2341.—Are the Dead Conscious? Job 14:21, 22; Isa. 66:24.
Do these scriptures teach that the dead are conscious and that they know what is going on upon the earth? A. L. M. It seems as tho a reading of Job 14:20, 21 would be sufficient to answer this question of the death of man, "Thou prevailest forever against him, and he passeth; thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." The twenty-second verse refers to man's condition before that change comes, "His flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn;" that is, during this time and this life. But when the change comes he knows nothing of what takes place here upon earth, as expressed in another scripture, "the dead know not anything." Isa. 66:24 is answered in another question on Mark 9:43-48.