Death is not an alternate - or preferable - form of life

Let's take another look at how the Bible introduces the reality of death into the story of Adam and Eve and Satan's proxy, the serpent. The serpent tempted Eve to believe that her life was her own; that she could live her life independent of any relationship with God. He insinuated that God set limits on human beings only to keep them from achieving a higher level of existence.

So, on one side we have God saying "Believe what I say. Obey My words or you will die" On the other side Satan says, "Don’t be afraid to disobey Him. You will not die but live like a god."

Adam and Eve disobeyed God. What happened? Was it a step toward a higher level of consciousness and knowledge? In a way, yes. They now had the knowledge that God had not wanted them to have. Now they knew both good AND evil.

The principle of evil – we refer to it as "sin" – expressed itself as guilt. That guilt brought fear, so they hid from God. That same guilt provoked Adam to blame God for creating the woman ("The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree…") Eve blamed the serpent. Was this the higher, god-like life the serpent had promised?

The choice to believe the serpent rather than God brought death into the human family. If Adam and Eve had never sinned, they would have lived eternally. That was the Creator’s purpose. He never intended for death to be a natural part of the human experience.

The result of disobedience (sin) is not an alternate and highly preferable form of consciousness, as the serpent promised Eve. The result, instead, is a state of nonexistence, a vacant nothingness totally without knowledge or consciousness of any kind. “The dead do not know anything” (Ecclesiastes 9:5).