Do the Dead Cease to Exist?

Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that death ends the person. Their page on the soul says the soul is the whole creature, not something inside that survives the body, and their page on death says that when we die we cease to exist. The King James has the dead with Christ before the resurrection, and a judgment after death. Jesus is God. The argument is whether the person is gone until God awakens a body, or whether the person is still there.

Key Points

• What Is a Soul? (1) says the soul is the entire creature, not something inside that survives the death of the body. It quotes Genesis 2:7Genesis 2:7 · King James VersionAnd the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.Genesis 2:7 · King James VersionOpen source (3): Adam became a living soul.
• The same page quotes Ezekiel 18:4Ezekiel 18:4 · King James VersionBehold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.Ezekiel 18:4 · King James VersionOpen source (4), “The soul that sinneth, it shall die,” and treats an immortal soul as a teaching from Greek philosophy.
• What Happens When You Die? (2) says the dead are conscious of nothing, so at death we cease to exist. It compares death to sleep, and says God can awaken the dead.
• Luke 16:22Luke 16:22 · King James VersionAnd it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;Luke 16:22 · King James VersionOpen source (6) has the rich man in torment and Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. Luke 23:43Luke 23:43 · King James VersionAnd Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.Luke 23:43 · King James VersionOpen source (6) has Jesus tell the man beside him that he would be with him that day in paradise.
• Philippians 1:23Philippians 1:23 · King James VersionFor I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:Philippians 1:23 · King James VersionOpen source (7) is a desire to depart and be with Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:82 Corinthians 5:8 · King James VersionWe are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.2 Corinthians 5:8 · King James VersionOpen source (8) is to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Hebrews 9:27Hebrews 9:27 · King James VersionAnd as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:Hebrews 9:27 · King James VersionOpen source (10) sets judgment after death.
• Deuteronomy 18:10Deuteronomy 18:10 · King James VersionThere shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.Deuteronomy 18:10 · King James VersionOpen source (11) forbids a medium. 1 Samuel 28 (12) is Saul and the woman at Endor, not a license to talk to the dead.

What Jehovah’s Witnesses Say the Soul Is

What Is a Soul? (1) starts from the Hebrew word nephesh and the Greek word psyche. It says the Hebrew means a creature that breathes, and the Greek means a living being. Then it states the conclusion in one sentence:

The soul, then, is the entire creature, not something inside that survives the death of the body.

What Is a Soul? · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

The page uses Genesis 2:7Genesis 2:7 · King James VersionAnd the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.Genesis 2:7 · King James VersionOpen source (3) in the King James: man became a living soul. Adam was not given a soul. He became one. The page also says a soul can work, crave food, eat, obey laws, and touch a dead body, so “soul” names the whole person.

On immortality, the page says the soul can die. It quotes Ezekiel 18:4Ezekiel 18:4 · King James VersionBehold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.Ezekiel 18:4 · King James VersionOpen source and Ezekiel 18:20Ezekiel 18:20 · King James VersionThe soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.Ezekiel 18:20 · King James VersionOpen source (4): “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” It notes that some Hebrew lines use nephesh for a corpse, which many English Bibles render “dead body.” It also says “soul” can mean “life,” so a soul “going out” at death is a figure for life ending.

The page says churches that teach an immortal soul took that teaching from ancient Greek philosophy, and it quotes the Encyclopaedia Britannica for that claim. It then cites Colossians 2:8 as a warning against philosophy and human tradition. The concession in the page is real: Genesis 2:7 does call the living man a soul, and Ezekiel does say a soul can die. Those lines do not say the person is unconscious between death and the resurrection.

What Happens When a Person Dies

What Happens When You Die? (2) quotes a line of Ecclesiastes 9:5, that the living know they will die and the dead are conscious of nothing at all, and then draws the conclusion:

Therefore, when we die, we cease to exist. The dead can’t think, act, or feel anything.

What Happens When You Die? · Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society

The page reads Genesis 3:19Genesis 3:19 · King James VersionIn the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.Genesis 3:19 · King James VersionOpen source (3) the same way. Dust you are, and to dust you will return. Before God formed Adam from the dust, Adam did not exist. When Adam died, he returned to dust and ceased to exist. Ecclesiastes 3:19–20, on that page, puts humans and animals on the same path back to the dust.

The page also says death is often compared to sleep, citing Psalm 13:3, John 11:11–14, and Acts 7:60. A person fast asleep is unaware. So, on their reading, are the dead. It then says God can awaken the dead as if from sleep, citing Job 14:13–15. For those whom God resurrects, death is not the end of everything. The person, on this page, is gone until that awakening. Who Are the 144,000? is their account of who is raised to heaven and who is raised to the earth.

