WHAT IS MAN? by George B. Thompson

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 20.

WHAT IS MAN?

By George B. Thompson

BY ELDER GEORGE B. THOMPSON.

No GREATER theme could arrest the attention of man than that of himself. As he, by the slow development of his mental and physical powers, emerged from infancy to manhood and becomes capable of reasoning, intuitively his mind reverts to himself. Queries arise at every step the profound gloom of which science cannot dispel.

In all the diversified works of the great Architect there is nothing which presents a greater problem than man. What is he? How came he here? What lies beyond? What is life? Will it ever end? In answer to these queries the temple of nature can tell us nothing, and every human oracle is dumb.

We behold on every hand the ravages of the grim, remorseless tyrant, Death. His victims are silent and cold; every faculty of their being is extinguished beneath the touch of his icy hand. As we look upon his countless victims, we ask ourselves involuntarily the question, Is this their end, or will they live again?

A solemn question indeed, and how shall we know? None have ever passed the stern portals of the tomb, explored the mysterious regions beyond, and returned with the answer. The intense longing of the human soul will never be satisfied unless He who made man and placed him on the plane of human existence, has revealed to him his future. But this we fully believe God has done, and none need exclaim, like the skeptic Hobbs, when nearing his end, "I am taking a leap in the dark."

Our design in these articles is to answer the question, What is man? It is a question worthy of our most serious and candid consideration, and none can be true to themselves who allow prejudices or passion to bias them in their investigation. We are well aware that this subject has been the cause of many theological controversies; man is arrayed against man.

It is not, however, our purpose to follow the finespun arguments of theologies, or the cavils of skeptics into their lurking places, but simply to collate from God's revelation to man, the Bible, a few of its plain statements; before the sunlight of its truth, ignorance, superstition, and tradition will fall, and truth undimmed shine forth.

The question simply resolves itself into this, Is man mortal or immortal? He is either one, but not both. Which he is we will allow God in his word to tell us, and abide by his verdict.

Though the doctrine of inherent immortality is hoary with age, and numbers its adherents by millions, we refuse to accept it as true, but believe it to be the outgrowth of the serpent's lie in Eden, "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. 3:4), derogatory to the Son of God, and antagonistic to every precept of the gospel. When God made man and placed him in the garden, he gave him free access to all the trees, but forbade him to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The penalty for eating of this was death. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen. 2:17. And as soon as he ate thereof, his existence was forfeited, and the sentence of death lay upon him. The process of dissolution commenced. Then the Lord said: "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever; therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden; to till the ground from whence he was taken." Gen. 3:22, 23.

To have an unending existence he must eat of the "tree of life." If he was clothed with natural immortality, it would have been useless for God to drive him from the garden, and guard his approach to the tree of life. Did not his very existence depend on his eating of the tree of life?—Certainly. Has he done this since the fall?—No. Then how is it possible for him to have immortality within him now? Never having passed the flaming cherubim and eaten of the life-giving tree, he does not possess inherent immortality, and has no way to obtain it except through the gospel of the Son of God, which restores that which was lost by the fall. 2 Tim. 1:10.