lazarus did not have “the sickness unto death? Though Lazarus had died a physical, earthly, final (?) death, he had not died from a death which was 1) still pending, 2) other than physical, 3) eternal, as in beyond a physical, temporal death.
Thus, Kg opens up this discussion by saying, “The human being is a spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?” (SUD, p 43). A human is more that earth! I would postulate that most people in the world would tend to believe that there is more to man than a few elements of earth. I would believe that most people believe they have something within them that exists beyond a mere physical existence. Recall in Genesis 2:17 that Adam and Eve were told that eating forbidden fruit would mean that doing so would mean “…thou shalt surely die.” They did not die physically, but they did die in another way. In what way? Remember that God interacted with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden daily conversing, teaching, and guiding them (spiritually) as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 9:6). Does not reason itself dictate that man is a spirit? So said Job in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” When Adam and Eve died in the garden, they died a spiritual death, and a spiritual death is when one’s relationship with God is severed and man is cut off, separated, from the spiritual Being that created him as a spiritual being. The writer of Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us what happens to man after he dies as he says “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (the body will return to the dust it came from) and the spirit shall return to the God who made it.” By extension and connection, man as a spiritually- created being is a self, a person, a soul. So many Hebrew and Greek words pertain to a human self, e.g., the Hebrew rauch (spirit–God and man), nephesh (breath), basar (body,flesh), nephesh (spirit), and kardia (heart), zoe (life), and nous (mind). One would need to obtain an accurate Hebrew and Greek dictionary, look these words up, and study them in the context of scripture for a clearer, more objective understanding of their use in defining the self, the person,the human, the being of man. Is man a spirit or spit and dirt? Again, these words must be understood in their scriptural context, and thus one must be careful to avoid using words wrongly out of context. One can find many places on the internet where students, scholars, and philosophers have done in-depth word studies of these biblical terms and provide much use and assistance in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject under consideration. Therefore,be extremely cautious in reading the interpretations of other people. There is a story from antiquity about an individual trying to find Truth. Although he had inquired near and far in many directions, he failed to receive help in finding a solution to his search. Finally a day came when someone revealed to him about a faint rumor about there being a man in a far away country in a remote, isolated part of that country who might be able to help him find Truth. After receiving rather puzzling directions, the inquirer set out to find this other man living in a place so far away. Thus, after trudging across continents for what seemed like months upon months, the inquirer informed the Truth knower that he had learned that this brilliantly-minded sage knew where to find the Truth. The inquirer informed the sage that he (the inquirer) would “give anything in the world” to find the Truth. The sage asked the man to follow him and do absolutely as instructed. Then, the knower told the inquirer to follow him; so they both walked out in the sea from the shore to a point where they each had the water level up to their chins. The sage grabbed the other man’s head and forced him under the water as if to drown him. Finally, after struggling with all of his strength to resurface with his head above the water while flailing about with all of his strength, the truth knower let go of the man’s head and shouted out, “What is it that you want now more than anything?” The frantic, screaming, singular reply was, “Air! I want air!” At last the sage said to the inquirer, “When you want to know the Truth like you just wanted air, you will find it.”
Though a story, the lessons are poignant: 1) the inquirer learned that he must find the Truth for himself; 2) he learned how much work would be involved; and 3) he learned how much passion he would need to find the Truth. How much is one willing to give up in this world to save his soul? No question is more important or relevant than when the temporal is compared with the eternal.
How many either do not know or do not care where they go after the physical death? I would like to recommend a scholarly think tank at Apologetics Press, which is under the care of Wayne Jackson. He has written a paper entitled “What is the difference between the spirit and soul of a human being?”4 Somehow I do not believe the masses will care much about what the bible has to say about the question no matter how expert the scholars may happen to be. Those individuals who reject the bible reject the only source book concerning the spirit in man and his eternal abode. The snub of God’s Holy Word takes away the spiritual legs upon which the believer stands. Without the bible how can anyone have any kind of sense or comprehension of who man is, where he came from, or where he is going after this short life? The bible gives man answers to his “being” or “self” and to the mysteries surrounding his origin. Without the bible man does not know whether he came from an asteroid, a pumpkin, or a planet six billion miles away from planet earth? While alone in the darkest wee hours of the night one must grapple with one’s “being” or “self.” He will admit to this if he is honest! John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” That is, He does not have a corporeal body as man does. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that God created “man in our image.” “IT” would stand up to reason, then, as something man can use reason to so reason. God said to the prophet in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together…” Another indication that God made man a spirit is that man can reason with Him.
3
The Greek philosopher Democritus was one of the first men to discover the atom (source: Wikipedia). Though he had no kind of microscope to assist him, he reasoned through philosophy to the existence of the unseen atom. Note the irony: man can reason discovering the atom, but so many can not reason to the existence of God. What does one need to comprehend and see the existence of God? One could use a mix of reason, philosophy (reasoning?), logic, understanding, and how about common sense! But the cry will be, whose common sense?, whose understanding?, whose logic?, whose philosophy?, etc. Today, common sense seems often to be in short supply. The philosophers seem to get to a point of often enjoying the game of playing word ball and meandering in umpteen directions with philosophical jargon (that many people do not comprehend) and get more of a rise through word play than staying rigidly with the original problem and trying to solve ‘IT.’ I am just saying, the philosopher sometimes enjoys to show that he or she has studied philosophy mightily. One should study to show “…thyself approved unto God” rather than to men (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that the “..invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. “ Note also Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man was able to reason to the unseen atom, but he can not reason to God through his seen handiwork (i.e., visual evidence). The question then is, is there another way that we can comprehend God? Keep reading….
III. SOUL, SPIRIT, PERSON, SELF, DESPAIR CONTINUED.
When man despairs, he must despair over something. Kg says that the possibility of man having this sickness (of despair)
“…is man’s advantage over the beast, and it is an advantage which characterizes him
quite otherwise than the upright posture, for it bespeaks the i nfinite erectness or lofti-
ness of his being spirit. The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the
beast; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian’s blessedness. Consequently, it is
an infinite merit to be able to despair” (SUD, 45, 46).
Did the reader ever contemplate over the fact that creation, minus man, does not have to worry or despair or feel depressed over something. The birds “toil” nor “spin” over anything. It is always man who toils, spins, worries, despairs, and becomes sick concerning life issues. Yet, the very ability to do such gives him an advantage that animals do not have. Why does man need such an advantage? Well, he would not need it if he were going to end up at the same place as do the animals. God did not create the animals with spirit nor in His image. Kg calls despair an imbalance.Many there are in today’s world who are harboring an imbalance in being! Does this constitute
a disease? When man gets an imbalance, he is told that such and such is not his fault but is thefault of some disease A preacher was asked once in an open forum whether or not alcoholism was a disease? His response was, “Well, if it is, it is the only disease I know that a man can catch out of a bottle.” A lot of people world-wide are unstable and deranged (some perhaps insane) and are sick with despair Else, why would so many people feel the need to drug themselves or numb themselves and impale themselves emotionally with things in life that hide and blur the state of reality (Truth) and what at one time in the past was a state of purity and uprightness? Kg asks where this sickness, this imbalance comes from? He writes,
“From the relation in which the synthesis (i.e., with one thing relating to another, RDC)
relates to itself, from the fact that God, who made man this relation, as it were, lets go
of it…and in the fact that the relation is spirit, is the self…” (SUD, 46).
Man had a relationship with God in the garden of Eden, but once he broke the covenant with God, his relationship ceased, as did his spiritual being or self. For Kg says further,
“…the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die. In this it has much in common
with the condition of the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death but cannot die.
Thus to be sick unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though there were hope of life.
No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope,death, is gone. When death is the greatest
danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns to know the even more horrifying danger,
one hopes for death. When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then
despair is the hopelessness of not even being able to die” (SUD, 48).
4
Recall how Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves once “their eyes were opened.” There was a tremendous transition which occurred within their being. They realized that they had sinned against their Creator, had brought sin and shame upon themselves, had created a great divide between themselves and God, and experienced the sting of spiritual death. So many people have, since that enormous event, been running, are still running, and who will continue running from Almighty God
thinking they are hiding from Him and will not have to give an eternal account. When Jesus told the friends and family of Lazarus that he did not have the sickness unto death, though dead and rotting in the grave, friends and family thought (just like we would today) that that would have been the end (the finality) of Lazarus. Lazarus had a sickness that led to his physical demise; this still did not lead to his spiritual sickness, for those who have this sickness and ultimately die from it, will have died from the sickness that ends in eternal death (death # 2). When an individual has a grave sickness such as terminal cancer, he or she may get to a point where continued treatment would not prove beneficial. At such a place in medical care a person might choose to discontinue medical treatment rather than continue in pain and suffering. Rather than prolong the agonies of living, one might choose to let nature take its natural course and die. If that were to happen, one (though dying, RDC) would still not experience “the sickness unto death” as alluded to in John 11:4. A person can die a natural death or die from a physical illness (cancer) and still may have to face a final, eternal death (i.e., a second, final death) if lost in sin. Again as Kg remarks,.
“And the relation to himself is something a human cannot be rid of, just as little
as he can be rid of himself, which for that matter is one and the same thing, since
the self is indeed the relation to oneself” (SUD, 47).
This self is the self created by God: the body, the soul, and the spirit. Man was created in God’s image as a spirit. The former relationship with God was terminated during man’s fall. The relationship man had with God was severed to the extent that Adam died a spiritual death when God walked with man no more. Man had a God-given breath of life in him with a low-grade of soulishness in him that still placed him above the beasts of the field, and made man into a natural, soulish being. The terminal cancer patient would think that his physical death would end the sickness and illness from the disease of cancer. Death would mean that this physical sickness would end this ickness and the man would have no more sickness to deal with. Kg states further on this:
“…death is no doubt the end of the sickness, but death (physically,RC) is not the
end. If in the strictest sense, there, is to be any question of a sickness unto death,
it must be one where the end (finality, RC) is death and where death
(finality, RC) is the end. And thinking that (the finality, RC) is precisely to despair.
…Yet despair is the sickness unto death in another and still more definite sense.
For there is not the remotest possibility of dying of this sickness in the straight-
forward sense, or of this sickness ending in physical death. On the contrary,
the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die (in the final sense, RC). In
this it has much in common with the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death
but cannot die. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone.
When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns
to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death (as in extinction,
RC). When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair
is the hopelessness of not even being able to die. ..Thus to be sick (in the
final, eternal sense, RC) unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though
there is hope for eternal life” (SUD, 47-48).
If the christian with a terminal illness dies, then just before his death his hope is to end his physical illness to begin a new life after death. He thinks his death (referenced as death #1) will end his pain and suffering, but, there awaits for all men who are outside the body of Christ (i.e., christian) another death (death # 2) and that comes after the judgment. Note that it “is appointed unto men once to die (death # 1), but after this the Judgement (death # 2 for those outside Christ, Hebrews 9:27). Also, we read in Revelation 20:13,14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Was there ever a point in your life, even now, dear reader that you could have wished that you could just go back to nonbeing before existence so that you wouldn’t have to deal with drudgeries of life? If you could go, would you choose to go back to nonbeing, never to have been born? Think of all those souls who will be sentenced to eternal death in hell “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
5
IV. CONFRONTING A UNIVERSE FULL OF HAYSTACKS LOOKING FOR ONE NEEDLE
Yes, the universe is a big place and still keeps expanding. Scientists and astronomers keep discovering new worlds and new information. Searching through the mountains upon mountains of available information seems similar to looking through a universe of haystacks for a one needle of Truth. Such an endeavor seems almost impossible to do. Man has a deep and abiding yearning to understand where he comes from, what his purpose is, and what happens after he dies. These are not just casual questions of curiosity, but metaphysical questions that rivet to the core of one’s inner being. Many millions of people are not satisfied with asteroids, electric sparks, matters of chance, and bag-of-dirt responses as answers to man’s origin? Science deals well with matters involving the natural, physical world, but can say nothing about spiritual life as revealed by God. Only do fools reject and ignore the Scriptures. Reject the bible and there is nowhere else to go to comprehend, meditate, and wrestle with the matter of man as a spiritually-created being. With God and His Word, there is hope beyond the grave. The scientist looks at things from the standpoint of the petri dish, the telescope, microscope and the ever present empirical eye. So far as he is concerned, one must not even mention something called spirit. At this point alone, man is no more than a bag of dirt with a smattering of corpuscles, neurons, sinews, blood, and guts. From that standpoint, man just has to live with that very shallow and superficial idea of temporal existence and live out his life until his time is spent and he dies–end of story. Such is hardcore science! What more despicable, grave-stomping, and dishonorable discharge of selfishness than to pay such an appalling tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died in wars so that we have freedom today
to think for ourselves and honor those who died in a spiritual sacrifice that others may so live? All those men and women did not die thinking they were sacrificing their lives just to save other bags of dirt! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 135:13). The petri dish and the telescope have no reply. However, there is another prominent view of life that has been in existence as long as man has existed. Some of the greatest minds from the past have contemplated man as a spirit being. Putting aside for the moment that man is no more than a body of earth (dirt), we believe that man is made up of earth, soul, spirit, mind (spiritual) heart (spiritual) with there being somewhere within the spirit of man a place for intellect, will, emotions,conscience, etc. Along with the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the believer understands that the spirit within man is comprised of soul and spirit and that residing within man’s soul and spirit are found his heart and mind (rather than just a physical heart and physical brain). Many thinkers and writers have produced charts, schematic drawings, and outlines made to comprehend in all honesty what is the true physical and spiritual makeup of man.
Somewhere within the soul is also found man’s spirit; and somewhere within man’s spirit are found man’s kardia (heart) and nous (mind). How/where to place these all together on a chart or map is problematic. The bible student knows that in the bible heart and mind are often interchangeable. For example, in Psalms 73:21 we read, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.” This is an example of synonymous parallelism where the two halves of the verse refer to the same thing. Another example is taken from Luke 24:25 where we read, “…O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” compared with Luke 24:45 that says, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures.” These two scriptures teach that there is no difference between believing with the heart and believing with the mind. Many other passages exist, but we press on concerning IT.
V.. THE FORMS OF A WORLD OF DESPAIR
As the world is full of despair, the irony is that though many people live in despair, they are often unaware of IT. With a common view among people that being in despair is just a minor problem with being bored or in being a little depressed, Kg says that such a view
“overlooks (just to mention something which, properly grasped, brings thousands
upon thousands and millions under the category of despair)–it altogether overlooks
that the very fact of not being in despair, of not being conscious of being in despair,
is itself a form of despair” (SUD, 53).
He further adds,
“as soon as man ceases to be regarded under the aspect of spirit (and unless he
is regarded in that way, neither can there be any question of despair), but merely
as a synthesis of soul and body, when health becomes an immediate characteristic,
and it is only in the soul’s or the body’s sickness that the dialectical (i.e. in the
argot of a particular class or social structure, RC) arises. But despair is exactly
man’s unconsciousness of being characterized as spirit…But the connoisseur of
souls will no doubt concede, the normal situation is exactly this: that most people
live without being properly conscious of being characterized as spirit–and to this
one can trace all the so-called security, contentment, with life, etc., which is exactly
despair…Ah! So much is spoken about human misery; I try to understand it, have
been closely acquainted with not a little of it. So much is spoken about wasting
one’s life. But the only life wasted is the life of the one who lived it, deceived by
life’s pleasures or its sorrows, that he never became decisively, eternally, conscious
of himself as spirit, as self, or what is the same, he never became aware–and gained
in the deepest sense the impression–that there is a God, and that he (man, RC).
himself, his self, exists before this God, which infinite gain is never come by
except through despair” (SUD, 56-57).
6
Essentially, people just do not think about the inner man (spirit), do not conclude that he does exist, and he has needs that go beyond the pail of gold, diamonds, and pleasures. Jonathan Edwards preacher from 1703-1758), wrote a sermon entitled, “God Makes Men Sensible of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy” in which he used Hosea 5:15: as his text: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” Yet, so many in affliction and despair, rather than go down deep into the inner, inner man turn to every kind of fake apothecary and false cure under Solomon’s sun. And all for what
temporal purpose?: to ease and soothe man’s body, his bag of dirt. Wrote Edwards,
“When Israel revolted, God gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let
them continue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress, and
saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought to reflect on them-
selves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then God raised them up a deliverer.
And when they cried unto God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled
them, and brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God’s hands” (cf. Judges 10:10 vv).5
These are various levels of despair depending upon the circumstances one lives in. There is 1) living in despair but being ignorant of it or not willing to take note, and 2) being conscious of despair but in terms of a) there is weakness in despair (i.e., one is not willing to do what is necessary to help cure the despair) as the individual is unwilling to recognize one’s true self as a spiritual being; and b) willing despairingly to be one’s self with a total, defiant disregard for what the self should be. Again, the reader is to keep in mind that the true self (as originally created by God) consists of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit ceased in man when Adam sinned and God removed Himself from a spiritual relationship with man.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: “It (the body, RC) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body, There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (I Corinthians 15:43-46). Then note what he said in I Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And what of the supposed “hidden” needle? The irony of all ironies is
that the needle is and always has been in plain view!
