I guess I need help, from someone here, to explain something in Ray's letter.
Ray (bold and underline in quote is me)Man consists of a body which, when God imparts His spirit to it, becomes a living soul. The soul is the result of the combination of body and spirit. There is "soul" only as long as God's spirit unites with the body. At death, God takes back His spirit and the "soul" goes to the unseen (or imperceptible). Hades in Greek or Sheol in Hebrew are not geographical locations, but rather a condition.
If the soul is the united combination of spirit/body and "There is "soul" only as long as God's spirit unites with the body" as Ray said. Then how is it that when one dies and the spirit departs the body preturning to God that the soul (which is a "united body/spirit?") can still exist to go anywhere?
Answer from Ray
Dear Forum:
Unfortunately sometimes when speaking we need to make reference to something as if it at a certain location, or has gone to a certain location, or has been retruned from a certain location, when in fact, IT DIDN'T GO OR COME FROM ANYWHERE.
"But God will redeem my soul FROM the power of the grave [Heb: sheol]..." (Psalm 49:15).
"You will not leave My soul IN hell [Gk: hades--unseen, imperceptible]..." (Acts 2:27).
Obviously if David's soul could comr "from" then it could also go "to" sheol.
If Christ's soul was "in" hell, then it must have gone "to" hell unless it was always there.
But sheol and sheol are NOT PLACES, but rather a realm or condition. I used the analogy of a TV to represent the human components: The console or box is the body, the electricty is the spirit, and the picture on the screen is the soul. Pull the plug and where does the picture "GO?" It doesn't technically go or more or change locations at all--it DISAPPEARS at the same place it was once present. You can heat or cool a piece of metal at the same location and never move it. It changes dramatically, but it does "go anywhere."
When a physical body and a spirit are combined we have "soul"--sentient conscieousness. When we separate the body from the spirit this consciousness is no longer there. Well, where did it "GO?" We "say," although it is not technically true, but we say that it "went" to hades (or in Hebrew sheol), but in reality it didn't go anywhere. It just "bacame" imperceptible, and this imperception of the consciousness of man is traditionally in Hebrew said to go to "sheol--the unseen" or in Greek to "hades--the unseen."
I used to have a piece of transpart yellow and blue thin plastic. Hold them side by side and you had one blue (let's let that color represent the body), and one yellow (let's let that one represent the spirit). Now then we have only TWO pieces and TWO colors. But, slide the yellow plastic half way over the blue plastic and we have yellow on one side (spirit), and blue on the other side (body) AND GREEN in the center (soul). Slide them apart and we are back to but two colors, yellow and blue--spirit and body. WHERE did the green (soul) "go?"
It didn't "go" anywhere, it merely ceased to exist. So in that sense it went to the "unseen" or "imperceptible," as that is what hades and sheol mean.
God be with you,
Ray
PS At resurrection God will united "YOUR" spirit to a new body, and the result with be the same "you" that died, but now you will be a living soul with a spiritual body that can never die.