UNCONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY

 

OR

 

RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

ISBN 0-7414-4620-0

 

William Robert West

Author of ÒThe Rapture And IsraelÓ

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

Life Or Death

 

 

 

Is

"The Wages Of Sin Death"

 

Or Is

 

"The Wages Of Sin Is Eternal Life With Torment In Hell"

 

 

 

Will There Be A Resurrection From The Dead

Or Do We Now Have An Immortal Soul That Will Never Be Dead?

Life And Death Are Opposites, They Are Not Two Kinds Of Life

Not Eternal Life In Heaven Or Eternal Life In Hell

Death Is Death, Not Eternal Life Anyplace

 

 

 

Over 534,000 Downloads

 

 

 

Top of Form

Resurrection or Immortality By William West

CHAPTER TWO - Life or Death

 

     Many continually preach, "The wages of sin is death" but do not believe what they preach and contradict them self by preaching "the wages of sin is an eternal life of torment in Hell."

The reinterpretation of Life and death

Back to: INDEX AND CHAPTER ONE html –Or go to: INDEX AND ALL TEN CHAPTERS pdf

     Eternal life is a conditional gift to the saved at the resurrection and judgment. ALL THAT HAVE THE SON HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. HE THAT HAS NOT THE SON HAS NOT LIFE (Immortality) 1 John 5:12. "He that hears My word, and believes Him that sent Me, has eternal LIFE, and comes not into judgment, but has passed out of DEATH into LIFE" (John 5:24).

     "I have set before you LIFE and DEATH" (Deuteronomy 30:19). Life and death are two of the most misused words in the Bible. Many are unwilling to believe that when God said, "The wages of sin is death" that He did really mean what He said, that death is death and not eternal life in some other place. Death is not a lifelong imprisonment with torture. DEATH IS DEATH, NOT A BETTER LIFE IN HEAVEN OR A WORSE LIFE IN HELL. It is LIFE or DEATH, not a better or worse life. Death is the exact opposite of life, and death cannot be reinterpreted to be life with torment. For a person to have an immortal soul from his or her birth, death as the wages of sin must be explained away. Innate inborn immortality is hostile to God's word. If a person is born with an immortal "immaterial, invisible part of men" (W. E. Vine) that is not subject to death and this "soul" is the only part of a person that will survive death, the law of God has no power over whether it lives or dies for it cannot die. God can only say how or where this "immaterial, invisible part of men" is to live, but we are told that He has no power to say that it will live or die for it cannot die, that this "part of man" is not subject to death.

     "He that hears my word, and believes him that sent me, HAS ETERNAL LIFE, and comes not into judgment, but has passed OUT OF DEATH INTO LIFE" (John 5:24). Not a soul that has eternal life passing out of one kind of eternal life into another kind of eternal life but has passed OUT OF DEATH INTO LIFE.

     "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). "For the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the RESURRECTION OF LIFE; and they that have done evil, unto the RESURRECTION OF JUDGMENT" (John 5:28-29). We bear the image of Adam, and like Adam, we all will die; but both the saved and those not saved will be raised at the second coming of Christ and be judged. The saved will bear the image of Christ and have life forever (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). The church at Smyrna was told, "Be you faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life...He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the SECOND DEATH" (Revelation 2:10-11). Throughout the Gospels, Christ promised life to all who believed Him. Paul says, "His servants you are whom you obey; whether of SIN UNTO DEATH, or OBEDIENCE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Romans 6:16). "What fruit then had you at that time in the things whereof you are now ashamed: for the END of these things is DEATH. But, now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the END ETERNAL LIFE" (Romans 6:21-22). As clear as human language can be, Paul says, "For the wages of sin is DEATH; but the free gift of God is eternal LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

In Romans 6:23, the issue is:

LIFE - - - - - - - - - - - - - OR - DEATH

Not life in one place-Heaven – OR - life in another place-Hell

Death is the absence of life – NOT - another kind of life, which will be either better or worse than this life

 

     ALL WHO OBEYS CHRIST AND "OVERCOMES," WILL AT THE JUDGMENT BE GIVEN THE CROWN OF LIFE; AND SHALL NOT BE HURT OF THE SECOND DEATH. THE CLEAR IMPLICATION IS THAT ANYONE WHO DOES NOT OVERCOME SHALL BE HURT OF THE SECOND DEATH AT THE JUDGMENT (Revelation 2:11). "He that OVERCOMES shall inherit these things: and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. BUT for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; WHICH IS THE SECOND DEATH" (Revelation 21:7-8).

