Avatar and the State of the Dead

In the movie Avatar there were several presentations of the dead. In one scene a dead member of the Na’vi is shown being prepared for burial and a seed from the Tree of Souls is placed in the burial place. Apparently this seed was to be a connecting link to the soul of the dead family member.

In another scene Neytiri is presented as attempting to explain to Jake how the Tree of Souls keeps an account of each dead member of the tribe. The dead people, and their memories, are retained in the Tree of Souls and anyone can come to the tree and “connect” to this record of lives and thoughts. Apparently one could communicate with the record of the dead one but perhaps not to the person himself or herself.

In the Bible the state of the dead is a complex set of concepts. God tells us in Genesis 2:7 that God made a living soul out of the dust of the ground and then God breathed into the person the breath of life and he/she became a living soul. This formula requires to parts to be a living soul – a body and the breath of life. Without either of these to parts the living soul does not take place. In Ecclesiastes 12:5-7 God tells us that when death occurs that the body breaks back down into dust, and the spirit, or life energy, returns to God. Thus the living soul comes to an end.

Ecclesiastes 9:1-10 gives us some additional information as to what happens to us when we die. It says:

1 For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
2 All things come 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 that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
3 This is an evil among all things that are done under the sun, that there is one event unto 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.
4 For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For 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.
6 Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.
7 Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
9 Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labor which thou takest under the sun.
10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

In this text God tells us that we will all die, unless we are translated to heaven without seeing death. Death happens to all people and if the normal process occurs we all will experience this death process. When we die, the Bible says that our love, hatred, envy, knowledge, and wisdom all stops. There is no communication with the dead for all mental, and physical processing, is terminated. God even goes so far as to say that all our thoughts perish (Psalms 146:4) and that we no longer can praise God. Psalms 115:17 So from the Word of God all cognitive processing stops and ceases to function.

An interesting question comes up and that is many people claim to have communications with the dead, or tap into the memories of the dead, as in the Tree of Souls in the movie Avatar. If we use the Bible to guide our thoughts, since it is God who only knows all about life or death, then we are instructed not to seek wisdom from the dead. God wants us to seek wisdom and instruction from the living, He wants us to come to Him and He will grant us wisdom and truth. He does not want us to seek other avenues of information controlled by Satan, He wants us to come to Him and He will guide us.

“And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God, for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it I because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:19-20

“When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There 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, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.” Deuteronomy 18:9-14
(Necromancers are people who attempt to communicate with the dead, and familiar spirits are the supposed spirits of dead people dwelling in animals to communicate their thoughts to Necromancers, Wizards, and Witches. God forbids all of this.)

God is aware that Satan has chosen to attempt to communicate his will through avenues that God has forbidden us. The reason He forbids this is because the information sent to us from Satan is based totally on deception, error, and sin. Satan attempts to use avenues that God has forbidden. All communication with the dead can not happen because God says that the dead do not think, feel, share, praise, or anything, for they are dead. The dead do not communicate. So any communications that supposedly come from the dead come from Satan, not from God. Therefore all “communications” with the dead come from Satan, not from the person that can not communicate until they are resurrected. God wants to communicate the truth, and only the truth, Satan wants to communicate error to prevent us from trusting in God.

So God’s answer to the dead is to allow them to “sleep” until Jesus comes to awaken them again. I Corinthians 15:51-58; I Thessalonians 4:13-18 When He puts the breath of life back into their bodies, they will then be able to communicate again. Until then they simply rest in God and are not aware of anything under the sun.

Satan, on the other hand, wants to communicate with us his thinking. He wants us to distrust God and to disobey Him. Satan communicated this thought to Eve and through her distrust in God, and trust in Satan, she opened the proverbial Pandora’s box and introduced sin to Adam and then they disobeyed God and ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Thus they introduced death to the Earth, something that God did not want to occur. So all communication with Satan will eventually produce death if accepted, for Satan always wants to do anything and everything that God forbids.

So, as in all things, God has given us a choice. We can obey Him and prosper or we can disobey Him and get into trouble. God wants us to have truth only. He does not want us to have error for error produces death. So leave the dead alone and allow God to watch over them until the resurrection takes place. Let us connect with God and get all of the knowledge we can possibly use and live a life that will help all around us.