Avatar – You Don’t Dream in Cryo

In the opening dialogue of the movie Avatar Jake Sulley, states that when you are in the deep sleep of Cryogenics you don’t dream. You are in a state of suspended animation and your brain processing is virtually at a stand still until you are brought back up out of this state of suspended animation. While you are in Cryo your body continues to function but you have no awareness of anything going on around you, not awareness of time, no dreaming, no hating, no loving, nothing, until awakened by an outside force.

As I was meditating upon the subject of Cryo sleep, I thought that this was a great metaphor for something that the Bible calls “sleep”. In the Bible there is regular sleep that all humans do for some period almost every day. This sleep is the normal rest taken, usually at evening, and from which we all awaken every day to go about our duties; and then there is a sleep from which we do not awaken without the help of an outside force – the sleep of death. I Corinthians 15:6,18,20,51,52

Death as a form of sleep is one of the more interesting concepts in the Bible. Jesus describes it in John 11. One of Jesus’ favorite people, Lazarus has contracted a fatal illness and the family calls to Jesus because He is the great healer. Jesus delays his coming to see Lazarus until Lazarus is dead. When the disciples ask about the delay of Jesus to respond He reports that Lazarus is “sleeping”. The disciples think this is pretty good for they think that he is sleeping in healing rest. Jesus clarifies this thought by saying that He is going to get Lazarus and wake him up from his sleep, because Lazarus had died. John 11:1-14 Jesus was the outside force that would awaken Lazarus and eventually will awaken all who are “sleeping” in the tomb today.

As Jake Sulley stated from his experience, there is no dreaming in Cryo, so there is no dreaming when one is dead. God says that when a man dies that very day all of his thinking stops. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Psalms 146:4 Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, 9-10 states the following:

“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. 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.

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. 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.”

Nothing goes on for the person who has died. He has as much awareness of things around him as Jake Sulley described about his ability to dream when in Cryo.
This concept of not thinking, feeling, loving, hating, communicating has some interesting ramifications on things we normally take for granted. One of those things that people accept quite freely are things like Vampires, Witches, Wizards, Ghosts, Zombies, etc. In each of the subjects listed there is a requirement to be dead and yet not dead or to communicate with the dead. The Bible clearly states that when a person dies they do not communicate with anyone living unless they have been resurrected from the dead – or brought back to living, thinking, breathing, sharing by the power of God. So a Vampire by definition can not be for a vampire is supposed to be a dead person who continues to live, thus violating the statement of God. Witches and Wizards get their information and power from communicating with the dead. Now according to the Bible this can not be for the Bible says that a dead person is totally unable to think, or communicate any thing. A Ghost is supposed to be the soul of a dead person who is still moving around due to some kind of unfinished business. And a Zombie is something that should be dead but is still moving around attacking people for some unknown reason. All of these things the Bible says can not happen.

So the obvious question is that people have this belief, and have a variety of experiences of coming in contact with ugly, gruesome, violent, evil persons who appear to have died yet people see and communicate with something. The clearest Bible story we have on the subject is the story of King Saul and the Witch of Endor. I Samuel 28:3-25. In this story King Saul has through his rebellion shut off every normal avenue of communication with God. Since King Saul has not wanted to submit to the counsel of the prophet Samuel, and did not want to pray, or have anything to do with God, he is now in an experience that he wants some comfort and support. Since God is not willing to talk to one who is not willing to listen and obey, Saul decides to consult with a witch. Now prior to this event Saul has attempted to kill every witch, or wizard in Israel to follow the counsel of God in Deuteronomy 18:9-14. Now that he feels desperate he is willing to go against his better judgment.

When Saul goes to the Witch he disguises himself for he does not want people to see him and his activities, and he does not want to frighten the Witch lest she not give him what he wants from her. When Saul presents his case to the Witch the first thing that happens is that she is informed that her customer is Saul. She did not have that information on her own but was provided this information through her supernatural contacts. Saul is properly impressed that she has a source of supernatural information. Saul assumes that it comes from the person he is seeking to contact – the Prophet Samuel. Saul is not able to see anyone but he asks the Witch and she reports that she sees an old man coming up, apparently from the grave, covered with a mantle. She apparently assumes that it is Samuel, and Saul assumes that it is Samuel. She hears the message of condemnation from the apparition which she sees and she passes this message of discouragement on to Saul. Saul faints with discouragement after hearing the message.

Now the great question is, was the thing which the Witch saw the real Samuel? My answer would be no, it was not. It was not Samuel for the following reasons. God says that the dead know not anything. So to attempt to communicate with Samuel would be as possible as talking to Jake Sulley while he was in Cryo. It can not be done. Secondly, God would not allow His dead prophet to respond to a person that God has already declared to be worthy of death. Thirdly God is not going to violate His principles to encourage people to violate His principles. To reward rebellious Saul, and the rebellious witch, would be to train, and reward, people to do exactly what He told them not to do. God does not function that way.

The Second question would be, if the thing that the Witch saw was not Samuel then who was it? The answer is that it would be Satan, or one of his fallen angels, for they are the only supernatural beings who would attempt to contradict God. Angels are supernatural beings and can do many things that are wondrous and supernatural on our plane of existence. One of those things is that they can be invisible around us, they can take on different forms, and they can communicate information that is not readily available to the rest of us. So the fallen angels would, and do, encourage people to come to them for wisdom that God will not give, because it is not good for us. Satan can tell his witches information that is private to all else but Satan was there when an event occurred and can communicate that information to others. He displayed this by revealing the fact that the Witches customer was King Saul. He also can pretend to be something, or someone else to convince people that they are talking to their loved ones.

The key concept is that one of the key factors of information received from demons, through what ever avenue they want to communicate, is that the information is never intended to bring the person into a surrendered obedient relationship with God. God’s intent, on the other hand, is to confront, if necessary, but to offer hope for a renewed relationship if the person is willing. His goal is never to discourage an honest hearted attempt to renew a relationship with God.

In conclusion, God has clearly stated that when a person is dead, that person is totally unable to communicate information to anyone else, until they are resurrected. So any thing that attempts to communicate information, from someone who is dead, is not from God but from Satan. Any avenue of information that presents the idea that the information came from the dead, is from Satan, not from God.

God wants us to come to Him to seek the answers to our questions. He will always help us to get the information we need, not always what we want. He wants to give us the truth in such a manner that it helps us to draw nearer to Him, the source of all information and wisdom. God will not help us to indulge in error, or something destructive. He will only help with the truth, especially that truth that helps us to come to Him. Let us therefore shut the door on that communication that is meant to destroy us and help us to open the door in our minds to that communication which helps us to find our way to God.