Although a person can live in ignorance of being in despair, he is in despair whether he knows this or not. Determined by the circumstances in which one lives, many people are able to live in comfort and imagined peace. Things may be perceived to be going pretty well. Writes Kg,
“Certainly this self-righteousness is not highly regarded. It is regarded
as little as people in general regard the relationship to truth, the relating
of oneself to the true, as the highest good, and even less see it
Socratically as the greatest misfortune to be in error–their sensuous
reactions usually far outweigh their intellect. A person supposedly
fortunate in this way, who imagines himself blessed by good fortune but
when considered in the light of truth is unfortunate, is usually very far
from wanting to be snatched out of this error. On the contrary, he grows
the reason? He is totally dominated by his sensuous and psycho-
sensuous reactions; he lives in the categories of the sensate, the pleasant
and the unpleasant, poo-poos spirit, the truth, etc; he is too sensate
to have the courage to risk and endure being spirit” (SUD, 73).
I would like to add concerning the sensate man, he not only does not have the courage, but he does not have the interest or needed will to fight, scratch, and claw (if need be) to find the one needle of eternal truth. However, an individual who is numbed by drugs, alcohol, wealth, fame, and a seemingly endless bounty of life’s pleasures and distractions (and rest assured that our age is the age of deception), is one who cannot fathom the eternal self God created, but spends his time and efforts addressing the needs of the beast. The individual who is conscious of his self that is incorporated with soul and spirit, ultimately quits, gives up, and turns his back to God thinking, “God’s standards are too high–I cannot measure up.” He cannot recognize what God and Eternity offer. The individual who at one time heard or read and considered the truth is like the man who “…beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24). Thus, this individual is satisfied in wallowing in the mire of temporary,sensuous pleasures. The third individual over time becomes hardened, cynical, and angry. Life has dealt him with too many “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” This person has earned his/her stripes and has earned the right to live in “demonic” despair. The world has paid him/her enough pain and misfortune, and now it is time for repayment. None of the people living in despair (where the spirit is ignored) are able (willing) to listen long enough to hear, to truly hear! So, the atheists, nonbelievers, deceivers, falsehood weavers, and gluttons of the temporal domain are able and willing to discourse concerning the physical landscape, but shy away from the spiritual landscape. God teaches spirit man that “…it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The soulish man (minus a spiritual self) teaches that “greed is good” (Wallstreet). The spiritual man will teach that good is better than evil; but the soulish man teaches that evil is sometimes (maybe all the time) good. What ends up are two differing world views: one spiritual, where good is always the best system of existence; and, one where evil has its place. Then, one will start the argument,“Well, what do you call evil?” And thus the word ball game starts and one is “…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
7
Kg says of such,
“…they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute that a person can
be; but vain and conceited they remain–comparatively speaking. If one were to imagine a house consisting of a basement, ground floor and first
floor, tenanted or planned in such a way that there is, or is meant to be,
a difference of social class between the occupants of each floor–and if
now one were to compare being a human being with such a house, then
the sorry and ludicrous fact with most people is, alas, that in their own
house they prefer to live in the basement. Every human being is the
psycho-physical synthesis (created as, RC) planned as spirit; this is the building, but he prefers living in the basement, that is, in the categories
of sensation. Moreover, he not only prefers living in the basement–no,
he loves it so much that he is indignant if anyone suggests he occupy
the fine suite lying vacant for him…” (SUD, 73, 74).
That is an excellent metaphor that Kg writes of contemporary society. It is not only the idea of people who are not interested in the outlay of the upper suite, people in the comfort of the sensate have grown accustomed to living in the domain of the animal kingdom and in the noxious fumes of despair. Note what Paul said in Romans 1:20, 21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they Knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” “IT” goes beyond being more impressed and satisfied with a fake sense of happiness from the sensate, and further beyond being satisfied with living in the basement; like those people in Paul’s day, people are not thankful even though they have a pretty good idea that God is. I believe that no matter if God gave to mankind machines that produced unlimited supplies of gold and unlimited supplies of any hind of drugs to take, such people would not be thankful to God and follow Him anyway–no matter what greatness He did for man. So many do not care; so many do not care enough to think; so many who can think, think more of the flesh than the spirit. In not knowing God, or in not studying to know Him at a deeper level,I conclude that there are many who dislike, even hate the Sovereign Creator. In summary we now come face to face directly with the “IT.” In the end that which people will not have thought through is the “IT” of eternity spent in having to realize that God IS and that one must exist in anguish and torment forever wishing to die (i.e., wishing to be nonexistent as one was in eternity past never to be born) but eternally unable to do so. Of those who suffer at the hands of the wicked and violent, Paul wrote, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Though many run rampant in a rage of iniquity and mock Him, God is not mocked (cf. Galatians 6:7). Read Luke 6:25, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Read Luke 9:47, 48, where Mark wrote, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.” “IT”? “IT”?! Why, an eternity of pain and suffering, wishing eternally not to be, wishing to be totally extinct, totally dead, but unable to die. Having one’s “being” cast into eternal fire, burning passionately with the desire to cease “being.” Many have long held that the body will literally burn eternally in hell, where the fire is not quenched. But there is no physical body to burn in flames in hell. Just as there will not be any streets paved in gold in heaven. God uses language that man can understand to help him understand physically what will happen spiritually. Either way, the pain and suffering is just as unbearable. On
Judgment Day the lost will with their own eyes see the eternal reality of God. Now, here are the years of temporal life (to ponder, meditate, search, deliberate, question, analyze, etc.) what they either will or will not be doing throughout eternity. “BEING” wrong will mean having to die the sickness unto death, where the worm never dies, and where nonexistence never comes.
Some visitor once came into the room of W. C. Fields as he was being cared for in the hospital. Upon seeing the pleasantly surprised expression on the face of the visitor catching Mr. Fields reading the bible, his abrupt reply was, “Just looking for loopholes.”
Endnotes
1 https://recoverybrands.com/drugs-in-america-vs-europe/
2 Ibid
3 Kieregaard, Soren, The Sickness Unto Death, published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-140-44533-6,
translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay, 1989.
4 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/526-soul-and-spirit-whats-the-difference
5 http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/misery.htm
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People Have Not Thought It Through: It Being Being
By Rick Capps
A college professor once stated in a linguistics class that the pronoun it did not stand for anything. One might say something like “It looks like it’s going to rain,” or “It is just in his/her genes.” One eventually might track down a noun referent of some kind, but it is a rather nebulous concept Some one might also say to a person who has arrived late, “It is about time!” The context of the situation could give clarity to the meaning of it, but again it stands for no specific thing. Shakespeare had Hamlet to ask in his play Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question?” Yet more inquisitively, we would ask what does this mean “to be”? That is, what is being? What does it mean with “it” being being? One is the settled understanding of being or existence in this world and what it means to be human and alive. What does it mean to be a specific and unique person! Rather than a sure statement what being means, many there are who walk this earth without a clue as to who they are. Still being tossed around is whether or not a human being is a mix of spit and dirt, or a spiritual being created in God’s own image? What more important question can man research and mindfully entertain than one’s constitution as a being in this present life, especially when Eternity beckons? This question can not be shrugged away (although legions do this everyday). The philosopher will look at such a question through the lens of what he calls epistemology, or the branch of inquiry concerning how knowledge is accrued. The scientist will do this through the lens of science, while the religionist will do this through the lens of scripture (the Bible). Whatever subject one endeavors to become knowledgeable and adept in to the point of expertise, one must use previously gained information and resources to become,say, a master plumber, a master chemist, a master carpenter, a master philosopher, a master lawyer, etc. To be in the know and understanding of most any subject area, one must rely upon previously learned knowledge and skills. For example, a minister once appeared on a talk show with the conversation relating to religious issues. When the talk show host would ask the minister a specific question, the minister would respond by quoting scripture. After a bit of scripture quoting, the dismayed talk show host finally asked the preacher to cease referencing Bible scripture.
Astonished would be a lawyer who was told in the court room that he could not refer to any law books or to any previously published resources while representing his client. Likewise would a chemist respond to being told that he could not refer to the periodic table or previously published chemical resources. And yet the believer is asked to refrain from referencing the one book in all the world that creates, informs, and sustains his “being”. So much for fair play and open-mindedness.The subject of man’s “being” is put on hold and to be continued later in this discussion.
I. A WORLD OF DEMENTIA, EMOTIONAL IMPOTENCE, AND DESPAIR
If one were to start up a conversation with people, it would not take long for the state of the world in terms of wickedness and violence to be broached. Such is a global consideration. Especially epidemic are the abuses of drugs and alcohol which in turn impact social and economic areas in terms of crime, heinous violence, healthcare, prisons, the care of children, homelessness, and so many other matters. The high rate of crime and violence has become so commonplace that people are not surprised anymore at the brutality and gore. Studies indicate that America surpasses most all other countries in the abuse of opioids and prescription narcotics such as OxyContin. 1 Per capita, the U.S. has a higher rate of amaphetamine-type stimulants –a category including methamphetamine and ecstasy.–than any European country.”2 But we do not have to look at statistics to realize the world-wide evil, devastation, and abject despair to come from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, alcohol and drug abuse are not the only culprits of despair; myriad is the list of objects, ideas, devices, concepts and creations from the mind of man to help him cope with unhappiness and ennui. “ …God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). One only has to note a next door neighbor, friend, or family member to see the effects from the various methods and means used to cope with life’s problems and the subsequent devastation from substance abuse. Coping in life does not just pertain to the effects of using alcohol and drug abuse specifically, but to the myriad effects of coping with despair by any means.
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II. DESPAIR: DISEASE, MENTAL DISORDER, OR SOMETHING GREATER?
I want to introduce another writer perhaps not so well known to modern-day readers. His name is Soren Kierkegaard and he lived back in the early 19th century (1813-1855). No man was more prolific as a writer, even though he died at the early age of 42. His reputation has been tainted in part because of being associated with other philosophers who were considered to be anti-religionists. Though Kierkegaard considered himself to be a Christian, he was kind of “ganged upon” by the other non-believing philosophers in that era. Yes, he was a philosopher and credited as being the father of existentialism; however, he was a strong believer in God and the bible. He
had a brilliant mind and had much to offer to the fair-minded reader interested in delving into God’s Word. The reader is strongly requested to withhold prejudgment and give his relevant ideas a fair hearing. Profuse reference is now made to his book, entitled The Sickness Unto Death.3, written by Soren Kierkegaard. Hereafter, Kierkegaard will be referenced as Kg and his book as SUD.
2
Kg had much to say about the subject of despair and its origin. He witnessed great despair even in his time and had much to say about despair’s origin and its connection with one’s “being” or one’s self. Remember earlier mention was made about one’s consideration of the self or personhood? An event occurred in John concerning the death of Lazarus and how that affected his followers upon hearing of Lazarus’ demise. When Lazarus’ sisters learned of his death, they summoned for Jesus. When Jesus addressed Mary and Martha, he said to them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 4:11). Though Christ said those words, at that time Lazarus was dead. We see that when Jesus steps toward the grave, in John 11:43, he “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Mention was made of the fact that after four days of lying in the grave, Lazarus’ decaying body smelled of putrefaction (John 11:39). I don’t think it was clear to the others at the grave what Jesus meant. Here, Jesus tells them that Lazarus only was asleep. What did Christ mean when He said that Lazarus did not have “the sickness unto death? Though Lazarus had died a physical, earthly, final (?) death, he had not died from a death which was 1) still pending, 2) other than physical, 3) eternal, as in beyond a physical, temporal death.
Thus, Kg opens up this discussion by saying, “The human being is a spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?” (SUD, p 43). A human is more that earth! I would postulate that most people in the world would tend to believe that there is more to man than a few elements of earth. I would believe that most people believe they have something within them that exists beyond a mere physical existence. Recall in Genesis 2:17 that Adam and Eve were told that eating forbidden fruit would mean that doing so would mean “…thou shalt surely die.” They did not die physically, but they did die in another way. In what way? Remember that God interacted with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden daily conversing, teaching, and guiding them (spiritually) as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 9:6). Does not reason itself dictate that man is a spirit? So said Job in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” When Adam and Eve died in the garden, they died a spiritual death, and a spiritual death is when one’s relationship with God is severed and man is cut off, separated, from the spiritual Being that created him as a spiritual being. The writer of Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us what happens to man after he dies as he says “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (the body will return to the dust it came from) and the spirit shall return to the God who made it.” By extension and connection, man as a spiritually- created being is a self, a person, a soul. So many Hebrew and Greek words pertain to a human self, e.g., the Hebrew rauch (spirit–God and man), nephesh (breath), basar (body,flesh), nephesh (spirit), and kardia (heart), zoe (life), and nous (mind). One would need to obtain an accurate Hebrew and Greek dictionary, look these words up, and study them in the context of scripture for a clearer, more objective understanding of their use in defining the self, the person,the human, the being of man. Is man a spirit or spit and dirt? Again, these words must be understood in their scriptural context, and thus one must be careful to avoid using words wrongly out of context. One can find many places on the internet where students, scholars, and philosophers have done in-depth word studies of these biblical terms and provide much use and assistance in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject under consideration. Therefore,be extremely cautious in reading the interpretations of other people. There is a story from antiquity about an individual trying to find Truth. Although he had inquired near and far in many directions, he failed to receive help in finding a solution to his search. Finally a day came when someone revealed to him about a faint rumor about there being a man in a far away country in a remote, isolated part of that country who might be able to help him find Truth. After receiving rather puzzling directions, the inquirer set out to find this other man living in a place so far away. Thus, after trudging across continents for what seemed like months upon months, the inquirer informed the Truth knower that he had learned that this brilliantly-minded sage knew where to find the Truth. The inquirer informed the sage that he (the inquirer) would “give anything in the world” to find the Truth. The sage asked the man to follow him and do absolutely as instructed. Then, the knower told the inquirer to follow him; so they both walked out in the sea from the shore to a point where they each had the water level up to their chins. The sage grabbed the other man’s head and forced him under the water as if to drown him. Finally, after struggling with all of his strength to resurface with his head above the water while flailing about with all of his strength, the truth knower let go of the man’s head and shouted out, “What is it that you want now more than anything?” The frantic, screaming, singular reply was, “Air! I want air!” At last the sage said to the inquirer, “When you want to know the Truth like you just wanted air, you will find it.”
Though a story, the lessons are poignant: 1) the inquirer learned that he must find the Truth for himself; 2) he learned how much work would be involved; and 3) he learned how much passion he would need to find the Truth. How much is one willing to give up in this world to save his soul? No question is more important or relevant than when the temporal is compared with the eternal.
How many either do not know or do not care where they go after the physical death? I would like to recommend a scholarly think tank at Apologetics Press, which is under the care of Wayne Jackson. He has written a paper entitled “What is the difference between the spirit and soul of a human being?”4 Somehow I do not believe the masses will care much about what the bible has to say about the question no matter how expert the scholars may happen to be. Those individuals who reject the bible reject the only source book concerning the spirit in man and his eternal abode. The snub of God’s Holy Word takes away the spiritual legs upon which the believer stands. Without the bible how can anyone have any kind of sense or comprehension of who man is, where he came from, or where he is going after this short life? The bible gives man answers to his “being” or “self” and to the mysteries surrounding his origin. Without the bible man does not know whether he came from an asteroid, a pumpkin, or a planet six billion miles away from planet earth? While alone in the darkest wee hours of the night one must grapple with one’s “being” or “self.” He will admit to this if he is honest! John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” That is, He does not have a corporeal body as man does. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that God created “man in our image.” “IT” would stand up to reason, then, as something man can use reason to so reason. God said to the prophet in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together…” Another indication that God made man a spirit is that man can reason with Him.
3
The Greek philosopher Democritus was one of the first men to discover the atom (source: Wikipedia). Though he had no kind of microscope to assist him, he reasoned through philosophy to the existence of the unseen atom. Note the irony: man can reason discovering the atom, but so many can not reason to the existence of God. What does one need to comprehend and see the existence of God? One could use a mix of reason, philosophy (reasoning?), logic, understanding, and how about common sense! But the cry will be, whose common sense?, whose understanding?, whose logic?, whose philosophy?, etc. Today, common sense seems often to be in short supply. The philosophers seem to get to a point of often enjoying the game of playing word ball and meandering in umpteen directions with philosophical jargon (that many people do not comprehend) and get more of a rise through word play than staying rigidly with the original problem and trying to solve ‘IT.’ I am just saying, the philosopher sometimes enjoys to show that he or she has studied philosophy mightily. One should study to show “…thyself approved unto God” rather than to men (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that the “..invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. “ Note also Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man was able to reason to the unseen atom, but he can not reason to God through his seen handiwork (i.e., visual evidence). The question then is, is there another way that we can comprehend God? Keep reading….
III. SOUL, SPIRIT, PERSON, SELF, DESPAIR CONTINUED.
When man despairs, he must despair over something. Kg says that the possibility of man having this sickness (of despair)
“…is man’s advantage over the beast, and it is an advantage which characterizes him
quite otherwise than the upright posture, for it bespeaks the i nfinite erectness or lofti-
ness of his being spirit. The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the
beast; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian’s blessedness. Consequently, it is
an infinite merit to be able to despair” (SUD, 45, 46).
