How would you define death?

The definition of this singular enemy of man and beast is quite straightforward yet the misconceptions are so numerous that one wonders, how difficult can it be to grasp something so simple?

Well, "The advanced English Dictionary" defined death as "the cessation of life and associated processes; the end of an organism's existence... And it's return to an inert, non-living state." In a nutshell, many have defined it as the absence or the opposite of life.

Death was the penalty for sin. Adam, who was non-living (nowhere) until he received the breath of life, was to go back to his state of non-existence. If he somehow continued living, then that would contradict the very definition we have given death and would not be a penalty at all.

Consider the first lie ever told (or was it a lie?) . Satan told Eve to eat of the fruit God commanded them not to eat and then he said "you positively will not die." Who lied? God or Satan? If truly Adam died and thus CEASED to exist, then God would be found true. If however, Adam went on living somehow (by means of an immortal soul or spirit), then Satan spoke the truth and God is the liar.

If it's so difficult to see the logic in the preceding arguments then Consider, once more, the following scriptures. "The dead know nothing at all... There is no work nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave to which you are going" (Ecclesiastes 9:5,6,10). "the soul that is sinning, it itself will die" (Ezekiel 18:4). "For dust you are, and to dust you will return" (Gen.3:19).

Again, if the dead are still somehow undead, which implies living (regardless of whether you believe they are in Hellfire/Heaven, they reincarnated, they are in purgatory, they are roaming about around us, they are existing as animals/trees etc.) of what use is Jesus death? "God... Sent his only begotten son so that anyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have EVERLASTING LIFE" (John 3:16). This implies that only those who exercise faith in Christ's ransom sacrifice can gain everlasting life. Would that still be true if we somehow go on living, in soul or spirit, after death? Would his death not be in vain?

Satan made Eve believe she would not die, now he's trying (and successfully too considering the different beliefs flying around) to make us believe that we really do not die, but go on living somehow. What you choose to believe will either prove God a liar or prove Satan a liar.

Again, how would you define death?