"Soul sleep" is the theological belief that the human soul never departs from the body, not even after the body dies. When the body dies, the soul "sleeps" until the day of resurrection. "Soul annihilation" goes hand-in-hand with soul sleep. It is the belief that hell is not a place where the soul is in a state of eternal torment. Rather a lost person's soul is annihilated the moment it is cast into the lake of fire.
This concept of the human soul is simply not biblical. The apostle Paul was clear on this matter when he wrote, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8 KJV). He went on to tell the Corinthians of a vision he had: "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth)" (2 Cor. 12:2-3).
Luke 16:19-31 is an account of two men who died: a self indulgent rich man, and a beggar named Lazarus. Verses 22 & 23 tell us, "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell [or hades] lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Contrary to proponents of soul sleep, this account is not a parable. Jesus did not present it as a parable. He did not give any interpretation or application at the end. Secondly, Jesus used two proper names in this story (Lazarus and Abraham). According to the majority of Bible scholars, parables in ancient Middle Eastern cultures never contained proper names. That was probably to prevent any listeners from misunderstanding the parable to be an actual historical event. Finally, if soul sleep and soul annihilation are true, then this story is a parable disingenuous, confusing, and unlike Jesus!
Also Revelation 20:10 reads, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." The beast (or "the antichrist") is a real man: a world leader who will persecute everybody who refuses to worship him. He and his false prophet will face eternal torment together with Satan in the lake of fire.
These and other Scriptures (1 Sam. 28:13-15; Eccl. 12:7; Acts 7:59; and Phil. 1:21) speak loudly against the doctrines of soul sleep and soul annihilation (so do Matt. 27:50; Luke 23:46; and John 19:30 in most Bible translations). I am hesitant to categorize these doctrines as damnable heresies, because not all groups that teach them are cults. (The Seventh-Day Adventist Church teaches soul sleep and soul annihilation, but I do not consider it a cult.) Nonetheless, they are doctrinal deviations at best. The Scriptures militate against them.
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