For all this I took to heart, even to make all this clear, that the righteous and the wise and their works are in the hand of God. No man knows either love or hatred by all that is before them. All happens alike to all; there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him who sacrifices, and to him who does not sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner. He who swears is as he who fears an oath. This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yea, also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. For whoever is chosen, to all those living, there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die; but the dead do not know anything, nor do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their env y, is now perished; nor do they any longer have a part forever in all that is done under the sun (Ecc.9:1-6).
These verses do not have anything to do with being conscious or unconscious after death. As Gill states, this is to be interpreted of their bodily senses now extinct, and of worldly things they have now nothing to do with; they know not any thing that is done in this world, nor how it fares with their children and friends they have left behind them.. You took Ecclesiastes 9:5 out of context.
Dear Isaac:
BRILLIANT!
And so this "DEAD" person or persons "in context" here, DO HAVE CONSCIOUSNESS, do they?
If one is "conscious" and is not crazy or retarded, then he DOES KNOW MANY THINGS, which contradicts "knows not anything." Therefore, according to the Word of God the DEAD do not have "consciousness." There are certain things that can be accurately and correctly "deduced" from other pertinent information. For example, if there are NO CLOUDS in the sky over a certain area, then we can deduce that it is NOT RAINING THERE, even though "raining" may not be the topic of discussion, but rather "clouds."
Context THIS: It is true that "the DEAD know NOT ANYTHING" both in context AND out of context! There is NO CONTEXT in which the dead "know ANYTHING." Likewise there is no context in which the physically dead are also at the same time physically alive. It is possible to be unconscious and still be alive, but it is not possible to be DEAD and yet be conscious. And that's true in ANY context. Maybe I'm going too fast for you.
God be with you,
Ray
PS We would do well to consider in how many "contexts" this verse is true: "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools [Gk: 'STUPID']" (Rom. 1:22).