Did the reader ever contemplate over the fact that creation, minus man, does not have to worry or despair or feel depressed over something. The birds “toil” nor “spin” over anything. It is always man who toils, spins, worries, despairs, and becomes sick concerning life issues. Yet, the very ability to do such gives him an advantage that animals do not have. Why does man need such an advantage? Well, he would not need it if he were going to end up at the same place as do the animals. God did not create the animals with spirit nor in His image. Kg calls despair an imbalance.Many there are in today’s world who are harboring an imbalance in being! Does this constitute
a disease? When man gets an imbalance, he is told that such and such is not his fault but is thefault of some disease A preacher was asked once in an open forum whether or not alcoholism was a disease? His response was, “Well, if it is, it is the only disease I know that a man can catch out of a bottle.” A lot of people world-wide are unstable and deranged (some perhaps insane) and are sick with despair Else, why would so many people feel the need to drug themselves or numb themselves and impale themselves emotionally with things in life that hide and blur the state of reality (Truth) and what at one time in the past was a state of purity and uprightness? Kg asks where this sickness, this imbalance comes from? He writes,
“From the relation in which the synthesis (i.e., with one thing relating to another, RDC)
relates to itself, from the fact that God, who made man this relation, as it were, lets go
of it…and in the fact that the relation is spirit, is the self…” (SUD, 46).
Man had a relationship with God in the garden of Eden, but once he broke the covenant with God, his relationship ceased, as did his spiritual being or self. For Kg says further,
“…the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die. In this it has much in common
with the condition of the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death but cannot die.
Thus to be sick unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though there were hope of life.
No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope,death, is gone. When death is the greatest
danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns to know the even more horrifying danger,
one hopes for death. When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then
despair is the hopelessness of not even being able to die” (SUD, 48).
4
Recall how Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves once “their eyes were opened.” There was a tremendous transition which occurred within their being. They realized that they had sinned against their Creator, had brought sin and shame upon themselves, had created a great divide between themselves and God, and experienced the sting of spiritual death. So many people have, since that enormous event, been running, are still running, and who will continue running from Almighty God
thinking they are hiding from Him and will not have to give an eternal account. When Jesus told the friends and family of Lazarus that he did not have the sickness unto death, though dead and rotting in the grave, friends and family thought (just like we would today) that that would have been the end (the finality) of Lazarus. Lazarus had a sickness that led to his physical demise; this still did not lead to his spiritual sickness, for those who have this sickness and ultimately die from it, will have died from the sickness that ends in eternal death (death # 2). When an individual has a grave sickness such as terminal cancer, he or she may get to a point where continued treatment would not prove beneficial. At such a place in medical care a person might choose to discontinue medical treatment rather than continue in pain and suffering. Rather than prolong the agonies of living, one might choose to let nature take its natural course and die. If that were to happen, one (though dying, RDC) would still not experience “the sickness unto death” as alluded to in John 11:4. A person can die a natural death or die from a physical illness (cancer) and still may have to face a final, eternal death (i.e., a second, final death) if lost in sin. Again as Kg remarks,.
“And the relation to himself is something a human cannot be rid of, just as little
as he can be rid of himself, which for that matter is one and the same thing, since
the self is indeed the relation to oneself” (SUD, 47).
This self is the self created by God: the body, the soul, and the spirit. Man was created in God’s image as a spirit. The former relationship with God was terminated during man’s fall. The relationship man had with God was severed to the extent that Adam died a spiritual death when God walked with man no more. Man had a God-given breath of life in him with a low-grade of soulishness in him that still placed him above the beasts of the field, and made man into a natural, soulish being. The terminal cancer patient would think that his physical death would end the sickness and illness from the disease of cancer. Death would mean that this physical sickness would end this ickness and the man would have no more sickness to deal with. Kg states further on this:
“…death is no doubt the end of the sickness, but death (physically,RC) is not the
end. If in the strictest sense, there, is to be any question of a sickness unto death,
it must be one where the end (finality, RC) is death and where death
(finality, RC) is the end. And thinking that (the finality, RC) is precisely to despair.
…Yet despair is the sickness unto death in another and still more definite sense.
For there is not the remotest possibility of dying of this sickness in the straight-
forward sense, or of this sickness ending in physical death. On the contrary,
the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die (in the final sense, RC). In
this it has much in common with the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death
but cannot die. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone.
When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns
to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death (as in extinction,
RC). When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair
is the hopelessness of not even being able to die. ..Thus to be sick (in the
final, eternal sense, RC) unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though
there is hope for eternal life” (SUD, 47-48).
If the christian with a terminal illness dies, then just before his death his hope is to end his physical illness to begin a new life after death. He thinks his death (referenced as death #1) will end his pain and suffering, but, there awaits for all men who are outside the body of Christ (i.e., christian) another death (death # 2) and that comes after the judgment. Note that it “is appointed unto men once to die (death # 1), but after this the Judgement (death # 2 for those outside Christ, Hebrews 9:27). Also, we read in Revelation 20:13,14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Was there ever a point in your life, even now, dear reader that you could have wished that you could just go back to nonbeing before existence so that you wouldn’t have to deal with drudgeries of life? If you could go, would you choose to go back to nonbeing, never to have been born? Think of all those souls who will be sentenced to eternal death in hell “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
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IV. CONFRONTING A UNIVERSE FULL OF HAYSTACKS LOOKING FOR ONE NEEDLE
Yes, the universe is a big place and still keeps expanding. Scientists and astronomers keep discovering new worlds and new information. Searching through the mountains upon mountains of available information seems similar to looking through a universe of haystacks for a one needle of Truth. Such an endeavor seems almost impossible to do. Man has a deep and abiding yearning to understand where he comes from, what his purpose is, and what happens after he dies. These are not just casual questions of curiosity, but metaphysical questions that rivet to the core of one’s inner being. Many millions of people are not satisfied with asteroids, electric sparks, matters of chance, and bag-of-dirt responses as answers to man’s origin? Science deals well with matters involving the natural, physical world, but can say nothing about spiritual life as revealed by God. Only do fools reject and ignore the Scriptures. Reject the bible and there is nowhere else to go to comprehend, meditate, and wrestle with the matter of man as a spiritually-created being. With God and His Word, there is hope beyond the grave. The scientist looks at things from the standpoint of the petri dish, the telescope, microscope and the ever present empirical eye. So far as he is concerned, one must not even mention something called spirit. At this point alone, man is no more than a bag of dirt with a smattering of corpuscles, neurons, sinews, blood, and guts. From that standpoint, man just has to live with that very shallow and superficial idea of temporal existence and live out his life until his time is spent and he dies–end of story. Such is hardcore science! What more despicable, grave-stomping, and dishonorable discharge of selfishness than to pay such an appalling tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died in wars so that we have freedom today
to think for ourselves and honor those who died in a spiritual sacrifice that others may so live? All those men and women did not die thinking they were sacrificing their lives just to save other bags of dirt! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 135:13). The petri dish and the telescope have no reply. However, there is another prominent view of life that has been in existence as long as man has existed. Some of the greatest minds from the past have contemplated man as a spirit being. Putting aside for the moment that man is no more than a body of earth (dirt), we believe that man is made up of earth, soul, spirit, mind (spiritual) heart (spiritual) with there being somewhere within the spirit of man a place for intellect, will, emotions,conscience, etc. Along with the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the believer understands that the spirit within man is comprised of soul and spirit and that residing within man’s soul and spirit are found his heart and mind (rather than just a physical heart and physical brain). Many thinkers and writers have produced charts, schematic drawings, and outlines made to comprehend in all honesty what is the true physical and spiritual makeup of man.
Somewhere within the soul is also found man’s spirit; and somewhere within man’s spirit are found man’s kardia (heart) and nous (mind). How/where to place these all together on a chart or map is problematic. The bible student knows that in the bible heart and mind are often interchangeable. For example, in Psalms 73:21 we read, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.” This is an example of synonymous parallelism where the two halves of the verse refer to the same thing. Another example is taken from Luke 24:25 where we read, “…O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” compared with Luke 24:45 that says, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures.” These two scriptures teach that there is no difference between believing with the heart and believing with the mind. Many other passages exist, but we press on concerning IT.
V.. THE FORMS OF A WORLD OF DESPAIR
As the world is full of despair, the irony is that though many people live in despair, they are often unaware of IT. With a common view among people that being in despair is just a minor problem with being bored or in being a little depressed, Kg says that such a view
“overlooks (just to mention something which, properly grasped, brings thousands
upon thousands and millions under the category of despair)–it altogether overlooks
that the very fact of not being in despair, of not being conscious of being in despair,
is itself a form of despair” (SUD, 53).
He further adds,
“as soon as man ceases to be regarded under the aspect of spirit (and unless he
is regarded in that way, neither can there be any question of despair), but merely
as a synthesis of soul and body, when health becomes an immediate characteristic,
and it is only in the soul’s or the body’s sickness that the dialectical (i.e. in the
argot of a particular class or social structure, RC) arises. But despair is exactly
man’s unconsciousness of being characterized as spirit…But the connoisseur of
souls will no doubt concede, the normal situation is exactly this: that most people
live without being properly conscious of being characterized as spirit–and to this
one can trace all the so-called security, contentment, with life, etc., which is exactly
despair…Ah! So much is spoken about human misery; I try to understand it, have
been closely acquainted with not a little of it. So much is spoken about wasting
one’s life. But the only life wasted is the life of the one who lived it, deceived by
life’s pleasures or its sorrows, that he never became decisively, eternally, conscious
of himself as spirit, as self, or what is the same, he never became aware–and gained
in the deepest sense the impression–that there is a God, and that he (man, RC).
himself, his self, exists before this God, which infinite gain is never come by
except through despair” (SUD, 56-57).
6
Essentially, people just do not think about the inner man (spirit), do not conclude that he does exist, and he has needs that go beyond the pail of gold, diamonds, and pleasures. Jonathan Edwards preacher from 1703-1758), wrote a sermon entitled, “God Makes Men Sensible of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy” in which he used Hosea 5:15: as his text: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” Yet, so many in affliction and despair, rather than go down deep into the inner, inner man turn to every kind of fake apothecary and false cure under Solomon’s sun. And all for what
temporal purpose?: to ease and soothe man’s body, his bag of dirt. Wrote Edwards,
“When Israel revolted, God gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let
them continue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress, and
saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought to reflect on them-
selves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then God raised them up a deliverer.
And when they cried unto God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled
them, and brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God’s hands” (cf. Judges 10:10 vv).5
These are various levels of despair depending upon the circumstances one lives in. There is 1) living in despair but being ignorant of it or not willing to take note, and 2) being conscious of despair but in terms of a) there is weakness in despair (i.e., one is not willing to do what is necessary to help cure the despair) as the individual is unwilling to recognize one’s true self as a spiritual being; and b) willing despairingly to be one’s self with a total, defiant disregard for what the self should be. Again, the reader is to keep in mind that the true self (as originally created by God) consists of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit ceased in man when Adam sinned and God removed Himself from a spiritual relationship with man.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: “It (the body, RC) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body, There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (I Corinthians 15:43-46). Then note what he said in I Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And what of the supposed “hidden” needle? The irony of all ironies is
that the needle is and always has been in plain view!
Although a person can live in ignorance of being in despair, he is in despair whether he knows this or not. Determined by the circumstances in which one lives, many people are able to live in comfort and imagined peace. Things may be perceived to be going pretty well. Writes Kg,
“Certainly this self-righteousness is not highly regarded. It is regarded
as little as people in general regard the relationship to truth, the relating
of oneself to the true, as the highest good, and even less see it
Socratically as the greatest misfortune to be in error–their sensuous
reactions usually far outweigh their intellect. A person supposedly
fortunate in this way, who imagines himself blessed by good fortune but
when considered in the light of truth is unfortunate, is usually very far
from wanting to be snatched out of this error. On the contrary, he grows
the reason? He is totally dominated by his sensuous and psycho-
sensuous reactions; he lives in the categories of the sensate, the pleasant
and the unpleasant, poo-poos spirit, the truth, etc; he is too sensate
to have the courage to risk and endure being spirit” (SUD, 73).
I would like to add concerning the sensate man, he not only does not have the courage, but he does not have the interest or needed will to fight, scratch, and claw (if need be) to find the one needle of eternal truth. However, an individual who is numbed by drugs, alcohol, wealth, fame, and a seemingly endless bounty of life’s pleasures and distractions (and rest assured that our age is the age of deception), is one who cannot fathom the eternal self God created, but spends his time and efforts addressing the needs of the beast. The individual who is conscious of his self that is incorporated with soul and spirit, ultimately quits, gives up, and turns his back to God thinking, “God’s standards are too high–I cannot measure up.” He cannot recognize what God and Eternity offer. The individual who at one time heard or read and considered the truth is like the man who “…beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24). Thus, this individual is satisfied in wallowing in the mire of temporary,sensuous pleasures. The third individual over time becomes hardened, cynical, and angry. Life has dealt him with too many “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” This person has earned his/her stripes and has earned the right to live in “demonic” despair. The world has paid him/her enough pain and misfortune, and now it is time for repayment. None of the people living in despair (where the spirit is ignored) are able (willing) to listen long enough to hear, to truly hear! So, the atheists, nonbelievers, deceivers, falsehood weavers, and gluttons of the temporal domain are able and willing to discourse concerning the physical landscape, but shy away from the spiritual landscape. God teaches spirit man that “…it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The soulish man (minus a spiritual self) teaches that “greed is good” (Wallstreet). The spiritual man will teach that good is better than evil; but the soulish man teaches that evil is sometimes (maybe all the time) good. What ends up are two differing world views: one spiritual, where good is always the best system of existence; and, one where evil has its place. Then, one will start the argument,“Well, what do you call evil?” And thus the word ball game starts and one is “…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
7
Kg says of such,
“…they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute that a person can
be; but vain and conceited they remain–comparatively speaking. If one were to imagine a house consisting of a basement, ground floor and first
floor, tenanted or planned in such a way that there is, or is meant to be,
a difference of social class between the occupants of each floor–and if
now one were to compare being a human being with such a house, then
the sorry and ludicrous fact with most people is, alas, that in their own
house they prefer to live in the basement. Every human being is the
psycho-physical synthesis (created as, RC) planned as spirit; this is the building, but he prefers living in the basement, that is, in the categories
of sensation. Moreover, he not only prefers living in the basement–no,
he loves it so much that he is indignant if anyone suggests he occupy
the fine suite lying vacant for him…” (SUD, 73, 74).
That is an excellent metaphor that Kg writes of contemporary society. It is not only the idea of people who are not interested in the outlay of the upper suite, people in the comfort of the sensate have grown accustomed to living in the domain of the animal kingdom and in the noxious fumes of despair. Note what Paul said in Romans 1:20, 21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they Knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” “IT” goes beyond being more impressed and satisfied with a fake sense of happiness from the sensate, and further beyond being satisfied with living in the basement; like those people in Paul’s day, people are not thankful even though they have a pretty good idea that God is. I believe that no matter if God gave to mankind machines that produced unlimited supplies of gold and unlimited supplies of any hind of drugs to take, such people would not be thankful to God and follow Him anyway–no matter what greatness He did for man. So many do not care; so many do not care enough to think; so many who can think, think more of the flesh than the spirit. In not knowing God, or in not studying to know Him at a deeper level,I conclude that there are many who dislike, even hate the Sovereign Creator. In summary we now come face to face directly with the “IT.” In the end that which people will not have thought through is the “IT” of eternity spent in having to realize that God IS and that one must exist in anguish and torment forever wishing to die (i.e., wishing to be nonexistent as one was in eternity past never to be born) but eternally unable to do so. Of those who suffer at the hands of the wicked and violent, Paul wrote, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Though many run rampant in a rage of iniquity and mock Him, God is not mocked (cf. Galatians 6:7). Read Luke 6:25, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Read Luke 9:47, 48, where Mark wrote, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.” “IT”? “IT”?! Why, an eternity of pain and suffering, wishing eternally not to be, wishing to be totally extinct, totally dead, but unable to die. Having one’s “being” cast into eternal fire, burning passionately with the desire to cease “being.” Many have long held that the body will literally burn eternally in hell, where the fire is not quenched. But there is no physical body to burn in flames in hell. Just as there will not be any streets paved in gold in heaven. God uses language that man can understand to help him understand physically what will happen spiritually. Either way, the pain and suffering is just as unbearable. On
Judgment Day the lost will with their own eyes see the eternal reality of God. Now, here are the years of temporal life (to ponder, meditate, search, deliberate, question, analyze, etc.) what they either will or will not be doing throughout eternity. “BEING” wrong will mean having to die the sickness unto death, where the worm never dies, and where nonexistence never comes.
Some visitor once came into the room of W. C. Fields as he was being cared for in the hospital. Upon seeing the pleasantly surprised expression on the face of the visitor catching Mr. Fields reading the bible, his abrupt reply was, “Just looking for loopholes.”
Endnotes
1 https://recoverybrands.com/drugs-in-america-vs-europe/
2 Ibid
3 Kieregaard, Soren, The Sickness Unto Death, published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-140-44533-6,
translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay, 1989.