Ecclesiastes 9:5Ecclesiastes 9:5 · King James VersionFor the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.Ecclesiastes 9:5 · King James VersionOpen source (5) in the King James says the living know that they shall die, and the dead know not any thing. The chapter is about life under the sun: work, reward, and the grave as the end of that work. It is not a sentence that the person has been deleted. Their page treats “conscious of nothing” as nonexistence. The King James line is about knowing nothing in the grave, in a book that also says the spirit returns to God who gave it (Ecclesiastes 12:7Ecclesiastes 12:7 · King James VersionThen shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.Ecclesiastes 12:7 · King James VersionOpen source (5)).

What the King James Says

The Gospels do not leave the dead as a blank until a future awakening. Luke 16:22–23Luke 16:22–23 · King James Version^16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; ^16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.Luke 16:22–23 · King James VersionOpen source (6) tells of a rich man and Lazarus. The rich man dies and is in torment. Lazarus is carried to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man speaks. That story is about the state of the dead, not about a medical moment after the last breath.

Luke 23:43Luke 23:43 · King James VersionAnd Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.Luke 23:43 · King James VersionOpen source (6) is Jesus on the cross, speaking to the man beside him. The promise is that day, in paradise, with Jesus. Their teaching has both men unconscious until a resurrection. The sentence names a day.

Philippians 1:23Philippians 1:23 · King James VersionFor I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:Philippians 1:23 · King James VersionOpen source (7) is Paul’s desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 2 Corinthians 5:82 Corinthians 5:8 · King James VersionWe are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.2 Corinthians 5:8 · King James VersionOpen source (8) is to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Those lines are about the person, not about a sleeping body with nobody left. Matthew 10:28Matthew 10:28 · King James VersionAnd fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.Matthew 10:28 · King James VersionOpen source (9) tells the disciples to fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Soul and body are named apart, and both can be destroyed. That is not “the soul is only the body.”

Hebrews 9:27Hebrews 9:27 · King James VersionAnd as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:Hebrews 9:27 · King James VersionOpen source (10) says it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment. The resurrection of the body is still future. 1 Corinthians 15:201 Corinthians 15:20 · King James VersionBut now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.1 Corinthians 15:20 · King James VersionOpen source (13) calls Christ the firstfruits of those who slept. Sleep is the Bible’s word for the death of the body. It is not a claim that the person who died is nowhere. Jesus is God. To be with Christ is to be with God. The Trinity Is Jesus God?

Can the Living Talk to the Dead?

The question people ask next is whether the living can reach the dead. Deuteronomy 18:10–11Deuteronomy 18:10 · King James VersionThere shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.Deuteronomy 18:10 · King James VersionOpen source (11) forbids a medium, a consulter with familiar spirits, and a necromancer. That ban is about the living trying to get a word from the dead. It is not a description of the dead as nonexistent.

1 Samuel 28 (12) is Saul, who had put the mediums out of the land, going to the woman at Endor and asking her to bring up Samuel. The chapter is a judgment on Saul. It is not a pattern for a séance. The Christian reading of Luke 16 and Philippians 1 is that the dead are with Christ or apart from him. It is not an invitation to call them back.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Death the End of the Person?

Their death page says yes: we cease to exist, and the dead cannot think, act, or feel. Luke 23:43Luke 23:43 · King James VersionAnd Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.Luke 23:43 · King James VersionOpen source (6), Philippians 1:23Philippians 1:23 · King James VersionFor I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:Philippians 1:23 · King James VersionOpen source (7), and 2 Corinthians 5:82 Corinthians 5:8 · King James VersionWe are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.2 Corinthians 5:8 · King James VersionOpen source (8) speak of being with Christ at death. The body waits for the resurrection. The person does not.

What Happens Shortly After Death?

Their page says nothing happens, because the dead are conscious of nothing, until God awakens them. Hebrews 9:27Hebrews 9:27 · King James VersionAnd as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:Hebrews 9:27 · King James VersionOpen source (10) puts the judgment after death. Luke 16:22Luke 16:22 · King James VersionAnd it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;Luke 16:22 · King James VersionOpen source (6) puts the rich man and Lazarus in two places as soon as they have died. That is about consciousness, not about the body’s decay.

Can We Talk to the Dead?

Deuteronomy 18:11Deuteronomy 18:11 · King James VersionOr a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.Deuteronomy 18:11 · King James VersionOpen source (11) forbids it. The ban assumes people will try. It does not teach that the dead have ceased to be.

Keep Reading

• What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe?
• Who Are the 144,000?
• Was Jesus Raised Bodily?
• The Trinity
• Is Jesus God?