Bible Discussion Thread

The passage could have had a literal interpretation, but it definitely has a spiritual one. It can be a literal death, or the 'death to self' people speak about, or both. The time period is indefinite. It is the spirit in prison and not the bars of a cell. I write from the midst of the over 20 year experience. It is systematic and relentless persecution that closely parallels the book of Job in affliction ways. Everything that did 'work' (gifts of the Spirit) cease to work. The relationship with God becomes like a long distance phone call. Approaching the close of the experience you don't know if the body is going to cease, nor do you care if it does. There is nothing to 'live' for in it, and eventually no desire to bother either. You feel like a squeezed out tube of toothpaste. I'm greatly abbreviating the matter and omitting the many afflictions and persecutions that brings the person to that point. It is the most cruel thing imaginable. God described it as having NO freedoms at all; and like being dead but not buried. People who have not experienced haven't a clue about what it actually means, and have not correctly explained the matter.