4 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/526-soul-and-spirit-whats-the-difference
5 http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/misery.htm
8
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People Have Not Thought It Through: It Being Being
By Rick Capps
A college professor once stated in a linguistics class that the pronoun it did not stand for anything. One might say something like “It looks like it’s going to rain,” or “It is just in his/her genes.” One eventually might track down a noun referent of some kind, but it is a rather nebulous concept Some one might also say to a person who has arrived late, “It is about time!” The context of the situation could give clarity to the meaning of it, but again it stands for no specific thing. Shakespeare had Hamlet to ask in his play Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question?” Yet more inquisitively, we would ask what does this mean “to be”? That is, what is being? What does it mean with “it” being being? One is the settled understanding of being or existence in this world and what it means to be human and alive. What does it mean to be a specific and unique person! Rather than a sure statement what being means, many there are who walk this earth without a clue as to who they are. Still being tossed around is whether or not a human being is a mix of spit and dirt, or a spiritual being created in God’s own image? What more important question can man research and mindfully entertain than one’s constitution as a being in this present life, especially when Eternity beckons? This question can not be shrugged away (although legions do this everyday). The philosopher will look at such a question through the lens of what he calls epistemology, or the branch of inquiry concerning how knowledge is accrued. The scientist will do this through the lens of science, while the religionist will do this through the lens of scripture (the Bible). Whatever subject one endeavors to become knowledgeable and adept in to the point of expertise, one must use previously gained information and resources to become,say, a master plumber, a master chemist, a master carpenter, a master philosopher, a master lawyer, etc. To be in the know and understanding of most any subject area, one must rely upon previously learned knowledge and skills. For example, a minister once appeared on a talk show with the conversation relating to religious issues. When the talk show host would ask the minister a specific question, the minister would respond by quoting scripture. After a bit of scripture quoting, the dismayed talk show host finally asked the preacher to cease referencing Bible scripture.
Astonished would be a lawyer who was told in the court room that he could not refer to any law books or to any previously published resources while representing his client. Likewise would a chemist respond to being told that he could not refer to the periodic table or previously published chemical resources. And yet the believer is asked to refrain from referencing the one book in all the world that creates, informs, and sustains his “being”. So much for fair play and open-mindedness.The subject of man’s “being” is put on hold and to be continued later in this discussion.
I. A WORLD OF DEMENTIA, EMOTIONAL IMPOTENCE, AND DESPAIR
If one were to start up a conversation with people, it would not take long for the state of the world in terms of wickedness and violence to be broached. Such is a global consideration. Especially epidemic are the abuses of drugs and alcohol which in turn impact social and economic areas in terms of crime, heinous violence, healthcare, prisons, the care of children, homelessness, and so many other matters. The high rate of crime and violence has become so commonplace that people are not surprised anymore at the brutality and gore. Studies indicate that America surpasses most all other countries in the abuse of opioids and prescription narcotics such as OxyContin. 1 Per capita, the U.S. has a higher rate of amaphetamine-type stimulants –a category including methamphetamine and ecstasy.–than any European country.”2 But we do not have to look at statistics to realize the world-wide evil, devastation, and abject despair to come from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, alcohol and drug abuse are not the only culprits of despair; myriad is the list of objects, ideas, devices, concepts and creations from the mind of man to help him cope with unhappiness and ennui. “ …God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). One only has to note a next door neighbor, friend, or family member to see the effects from the various methods and means used to cope with life’s problems and the subsequent devastation from substance abuse. Coping in life does not just pertain to the effects of using alcohol and drug abuse specifically, but to the myriad effects of coping with despair by any means.
.
II. DESPAIR: DISEASE, MENTAL DISORDER, OR SOMETHING GREATER?
I want to introduce another writer perhaps not so well known to modern-day readers. His name is Soren Kierkegaard and he lived back in the early 19th century (1813-1855). No man was more prolific as a writer, even though he died at the early age of 42. His reputation has been tainted in part because of being associated with other philosophers who were considered to be anti-religionists. Though Kierkegaard considered himself to be a Christian, he was kind of “ganged upon” by the other non-believing philosophers in that era. Yes, he was a philosopher and credited as being the father of existentialism; however, he was a strong believer in God and the bible. He
had a brilliant mind and had much to offer to the fair-minded reader interested in delving into God’s Word. The reader is strongly requested to withhold prejudgment and give his relevant ideas a fair hearing. Profuse reference is now made to his book, entitled The Sickness Unto Death.3, written by Soren Kierkegaard. Hereafter, Kierkegaard will be referenced as Kg and his book as SUD.
2
Kg had much to say about the subject of despair and its origin. He witnessed great despair even in his time and had much to say about despair’s origin and its connection with one’s “being” or one’s self. Remember earlier mention was made about one’s consideration of the self or personhood? An event occurred in John concerning the death of Lazarus and how that affected his followers upon hearing of Lazarus’ demise. When Lazarus’ sisters learned of his death, they summoned for Jesus. When Jesus addressed Mary and Martha, he said to them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 4:11). Though Christ said those words, at that time Lazarus was dead. We see that when Jesus steps toward the grave, in John 11:43, he “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Mention was made of the fact that after four days of lying in the grave, Lazarus’ decaying body smelled of putrefaction (John 11:39). I don’t think it was clear to the others at the grave what Jesus meant. Here, Jesus tells them that Lazarus only was asleep. What did Christ mean when He said that Lazarus did not have “the sickness unto death? Though Lazarus had died a physical, earthly, final (?) death, he had not died from a death which was 1) still pending, 2) other than physical, 3) eternal, as in beyond a physical, temporal death.
Thus, Kg opens up this discussion by saying, “The human being is a spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?” (SUD, p 43). A human is more that earth! I would postulate that most people in the world would tend to believe that there is more to man than a few elements of earth. I would believe that most people believe they have something within them that exists beyond a mere physical existence. Recall in Genesis 2:17 that Adam and Eve were told that eating forbidden fruit would mean that doing so would mean “…thou shalt surely die.” They did not die physically, but they did die in another way. In what way? Remember that God interacted with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden daily conversing, teaching, and guiding them (spiritually) as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 9:6). Does not reason itself dictate that man is a spirit? So said Job in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” When Adam and Eve died in the garden, they died a spiritual death, and a spiritual death is when one’s relationship with God is severed and man is cut off, separated, from the spiritual Being that created him as a spiritual being. The writer of Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us what happens to man after he dies as he says “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (the body will return to the dust it came from) and the spirit shall return to the God who made it.” By extension and connection, man as a spiritually- created being is a self, a person, a soul. So many Hebrew and Greek words pertain to a human self, e.g., the Hebrew rauch (spirit–God and man), nephesh (breath), basar (body,flesh), nephesh (spirit), and kardia (heart), zoe (life), and nous (mind). One would need to obtain an accurate Hebrew and Greek dictionary, look these words up, and study them in the context of scripture for a clearer, more objective understanding of their use in defining the self, the person,the human, the being of man. Is man a spirit or spit and dirt? Again, these words must be understood in their scriptural context, and thus one must be careful to avoid using words wrongly out of context. One can find many places on the internet where students, scholars, and philosophers have done in-depth word studies of these biblical terms and provide much use and assistance in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject under consideration. Therefore,be extremely cautious in reading the interpretations of other people. There is a story from antiquity about an individual trying to find Truth. Although he had inquired near and far in many directions, he failed to receive help in finding a solution to his search. Finally a day came when someone revealed to him about a faint rumor about there being a man in a far away country in a remote, isolated part of that country who might be able to help him find Truth. After receiving rather puzzling directions, the inquirer set out to find this other man living in a place so far away. Thus, after trudging across continents for what seemed like months upon months, the inquirer informed the Truth knower that he had learned that this brilliantly-minded sage knew where to find the Truth. The inquirer informed the sage that he (the inquirer) would “give anything in the world” to find the Truth. The sage asked the man to follow him and do absolutely as instructed. Then, the knower told the inquirer to follow him; so they both walked out in the sea from the shore to a point where they each had the water level up to their chins. The sage grabbed the other man’s head and forced him under the water as if to drown him. Finally, after struggling with all of his strength to resurface with his head above the water while flailing about with all of his strength, the truth knower let go of the man’s head and shouted out, “What is it that you want now more than anything?” The frantic, screaming, singular reply was, “Air! I want air!” At last the sage said to the inquirer, “When you want to know the Truth like you just wanted air, you will find it.”
Though a story, the lessons are poignant: 1) the inquirer learned that he must find the Truth for himself; 2) he learned how much work would be involved; and 3) he learned how much passion he would need to find the Truth. How much is one willing to give up in this world to save his soul? No question is more important or relevant than when the temporal is compared with the eternal.
How many either do not know or do not care where they go after the physical death? I would like to recommend a scholarly think tank at Apologetics Press, which is under the care of Wayne Jackson. He has written a paper entitled “What is the difference between the spirit and soul of a human being?”4 Somehow I do not believe the masses will care much about what the bible has to say about the question no matter how expert the scholars may happen to be. Those individuals who reject the bible reject the only source book concerning the spirit in man and his eternal abode. The snub of God’s Holy Word takes away the spiritual legs upon which the believer stands. Without the bible how can anyone have any kind of sense or comprehension of who man is, where he came from, or where he is going after this short life? The bible gives man answers to his “being” or “self” and to the mysteries surrounding his origin. Without the bible man does not know whether he came from an asteroid, a pumpkin, or a planet six billion miles away from planet earth? While alone in the darkest wee hours of the night one must grapple with one’s “being” or “self.” He will admit to this if he is honest! John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” That is, He does not have a corporeal body as man does. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that God created “man in our image.” “IT” would stand up to reason, then, as something man can use reason to so reason. God said to the prophet in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together…” Another indication that God made man a spirit is that man can reason with Him.
3
The Greek philosopher Democritus was one of the first men to discover the atom (source: Wikipedia). Though he had no kind of microscope to assist him, he reasoned through philosophy to the existence of the unseen atom. Note the irony: man can reason discovering the atom, but so many can not reason to the existence of God. What does one need to comprehend and see the existence of God? One could use a mix of reason, philosophy (reasoning?), logic, understanding, and how about common sense! But the cry will be, whose common sense?, whose understanding?, whose logic?, whose philosophy?, etc. Today, common sense seems often to be in short supply. The philosophers seem to get to a point of often enjoying the game of playing word ball and meandering in umpteen directions with philosophical jargon (that many people do not comprehend) and get more of a rise through word play than staying rigidly with the original problem and trying to solve ‘IT.’ I am just saying, the philosopher sometimes enjoys to show that he or she has studied philosophy mightily. One should study to show “…thyself approved unto God” rather than to men (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that the “..invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. “ Note also Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man was able to reason to the unseen atom, but he can not reason to God through his seen handiwork (i.e., visual evidence). The question then is, is there another way that we can comprehend God? Keep reading….
III. SOUL, SPIRIT, PERSON, SELF, DESPAIR CONTINUED.
When man despairs, he must despair over something. Kg says that the possibility of man having this sickness (of despair)
“…is man’s advantage over the beast, and it is an advantage which characterizes him
quite otherwise than the upright posture, for it bespeaks the i nfinite erectness or lofti-
ness of his being spirit. The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the
beast; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian’s blessedness. Consequently, it is
an infinite merit to be able to despair” (SUD, 45, 46).
Did the reader ever contemplate over the fact that creation, minus man, does not have to worry or despair or feel depressed over something. The birds “toil” nor “spin” over anything. It is always man who toils, spins, worries, despairs, and becomes sick concerning life issues. Yet, the very ability to do such gives him an advantage that animals do not have. Why does man need such an advantage? Well, he would not need it if he were going to end up at the same place as do the animals. God did not create the animals with spirit nor in His image. Kg calls despair an imbalance.Many there are in today’s world who are harboring an imbalance in being! Does this constitute
a disease? When man gets an imbalance, he is told that such and such is not his fault but is thefault of some disease A preacher was asked once in an open forum whether or not alcoholism was a disease? His response was, “Well, if it is, it is the only disease I know that a man can catch out of a bottle.” A lot of people world-wide are unstable and deranged (some perhaps insane) and are sick with despair Else, why would so many people feel the need to drug themselves or numb themselves and impale themselves emotionally with things in life that hide and blur the state of reality (Truth) and what at one time in the past was a state of purity and uprightness? Kg asks where this sickness, this imbalance comes from? He writes,
“From the relation in which the synthesis (i.e., with one thing relating to another, RDC)
relates to itself, from the fact that God, who made man this relation, as it were, lets go
of it…and in the fact that the relation is spirit, is the self…” (SUD, 46).
Man had a relationship with God in the garden of Eden, but once he broke the covenant with God, his relationship ceased, as did his spiritual being or self. For Kg says further,
“…the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die. In this it has much in common
with the condition of the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death but cannot die.
Thus to be sick unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though there were hope of life.
No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope,death, is gone. When death is the greatest
danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns to know the even more horrifying danger,
one hopes for death. When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then
despair is the hopelessness of not even being able to die” (SUD, 48).
4
Recall how Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves once “their eyes were opened.” There was a tremendous transition which occurred within their being. They realized that they had sinned against their Creator, had brought sin and shame upon themselves, had created a great divide between themselves and God, and experienced the sting of spiritual death. So many people have, since that enormous event, been running, are still running, and who will continue running from Almighty God
thinking they are hiding from Him and will not have to give an eternal account. When Jesus told the friends and family of Lazarus that he did not have the sickness unto death, though dead and rotting in the grave, friends and family thought (just like we would today) that that would have been the end (the finality) of Lazarus. Lazarus had a sickness that led to his physical demise; this still did not lead to his spiritual sickness, for those who have this sickness and ultimately die from it, will have died from the sickness that ends in eternal death (death # 2). When an individual has a grave sickness such as terminal cancer, he or she may get to a point where continued treatment would not prove beneficial. At such a place in medical care a person might choose to discontinue medical treatment rather than continue in pain and suffering. Rather than prolong the agonies of living, one might choose to let nature take its natural course and die. If that were to happen, one (though dying, RDC) would still not experience “the sickness unto death” as alluded to in John 11:4. A person can die a natural death or die from a physical illness (cancer) and still may have to face a final, eternal death (i.e., a second, final death) if lost in sin. Again as Kg remarks,.
“And the relation to himself is something a human cannot be rid of, just as little
as he can be rid of himself, which for that matter is one and the same thing, since
the self is indeed the relation to oneself” (SUD, 47).
This self is the self created by God: the body, the soul, and the spirit. Man was created in God’s image as a spirit. The former relationship with God was terminated during man’s fall. The relationship man had with God was severed to the extent that Adam died a spiritual death when God walked with man no more. Man had a God-given breath of life in him with a low-grade of soulishness in him that still placed him above the beasts of the field, and made man into a natural, soulish being. The terminal cancer patient would think that his physical death would end the sickness and illness from the disease of cancer. Death would mean that this physical sickness would end this ickness and the man would have no more sickness to deal with. Kg states further on this:
“…death is no doubt the end of the sickness, but death (physically,RC) is not the
end. If in the strictest sense, there, is to be any question of a sickness unto death,
it must be one where the end (finality, RC) is death and where death
(finality, RC) is the end. And thinking that (the finality, RC) is precisely to despair.
…Yet despair is the sickness unto death in another and still more definite sense.
For there is not the remotest possibility of dying of this sickness in the straight-
forward sense, or of this sickness ending in physical death. On the contrary,
the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die (in the final sense, RC). In
this it has much in common with the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death
but cannot die. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone.
When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns
to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death (as in extinction,
RC). When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair
is the hopelessness of not even being able to die. ..Thus to be sick (in the
final, eternal sense, RC) unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though
there is hope for eternal life” (SUD, 47-48).
If the christian with a terminal illness dies, then just before his death his hope is to end his physical illness to begin a new life after death. He thinks his death (referenced as death #1) will end his pain and suffering, but, there awaits for all men who are outside the body of Christ (i.e., christian) another death (death # 2) and that comes after the judgment. Note that it “is appointed unto men once to die (death # 1), but after this the Judgement (death # 2 for those outside Christ, Hebrews 9:27). Also, we read in Revelation 20:13,14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Was there ever a point in your life, even now, dear reader that you could have wished that you could just go back to nonbeing before existence so that you wouldn’t have to deal with drudgeries of life? If you could go, would you choose to go back to nonbeing, never to have been born? Think of all those souls who will be sentenced to eternal death in hell “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
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IV. CONFRONTING A UNIVERSE FULL OF HAYSTACKS LOOKING FOR ONE NEEDLE
Yes, the universe is a big place and still keeps expanding. Scientists and astronomers keep discovering new worlds and new information. Searching through the mountains upon mountains of available information seems similar to looking through a universe of haystacks for a one needle of Truth. Such an endeavor seems almost impossible to do. Man has a deep and abiding yearning to understand where he comes from, what his purpose is, and what happens after he dies. These are not just casual questions of curiosity, but metaphysical questions that rivet to the core of one’s inner being. Many millions of people are not satisfied with asteroids, electric sparks, matters of chance, and bag-of-dirt responses as answers to man’s origin? Science deals well with matters involving the natural, physical world, but can say nothing about spiritual life as revealed by God. Only do fools reject and ignore the Scriptures. Reject the bible and there is nowhere else to go to comprehend, meditate, and wrestle with the matter of man as a spiritually-created being. With God and His Word, there is hope beyond the grave. The scientist looks at things from the standpoint of the petri dish, the telescope, microscope and the ever present empirical eye. So far as he is concerned, one must not even mention something called spirit. At this point alone, man is no more than a bag of dirt with a smattering of corpuscles, neurons, sinews, blood, and guts. From that standpoint, man just has to live with that very shallow and superficial idea of temporal existence and live out his life until his time is spent and he dies–end of story. Such is hardcore science! What more despicable, grave-stomping, and dishonorable discharge of selfishness than to pay such an appalling tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died in wars so that we have freedom today
to think for ourselves and honor those who died in a spiritual sacrifice that others may so live? All those men and women did not die thinking they were sacrificing their lives just to save other bags of dirt! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 135:13). The petri dish and the telescope have no reply. However, there is another prominent view of life that has been in existence as long as man has existed. Some of the greatest minds from the past have contemplated man as a spirit being. Putting aside for the moment that man is no more than a body of earth (dirt), we believe that man is made up of earth, soul, spirit, mind (spiritual) heart (spiritual) with there being somewhere within the spirit of man a place for intellect, will, emotions,conscience, etc. Along with the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the believer understands that the spirit within man is comprised of soul and spirit and that residing within man’s soul and spirit are found his heart and mind (rather than just a physical heart and physical brain). Many thinkers and writers have produced charts, schematic drawings, and outlines made to comprehend in all honesty what is the true physical and spiritual makeup of man.
