Man's Creation-Mortal or Immortal? by Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, Cal. · Sep 17, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 36.

Man's Creation—Mortal or Immortal?

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

THERE is no question that is or has ever been oftener asked by the human heart than this: Does death end all? After a few years more, when this bounding, joyous heart of mine shall be quiet, and this busy, scheming, planning, worrying brain shall be numbed and palsied by the fingers of Death—then what? Is it decreed by a grim and unalterable fate that I must die like the brute? that this splendid body, these delicate nerves, this wondrous human mechanism, shall never live again? that I shall never again meet those whom I so fondly love—never again hold in my arms those dear ones for whom I now live, and who are dearer to me than my own life?

And these busy hands! Must they remain idle—idle, through the ceaseless cycles of eternity? Is the frailest monument that they build, more enduring than the crafty hands which built it? Must this be always thus?

These are questions that have been asked with unutterable longing by anxious, ambitious, life-loving men and women since the world began. Job was interested in the same theme, and asked the same old question, "If a man die, shall he live again?" We have no record that Job ever queried whether his lost property would be restored to him, or whether his friends would ever again treat him with the respect of other years, or even if the horrible boils that gnawed and burrowed into his flesh would ever be healed,—nothing of this kind. The grand old hero only asked the same question thousands of years ago, that is troubling mankind to-day.

Was Man Created with Immortal Soul?

In answering this question, let us journey backward, in our mind, to the Garden of Eden, on the sixth day of creation; because if we can learn something of the nature that God gave our first parents, we shall be able to judge fairly of our own nature. If Adam had any particular substance or essence implanted within him, which could neither die nor be killed or destroyed in any way, then, by birth and inheritance, being children of Adam, so have we. In other words, did God create Adam and Eve immortal? Did He give them some principle of life, some undying essence, incapable of destruction? Did He give them an immortal soul? Was the "dust" surcharged with some indestructible substance?

"O, no," you say, "God breathed into their nostrils, and of course God's breath must have imparted an undying or imperishable nature to them." Let us quote the text: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Query: But has this "breath" of the Almighty always given undying life to those upon whom it has been directed? It would so seem if this "living soul" of Adam became an undying one because of the fact that the breath of God had entered his nostrils. But let us see.

Suppose we get our concordance and sit down. Let us turn to Job 4:9: "By the breath of His nostrils are they consumed,"—speaking of the wicked. Again, Isa. 11:4, "With the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked."

Then it is not true that the breath of God must impart some undying quality or principle to those upon whom that breath is directed. In these instances, at least, it does the exact opposite—it causes them to perish.

Is a Living Soul Immortal?

"But," you say, "man became a living soul; now is not that equivalent to saying that he became an immortal soul?"—There is tremendous difference. Are you willing, my good friend, to accept the legitimate conclusions of this false reasoning? If the term "living soul" means "immortal soul," then it can be clearly proved, by turning to Rev. 16:3, that all the monsters of the deep, sharks and whales and slimy reptiles, have each an "immortal soul;" for the identical term is used. John says, "And it [the sea] became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea." This text proves too much, and consequently proves nothing, except the truth that living souls are capable of dying, and that all kinds of animal life possess a living soul, in common with man.

Again: If God created Adam and Eve immortal to begin with, then pray why was it necessary to drive them from the Garden of Eden?

We are told plainly why God did drive them thence. It was because God did not desire to perpetuate a life of sin; and free access to the Tree of Life, which was in the garden, would do this very thing. "And the Lord God 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."

Why Driven Out if Immortal?

Now was not this a strange procedure for the all-wise God—to "drive" them from the garden, lest they eat of the Tree of Life, and live forever—if He had already given them immortal souls which could not die any way? Then might Satan well say to the Almighty, "You may drive them from the garden, and shut them from the Tree of Life, but it is in vain. You have already defeated Your own plans, for man is not dependent upon the Tree of Life. You have created him with an immortal soul—he can not die!"

Let us not impute folly to the All-wise. But what are the plain facts in the case?—Man was created a responsible and intelligent being,—a probationer. While he obeyed God, life was assured to him, and not all the fiends in hell could take it from him; because while obedient, he had free access to the Tree of Life, the source of life to him. Had he continued to be obedient, it would of course never have been taken from him.

But a pure and holy God could not perpetuate a life of sin eternally. Hence He deprived man of the one thing which made his eternal existence possible; namely, the Tree of Life.

And—O, thank God—it will be given back to him and to his redeemed posterity. It will be a part of the "purchased possession."

"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of Life."