Doctrine Paper Biblical and Theological Research

Student Name
Name of Professor
Course Subject
Date Submitted
Doctrine Paper Biblical and Theological Research
No one knows what the future holds; however, we also know that all things will eventually come to an end, even our lives here on earth. Revelations 22:13 (New International Version) says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” In the Scriptures we can find that God spoke the creation of the world and He will accomplish what is written about the End Times. Furthermore, we as Christians should not lose heart because we have hope of eternity with Christ after death. The branch of Christian doctrine that deals with the study about the future especially the End Times is called eschatology. There are two areas of eschatology namely: individual and general or world. The study of general eschatology includes the Second Coming of Christ, Final Judgment and Eternal State. On the other hand, the study of individual eschatology include subjects about physical death, immortality of the soul and intermediate state (The Disciplined Order of Christ). Nevertheless, this doctrine is still widely debated as many nonbelievers tell that these are just fairy tale stories. They argue that everything will just eventually disappear and that there is no life after death. Hence, Biblical evidences about afterlife, particularly death, immortality of the soul, resurrection of the dead and the existence of heaven and hell, should be carefully gathered and clearly communicated so as to re-affirm the belief of the many Christians and to strongly refute the concept of eternal oblivion.
Temporal Death
As TED Talks told, death is a matter that is applicable to all but is not as easy to talk about in everyday conversations. While death is medically defined as the complete and permanent cessation of bodily functions, such as breathing—when you take away their breath, they die and return to death (Ps. 104.29), we as Christians that this event is our transition towards eternity (Jn. 5.24). Moreover, as the physical body decays after death it will return to the dust from where it came from (Ecc. 12.7).
In the Scriptures, the root cause of death was disobedience to God’s command—“but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die (Gen. 2.17).” Subsequently, as God was angered with the sin of men, the curse of hardship and death were given as judgment for all the generations to come (Gen. 3.19).
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned… (Rom. 5.12).
Additionally, the Bible says that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6.23).
So now, what if men did not sin in the first place, will death happen to mankind? Several theologians such as Keating believed that God designed humans as eternal beings with three components: physical body, spirit and soul (1 Thess. 5.23). And as the sin entered, it caused physical and spiritual death. The Bible emphasized that even when a person lives physically, he can be dead spiritually due to living a life tha...