Somewhere within the soul is also found man’s spirit; and somewhere within man’s spirit are found man’s kardia (heart) and nous (mind). How/where to place these all together on a chart or map is problematic. The bible student knows that in the bible heart and mind are often interchangeable. For example, in Psalms 73:21 we read, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.” This is an example of synonymous parallelism where the two halves of the verse refer to the same thing. Another example is taken from Luke 24:25 where we read, “…O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” compared with Luke 24:45 that says, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures.” These two scriptures teach that there is no difference between believing with the heart and believing with the mind. Many other passages exist, but we press on concerning IT.
V.. THE FORMS OF A WORLD OF DESPAIR
As the world is full of despair, the irony is that though many people live in despair, they are often unaware of IT. With a common view among people that being in despair is just a minor problem with being bored or in being a little depressed, Kg says that such a view
“overlooks (just to mention something which, properly grasped, brings thousands
upon thousands and millions under the category of despair)–it altogether overlooks
that the very fact of not being in despair, of not being conscious of being in despair,
is itself a form of despair” (SUD, 53).
He further adds,
“as soon as man ceases to be regarded under the aspect of spirit (and unless he
is regarded in that way, neither can there be any question of despair), but merely
as a synthesis of soul and body, when health becomes an immediate characteristic,
and it is only in the soul’s or the body’s sickness that the dialectical (i.e. in the
argot of a particular class or social structure, RC) arises. But despair is exactly
man’s unconsciousness of being characterized as spirit…But the connoisseur of
souls will no doubt concede, the normal situation is exactly this: that most people
live without being properly conscious of being characterized as spirit–and to this
one can trace all the so-called security, contentment, with life, etc., which is exactly
despair…Ah! So much is spoken about human misery; I try to understand it, have
been closely acquainted with not a little of it. So much is spoken about wasting
one’s life. But the only life wasted is the life of the one who lived it, deceived by
life’s pleasures or its sorrows, that he never became decisively, eternally, conscious
of himself as spirit, as self, or what is the same, he never became aware–and gained
in the deepest sense the impression–that there is a God, and that he (man, RC).
himself, his self, exists before this God, which infinite gain is never come by
except through despair” (SUD, 56-57).
6
Essentially, people just do not think about the inner man (spirit), do not conclude that he does exist, and he has needs that go beyond the pail of gold, diamonds, and pleasures. Jonathan Edwards preacher from 1703-1758), wrote a sermon entitled, “God Makes Men Sensible of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy” in which he used Hosea 5:15: as his text: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” Yet, so many in affliction and despair, rather than go down deep into the inner, inner man turn to every kind of fake apothecary and false cure under Solomon’s sun. And all for what
temporal purpose?: to ease and soothe man’s body, his bag of dirt. Wrote Edwards,
“When Israel revolted, God gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let
them continue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress, and
saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought to reflect on them-
selves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then God raised them up a deliverer.
And when they cried unto God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled
them, and brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God’s hands” (cf. Judges 10:10 vv).5
These are various levels of despair depending upon the circumstances one lives in. There is 1) living in despair but being ignorant of it or not willing to take note, and 2) being conscious of despair but in terms of a) there is weakness in despair (i.e., one is not willing to do what is necessary to help cure the despair) as the individual is unwilling to recognize one’s true self as a spiritual being; and b) willing despairingly to be one’s self with a total, defiant disregard for what the self should be. Again, the reader is to keep in mind that the true self (as originally created by God) consists of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit ceased in man when Adam sinned and God removed Himself from a spiritual relationship with man.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: “It (the body, RC) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body, There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (I Corinthians 15:43-46). Then note what he said in I Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And what of the supposed “hidden” needle? The irony of all ironies is
that the needle is and always has been in plain view!
Although a person can live in ignorance of being in despair, he is in despair whether he knows this or not. Determined by the circumstances in which one lives, many people are able to live in comfort and imagined peace. Things may be perceived to be going pretty well. Writes Kg,
“Certainly this self-righteousness is not highly regarded. It is regarded
as little as people in general regard the relationship to truth, the relating
of oneself to the true, as the highest good, and even less see it
Socratically as the greatest misfortune to be in error–their sensuous
reactions usually far outweigh their intellect. A person supposedly
fortunate in this way, who imagines himself blessed by good fortune but
when considered in the light of truth is unfortunate, is usually very far
from wanting to be snatched out of this error. On the contrary, he grows
the reason? He is totally dominated by his sensuous and psycho-
sensuous reactions; he lives in the categories of the sensate, the pleasant
and the unpleasant, poo-poos spirit, the truth, etc; he is too sensate
to have the courage to risk and endure being spirit” (SUD, 73).
I would like to add concerning the sensate man, he not only does not have the courage, but he does not have the interest or needed will to fight, scratch, and claw (if need be) to find the one needle of eternal truth. However, an individual who is numbed by drugs, alcohol, wealth, fame, and a seemingly endless bounty of life’s pleasures and distractions (and rest assured that our age is the age of deception), is one who cannot fathom the eternal self God created, but spends his time and efforts addressing the needs of the beast. The individual who is conscious of his self that is incorporated with soul and spirit, ultimately quits, gives up, and turns his back to God thinking, “God’s standards are too high–I cannot measure up.” He cannot recognize what God and Eternity offer. The individual who at one time heard or read and considered the truth is like the man who “…beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24). Thus, this individual is satisfied in wallowing in the mire of temporary,sensuous pleasures. The third individual over time becomes hardened, cynical, and angry. Life has dealt him with too many “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” This person has earned his/her stripes and has earned the right to live in “demonic” despair. The world has paid him/her enough pain and misfortune, and now it is time for repayment. None of the people living in despair (where the spirit is ignored) are able (willing) to listen long enough to hear, to truly hear! So, the atheists, nonbelievers, deceivers, falsehood weavers, and gluttons of the temporal domain are able and willing to discourse concerning the physical landscape, but shy away from the spiritual landscape. God teaches spirit man that “…it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The soulish man (minus a spiritual self) teaches that “greed is good” (Wallstreet). The spiritual man will teach that good is better than evil; but the soulish man teaches that evil is sometimes (maybe all the time) good. What ends up are two differing world views: one spiritual, where good is always the best system of existence; and, one where evil has its place. Then, one will start the argument,“Well, what do you call evil?” And thus the word ball game starts and one is “…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
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Kg says of such,
“…they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute that a person can
be; but vain and conceited they remain–comparatively speaking. If one were to imagine a house consisting of a basement, ground floor and first
floor, tenanted or planned in such a way that there is, or is meant to be,
a difference of social class between the occupants of each floor–and if
now one were to compare being a human being with such a house, then
the sorry and ludicrous fact with most people is, alas, that in their own
house they prefer to live in the basement. Every human being is the
psycho-physical synthesis (created as, RC) planned as spirit; this is the building, but he prefers living in the basement, that is, in the categories
of sensation. Moreover, he not only prefers living in the basement–no,
he loves it so much that he is indignant if anyone suggests he occupy
the fine suite lying vacant for him…” (SUD, 73, 74).
That is an excellent metaphor that Kg writes of contemporary society. It is not only the idea of people who are not interested in the outlay of the upper suite, people in the comfort of the sensate have grown accustomed to living in the domain of the animal kingdom and in the noxious fumes of despair. Note what Paul said in Romans 1:20, 21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they Knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” “IT” goes beyond being more impressed and satisfied with a fake sense of happiness from the sensate, and further beyond being satisfied with living in the basement; like those people in Paul’s day, people are not thankful even though they have a pretty good idea that God is. I believe that no matter if God gave to mankind machines that produced unlimited supplies of gold and unlimited supplies of any hind of drugs to take, such people would not be thankful to God and follow Him anyway–no matter what greatness He did for man. So many do not care; so many do not care enough to think; so many who can think, think more of the flesh than the spirit. In not knowing God, or in not studying to know Him at a deeper level,I conclude that there are many who dislike, even hate the Sovereign Creator. In summary we now come face to face directly with the “IT.” In the end that which people will not have thought through is the “IT” of eternity spent in having to realize that God IS and that one must exist in anguish and torment forever wishing to die (i.e., wishing to be nonexistent as one was in eternity past never to be born) but eternally unable to do so. Of those who suffer at the hands of the wicked and violent, Paul wrote, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Though many run rampant in a rage of iniquity and mock Him, God is not mocked (cf. Galatians 6:7). Read Luke 6:25, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Read Luke 9:47, 48, where Mark wrote, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.” “IT”? “IT”?! Why, an eternity of pain and suffering, wishing eternally not to be, wishing to be totally extinct, totally dead, but unable to die. Having one’s “being” cast into eternal fire, burning passionately with the desire to cease “being.” Many have long held that the body will literally burn eternally in hell, where the fire is not quenched. But there is no physical body to burn in flames in hell. Just as there will not be any streets paved in gold in heaven. God uses language that man can understand to help him understand physically what will happen spiritually. Either way, the pain and suffering is just as unbearable. On
Judgment Day the lost will with their own eyes see the eternal reality of God. Now, here are the years of temporal life (to ponder, meditate, search, deliberate, question, analyze, etc.) what they either will or will not be doing throughout eternity. “BEING” wrong will mean having to die the sickness unto death, where the worm never dies, and where nonexistence never comes.
Some visitor once came into the room of W. C. Fields as he was being cared for in the hospital. Upon seeing the pleasantly surprised expression on the face of the visitor catching Mr. Fields reading the bible, his abrupt reply was, “Just looking for loopholes.”
Endnotes
1 https://recoverybrands.com/drugs-in-america-vs-europe/
2 Ibid
3 Kieregaard, Soren, The Sickness Unto Death, published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-140-44533-6,
translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay, 1989.
4 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/526-soul-and-spirit-whats-the-difference
5 http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/misery.htm
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People Have Not Thought It Through: It Being Being
By Rick Capps
A college professor once stated in a linguistics class that the pronoun it did not stand for anything. One might say something like “It looks like it’s going to rain,” or “It is just in his/her genes.” One eventually might track down a noun referent of some kind, but it is a rather nebulous concept Some one might also say to a person who has arrived late, “It is about time!” The context of the situation could give clarity to the meaning of it, but again it stands for no specific thing. Shakespeare had Hamlet to ask in his play Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question?” Yet more inquisitively, we would ask what does this mean “to be”? That is, what is being? What does it mean with “it” being being? One is the settled understanding of being or existence in this world and what it means to be human and alive. What does it mean to be a specific and unique person! Rather than a sure statement what being means, many there are who walk this earth without a clue as to who they are. Still being tossed around is whether or not a human being is a mix of spit and dirt, or a spiritual being created in God’s own image? What more important question can man research and mindfully entertain than one’s constitution as a being in this present life, especially when Eternity beckons? This question can not be shrugged away (although legions do this everyday). The philosopher will look at such a question through the lens of what he calls epistemology, or the branch of inquiry concerning how knowledge is accrued. The scientist will do this through the lens of science, while the religionist will do this through the lens of scripture (the Bible). Whatever subject one endeavors to become knowledgeable and adept in to the point of expertise, one must use previously gained information and resources to become,say, a master plumber, a master chemist, a master carpenter, a master philosopher, a master lawyer, etc. To be in the know and understanding of most any subject area, one must rely upon previously learned knowledge and skills. For example, a minister once appeared on a talk show with the conversation relating to religious issues. When the talk show host would ask the minister a specific question, the minister would respond by quoting scripture. After a bit of scripture quoting, the dismayed talk show host finally asked the preacher to cease referencing Bible scripture.
Astonished would be a lawyer who was told in the court room that he could not refer to any law books or to any previously published resources while representing his client. Likewise would a chemist respond to being told that he could not refer to the periodic table or previously published chemical resources. And yet the believer is asked to refrain from referencing the one book in all the world that creates, informs, and sustains his “being”. So much for fair play and open-mindedness.The subject of man’s “being” is put on hold and to be continued later in this discussion.
I. A WORLD OF DEMENTIA, EMOTIONAL IMPOTENCE, AND DESPAIR
If one were to start up a conversation with people, it would not take long for the state of the world in terms of wickedness and violence to be broached. Such is a global consideration. Especially epidemic are the abuses of drugs and alcohol which in turn impact social and economic areas in terms of crime, heinous violence, healthcare, prisons, the care of children, homelessness, and so many other matters. The high rate of crime and violence has become so commonplace that people are not surprised anymore at the brutality and gore. Studies indicate that America surpasses most all other countries in the abuse of opioids and prescription narcotics such as OxyContin. 1 Per capita, the U.S. has a higher rate of amaphetamine-type stimulants –a category including methamphetamine and ecstasy.–than any European country.”2 But we do not have to look at statistics to realize the world-wide evil, devastation, and abject despair to come from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, alcohol and drug abuse are not the only culprits of despair; myriad is the list of objects, ideas, devices, concepts and creations from the mind of man to help him cope with unhappiness and ennui. “ …God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). One only has to note a next door neighbor, friend, or family member to see the effects from the various methods and means used to cope with life’s problems and the subsequent devastation from substance abuse. Coping in life does not just pertain to the effects of using alcohol and drug abuse specifically, but to the myriad effects of coping with despair by any means.
.
II. DESPAIR: DISEASE, MENTAL DISORDER, OR SOMETHING GREATER?
I want to introduce another writer perhaps not so well known to modern-day readers. His name is Soren Kierkegaard and he lived back in the early 19th century (1813-1855). No man was more prolific as a writer, even though he died at the early age of 42. His reputation has been tainted in part because of being associated with other philosophers who were considered to be anti-religionists. Though Kierkegaard considered himself to be a Christian, he was kind of “ganged upon” by the other non-believing philosophers in that era. Yes, he was a philosopher and credited as being the father of existentialism; however, he was a strong believer in God and the bible. He
had a brilliant mind and had much to offer to the fair-minded reader interested in delving into God’s Word. The reader is strongly requested to withhold prejudgment and give his relevant ideas a fair hearing. Profuse reference is now made to his book, entitled The Sickness Unto Death.3, written by Soren Kierkegaard. Hereafter, Kierkegaard will be referenced as Kg and his book as SUD.
2
Kg had much to say about the subject of despair and its origin. He witnessed great despair even in his time and had much to say about despair’s origin and its connection with one’s “being” or one’s self. Remember earlier mention was made about one’s consideration of the self or personhood? An event occurred in John concerning the death of Lazarus and how that affected his followers upon hearing of Lazarus’ demise. When Lazarus’ sisters learned of his death, they summoned for Jesus. When Jesus addressed Mary and Martha, he said to them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 4:11). Though Christ said those words, at that time Lazarus was dead. We see that when Jesus steps toward the grave, in John 11:43, he “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Mention was made of the fact that after four days of lying in the grave, Lazarus’ decaying body smelled of putrefaction (John 11:39). I don’t think it was clear to the others at the grave what Jesus meant. Here, Jesus tells them that Lazarus only was asleep. What did Christ mean when He said that Lazarus did not have “the sickness unto death? Though Lazarus had died a physical, earthly, final (?) death, he had not died from a death which was 1) still pending, 2) other than physical, 3) eternal, as in beyond a physical, temporal death.
