Spiritual death in Christianity
In Christian theology, Spiritual Death is defined as a spiritual separation from God, usually brought on by sin. Christians believe that both spiritual death and physical death (defined in this context to be the separation of the body and the soul) were brought into the world through the The Fall of Man.
Some Christians [citation needed] believe that whereas a man only suffers physical death once, he can suffer spiritual death every time he sins. Others believe that once made alive through Christ, a believer is no longer subject to spiritual death (although he loses a state of fellowship with God when he sins, and must confess to regain this state of fellowship).
Some Christian religions define [citation needed] Hell as the ultimate spiritual death; being completely removed from the presence of God both physically and spiritually. This is also called the Second Death.
In Catholic theology, spiritual death is often associated to the notion of mortal sin, where one commits an irreparable harm to the soul.
New Age
Followers of Ascended Master movements such as the Theosophical Society, I AM Foundation, and Elizabeth Clare Prophet have a different definition of the second death: The final extinguishing of the identity of a soul deemed by God to be beyond redemption. In this theology, people are believed to continue to reincarnate for many lifetimes on Earth with one of two final outcomes: 1) Reunion with God in the ritual of the Ascension, like Jesus, or 2) Final judgment at the "court of the sacred fire," where the soul would be destroyed forever.
Other views
The Unification Church teaches that spiritual death is the state of separation from God, but that it is not ever irreversible.
Spriritual Death is the art of learning to die. It is only through this art that the death of oneself (the self that is afraid to die) is transformed into the new self (the self that accepts death).
The Book of Revelation makes reference to a second death in Revelation 2:11
In social science, Dr. John B. Calhoun saw the social breakdown of a population of mice given ample resources as a second death. He saw this as a metaphor for the potential fate of man in an overcrowded but resource rich environment and made reference to the second death of the Book of Revelation. [1] Conservative Christian writers, such as Bill Perkins, have echoed this warning. [2]
Famous Quotes
In his famous anti-war address "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence," delivered 4 April 1967 at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King observed that "[a] nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."