God created animals and he create humans with both similarities and differences. Those differences are what is called our human nature. Human nature is defined as our general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral trait. What is it that makes us humans different from all the other animals God created?

Sin, Evil, Death, Dying, and What Happens After We Die

This series addresses an age-old concern that we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.

Here, we address the origin of sin, and we look more closely at death and dying.

But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again. 

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School

See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School

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Inviting God’s Presence

Holy Father, give us a clear understanding of your word, so that we may not be confused by Satan’s lies. In Jesus Name Amen (Split)

In Genesis 1:24–27 and in Genesis 2:7, 19 we read that God created animals and humans. There are some similarities and differences in the way that He made both humans and animals. See if you can determine the differences.

Genesis 1:24-27

24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.

25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 2:7

7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 2:19

19 Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

The Bible teaches that God made heaven and earth in six literal days. In Genesis 1:24–27 we find that on the sixth day of creation, God made land animals and the first human beings both male and female.  We are told in Genesis 2:19 that God “formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky”. Similarly in Genesis 2:7 God also “formed a man from the dust of the ground.”

Thus, God made both animals and man from the ground. But the formation of man was different from animals in two significant ways.

First, God shaped man’s body physically. Then He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” as expressed in Genesis 2:7.  In other words, Adam had a physical body before he became a living one.

Second, God created humans both male and female in the very image and likeness of Himself as read in Genesis 1:26 and 27.  In contrast, animals were not created in the image and likeness of God.

Genesis 2:7 explains that God breathed into Adam’s physical body the “breath of life.” This act transformed Adam in the Hebrew language into Naphesh shayyah (Nephesh chayyah) “a living being” or literally “a living soul.”

Listen to what it says in a book called Ministry of Healing regarding what God did when he created man.

In the creation of man was manifested the agency of a personal God. When God had made man in His image, the human form was perfect in all its arrangements, but it was without life. Then a personal, self-existing God breathed into that form the breath of life, and man became a living, intelligent being. All parts of the human organism were set in action. The heart, the arteries, the veins, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the senses, the faculties of the mind, all began their work, and all were placed under law. Man became a living soul. Through Christ the Word, a personal God created man and endowed him with intelligence and power.—The Ministry of Healing, p. 415. 

Thus, God breathed the breath of life into Adam’s nose. Simply put, God’s breath changed Adam’s lifeless body into a living person or living soul. 

This Bible truth is significant because it helps us to understand that we don’t have a soul, existence, or being that lives separate from the human body. We are all living souls or living beings. 

Contrary to what many may think, the Bible doesn’t teach us that the soul or spirit lives separate from the human body. The claim that the “soul” is a conscious entity that can exist separate from the human body is a pagan idea, not a biblical one.

Why is this knowledge significant? It goes back for example to Halloween and why it has been historically celebrated. Recall from a previous lesson, we discovered that the Celtics believed that between October 31st and November 1st the barrier between the dead and the living is removed, thus opening the door for the dead to communicate with the living. This idea was incorporated into Christianity to encourage the Celtic to convert to Christianity and it has been passed on from generation to generation.

Thus, when we understand how God made us humans, we will not accept the

popular teaching that says the spirit continues living after the body dies. This popular idea of an immaterial soul has many dangerous errors built upon it that stem from Satan’s lie to Eve, you will not surely die.

The fact is we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God created us and we should not speculate beyond what the Scriptures say. 

The very nature of life is a mystery. Even scientists can’t agree on when a person’s life starts and ends or what it means for something to be alive. A bigger mystery is the nature of consciousness, just how do the cells and chemicals in our brains make thoughts, feeling, and emotions? The scientists who study this question say that

they don’t really know. So, should we attempt to guess are fill in the pieces to the questions that the Bible doesn’t ask or answer?

Life is a miracle! It brings joyful feelings to all who appreciate this wonderful gift of life not only in the present but eternal life as well. 

So, What happens to our soul when we die?

Find out in Day 3: The Soul Who Sins Shall Die

You can Watch Our Past and Present Lessons on SabbathSchoolDaily.com

This may sound a bit morbid but as human beings with life, we are living beings. Apart from life, we are dead beings. What happens when we become dead beings? Do we remain conscious of what is going on in this world?