     There may be more in the New Testament on life and death than any other subject. If God can destroy a person (the whole person, Matthew 10:28), unconditional immortality cannot be true. If a person can lose his life (Matthew 10:39) unconditional immortality cannot be true. Those who believe a person has a part that cannot die knows the "wages of sin" (Romans 6:23) must be made to be something other than death for if "death" means "death"; the sinner will die; he cannot live forever in Hell. THEY MUST DO AWAY WITH THE BIBLE TEACHING ON DEATH OR THERE CAN BE NO HELL.

     JOHN 3:16: If all have eternal life at birth, why did God give His Son that all who believe on Him would have eternal life and not perish? If we are born with eternal life, how could the gift of God to those who believe and obey Him be eternal life? Eternal life is only for those who believe. Just as sure as those that believe on Christ will have eternal life, those who do not believe on Christ will not have eternal life any place.

     JOHN 11:25: "I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE: he that believes on me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die." "And declare unto you the life, the eternal life" (1 John 1:1). Only those who are raised with Christ through baptism have life. They are the only ones who, though they die, yet shall live. Christianity without a resurrection to life for those in Christ is inconceivable.

 

(1) LIFE

     The gift of God is eternal life but only to those in Christ. God's gift of LIFE is not just a reward to those who are born with eternal life and cannot die.

1.    The Greek concept of an immortal soul assumes that the soul already possess eternal life and is not subject to death.

2.    The orthodox view is that a person has an "immaterial, invisible part of men," and only this part of himself possesses eternal life at or before birth and is not subject to death, and it is only this part of a person that will be in Heaven or Hell at death before and without the resurrection and judgment. According to the orthodox view all the dead are now in Heaven or Hell and will always be there even if there never will be a second coming of Christ or resurrection or judgment.

3.    THE BIBLE VIEW IS THAT CHRIST "ABOLISHED DEATH, AND BROUGHT LIFE AND IMMORTALITY TO LIGHT THROUGH THE GOSPEL" (2 Timothy 1:10). Without the resurrection there would be no life after death. Before the resurrection, no person or no part of a person has immortality.

     Psukee (life) is the only word-translated soul in the New Testament. THE ADJECTIVES ETERNAL AND EVERLASTING ARE NEVER USED WITH PSUKEE. Psukee is translated: life 40 times, you 1 time, us 1 time, mind 3 times, heart 1 time, heartily 1 time, soul 57 times in the King James Version. Psukee (life) is the natural life or a person from Adam or the natural life of any living being (Revelation 8:9; 16:3). It is the life common to all living creatures, man - both saved and lost, all animals, and is never said to be eternal. All living creatures by natural birth have psukee (life) from birth to death. "The first man Adam become A LIVING SOUL (psukee-living being)" (1 Corinthians 15:45): psukee is the same as nehphesh in the Old Testament. Adam became "A LIVING SOUL"-nehphesh-a living being (Genesis 2:7). It is the life Adam had in common with animals and all living creatures. See Genesis 1:20 "life" (nehphesh-soul) applied to animals "The moving creature that has LIFE " (footnote in KJV). Genesis 1:21 "living creature" (nehphesh-soul) applied to animals (Genesis 1:24 "living creature") (nehphesh-soul) applied to animals (Genesis 1:30 "life" nehphesh-soul).

     Zoee (life) is a gift from Christ to those who believe, the eternal life He gives to those who are His. "Zoee" is used about one hundred thirty times (Wigram, Page 339, Sometimes spelled "zoe") and is translated "life" every time. It refers to the life given by Christ to believes in all but about ten of the about one hundred thirty times it is used where it is life or existence in this life time, ÒSeeing He Himself gives to all life (zoee), and breath, and all thingsÓ (Acts 17:25).

B. W. Johnson says "The word rendered life (zoee) means, in its primary sense, 'existence' as opposed to non-existence or annihilation" Commentary on John, 1886, John 10:27-28.