Thus, Kg opens up this discussion by saying, “The human being is a spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?” (SUD, p 43). A human is more that earth! I would postulate that most people in the world would tend to believe that there is more to man than a few elements of earth. I would believe that most people believe they have something within them that exists beyond a mere physical existence. Recall in Genesis 2:17 that Adam and Eve were told that eating forbidden fruit would mean that doing so would mean “…thou shalt surely die.” They did not die physically, but they did die in another way. In what way? Remember that God interacted with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden daily conversing, teaching, and guiding them (spiritually) as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 9:6). Does not reason itself dictate that man is a spirit? So said Job in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” When Adam and Eve died in the garden, they died a spiritual death, and a spiritual death is when one’s relationship with God is severed and man is cut off, separated, from the spiritual Being that created him as a spiritual being. The writer of Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us what happens to man after he dies as he says “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (the body will return to the dust it came from) and the spirit shall return to the God who made it.” By extension and connection, man as a spiritually- created being is a self, a person, a soul. So many Hebrew and Greek words pertain to a human self, e.g., the Hebrew rauch (spirit–God and man), nephesh (breath), basar (body,flesh), nephesh (spirit), and kardia (heart), zoe (life), and nous (mind). One would need to obtain an accurate Hebrew and Greek dictionary, look these words up, and study them in the context of scripture for a clearer, more objective understanding of their use in defining the self, the person,the human, the being of man. Is man a spirit or spit and dirt? Again, these words must be understood in their scriptural context, and thus one must be careful to avoid using words wrongly out of context. One can find many places on the internet where students, scholars, and philosophers have done in-depth word studies of these biblical terms and provide much use and assistance in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject under consideration. Therefore,be extremely cautious in reading the interpretations of other people. There is a story from antiquity about an individual trying to find Truth. Although he had inquired near and far in many directions, he failed to receive help in finding a solution to his search. Finally a day came when someone revealed to him about a faint rumor about there being a man in a far away country in a remote, isolated part of that country who might be able to help him find Truth. After receiving rather puzzling directions, the inquirer set out to find this other man living in a place so far away. Thus, after trudging across continents for what seemed like months upon months, the inquirer informed the Truth knower that he had learned that this brilliantly-minded sage knew where to find the Truth. The inquirer informed the sage that he (the inquirer) would “give anything in the world” to find the Truth. The sage asked the man to follow him and do absolutely as instructed. Then, the knower told the inquirer to follow him; so they both walked out in the sea from the shore to a point where they each had the water level up to their chins. The sage grabbed the other man’s head and forced him under the water as if to drown him. Finally, after struggling with all of his strength to resurface with his head above the water while flailing about with all of his strength, the truth knower let go of the man’s head and shouted out, “What is it that you want now more than anything?” The frantic, screaming, singular reply was, “Air! I want air!” At last the sage said to the inquirer, “When you want to know the Truth like you just wanted air, you will find it.”
Though a story, the lessons are poignant: 1) the inquirer learned that he must find the Truth for himself; 2) he learned how much work would be involved; and 3) he learned how much passion he would need to find the Truth. How much is one willing to give up in this world to save his soul? No question is more important or relevant than when the temporal is compared with the eternal.
How many either do not know or do not care where they go after the physical death? I would like to recommend a scholarly think tank at Apologetics Press, which is under the care of Wayne Jackson. He has written a paper entitled “What is the difference between the spirit and soul of a human being?”4 Somehow I do not believe the masses will care much about what the bible has to say about the question no matter how expert the scholars may happen to be. Those individuals who reject the bible reject the only source book concerning the spirit in man and his eternal abode. The snub of God’s Holy Word takes away the spiritual legs upon which the believer stands. Without the bible how can anyone have any kind of sense or comprehension of who man is, where he came from, or where he is going after this short life? The bible gives man answers to his “being” or “self” and to the mysteries surrounding his origin. Without the bible man does not know whether he came from an asteroid, a pumpkin, or a planet six billion miles away from planet earth? While alone in the darkest wee hours of the night one must grapple with one’s “being” or “self.” He will admit to this if he is honest! John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” That is, He does not have a corporeal body as man does. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that God created “man in our image.” “IT” would stand up to reason, then, as something man can use reason to so reason. God said to the prophet in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together…” Another indication that God made man a spirit is that man can reason with Him.
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The Greek philosopher Democritus was one of the first men to discover the atom (source: Wikipedia). Though he had no kind of microscope to assist him, he reasoned through philosophy to the existence of the unseen atom. Note the irony: man can reason discovering the atom, but so many can not reason to the existence of God. What does one need to comprehend and see the existence of God? One could use a mix of reason, philosophy (reasoning?), logic, understanding, and how about common sense! But the cry will be, whose common sense?, whose understanding?, whose logic?, whose philosophy?, etc. Today, common sense seems often to be in short supply. The philosophers seem to get to a point of often enjoying the game of playing word ball and meandering in umpteen directions with philosophical jargon (that many people do not comprehend) and get more of a rise through word play than staying rigidly with the original problem and trying to solve ‘IT.’ I am just saying, the philosopher sometimes enjoys to show that he or she has studied philosophy mightily. One should study to show “…thyself approved unto God” rather than to men (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that the “..invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. “ Note also Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man was able to reason to the unseen atom, but he can not reason to God through his seen handiwork (i.e., visual evidence). The question then is, is there another way that we can comprehend God? Keep reading….
III. SOUL, SPIRIT, PERSON, SELF, DESPAIR CONTINUED.
When man despairs, he must despair over something. Kg says that the possibility of man having this sickness (of despair)
“…is man’s advantage over the beast, and it is an advantage which characterizes him
quite otherwise than the upright posture, for it bespeaks the i nfinite erectness or lofti-
ness of his being spirit. The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the
beast; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian’s blessedness. Consequently, it is
an infinite merit to be able to despair” (SUD, 45, 46).
Did the reader ever contemplate over the fact that creation, minus man, does not have to worry or despair or feel depressed over something. The birds “toil” nor “spin” over anything. It is always man who toils, spins, worries, despairs, and becomes sick concerning life issues. Yet, the very ability to do such gives him an advantage that animals do not have. Why does man need such an advantage? Well, he would not need it if he were going to end up at the same place as do the animals. God did not create the animals with spirit nor in His image. Kg calls despair an imbalance.Many there are in today’s world who are harboring an imbalance in being! Does this constitute
a disease? When man gets an imbalance, he is told that such and such is not his fault but is thefault of some disease A preacher was asked once in an open forum whether or not alcoholism was a disease? His response was, “Well, if it is, it is the only disease I know that a man can catch out of a bottle.” A lot of people world-wide are unstable and deranged (some perhaps insane) and are sick with despair Else, why would so many people feel the need to drug themselves or numb themselves and impale themselves emotionally with things in life that hide and blur the state of reality (Truth) and what at one time in the past was a state of purity and uprightness? Kg asks where this sickness, this imbalance comes from? He writes,
“From the relation in which the synthesis (i.e., with one thing relating to another, RDC)
relates to itself, from the fact that God, who made man this relation, as it were, lets go
of it…and in the fact that the relation is spirit, is the self…” (SUD, 46).
Man had a relationship with God in the garden of Eden, but once he broke the covenant with God, his relationship ceased, as did his spiritual being or self. For Kg says further,
“…the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die. In this it has much in common
with the condition of the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death but cannot die.
Thus to be sick unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though there were hope of life.
No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope,death, is gone. When death is the greatest
danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns to know the even more horrifying danger,
one hopes for death. When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then
despair is the hopelessness of not even being able to die” (SUD, 48).
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Recall how Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves once “their eyes were opened.” There was a tremendous transition which occurred within their being. They realized that they had sinned against their Creator, had brought sin and shame upon themselves, had created a great divide between themselves and God, and experienced the sting of spiritual death. So many people have, since that enormous event, been running, are still running, and who will continue running from Almighty God
thinking they are hiding from Him and will not have to give an eternal account. When Jesus told the friends and family of Lazarus that he did not have the sickness unto death, though dead and rotting in the grave, friends and family thought (just like we would today) that that would have been the end (the finality) of Lazarus. Lazarus had a sickness that led to his physical demise; this still did not lead to his spiritual sickness, for those who have this sickness and ultimately die from it, will have died from the sickness that ends in eternal death (death # 2). When an individual has a grave sickness such as terminal cancer, he or she may get to a point where continued treatment would not prove beneficial. At such a place in medical care a person might choose to discontinue medical treatment rather than continue in pain and suffering. Rather than prolong the agonies of living, one might choose to let nature take its natural course and die. If that were to happen, one (though dying, RDC) would still not experience “the sickness unto death” as alluded to in John 11:4. A person can die a natural death or die from a physical illness (cancer) and still may have to face a final, eternal death (i.e., a second, final death) if lost in sin. Again as Kg remarks,.
“And the relation to himself is something a human cannot be rid of, just as little
as he can be rid of himself, which for that matter is one and the same thing, since
the self is indeed the relation to oneself” (SUD, 47).
This self is the self created by God: the body, the soul, and the spirit. Man was created in God’s image as a spirit. The former relationship with God was terminated during man’s fall. The relationship man had with God was severed to the extent that Adam died a spiritual death when God walked with man no more. Man had a God-given breath of life in him with a low-grade of soulishness in him that still placed him above the beasts of the field, and made man into a natural, soulish being. The terminal cancer patient would think that his physical death would end the sickness and illness from the disease of cancer. Death would mean that this physical sickness would end this ickness and the man would have no more sickness to deal with. Kg states further on this:
“…death is no doubt the end of the sickness, but death (physically,RC) is not the
end. If in the strictest sense, there, is to be any question of a sickness unto death,
it must be one where the end (finality, RC) is death and where death
(finality, RC) is the end. And thinking that (the finality, RC) is precisely to despair.
…Yet despair is the sickness unto death in another and still more definite sense.
For there is not the remotest possibility of dying of this sickness in the straight-
forward sense, or of this sickness ending in physical death. On the contrary,
the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die (in the final sense, RC). In
this it has much in common with the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death
but cannot die. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone.
When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns
to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death (as in extinction,
RC). When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair
is the hopelessness of not even being able to die. ..Thus to be sick (in the
final, eternal sense, RC) unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though
there is hope for eternal life” (SUD, 47-48).
If the christian with a terminal illness dies, then just before his death his hope is to end his physical illness to begin a new life after death. He thinks his death (referenced as death #1) will end his pain and suffering, but, there awaits for all men who are outside the body of Christ (i.e., christian) another death (death # 2) and that comes after the judgment. Note that it “is appointed unto men once to die (death # 1), but after this the Judgement (death # 2 for those outside Christ, Hebrews 9:27). Also, we read in Revelation 20:13,14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Was there ever a point in your life, even now, dear reader that you could have wished that you could just go back to nonbeing before existence so that you wouldn’t have to deal with drudgeries of life? If you could go, would you choose to go back to nonbeing, never to have been born? Think of all those souls who will be sentenced to eternal death in hell “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
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IV. CONFRONTING A UNIVERSE FULL OF HAYSTACKS LOOKING FOR ONE NEEDLE
Yes, the universe is a big place and still keeps expanding. Scientists and astronomers keep discovering new worlds and new information. Searching through the mountains upon mountains of available information seems similar to looking through a universe of haystacks for a one needle of Truth. Such an endeavor seems almost impossible to do. Man has a deep and abiding yearning to understand where he comes from, what his purpose is, and what happens after he dies. These are not just casual questions of curiosity, but metaphysical questions that rivet to the core of one’s inner being. Many millions of people are not satisfied with asteroids, electric sparks, matters of chance, and bag-of-dirt responses as answers to man’s origin? Science deals well with matters involving the natural, physical world, but can say nothing about spiritual life as revealed by God. Only do fools reject and ignore the Scriptures. Reject the bible and there is nowhere else to go to comprehend, meditate, and wrestle with the matter of man as a spiritually-created being. With God and His Word, there is hope beyond the grave. The scientist looks at things from the standpoint of the petri dish, the telescope, microscope and the ever present empirical eye. So far as he is concerned, one must not even mention something called spirit. At this point alone, man is no more than a bag of dirt with a smattering of corpuscles, neurons, sinews, blood, and guts. From that standpoint, man just has to live with that very shallow and superficial idea of temporal existence and live out his life until his time is spent and he dies–end of story. Such is hardcore science! What more despicable, grave-stomping, and dishonorable discharge of selfishness than to pay such an appalling tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died in wars so that we have freedom today
to think for ourselves and honor those who died in a spiritual sacrifice that others may so live? All those men and women did not die thinking they were sacrificing their lives just to save other bags of dirt! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 135:13). The petri dish and the telescope have no reply. However, there is another prominent view of life that has been in existence as long as man has existed. Some of the greatest minds from the past have contemplated man as a spirit being. Putting aside for the moment that man is no more than a body of earth (dirt), we believe that man is made up of earth, soul, spirit, mind (spiritual) heart (spiritual) with there being somewhere within the spirit of man a place for intellect, will, emotions,conscience, etc. Along with the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the believer understands that the spirit within man is comprised of soul and spirit and that residing within man’s soul and spirit are found his heart and mind (rather than just a physical heart and physical brain). Many thinkers and writers have produced charts, schematic drawings, and outlines made to comprehend in all honesty what is the true physical and spiritual makeup of man.
Somewhere within the soul is also found man’s spirit; and somewhere within man’s spirit are found man’s kardia (heart) and nous (mind). How/where to place these all together on a chart or map is problematic. The bible student knows that in the bible heart and mind are often interchangeable. For example, in Psalms 73:21 we read, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.” This is an example of synonymous parallelism where the two halves of the verse refer to the same thing. Another example is taken from Luke 24:25 where we read, “…O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” compared with Luke 24:45 that says, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures.” These two scriptures teach that there is no difference between believing with the heart and believing with the mind. Many other passages exist, but we press on concerning IT.
V.. THE FORMS OF A WORLD OF DESPAIR
As the world is full of despair, the irony is that though many people live in despair, they are often unaware of IT. With a common view among people that being in despair is just a minor problem with being bored or in being a little depressed, Kg says that such a view
“overlooks (just to mention something which, properly grasped, brings thousands
upon thousands and millions under the category of despair)–it altogether overlooks
that the very fact of not being in despair, of not being conscious of being in despair,
is itself a form of despair” (SUD, 53).
He further adds,
“as soon as man ceases to be regarded under the aspect of spirit (and unless he
is regarded in that way, neither can there be any question of despair), but merely
as a synthesis of soul and body, when health becomes an immediate characteristic,
and it is only in the soul’s or the body’s sickness that the dialectical (i.e. in the
argot of a particular class or social structure, RC) arises. But despair is exactly
man’s unconsciousness of being characterized as spirit…But the connoisseur of
souls will no doubt concede, the normal situation is exactly this: that most people
live without being properly conscious of being characterized as spirit–and to this
one can trace all the so-called security, contentment, with life, etc., which is exactly
despair…Ah! So much is spoken about human misery; I try to understand it, have
been closely acquainted with not a little of it. So much is spoken about wasting
one’s life. But the only life wasted is the life of the one who lived it, deceived by
life’s pleasures or its sorrows, that he never became decisively, eternally, conscious
of himself as spirit, as self, or what is the same, he never became aware–and gained
in the deepest sense the impression–that there is a God, and that he (man, RC).
himself, his self, exists before this God, which infinite gain is never come by
except through despair” (SUD, 56-57).
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Essentially, people just do not think about the inner man (spirit), do not conclude that he does exist, and he has needs that go beyond the pail of gold, diamonds, and pleasures. Jonathan Edwards preacher from 1703-1758), wrote a sermon entitled, “God Makes Men Sensible of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy” in which he used Hosea 5:15: as his text: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” Yet, so many in affliction and despair, rather than go down deep into the inner, inner man turn to every kind of fake apothecary and false cure under Solomon’s sun. And all for what
temporal purpose?: to ease and soothe man’s body, his bag of dirt. Wrote Edwards,
“When Israel revolted, God gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let
them continue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress, and
saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought to reflect on them-
selves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then God raised them up a deliverer.
And when they cried unto God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled
them, and brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God’s hands” (cf. Judges 10:10 vv).5
These are various levels of despair depending upon the circumstances one lives in. There is 1) living in despair but being ignorant of it or not willing to take note, and 2) being conscious of despair but in terms of a) there is weakness in despair (i.e., one is not willing to do what is necessary to help cure the despair) as the individual is unwilling to recognize one’s true self as a spiritual being; and b) willing despairingly to be one’s self with a total, defiant disregard for what the self should be. Again, the reader is to keep in mind that the true self (as originally created by God) consists of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit ceased in man when Adam sinned and God removed Himself from a spiritual relationship with man.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: “It (the body, RC) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body, There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (I Corinthians 15:43-46). Then note what he said in I Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And what of the supposed “hidden” needle? The irony of all ironies is
that the needle is and always has been in plain view!
Although a person can live in ignorance of being in despair, he is in despair whether he knows this or not. Determined by the circumstances in which one lives, many people are able to live in comfort and imagined peace. Things may be perceived to be going pretty well. Writes Kg,
“Certainly this self-righteousness is not highly regarded. It is regarded
as little as people in general regard the relationship to truth, the relating
of oneself to the true, as the highest good, and even less see it
Socratically as the greatest misfortune to be in error–their sensuous
reactions usually far outweigh their intellect. A person supposedly
fortunate in this way, who imagines himself blessed by good fortune but
when considered in the light of truth is unfortunate, is usually very far
from wanting to be snatched out of this error. On the contrary, he grows
the reason? He is totally dominated by his sensuous and psycho-
sensuous reactions; he lives in the categories of the sensate, the pleasant
and the unpleasant, poo-poos spirit, the truth, etc; he is too sensate
to have the courage to risk and endure being spirit” (SUD, 73).
