Death and life are often symbolic in the scriptures.

 

41. Death and life are often symbolic in the scriptures. In the religions of God the word death is often used to symbolize spiritual death or living outside the holy laws of God, and not the actual physical death of the human body. Conversely when the word life is spoken of in the writings of God it is often used to symbolize the good inside of us and the spiritual life of the soul, and not the physical life of the body:  JUDAISM: Deuteronomy: 30:15 “See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;” Psalms: 30:3 “O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave (of unbelief): thou hast kept me alive,” Proverbs: 21:16 “The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.” Proverbs: 11:19 “As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.” Ezekiel: 33:11 “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Isaiah: 59:10 They “grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.” CHRISTIANITY: Ephesians: 2:4 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins,” Ephesians: 5:14 “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”  1 Timothy: 5:6 “But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.” Matthew: 8:22 “But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.” Matthew: 23:27 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.” Luke: 15:24 “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” John: 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The living spirit. Romans: 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life.” Romans: 8:13 “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” John: 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John: 5:25 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” 1 Peter 4:6 “For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” Romans 6:13 “Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead.”

 ISLAM: 27. “Thou causest the Night to gain on the Day, and Thou causest the Day to gain on the Night; Thou bringest the Living out of the Dead, and thou bringest the Dead out of the Living; and Thou givest sustenance to whom Thou pleasest without measure.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah   3)

 95. “It is Allah (God) Who causeth the seed-grain and the date-stone to split and sprout. He causeth the living to issue from the dead, and He is the one to cause the dead to issue from the living. That is Allah; then how are ye deluded away from the truth?”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah   6)

 6. “This is so, because Allah is the Reality: it is He Who gives life to the dead, and it is He Who has power over all things.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 22)

 80. “Truly thou canst not cause the Dead to listen, nor canst thou cause the Deaf to hear the call, (especially) when they turn back in retreat.” 81. “Nor canst thou be a guide to the Blind, (to prevent them) from straying; only those wilt thou get to listen who believe in Our Signs, and they will bow in Islam.” (and live)

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 27)

 50. “Then contemplate (O man!) the memorials of Allah’s Mercy! — how He gives life to the earth after its death: verily the Same will give life to the men who are dead: for He has power over all things.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 30)

 22. “Nor are alike those that are living and those that are dead. Allah can make any that He wills to hear; but thou canst not make those to hear who are (buried) in graves.”

(The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 35)

 “The Prophet said, ‘The example of the one who celebrates the Praises of his Lord (Allah) in comparison to the one who does not celebrate the Praises of his Lord, is that of a living creature compared to a dead one.”’

(Hadith, Bukhari Vol 8)

 ZOROASTRIANISM: “O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!”

(Zoroaster, The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Vendidad)

 8. “Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda (God): ‘O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is it that brings in the unseen power of Death?” 9. “Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the man that teaches a wrong Religion;”

(The Zend-Avesta, Avesta – Vendidad 18)

 8. “The names of those (Amesha-Spentas) smite the men turned to Nasus by the Drujes: the seed and kin of the deaf are smitten, the scornful are dead, as the Zaotar Zarathushtra blows them away to woe, however fierce, at his will and wish, as many as he wishes.”

(The Zend-Avesta, Khorda Avesta – Book of Common Prayer pt. 1)

Denkard. Zoroaster, “Be it known that, the souls of worshippers of daevas and of deceitful Ashmoghs, owing to their impure nature, although (located) in a living body, are, according to the religion, (as if) possessing a dead body.”

 Denkard. Zoroaster, “The bodies of those men who injure the strength of the world by wicked deeds, are lifeless owing to their destructive deeds, and their dead bodies being rotten are infernal.”

 HINDUISM: “The end of birth is death; the end of death Is birth: this is ordained!”

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 2)

 “In blindness cleaving to their errors, caught Into the sinful course, they trust this lie As it were true- this lie which leads to death– Finding in Pleasure all the good which is, And crying ‘Here it finisheth!”’

(Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold tr) chapter 16)

 BUDDHISM: 2. “Attention leads to immortality. Carelessness leads to death. Those who pay attention will not die, while the careless are as good as dead already.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 (tr. J. Richards))

 13. “Wise men, who are much given to meditation and find pleasure in the peace of a spiritual way of life,”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 1 (tr. J. Richards))

 2. “Heedfulness is the way to the Deathless, Heedlessness is the way to death. The heedful do not die, The heedless are like unto the dead.”

(Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 3 (tr. J. Richards))

 SABEANISM: “Thou hast shown us that which the eye of man hath not seen, and caused us to hear that which human ear has not heard. Thou hast freed us from death and united us with life, released us from darkness and united us with light, led us out of evil and joined us to good. Thou hast shown us the Way of Life and hast guided our feet into ways of truth and faith so that Life cometh and expelleth darkness and goodness cometh and casteth out evil. (Like) the mingling of wine with water, so may Thy truth, thy righteousness and thy faith be added to those who love Thy name of Truth, And Life be praised.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 45)

 “He sundered Light from darkness and sundered Good from Evil, He sundered Life from Death, And He brought out those who love His name of Truth From Darkness to Light and from Evil to Good And from Death to Life and set them On roads of Truth and Faith.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapter 75)

 “It falleth (the word) on the dead man and he liveth: on the sick man and he stretcheth (himself); on the blind man and (his eyes) are opened; on the deaf man and wisdom and perception are infused into him.” 24 “He brought out those who love His name of Truth From Darkness to Light and from Evil to Good And from Death to Life and set them On roads of Truth and Faith.” 75. “But other souls will die and become As though they had never existed.” (Sabeanism, Ginza Rba- chapters 24, 75 and 118)

 BABI RELIGION: “The most significant event in my own life, an event which marked my spiritual rebirth, my deliverance from the fetters of the past, and my acceptance of the message of this Revelation.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 433)

 “Say, the power of God is in the hearts of those who believe in the unity of God and bear witness that no God is there but Him, while the hearts of them that associate partners with God are impotent, devoid of life on this earth, for assuredly they are dead.”

(The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 153)

 “He transformed his disciples into models of virtue and temperance; henceforth the men quenched their thirst at the fountains of spiritual life.”

The Bab: (Shoghi Effendi, The Dawn-Breakers, p. 532)

BAHA’I FAITH: “Although physically and mentally alive he is spiritually dead.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 58)

“Souls deprived of that spirit are accounted as dead, though they are possessed of the human spirit. His Holiness Jesus Christ has pronounced them dead inasmuch as they have no portion of the divine spirit. He says: ‘Let the dead bury their dead.’ In another instance He declares: ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.’ By this He means that souls though alive in the human kingdom are nevertheless dead if devoid of this particular spirit of divine quickening. They have not partaken of the divine life of the higher kingdom; for the soul which partakes of the power of the divine spirit is verily living.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith – Abdu’l-Baha Section, p. 261)

“In every age and century, the purpose of the Prophets of God and their chosen ones hath been no other but to affirm the spiritual significance of the terms ‘life,’ ‘resurrection,’ and ‘judgment.’ If one will ponder but for a while this utterance of Ali in his heart, one will surely discover all mysteries hidden in the terms ‘grave,’ ‘tomb,’ ‘sirat,’ ‘paradise’ and ‘hell.’ But oh! how strange and pitiful! Behold, all the people are imprisoned within the tomb of self, and lie buried beneath the nethermost depths of worldly desire! Wert thou to attain to but a dewdrop of the crystal waters of divine knowledge, thou wouldst readily realize that true life is not the life of the flesh but the life of the spirit. For the life of the flesh is common to both men and animals, whereas the life of the spirit is possessed only by the pure in heart who have quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the fruit of certitude. This life knoweth no death, and this existence is crowned by immortality. Even as it hath been said: “He who is a true believer liveth both in this world and in the world to come.’ If by ‘life’ be meant this earthly life, it is evident that death must needs overtake it.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 119)

“Heaven is the state of perfection, and Hell that of imperfection; Heaven is harmony with God‘s will and with our fellows, and Hell is the want of such harmony; Heaven is the condition of spiritual life, and Hell that of spiritual death.”

(Bahá’í Faith, Dr. J.E. Esslemont, Baha’u’llah and the New Era, p. 190)