     The Old Testament parallel word in Hebrew is Òchay,Ó StrongÕs word 2416, and like zoee, chay is life, being alive as opposed to be dead. It is the life of any living thing, the life of animals and man; life as opposed to death, not having life. It is the life that came from eating from the tree of life (Genesis 2:9), life as having the breath of life as opposed to the death that come from not having breath (Genesis 7:22).

     Passages where life (zoee) is the life Christ gives to believers that nonbelievers will never have; a life that is beyond the earthly life that both believers and nonbelievers now have. Life (zoee) that Christ gives to believers is existence for believers as opposed to non-existence or death for nonbelievers, it is existence as opposed to non-existence, to be alive as opposed to being dead.

     THE PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE AT THE JUDGMENT ONLY TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN AND OBEY CHRIST IS POSITIVE PROOF THAT WE DO NOT NOW HAVE IMMORTALITY. A born again person cannot be given life and immortality at the judgment if all men are now immortal and cannot die, for they would have been born with life and born immortal. The theology, which says a person is born with immortality, robs Christ of the gift of life to all who believes and gives life to all at birth. THESE PASSAGES MAKE NO SENSE IF WE ARE BORN WITH A SOUL THAT HAS LIFE AND CAN NEVER DIE, AND THIS SOUL THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO DEATH IS THE ONLY PART OF US THAT WILL BE IN HEAVEN. DO THEY THINK CHRIST GIVES LIFE ONLY TO A PART OF A PERSON, WHICH IS ALREADY IMMORTAL AND HAS HAD ETERNAL LIFE FROM BIRTH AND CANNOT DIE? Immortality is conditional on being in Christ; there is no eternal life except in Christ.

     Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, "The idea of a life to come is in many portions of the OT conspicuous by its absence. There is nothing anywhere that will compare with the NT conception of 'eternal life'" Page 546.

 

(2) DEATH

      Salvation is from death, not from torment for those who cannot die. Eternal life with torment in Hell means there is no death. The penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23), not eternal life in Hell. This passage is preached continually, but very few that preach it believe it. They preach, "The wages of sin is death," and in the same breath preach a person has a part that cannot die and the wages of sin for our deathless part of us is an eternal life of torment in Hell. Death is death, not an eternal dying but never dead. Death is not eternal life with torment.

     All have sinned; the wages of sin is death. Death is God's penalty for sin. The gift of God canceled the wages of sin and gives life. It is life or death, not two kinds of life. The free gift of God is not changing one kind of life for another kind of life, or life in one place for life in another place. IT IS GIVING LIFE IN PLACE OF DEATH. This is made possible not by Christ living our life of eternal torment for us, but by Christ dying our death for us. THE FREE GIFT OF GOD IS LIFE, NOT JUST A CHANGE OF ADDRESS FROM HELL TO HEAVEN FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE AND CANNOT DIE.

     "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23). There are two reasons why the sinner will die in this passage. (1) They will receive the wages they earned for sin, which is death. (2) Eternal life, immortality, is given only to those who are in Christ. The lost will never be given the gift of immortality.

If "the wages of sin is death"

1.    Hell and an eternal life of torment are not possible

2.    An immoral soul that is not subject to death is not possible

     Those who believe in eternal torment are saying to the unsaved that they already have eternal life but will spend it in the wrong place. They are saying to the lost that they can never die but that they will live an unhappy everlasting life. They are saying the lost will be in Hell and just as alive as those in Heaven, and in no sense can the lost to be said to be dead; in no plain common sense language can the wages of sin be said to be death to an immortal being that cannot die for if it could die or if it were dead, it would not be an immortal being. They are saying that death cannot be death, but death is only a transfer of life from this realm to life in another realm. For a person to now have an immortal soul that can never die, death, particularly the second death must be changed to life.

     Those who believe men are now immortal must take death out of the Bible. In all the repeatedly times Christ promised eternal life to believers, He must be made not to mean what He promised; not eternal life, but to be promising only a reward or happiness; not to us but only to a part of us that we do not know anything about what it is like, nothing about what it thinks or feels; according to what some tell us we could not even know this part of us exists if we they did not tell us about it.

