Matthew 9:23-25 - When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd, he said, "Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.
We often use Jesus' words here (and elsewhere -- see Lazarus' death) to compare death to falling asleep -- only to wake up the next time either in heaven or in hell. But I wonder if that was really what Jesus had in mind here. He said, "The girl is not dead...." And yet it seems he brought her back to life. I'm not questioning his power to bring someone back to life. (See Lazarus again where he plainly said he was dead.) I'm wondering whether or not the soul of this girl had gone to heaven or hell yet. Was it somewhere else? I'm not advocating Limbo or Purgatory either. "The girl is not dead...." Was her soul still in her body, but her bodily functions had ceased? Was she in some kind of extreme hibernation? Again, Jesus can and did raise people from the dead, but I'm not sure this example can be used to prove it.
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