I would like to add concerning the sensate man, he not only does not have the courage, but he does not have the interest or needed will to fight, scratch, and claw (if need be) to find the one needle of eternal truth. However, an individual who is numbed by drugs, alcohol, wealth, fame, and a seemingly endless bounty of life’s pleasures and distractions (and rest assured that our age is the age of deception), is one who cannot fathom the eternal self God created, but spends his time and efforts addressing the needs of the beast. The individual who is conscious of his self that is incorporated with soul and spirit, ultimately quits, gives up, and turns his back to God thinking, “God’s standards are too high–I cannot measure up.” He cannot recognize what God and Eternity offer. The individual who at one time heard or read and considered the truth is like the man who “…beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24). Thus, this individual is satisfied in wallowing in the mire of temporary,sensuous pleasures. The third individual over time becomes hardened, cynical, and angry. Life has dealt him with too many “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” This person has earned his/her stripes and has earned the right to live in “demonic” despair. The world has paid him/her enough pain and misfortune, and now it is time for repayment. None of the people living in despair (where the spirit is ignored) are able (willing) to listen long enough to hear, to truly hear! So, the atheists, nonbelievers, deceivers, falsehood weavers, and gluttons of the temporal domain are able and willing to discourse concerning the physical landscape, but shy away from the spiritual landscape. God teaches spirit man that “…it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The soulish man (minus a spiritual self) teaches that “greed is good” (Wallstreet). The spiritual man will teach that good is better than evil; but the soulish man teaches that evil is sometimes (maybe all the time) good. What ends up are two differing world views: one spiritual, where good is always the best system of existence; and, one where evil has its place. Then, one will start the argument,“Well, what do you call evil?” And thus the word ball game starts and one is “…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
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Kg says of such,
“…they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute that a person can
be; but vain and conceited they remain–comparatively speaking. If one were to imagine a house consisting of a basement, ground floor and first
floor, tenanted or planned in such a way that there is, or is meant to be,
a difference of social class between the occupants of each floor–and if
now one were to compare being a human being with such a house, then
the sorry and ludicrous fact with most people is, alas, that in their own
house they prefer to live in the basement. Every human being is the
psycho-physical synthesis (created as, RC) planned as spirit; this is the building, but he prefers living in the basement, that is, in the categories
of sensation. Moreover, he not only prefers living in the basement–no,
he loves it so much that he is indignant if anyone suggests he occupy
the fine suite lying vacant for him…” (SUD, 73, 74).
That is an excellent metaphor that Kg writes of contemporary society. It is not only the idea of people who are not interested in the outlay of the upper suite, people in the comfort of the sensate have grown accustomed to living in the domain of the animal kingdom and in the noxious fumes of despair. Note what Paul said in Romans 1:20, 21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they Knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” “IT” goes beyond being more impressed and satisfied with a fake sense of happiness from the sensate, and further beyond being satisfied with living in the basement; like those people in Paul’s day, people are not thankful even though they have a pretty good idea that God is. I believe that no matter if God gave to mankind machines that produced unlimited supplies of gold and unlimited supplies of any hind of drugs to take, such people would not be thankful to God and follow Him anyway–no matter what greatness He did for man. So many do not care; so many do not care enough to think; so many who can think, think more of the flesh than the spirit. In not knowing God, or in not studying to know Him at a deeper level,I conclude that there are many who dislike, even hate the Sovereign Creator. In summary we now come face to face directly with the “IT.” In the end that which people will not have thought through is the “IT” of eternity spent in having to realize that God IS and that one must exist in anguish and torment forever wishing to die (i.e., wishing to be nonexistent as one was in eternity past never to be born) but eternally unable to do so. Of those who suffer at the hands of the wicked and violent, Paul wrote, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Though many run rampant in a rage of iniquity and mock Him, God is not mocked (cf. Galatians 6:7). Read Luke 6:25, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Read Luke 9:47, 48, where Mark wrote, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.” “IT”? “IT”?! Why, an eternity of pain and suffering, wishing eternally not to be, wishing to be totally extinct, totally dead, but unable to die. Having one’s “being” cast into eternal fire, burning passionately with the desire to cease “being.” Many have long held that the body will literally burn eternally in hell, where the fire is not quenched. But there is no physical body to burn in flames in hell. Just as there will not be any streets paved in gold in heaven. God uses language that man can understand to help him understand physically what will happen spiritually. Either way, the pain and suffering is just as unbearable. On
Judgment Day the lost will with their own eyes see the eternal reality of God. Now, here are the years of temporal life (to ponder, meditate, search, deliberate, question, analyze, etc.) what they either will or will not be doing throughout eternity. “BEING” wrong will mean having to die the sickness unto death, where the worm never dies, and where nonexistence never comes.
Some visitor once came into the room of W. C. Fields as he was being cared for in the hospital. Upon seeing the pleasantly surprised expression on the face of the visitor catching Mr. Fields reading the bible, his abrupt reply was, “Just looking for loopholes.”
Endnotes
1 https://recoverybrands.com/drugs-in-america-vs-europe/
2 Ibid
3 Kieregaard, Soren, The Sickness Unto Death, published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-140-44533-6,
translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay, 1989.
4 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/526-soul-and-spirit-whats-the-difference
5 http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/misery.htm
8
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People Have Not Thought It Through: It Being Being
By Rick Capps
A college professor once stated in a linguistics class that the pronoun it did not stand for anything. One might say something like “It looks like it’s going to rain,” or “It is just in his/her genes.” One eventually might track down a noun referent of some kind, but it is a rather nebulous concept Some one might also say to a person who has arrived late, “It is about time!” The context of the situation could give clarity to the meaning of it, but again it stands for no specific thing. Shakespeare had Hamlet to ask in his play Hamlet, “To be or not to be, that is the question?” Yet more inquisitively, we would ask what does this mean “to be”? That is, what is being? What does it mean with “it” being being? One is the settled understanding of being or existence in this world and what it means to be human and alive. What does it mean to be a specific and unique person! Rather than a sure statement what being means, many there are who walk this earth without a clue as to who they are. Still being tossed around is whether or not a human being is a mix of spit and dirt, or a spiritual being created in God’s own image? What more important question can man research and mindfully entertain than one’s constitution as a being in this present life, especially when Eternity beckons? This question can not be shrugged away (although legions do this everyday). The philosopher will look at such a question through the lens of what he calls epistemology, or the branch of inquiry concerning how knowledge is accrued. The scientist will do this through the lens of science, while the religionist will do this through the lens of scripture (the Bible). Whatever subject one endeavors to become knowledgeable and adept in to the point of expertise, one must use previously gained information and resources to become,say, a master plumber, a master chemist, a master carpenter, a master philosopher, a master lawyer, etc. To be in the know and understanding of most any subject area, one must rely upon previously learned knowledge and skills. For example, a minister once appeared on a talk show with the conversation relating to religious issues. When the talk show host would ask the minister a specific question, the minister would respond by quoting scripture. After a bit of scripture quoting, the dismayed talk show host finally asked the preacher to cease referencing Bible scripture.
Astonished would be a lawyer who was told in the court room that he could not refer to any law books or to any previously published resources while representing his client. Likewise would a chemist respond to being told that he could not refer to the periodic table or previously published chemical resources. And yet the believer is asked to refrain from referencing the one book in all the world that creates, informs, and sustains his “being”. So much for fair play and open-mindedness.The subject of man’s “being” is put on hold and to be continued later in this discussion.
I. A WORLD OF DEMENTIA, EMOTIONAL IMPOTENCE, AND DESPAIR
If one were to start up a conversation with people, it would not take long for the state of the world in terms of wickedness and violence to be broached. Such is a global consideration. Especially epidemic are the abuses of drugs and alcohol which in turn impact social and economic areas in terms of crime, heinous violence, healthcare, prisons, the care of children, homelessness, and so many other matters. The high rate of crime and violence has become so commonplace that people are not surprised anymore at the brutality and gore. Studies indicate that America surpasses most all other countries in the abuse of opioids and prescription narcotics such as OxyContin. 1 Per capita, the U.S. has a higher rate of amaphetamine-type stimulants –a category including methamphetamine and ecstasy.–than any European country.”2 But we do not have to look at statistics to realize the world-wide evil, devastation, and abject despair to come from alcohol and drug abuse. Yet, alcohol and drug abuse are not the only culprits of despair; myriad is the list of objects, ideas, devices, concepts and creations from the mind of man to help him cope with unhappiness and ennui. “ …God hath made man upright, but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). One only has to note a next door neighbor, friend, or family member to see the effects from the various methods and means used to cope with life’s problems and the subsequent devastation from substance abuse. Coping in life does not just pertain to the effects of using alcohol and drug abuse specifically, but to the myriad effects of coping with despair by any means.
.
II. DESPAIR: DISEASE, MENTAL DISORDER, OR SOMETHING GREATER?
I want to introduce another writer perhaps not so well known to modern-day readers. His name is Soren Kierkegaard and he lived back in the early 19th century (1813-1855). No man was more prolific as a writer, even though he died at the early age of 42. His reputation has been tainted in part because of being associated with other philosophers who were considered to be anti-religionists. Though Kierkegaard considered himself to be a Christian, he was kind of “ganged upon” by the other non-believing philosophers in that era. Yes, he was a philosopher and credited as being the father of existentialism; however, he was a strong believer in God and the bible. He
had a brilliant mind and had much to offer to the fair-minded reader interested in delving into God’s Word. The reader is strongly requested to withhold prejudgment and give his relevant ideas a fair hearing. Profuse reference is now made to his book, entitled The Sickness Unto Death.3, written by Soren Kierkegaard. Hereafter, Kierkegaard will be referenced as Kg and his book as SUD.
2
Kg had much to say about the subject of despair and its origin. He witnessed great despair even in his time and had much to say about despair’s origin and its connection with one’s “being” or one’s self. Remember earlier mention was made about one’s consideration of the self or personhood? An event occurred in John concerning the death of Lazarus and how that affected his followers upon hearing of Lazarus’ demise. When Lazarus’ sisters learned of his death, they summoned for Jesus. When Jesus addressed Mary and Martha, he said to them, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory God, that the son of God might be glorified thereby” (John 4:11). Though Christ said those words, at that time Lazarus was dead. We see that when Jesus steps toward the grave, in John 11:43, he “…cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” Mention was made of the fact that after four days of lying in the grave, Lazarus’ decaying body smelled of putrefaction (John 11:39). I don’t think it was clear to the others at the grave what Jesus meant. Here, Jesus tells them that Lazarus only was asleep. What did Christ mean when He said that Lazarus did not have “the sickness unto death? Though Lazarus had died a physical, earthly, final (?) death, he had not died from a death which was 1) still pending, 2) other than physical, 3) eternal, as in beyond a physical, temporal death.
Thus, Kg opens up this discussion by saying, “The human being is a spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self?” (SUD, p 43). A human is more that earth! I would postulate that most people in the world would tend to believe that there is more to man than a few elements of earth. I would believe that most people believe they have something within them that exists beyond a mere physical existence. Recall in Genesis 2:17 that Adam and Eve were told that eating forbidden fruit would mean that doing so would mean “…thou shalt surely die.” They did not die physically, but they did die in another way. In what way? Remember that God interacted with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden daily conversing, teaching, and guiding them (spiritually) as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Man was created by God in His own image (Genesis 9:6). Does not reason itself dictate that man is a spirit? So said Job in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” When Adam and Eve died in the garden, they died a spiritual death, and a spiritual death is when one’s relationship with God is severed and man is cut off, separated, from the spiritual Being that created him as a spiritual being. The writer of Ecclesiastes 12:7 tells us what happens to man after he dies as he says “Then the dust will return to the earth as it was (the body will return to the dust it came from) and the spirit shall return to the God who made it.” By extension and connection, man as a spiritually- created being is a self, a person, a soul. So many Hebrew and Greek words pertain to a human self, e.g., the Hebrew rauch (spirit–God and man), nephesh (breath), basar (body,flesh), nephesh (spirit), and kardia (heart), zoe (life), and nous (mind). One would need to obtain an accurate Hebrew and Greek dictionary, look these words up, and study them in the context of scripture for a clearer, more objective understanding of their use in defining the self, the person,the human, the being of man. Is man a spirit or spit and dirt? Again, these words must be understood in their scriptural context, and thus one must be careful to avoid using words wrongly out of context. One can find many places on the internet where students, scholars, and philosophers have done in-depth word studies of these biblical terms and provide much use and assistance in gaining a deeper understanding of the subject under consideration. Therefore,be extremely cautious in reading the interpretations of other people. There is a story from antiquity about an individual trying to find Truth. Although he had inquired near and far in many directions, he failed to receive help in finding a solution to his search. Finally a day came when someone revealed to him about a faint rumor about there being a man in a far away country in a remote, isolated part of that country who might be able to help him find Truth. After receiving rather puzzling directions, the inquirer set out to find this other man living in a place so far away. Thus, after trudging across continents for what seemed like months upon months, the inquirer informed the Truth knower that he had learned that this brilliantly-minded sage knew where to find the Truth. The inquirer informed the sage that he (the inquirer) would “give anything in the world” to find the Truth. The sage asked the man to follow him and do absolutely as instructed. Then, the knower told the inquirer to follow him; so they both walked out in the sea from the shore to a point where they each had the water level up to their chins. The sage grabbed the other man’s head and forced him under the water as if to drown him. Finally, after struggling with all of his strength to resurface with his head above the water while flailing about with all of his strength, the truth knower let go of the man’s head and shouted out, “What is it that you want now more than anything?” The frantic, screaming, singular reply was, “Air! I want air!” At last the sage said to the inquirer, “When you want to know the Truth like you just wanted air, you will find it.”
Though a story, the lessons are poignant: 1) the inquirer learned that he must find the Truth for himself; 2) he learned how much work would be involved; and 3) he learned how much passion he would need to find the Truth. How much is one willing to give up in this world to save his soul? No question is more important or relevant than when the temporal is compared with the eternal.
How many either do not know or do not care where they go after the physical death? I would like to recommend a scholarly think tank at Apologetics Press, which is under the care of Wayne Jackson. He has written a paper entitled “What is the difference between the spirit and soul of a human being?”4 Somehow I do not believe the masses will care much about what the bible has to say about the question no matter how expert the scholars may happen to be. Those individuals who reject the bible reject the only source book concerning the spirit in man and his eternal abode. The snub of God’s Holy Word takes away the spiritual legs upon which the believer stands. Without the bible how can anyone have any kind of sense or comprehension of who man is, where he came from, or where he is going after this short life? The bible gives man answers to his “being” or “self” and to the mysteries surrounding his origin. Without the bible man does not know whether he came from an asteroid, a pumpkin, or a planet six billion miles away from planet earth? While alone in the darkest wee hours of the night one must grapple with one’s “being” or “self.” He will admit to this if he is honest! John 4:24 says, “God is a Spirit.” That is, He does not have a corporeal body as man does. In Genesis 1:26 we learn that God created “man in our image.” “IT” would stand up to reason, then, as something man can use reason to so reason. God said to the prophet in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together…” Another indication that God made man a spirit is that man can reason with Him.
3
The Greek philosopher Democritus was one of the first men to discover the atom (source: Wikipedia). Though he had no kind of microscope to assist him, he reasoned through philosophy to the existence of the unseen atom. Note the irony: man can reason discovering the atom, but so many can not reason to the existence of God. What does one need to comprehend and see the existence of God? One could use a mix of reason, philosophy (reasoning?), logic, understanding, and how about common sense! But the cry will be, whose common sense?, whose understanding?, whose logic?, whose philosophy?, etc. Today, common sense seems often to be in short supply. The philosophers seem to get to a point of often enjoying the game of playing word ball and meandering in umpteen directions with philosophical jargon (that many people do not comprehend) and get more of a rise through word play than staying rigidly with the original problem and trying to solve ‘IT.’ I am just saying, the philosopher sometimes enjoys to show that he or she has studied philosophy mightily. One should study to show “…thyself approved unto God” rather than to men (2 Tim. 2:15). Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 that the “..invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse. “ Note also Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man was able to reason to the unseen atom, but he can not reason to God through his seen handiwork (i.e., visual evidence). The question then is, is there another way that we can comprehend God? Keep reading….
III. SOUL, SPIRIT, PERSON, SELF, DESPAIR CONTINUED.
When man despairs, he must despair over something. Kg says that the possibility of man having this sickness (of despair)
“…is man’s advantage over the beast, and it is an advantage which characterizes him
quite otherwise than the upright posture, for it bespeaks the i nfinite erectness or lofti-
ness of his being spirit. The possibility of this sickness is man’s advantage over the
beast; to be aware of this sickness is the Christian’s blessedness. Consequently, it is
an infinite merit to be able to despair” (SUD, 45, 46).
Did the reader ever contemplate over the fact that creation, minus man, does not have to worry or despair or feel depressed over something. The birds “toil” nor “spin” over anything. It is always man who toils, spins, worries, despairs, and becomes sick concerning life issues. Yet, the very ability to do such gives him an advantage that animals do not have. Why does man need such an advantage? Well, he would not need it if he were going to end up at the same place as do the animals. God did not create the animals with spirit nor in His image. Kg calls despair an imbalance.Many there are in today’s world who are harboring an imbalance in being! Does this constitute
a disease? When man gets an imbalance, he is told that such and such is not his fault but is thefault of some disease A preacher was asked once in an open forum whether or not alcoholism was a disease? His response was, “Well, if it is, it is the only disease I know that a man can catch out of a bottle.” A lot of people world-wide are unstable and deranged (some perhaps insane) and are sick with despair Else, why would so many people feel the need to drug themselves or numb themselves and impale themselves emotionally with things in life that hide and blur the state of reality (Truth) and what at one time in the past was a state of purity and uprightness? Kg asks where this sickness, this imbalance comes from? He writes,
“From the relation in which the synthesis (i.e., with one thing relating to another, RDC)
relates to itself, from the fact that God, who made man this relation, as it were, lets go
of it…and in the fact that the relation is spirit, is the self…” (SUD, 46).
