The most serious neglect of parents is the general disregard of the souls of their children. Children are born with a sinful nature that leaves them guilty and punishable by God, yet since the time of Adam, they have received their pollution from their parents. For this reason, God requires parents to teach and to train their children. How heartless, then are those parents who have not so much compassion as to bring them up in the "nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4).

The Hebrew words "ben" –"a son", "bath" –"a daughter", and "beth" – "a house", all come from the same root word "bana" meaning "to build", for a son and a daughter, like a house, must be "built." How calloused ate they who take more care about the building of a house than the building of their children! How cruel, if the never-dying souls of children are left to be finally damned through the neglect of their parents!

But since Adam sinned, children are born in ignorance, and if they are not to remain forever alienated from God, they must be taught Doctrine. On account of their evil nature, they must be taught Discipline. They must be taught their lack of Christ, the worth of Christ, and how to come to Christ. Therefore, God commands, "train them up." Give them the first "dip"; that is, "initiate" them in the way they should go at the outset of their education.

There is a way they would go, but parents are to instruct them in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6). "Train them up" "when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up" (Deuteronomy 6:6,7), because

The twig is bent, the tree inclined –

And, so their heart, and soul, and mind.

Christian parents promise God to rear their children in the fear of the Lord, but they easily promise, and easily break it, and through their indulgence educate their children for the world, the flesh, and the devil. This betrayal of the souls of their children will lie heavy upon them in time and eternity. Children are born unto God; parents are but stewards, and a day of reckoning is promised.

Parents are inclined to love their children much, but only God can teach them to love them wisely. Affection without discipline will result in love without respect, and will evidence itself in back-talk and disobedience. However, discipline without affection will result in fear without love, and will end in rebellion.

Unless children are disciplined, they will die in their sins. Therefore, "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell" (Proverbs 23:13,14). Again, "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame" (Proverbs 29:15).

The simple neglect of our children brings the parent to shame, and barring intervention by God, seals their damnation. If left to their own spirit, they will be miserable in time and eternity. "Withhold it not" despite pleas and pity. Correct them lovingly, but firmly. Take time to instruct them in the way they should go. Then seal discipline with prayer.

"Correct thy son" is a command. To try more appealing ways is to set up your will in opposition to the will of God. Eli was cursed because he honored his sons above God, and did not restrain them from their evil way (I Samuel 2:29, 30; 3:11-14).

"Let us bring our children as near to heaven as we can," wrote Thomas Hooker. If you have any compassion for your children, show them how they are to conduct themselves. Lead them – because principle without example is hypocrisy. Labor that by the grace of God they may have an early knowledge of the Saviour. Then, pray incessantly for them because your work will not be done until you, or they, are in the grave.

THE SLEEP OF THE DEAD, or

THE THEORY OF SOUL SLEEP

Text: "For in death there is no remembrance of Thee." (Psalm 6:5}

Allow me to pose a question: "Is there life apart from Christ?"

This, my friend, is one of the chief arguments used to support the theory of soul sleep --the belief that the dead sleep until the resurrection morning. Some conjecture that only believers will then be raised from the dead because there is no life apart from Christ. According to this view, sinners pass in to oblivion.

"But, is there life apart from Christ?" This is a loaded question. Certainly God is the Giver of all life, but what is meant by the term "life?" Does the question refer to physical life? Spiritual life? Or, eternal life?

Physical life used to be referred to by philosophers as "animal life." It is certainly God who gives life to the flesh both of the Godly and of the ungodly.

Spiritual life refers to the communion of man with God. SO, the day Adam and Eve sinned, they died as God had said. (Genesis 2:16,17)

Eternal life is life that everlasts, and it is reposited in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore as John wrote, "He that hath the Son hath life, He that hath not the Son hath not life." (I John 5:11,12) Eternal life involves the resurrection of the physical body along with its flesh and bones, and it involves spiritual life, that is, unending communion with God.

Scripture is very precise. It says, "There is a resurrection of the just and of the unjust." (Acts 24:15} If as some affirm this "resurrection" should be understood of salvation, the "just" would not need it since no man can be just unless he is converted. Therefore the resurrection spoken of here of necessity speaks of the resurrection of the body. And, in order to make it clear that the resurrection of sinners is different from the resurrection of the saints, the Bible expressly reads that there is a resurrection "of the just and of the unjust."

Although Scripture affirms that for the believer to be absent from the body he is present with the Lord (II Corinthians 5:8) some within the household of faith have embraced the notion of "soul sleep", a position held by the Adventists beginning in the 19th century.

