Obejction 82: Revelation 6:9-10 proves that the souls of the righteous dead are in heaven.
This passage of Scripture reads thus:
“When He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, does thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”
This language is so obviously figurative and symbolic, as is much of the Apocalypse, that one worries about anyone who would insist on taking it literally.
But before going into that, we note that whenever Adventists seek to prove their position by reference to the book of Revelation, our detractors jump up and insist that this part of the Bible is too mystical to be understood. Does Revelation suddenly become plain and understandable when they believe it supports their belief in an immortal soul? Do they wish to give a literal meaning to this sole passage in the book? Evidently so.
We would ask, if a disembodied consciousness, freed of this mortal coil, soars away to enter into eternal happiness in heaven, how is it that the most worthy of these, the martyrs, should find themselves imprisoned under an altar, stuck in a tightly confined space when all of the delights of heaven are available to explore and sample? Why would God do such a thing to His most noble followers?
Another question comes to mind: If, at death, the souls of the lost go directly to Hell to begin experiencing punishment there, why would these martyrs need to cry for vengeance on their persecutors? Wouldn’t their persecutors, at least the great majority of them, be experiencing the flames of eternal Hell already? Surely the martyrs would not be stacked up under the altar pleading for a more terrible vengeance than eternal burning?
The believers in natural immortality argue that Christ's parable of the rich man and Lazarus should be taken literally in its details. We will address this parable later, but we have to ask: If heaven and hell are so close together that Lazarus could actually hear from the rich man's own lips the details of his suffering, why should the martyrs need to cry for vengeance? Are we to understand that these souls were not satisfied with the sights and sounds of torture and agony which, according to popular theology, greeted their eyes and ears as they looked over into hell?
It is so obvious that this passage is not to be taken literally that we have no need to resort to Adventist theologians for commentary. Albert Barnes, a Presbyterian commentator, affirms:
"We are not to suppose that this literally occurred, and that John actually saw the souls of the martyrs beneath the altars, for the whole representation is symbolical. Nor are we to suppose that the injured and the wronged in heaven actually pray for vengeance; . . . but it may be fairly inferred from this that there will be as real a remembrance of the wrongs of the persecuted, the injured, and the oppressed, as if such prayer were offered there; and that the oppressor has as much to dread from the divine vengeance as if those whom he has injured should cry in heaven to the God who answers prayer. . . . Every persecutor should dread the death of the persecuted as if he went to heaven to plead against him." - Comments on Revelation 6: 10.
Adam Clarke, the noted Methodist commentator, says:
"Their blood, like that of Abel, cried for vengeance. . . . We sometimes say, Blood cries for blood." - Comments on Revelation 6:9, 10.
But we obviously do not take that literally. The blood does not literally call for vengeance.
Having demonstrated that this language is not to be understood literally, we have removed the whole basis of the argument. This passage clearly does not prove that man has an immortal soul.