Man had a relationship with God in the garden of Eden, but once he broke the covenant with God, his relationship ceased, as did his spiritual being or self. For Kg says further,
“…the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die. In this it has much in common
with the condition of the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death but cannot die.
Thus to be sick unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though there were hope of life.
No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope,death, is gone. When death is the greatest
danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns to know the even more horrifying danger,
one hopes for death. When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then
despair is the hopelessness of not even being able to die” (SUD, 48).
4
Recall how Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves once “their eyes were opened.” There was a tremendous transition which occurred within their being. They realized that they had sinned against their Creator, had brought sin and shame upon themselves, had created a great divide between themselves and God, and experienced the sting of spiritual death. So many people have, since that enormous event, been running, are still running, and who will continue running from Almighty God
thinking they are hiding from Him and will not have to give an eternal account. When Jesus told the friends and family of Lazarus that he did not have the sickness unto death, though dead and rotting in the grave, friends and family thought (just like we would today) that that would have been the end (the finality) of Lazarus. Lazarus had a sickness that led to his physical demise; this still did not lead to his spiritual sickness, for those who have this sickness and ultimately die from it, will have died from the sickness that ends in eternal death (death # 2). When an individual has a grave sickness such as terminal cancer, he or she may get to a point where continued treatment would not prove beneficial. At such a place in medical care a person might choose to discontinue medical treatment rather than continue in pain and suffering. Rather than prolong the agonies of living, one might choose to let nature take its natural course and die. If that were to happen, one (though dying, RDC) would still not experience “the sickness unto death” as alluded to in John 11:4. A person can die a natural death or die from a physical illness (cancer) and still may have to face a final, eternal death (i.e., a second, final death) if lost in sin. Again as Kg remarks,.
“And the relation to himself is something a human cannot be rid of, just as little
as he can be rid of himself, which for that matter is one and the same thing, since
the self is indeed the relation to oneself” (SUD, 47).
This self is the self created by God: the body, the soul, and the spirit. Man was created in God’s image as a spirit. The former relationship with God was terminated during man’s fall. The relationship man had with God was severed to the extent that Adam died a spiritual death when God walked with man no more. Man had a God-given breath of life in him with a low-grade of soulishness in him that still placed him above the beasts of the field, and made man into a natural, soulish being. The terminal cancer patient would think that his physical death would end the sickness and illness from the disease of cancer. Death would mean that this physical sickness would end this ickness and the man would have no more sickness to deal with. Kg states further on this:
“…death is no doubt the end of the sickness, but death (physically,RC) is not the
end. If in the strictest sense, there, is to be any question of a sickness unto death,
it must be one where the end (finality, RC) is death and where death
(finality, RC) is the end. And thinking that (the finality, RC) is precisely to despair.
…Yet despair is the sickness unto death in another and still more definite sense.
For there is not the remotest possibility of dying of this sickness in the straight-
forward sense, or of this sickness ending in physical death. On the contrary,
the torment of despair is precisely the inability to die (in the final sense, RC). In
this it has much in common with the mortally ill person who is in the throes of death
but cannot die. No, the hopelessness is that even the last hope, death, is gone.
When death is the greatest danger, one hopes for life. But when one learns
to know the even more horrifying danger, one hopes for death (as in extinction,
RC). When the danger is so great that death has become the hope, then despair
is the hopelessness of not even being able to die. ..Thus to be sick (in the
final, eternal sense, RC) unto death is to be unable to die, yet not as though
there is hope for eternal life” (SUD, 47-48).
If the christian with a terminal illness dies, then just before his death his hope is to end his physical illness to begin a new life after death. He thinks his death (referenced as death #1) will end his pain and suffering, but, there awaits for all men who are outside the body of Christ (i.e., christian) another death (death # 2) and that comes after the judgment. Note that it “is appointed unto men once to die (death # 1), but after this the Judgement (death # 2 for those outside Christ, Hebrews 9:27). Also, we read in Revelation 20:13,14, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Was there ever a point in your life, even now, dear reader that you could have wished that you could just go back to nonbeing before existence so that you wouldn’t have to deal with drudgeries of life? If you could go, would you choose to go back to nonbeing, never to have been born? Think of all those souls who will be sentenced to eternal death in hell “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8,9).
5
IV. CONFRONTING A UNIVERSE FULL OF HAYSTACKS LOOKING FOR ONE NEEDLE
Yes, the universe is a big place and still keeps expanding. Scientists and astronomers keep discovering new worlds and new information. Searching through the mountains upon mountains of available information seems similar to looking through a universe of haystacks for a one needle of Truth. Such an endeavor seems almost impossible to do. Man has a deep and abiding yearning to understand where he comes from, what his purpose is, and what happens after he dies. These are not just casual questions of curiosity, but metaphysical questions that rivet to the core of one’s inner being. Many millions of people are not satisfied with asteroids, electric sparks, matters of chance, and bag-of-dirt responses as answers to man’s origin? Science deals well with matters involving the natural, physical world, but can say nothing about spiritual life as revealed by God. Only do fools reject and ignore the Scriptures. Reject the bible and there is nowhere else to go to comprehend, meditate, and wrestle with the matter of man as a spiritually-created being. With God and His Word, there is hope beyond the grave. The scientist looks at things from the standpoint of the petri dish, the telescope, microscope and the ever present empirical eye. So far as he is concerned, one must not even mention something called spirit. At this point alone, man is no more than a bag of dirt with a smattering of corpuscles, neurons, sinews, blood, and guts. From that standpoint, man just has to live with that very shallow and superficial idea of temporal existence and live out his life until his time is spent and he dies–end of story. Such is hardcore science! What more despicable, grave-stomping, and dishonorable discharge of selfishness than to pay such an appalling tribute to all the men and women who have fought and died in wars so that we have freedom today
to think for ourselves and honor those who died in a spiritual sacrifice that others may so live? All those men and women did not die thinking they were sacrificing their lives just to save other bags of dirt! “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 135:13). The petri dish and the telescope have no reply. However, there is another prominent view of life that has been in existence as long as man has existed. Some of the greatest minds from the past have contemplated man as a spirit being. Putting aside for the moment that man is no more than a body of earth (dirt), we believe that man is made up of earth, soul, spirit, mind (spiritual) heart (spiritual) with there being somewhere within the spirit of man a place for intellect, will, emotions,conscience, etc. Along with the teachings of Holy Scriptures, the believer understands that the spirit within man is comprised of soul and spirit and that residing within man’s soul and spirit are found his heart and mind (rather than just a physical heart and physical brain). Many thinkers and writers have produced charts, schematic drawings, and outlines made to comprehend in all honesty what is the true physical and spiritual makeup of man.
Somewhere within the soul is also found man’s spirit; and somewhere within man’s spirit are found man’s kardia (heart) and nous (mind). How/where to place these all together on a chart or map is problematic. The bible student knows that in the bible heart and mind are often interchangeable. For example, in Psalms 73:21 we read, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind.” This is an example of synonymous parallelism where the two halves of the verse refer to the same thing. Another example is taken from Luke 24:25 where we read, “…O fools, and slow of heart to believe…” compared with Luke 24:45 that says, “Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures.” These two scriptures teach that there is no difference between believing with the heart and believing with the mind. Many other passages exist, but we press on concerning IT.
V.. THE FORMS OF A WORLD OF DESPAIR
As the world is full of despair, the irony is that though many people live in despair, they are often unaware of IT. With a common view among people that being in despair is just a minor problem with being bored or in being a little depressed, Kg says that such a view
“overlooks (just to mention something which, properly grasped, brings thousands
upon thousands and millions under the category of despair)–it altogether overlooks
that the very fact of not being in despair, of not being conscious of being in despair,
is itself a form of despair” (SUD, 53).
He further adds,
“as soon as man ceases to be regarded under the aspect of spirit (and unless he
is regarded in that way, neither can there be any question of despair), but merely
as a synthesis of soul and body, when health becomes an immediate characteristic,
and it is only in the soul’s or the body’s sickness that the dialectical (i.e. in the
argot of a particular class or social structure, RC) arises. But despair is exactly
man’s unconsciousness of being characterized as spirit…But the connoisseur of
souls will no doubt concede, the normal situation is exactly this: that most people
live without being properly conscious of being characterized as spirit–and to this
one can trace all the so-called security, contentment, with life, etc., which is exactly
despair…Ah! So much is spoken about human misery; I try to understand it, have
been closely acquainted with not a little of it. So much is spoken about wasting
one’s life. But the only life wasted is the life of the one who lived it, deceived by
life’s pleasures or its sorrows, that he never became decisively, eternally, conscious
of himself as spirit, as self, or what is the same, he never became aware–and gained
in the deepest sense the impression–that there is a God, and that he (man, RC).
himself, his self, exists before this God, which infinite gain is never come by
except through despair” (SUD, 56-57).
6
Essentially, people just do not think about the inner man (spirit), do not conclude that he does exist, and he has needs that go beyond the pail of gold, diamonds, and pleasures. Jonathan Edwards preacher from 1703-1758), wrote a sermon entitled, “God Makes Men Sensible of Their Misery Before He Reveals His Mercy” in which he used Hosea 5:15: as his text: “I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.” Yet, so many in affliction and despair, rather than go down deep into the inner, inner man turn to every kind of fake apothecary and false cure under Solomon’s sun. And all for what
temporal purpose?: to ease and soothe man’s body, his bag of dirt. Wrote Edwards,
“When Israel revolted, God gave them into the hands of their enemies. He let
them continue in their hands, till they were reduced to great distress, and
saw that they were in a helpless condition, and were brought to reflect on them-
selves, and to cry unto the Lord. And then God raised them up a deliverer.
And when they cried unto God, he would not deliver them till he had humbled
them, and brought them to own their unworthiness, and to own that they
were in God’s hands” (cf. Judges 10:10 vv).5
These are various levels of despair depending upon the circumstances one lives in. There is 1) living in despair but being ignorant of it or not willing to take note, and 2) being conscious of despair but in terms of a) there is weakness in despair (i.e., one is not willing to do what is necessary to help cure the despair) as the individual is unwilling to recognize one’s true self as a spiritual being; and b) willing despairingly to be one’s self with a total, defiant disregard for what the self should be. Again, the reader is to keep in mind that the true self (as originally created by God) consists of body, soul, and spirit. The spirit ceased in man when Adam sinned and God removed Himself from a spiritual relationship with man.
The apostle Paul explained it this way: “It (the body, RC) is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body, There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” (I Corinthians 15:43-46). Then note what he said in I Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto them, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And what of the supposed “hidden” needle? The irony of all ironies is
that the needle is and always has been in plain view!
Although a person can live in ignorance of being in despair, he is in despair whether he knows this or not. Determined by the circumstances in which one lives, many people are able to live in comfort and imagined peace. Things may be perceived to be going pretty well. Writes Kg,
“Certainly this self-righteousness is not highly regarded. It is regarded
as little as people in general regard the relationship to truth, the relating
of oneself to the true, as the highest good, and even less see it
Socratically as the greatest misfortune to be in error–their sensuous
reactions usually far outweigh their intellect. A person supposedly
fortunate in this way, who imagines himself blessed by good fortune but
when considered in the light of truth is unfortunate, is usually very far
from wanting to be snatched out of this error. On the contrary, he grows
the reason? He is totally dominated by his sensuous and psycho-
sensuous reactions; he lives in the categories of the sensate, the pleasant
and the unpleasant, poo-poos spirit, the truth, etc; he is too sensate
to have the courage to risk and endure being spirit” (SUD, 73).
I would like to add concerning the sensate man, he not only does not have the courage, but he does not have the interest or needed will to fight, scratch, and claw (if need be) to find the one needle of eternal truth. However, an individual who is numbed by drugs, alcohol, wealth, fame, and a seemingly endless bounty of life’s pleasures and distractions (and rest assured that our age is the age of deception), is one who cannot fathom the eternal self God created, but spends his time and efforts addressing the needs of the beast. The individual who is conscious of his self that is incorporated with soul and spirit, ultimately quits, gives up, and turns his back to God thinking, “God’s standards are too high–I cannot measure up.” He cannot recognize what God and Eternity offer. The individual who at one time heard or read and considered the truth is like the man who “…beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James 1:23, 24). Thus, this individual is satisfied in wallowing in the mire of temporary,sensuous pleasures. The third individual over time becomes hardened, cynical, and angry. Life has dealt him with too many “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” This person has earned his/her stripes and has earned the right to live in “demonic” despair. The world has paid him/her enough pain and misfortune, and now it is time for repayment. None of the people living in despair (where the spirit is ignored) are able (willing) to listen long enough to hear, to truly hear! So, the atheists, nonbelievers, deceivers, falsehood weavers, and gluttons of the temporal domain are able and willing to discourse concerning the physical landscape, but shy away from the spiritual landscape. God teaches spirit man that “…it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). The soulish man (minus a spiritual self) teaches that “greed is good” (Wallstreet). The spiritual man will teach that good is better than evil; but the soulish man teaches that evil is sometimes (maybe all the time) good. What ends up are two differing world views: one spiritual, where good is always the best system of existence; and, one where evil has its place. Then, one will start the argument,“Well, what do you call evil?” And thus the word ball game starts and one is “…ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
7
Kg says of such,
“…they have no conception of being spirit, the absolute that a person can
be; but vain and conceited they remain–comparatively speaking. If one were to imagine a house consisting of a basement, ground floor and first
floor, tenanted or planned in such a way that there is, or is meant to be,
a difference of social class between the occupants of each floor–and if
now one were to compare being a human being with such a house, then
the sorry and ludicrous fact with most people is, alas, that in their own
house they prefer to live in the basement. Every human being is the
psycho-physical synthesis (created as, RC) planned as spirit; this is the building, but he prefers living in the basement, that is, in the categories
of sensation. Moreover, he not only prefers living in the basement–no,
he loves it so much that he is indignant if anyone suggests he occupy
the fine suite lying vacant for him…” (SUD, 73, 74).
That is an excellent metaphor that Kg writes of contemporary society. It is not only the idea of people who are not interested in the outlay of the upper suite, people in the comfort of the sensate have grown accustomed to living in the domain of the animal kingdom and in the noxious fumes of despair. Note what Paul said in Romans 1:20, 21, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they Knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” “IT” goes beyond being more impressed and satisfied with a fake sense of happiness from the sensate, and further beyond being satisfied with living in the basement; like those people in Paul’s day, people are not thankful even though they have a pretty good idea that God is. I believe that no matter if God gave to mankind machines that produced unlimited supplies of gold and unlimited supplies of any hind of drugs to take, such people would not be thankful to God and follow Him anyway–no matter what greatness He did for man. So many do not care; so many do not care enough to think; so many who can think, think more of the flesh than the spirit. In not knowing God, or in not studying to know Him at a deeper level,I conclude that there are many who dislike, even hate the Sovereign Creator. In summary we now come face to face directly with the “IT.” In the end that which people will not have thought through is the “IT” of eternity spent in having to realize that God IS and that one must exist in anguish and torment forever wishing to die (i.e., wishing to be nonexistent as one was in eternity past never to be born) but eternally unable to do so. Of those who suffer at the hands of the wicked and violent, Paul wrote, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation
to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thess. 1:6-9). Though many run rampant in a rage of iniquity and mock Him, God is not mocked (cf. Galatians 6:7). Read Luke 6:25, “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” Read Luke 9:47, 48, where Mark wrote, “…it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched.” “IT”? “IT”?! Why, an eternity of pain and suffering, wishing eternally not to be, wishing to be totally extinct, totally dead, but unable to die. Having one’s “being” cast into eternal fire, burning passionately with the desire to cease “being.” Many have long held that the body will literally burn eternally in hell, where the fire is not quenched. But there is no physical body to burn in flames in hell. Just as there will not be any streets paved in gold in heaven. God uses language that man can understand to help him understand physically what will happen spiritually. Either way, the pain and suffering is just as unbearable. On
Judgment Day the lost will with their own eyes see the eternal reality of God. Now, here are the years of temporal life (to ponder, meditate, search, deliberate, question, analyze, etc.) what they either will or will not be doing throughout eternity. “BEING” wrong will mean having to die the sickness unto death, where the worm never dies, and where nonexistence never comes.
Some visitor once came into the room of W. C. Fields as he was being cared for in the hospital. Upon seeing the pleasantly surprised expression on the face of the visitor catching Mr. Fields reading the bible, his abrupt reply was, “Just looking for loopholes.”
Endnotes
1 https://recoverybrands.com/drugs-in-america-vs-europe/
2 Ibid
3 Kieregaard, Soren, The Sickness Unto Death, published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 978-0-140-44533-6,
translated with an introduction and notes by Alastair Hannay, 1989.
4 https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/526-soul-and-spirit-whats-the-difference
5 http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/misery.htm
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