     "WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH," not an eternal life of torment for those who cannot ever be dead (Romans 6:23). Death is not life in a different form. Death is to be abolished at "the end" (1 Corinthians 15:24-26) by casting it into lake of fire. Jesus endured the wages of sin in our place so that we would not have to. CHRIST COULD NOT BE OUR SAVIOR IF THE WAGES OF SIN IS ETERNAL TORMENT. Jesus died in our place; but He did not endure eternal torment in our place, therefore, if the wages of sin were eternal torment He could not be our savior. He would not have paid our debt. He did "taste of death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9). Today's theology that death is only life in a different place and is not really death makes our salvation impossible by making the death of Christ impossible. The first lie was that you would never die, which God said was wrong.

     Robert Turner says, "Sin separates us from God, and 'the soul that sinneth, it shall die.'" Florida College Annual Lectures, 1986, Page 172. Which one is he saying? (1) The soul that sins lives forever separated from God, or (2) "The soul that sins shall die." The two are a total conduction of each other and both cannot be true. Beyond any doubt, this is using a passage to teach the opposite of what it teaches, namely, the soul that shall die cannot die but lives forever.

     Romans 6:21-23 is a double deathblow to the immortal soul doctrine. (1) Wages of sin is death, not eternal life with torment. (2) The gift of God is eternal life in Christ. If we have a soul that is now immortal, it now has eternal life and will always have eternal life, even if is not in Christ, even if there were no resurrection, even if Christ had not died in our place the wages of sin could not be death to a soul that cannot die.

THE THREE STEPS TO DEATH in James 1:15: (1) LUST (when it has conceived) (2) gives birth to SIN (3) sin (when it is accomplished) brings DEATH. In today's preaching the three steps are changed to (1) LUST (2) SIN (3) ETERNAL LIFE IN HELL.

     It is LIFE or DEATH, not reward or torment. It is never an everlasting life of torment with God doing the tormenting. There is so much teaching in the New Testament on life and death that it is as if God foreknow men would change the wages of sin into an everlasting life of torment, and He gives them no way to say at the judgment "I did not know." Why do men not believe God? DEATH IS IN CONTRAST TO LIFE. IT IS THE OPPOSITE OF LIFE, AND NOT JUST ANOTHER KIND OF LIFE. DEATH IS NOT LIFE IN HEAVEN, HELL, PURGATORY, OR HADES. IT IS NOT LIFE OF ANY KIND, ANYWHERE. DEATH IS DEATH, NOT EVERLASTING LIFE WITH TORMENT, NOT A MERE CHANGE IN THE MODE OF EXISTENCE. The unsaved cannot be both eternally dead and eternally alive and conscious. They cannot be both dead and alive at the same time

     "For if you live according to the flesh, YOU WILL DIE: but if by the Spirit YOU put to death the deeds of the body, YOU WILL LIVE" Romans 8:13. Not just an "immaterial, invisible part of man" (W. E. Vine). Not "it" will live but "YOU" will live. THE SAME THING THAT "WILL DIE" IS THE SAME THING THAT "WILL LIVE," BUT WE ARE TOLD THAT "IT" CANNOT DIE.

Is the world on Satan's side?

     In Romans 1:28-23, Paul gives a list of sins, then says, "They that practice such things ARE WORTHY OF DEATH." Not have an eternal life of torment in Hell, but of death, but many today say, "They that practice such things ARE WORTHY OF ETERNAL LIFE IN HELL." Will you believe them or Paul? You cannot believe both. "What fruit then had you at that time in the things whereof you are now ashamed? For THE END OF THESE THINGS IS DEATH...You have your fruit unto sanctification, AND THE END ETERNAL LIFE, for the wages of sin is DEATH; but the free gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:21-23). The gift of God to those who believe on His Son is eternal life (John 3:16), and this gift is something they do not already have; not something ALL were born with. If all have eternal life from birth, even those who do not believe, how could life be a gift to believers? When those who believe that all now have eternal life (an immortal soul) read the Bible, and change "life" into "a reward" and "death, die, perish, destroyed, and destruction" into "punishment." To them, the Bible cannot mean what it says and they must change it.

