Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 6/15/2009

Question
Dear Pastor Carpenter,

What would a Seventh-Day Adventist tell Saint Justin Martyr, a second-century Christian martyr who disagrees with the Seventh-Day Adventist doctrine about soul sleep?  In paragraph 18 in his First Apology, he writes: "For reflect on the end of each of the preceding emperors, how they died the death common to all; which, if it issued in unconsciousness, would be a piece of luck for the wicked.  But since consciousness remains for all who have lived, and eternal punishment awaits [the wicked], do not neglect to be convinced and believe that these things are true.  For necromancy, and the divination you practice through innocent children, and the invoking of departed human souls, and those who are called among the magi dream-senders and familiars, and all that is done by those who are skilled in such things--let these persuade you that even after death souls are still conscious . . ."

I'm quoting from page 35 in"Ancient Christian Writers: The Works of the Fathers in Translation.  St. Justin Martyr: The First and Second Apologies," edited by Walter J. Burghardt, John J. Dillon, and Dennis D. McManus, translated by Leslie William Barnard.  Paulist Press published the book in New York City in 1997.

Thank you for your kind attention.

Answer
Hi Bill,

Thank you for this great question.  I think that you make a great point.  I do not know specifically how they would respond, because I have never heard that quote used in argument against soul sleep.  Even more compelling is scripture written by Paul:

2 Corinthians 5:6-8
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

The whole story of Luke 16:19 ff also gives us a clear picture of soul consciousness.  Thank you for this great quote.

In Christ
Pastor Don