Heaven, Hell or Somewhere Else?

What is Death?

The Bible teaches that death is a state of unconscious oblivion.  In Genesis we read that the sentence of death passed upon Adam and Eve meant returning to the dust of the ground.

Gen 3:19; 'In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.'

This was a punishment because of wrong doing in the Garden of Eden.  It was not a reward which would enable them to start a new life in Heaven, as some people think death to be.  The 'breath of life' from God, which had energized their bodies, was to be withdrawn.

Let's be clear about this. The 'breath of life' belongs to God, not to man.  With it, mankind lives.  When God withdraws it we die.  Without that life-force, a living soul or being becomes a dead soul or being.  The Bible account of Creation does not say that God breathed into man a living soul, let alone an ever-living soul.  Man became a soul or being.  Equally clearly, the 'breath of life' without the body is certainly not a 'soul'.  Man was not created an ever-living being nor did he have an immortal element implanted within him.
So, death was not to be the gateway to further life, but a punishment for disobedience.

What about us?

Where do we stand in relation to this law of God by which death follows as a consequence of sin?  Paul's letter to the Romans shows that we inherit Adam and Eve's mortality and their tendency to sin, though not their guilt (Romans 3:23, Romans 5:12 and Romans 6:23).  We all die, not only because we are all mortal, but because we all sin. Sin, like an employer, pays it's wages.  As Paul puts it : 'The wages of Sin is death.'  Romans 6:23.