In the 1940’s William Miller, a Seventh-Day Baptist, set two dates for the Lord to return to earth. People sold their businesses, liquidated their assets and waited in vain for the Lord’s appearing.

When the Lord Jesus Christ did not appear, many of Miller’s followers became disillusioned. Some banded together to establish the Advent Christian Church, the more evangelical of the offshoots. Others followed the teaching of Ellen G. White and founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and out from them, were the Jehovah’s Witnesses. However, much to our sorrow, the doctrine of soul sleep has in recent years infected some Calvinistic Baptists.

People who espouse this error nearly always embrace the annihilation theory of Hell. It is an error that springs from a weak view of the nature of God and hence a soft understanding of the nature of sin.

"But is there life apart from Christ?" Yes, do not sinners experience physical life although they are "dead in trespasses and sins?" God is the giver of life to all --to men as well as to nations.

Now, if the question is asked, "Is there spiritual life apart from Christ?" the answer is "No!" The only access we have into communion with God is through the Son of God. Therefore, Paul spoke of them who lived in pleasure saying they are "dead while they live." (I Timothy 5:6)

"Is there eternal life apart from Christ?" In order to correctly answer, it is necessary to understand what is Biblically meant by the word "Life." The Bible teaches that a person is "dead" who is unfulfilled, unsatisfied, unhappy and otherwise in sin. Though they walk among us, such people are "dead while they live", "dead in trespasses and sins." (I Tim. 5:6; Eph. 2:1)

The answer to the question, "Is there life apart from Christ?’ is therefore "No!" but as there is a distinction made between the resurrection of the just and of the unjust, so there must be a distinction made between "existence" or "being", and "life". There is no joy or rest outside of Christ.

Scripture teaches that God will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead. (Acts 17:31} So Jesus tells us that the unjust "shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25:46)

Note first that the word "punishment" is used. One has to be conscious if he is to be punished. And note in the second place that the punishment God brings to bear upon the wicked is "everlasting."

Calvin succinctly remarks that the word "everlasting" means "to ever last," "or," he says, "it is not everlasting."

Now, consider the text –"In death there is no remembrance of Thee." Reader, when I seek Godly counsel, I go to the shelves of my library to consult with Godly ministers. Solomon wrote, "In the multitude of counsellors there is safety." (Proverbs 11:14} Commentators on Scripture were wise enough to put their understanding into print, so that although they are dead yet they speak.

Truth is not a recent arrival on the scene of history. Scripture is to be understood according to the manner in which the saints of God have historically understood it. So Spurgeon explained this verse saying, "Church yards are silent places; the vaults of the sepulchre echo not with songs. Damp earth covers dumb mouths. "0 Lord!" saith he, ‘if Thou wilt spare me I will praise Thee.’"

In 1659, Henry Drummond explained the text in virtually the same manner. "Spare me and then I may live to praise and magnify Thy mercy and grace."

John Gill understood it the same way. "The dead cannot praise the Lord among men, only the living." Then he added, "It does not follow from hence that the soul either dies or sleeps with the body, and is inactive until the resurrection-morn, neither of which is true, but the sense is that when a saint is dead he can no more serve and glorify God on earth among men."

Death is natural, even as sleep. In death we take the image of sleep. So the Psalmist says the dead "are as a sleep." Note the verse does not say the dead are asleep, but rather they are "as a sleep."

Charles Spurgeon, Matthew Henry and John Gill apply the verse as a "comparison of mortal life to sleep." "Time passes unobserved by us as it does with men who are asleep." Yet after explaining that "In a sound sleep time is insensibly gone," Gill adds, "And men when dead are asleep, not in their souls, but in their bodies."

Consider the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 9:5 –"The dead know not anything." As in Luke 16, the rich man once dead was unable to communicate with his brothers yet living, so the dead know nothing about the affairs of this world.

Charles Bridges points out "This Bishop Hall produces as an argument against invocation of saints the ground of which is their notice of our earthly condition and special devotions." (Old Religion, Chapter X, Section 2)

Job describes death as "the land of darkness as darkness itself ...without any order and where the light is as darkness." "This," says Gill, "is not to be understood of the things of the other world; for the righteous dead know much; their knowledge is greatly increased; they know as they are known...They know not anything that is done in this world, nor how it fares with their children and friends they have left behind them."

Some people believe that when a Godly person dies, he sleeps until the resurrection morning. This, however, is not consistent with the teaching of Scripture.

LETTERS

I am mighty grateful for your continued commitment and effort to minister to others. --Luder Whitlock, Jr., President Reformed Theological Seminary