Glad you brought that up, it's super relevant.
If we observe what happened here:
A living soul arises from the Spirit of God animating or quickening a physical body.
Body + Spirit = Living Soul
When the Spirit stops animating the body, when the person "gives up the ghost" soul dies (they cannot know anything, or feel emotions anymore - as said in the Ecclesiastes - loss of conscienceless, sentience, intent, thought of the heart)...
Hello SoulWeaver!
Your claim above is false. Let's look at the infamous Eccl.9:5 scripture that everyone relies on and causes them to reject all other scriptures that demonstrate the conscious awareness of the spirit/soul after death.
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For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.
Many expositors erroneously use this scripture to prove that when a person dies that they are unconscious, alsleep. However, we have other scriptures such as the rich man and Lazarus which reveals that after both these men died their spirits were down in Hades, conscious and aware. To understand the scripture above, we must look at the rest of the context which are the verses preceding Eccl.9:5
This is the evil in everything that happens
under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.
Anyone who is among the living has hope —even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
So, the context is regarding those who are still alive, i.e. the things that happen under the sun. For those who have joined the dead, they no longer have any part in life with those who are still alive. Their hate, jealousy and any other emotions no longer matter, because their spirits are now in Sheol/Hades and they have no part with the living. The scripture is not saying that people are unconscious and unaware after the death of the body. Then there's the following scripture:
Souls under the altar in heaven
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When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar
the souls of those
who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.
They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe
, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters,
were killed just as they had been.
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At the opening of the 5th seal, we have all of the souls that will have been killed on the earth during the first part of the tribulation period. This group is conscious and aware and having a conversation with the Lord. So, it is false to say that their souls are not, they cannot know anything, or feel emotions anymore. The rich man's spirit sure could feel emotions, as both he and Abraham said that he was in torment in flame.
It always amazes me that people grab ahold of Eccl.9:5 while ignoring all of the other scriptures which teach that the spirit/soul is conscious and aware after death. In further support that the spirit/soul is conscious after death, we have the following:
Souls under the earth
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Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
"And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one in heaven or on earth or
under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.
"Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and
under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:"
Who are these people under the earth? These are all of those who will died, where their spirits have gone down into Hades in torment until the great white throne judgment where they will be resurrected and judged for their sins.
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