     The first death is the end of life of the flesh (life as it exist now). The second death then must also be the end of life (life as it will exist then), or it is not a second death, but something altogether different from death. An everlasting life of torment is not a second death. In the traditional concept, a person has an immortal soul, which neither the first or second death can kill, therefore; death must be made to be something other than death. On about every page throughout the New Testament it is life or death, not just reward or punishment. THE UNSAVED DIE, PERISH, ARE DESTROYED, AND ARE LOST. THE OBEDIENT ARE SAVED FROM DEATH AND GIVEN LIFE AND IMMORTALITY AT THE JUDGMENT. If the soul now has eternal life, if it is immortal and cannot die, then much of the language of the Bible has no meaning and is saying nothing. WHY IS THERE SO MUCH IN THE BIBLE ON DEATH WHEN THERE IS NO DEATH? Many have believed what their preacher or church says and have rejected the Bible as being untrue.

      If all have an immortal soul that have everlasting life it could never receive the wage of sin, death, for it would not be subject to death. An immortal soul could not die, and would have no need for Christ to die in its place. Christ could not give life to those who believe Him for they would have been born with eternal life and cannot die. Eternal life is frequently promised to the righteous, but never to the wicked. If they do not have eternal life, they cannot endure eternal torment.

     Our body will be "fashion a new" American Standard Version, "Change" King James Version. "Transform" New American Standard Version, Philippians 3:20-21. "But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory...but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." If the lost will live forever in Hell, do they also have the victory over death? We are told they cannot die, but will live forever in torment. Will not their life (not their death) be just as eternal as the saved? What happen to the wages of sin and 1 Corinthians 15:54-57?

     Summery: If it were true that there is no real death, that death is only a separation from God, then there could not be a resurrection of the dead for no one could be really dead. The pagan doctrine of the immortality of the soul makes the Bible doctrine of the resurrection of the dead both impossible and useless. Any life after death depends wholly on the resurrection of the dead at the coming of Christ (Luke 14:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:51-55).

 

THE BIBLE IS REINTERPRETED

TO TEACH THAT WHICH CANNOT BE

"We have passed out of death into life" (1 John 4:14). It is us (the whole person) that were dead in our relation to God, not a dead soul that Òpassed out of death into lifeÓ and is now alive. IF, as some believe, IT IS THE SOUL THAT WAS DEAD BUT IS NOW ALIVE, IT WOULD BE A CONTRADICTION OF THEIR DOCTRINE THAT THE SOUL CAN NEVER DIE, FOR AN IMMORTAL SOUL THAT CANNOT BE DEAD WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD, AND IT WOULD HAVE "PASSED OUT OF DEATH INTO LIFE." Their reinterpretation proves the soul was dead and passed out death into life, therefore, the soul, which we are told, can never be dead, was dead at one time but now the dead soul is alive. It was the person that was dead before they were in Christ, but is now alive in Him, the person that has passed out of death into life, not an undying immaterial part of the person that could never be dead but nevertheless the never dead person passed out of death into life and is now alive.

Believers in immortality from birth must reinterpret the Bible to say:

1.    Those who are destroyed are not destroyed. (James 4:12; 2 Peter 2:12; 2 Peter 3:7)

2.    Those who perish do not perish. (1 Corinthians 1:8: John 3:16)

3.    Those who die do not die. (Romans 6:23) (Death is not death)

4.    The end of the wicked is not their end. (Philippians 3:19; Hebrews 6:8)

5.    Those who are consumed are not consumed (Hebrews 10:27)

6.    Mortals are born immortal; (1 Timothy 6:16) therefore, how can there be any such thing as being mortal? There are no mortals and could never be a mortal if all men are created immortal

7.    The second death is not a death; it is eternal life with torment (Revelation 21:8)

o   Are they really teaching the Bible when they corrupt it into saying the opposite of what it really says, or teaching what they want the Bible to say?

 

IS THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH

Or

IS THE WAGES OF SIN AN ETERNAL LIFE OF TORMENT?

     It cannot be both. If all are immortal from birth, death does not exist. No one will ever die. No one will ever be dead; therefore, the wages of sin could not be death.

     DEATH, THE ENEMY DEFEATED FOR BELIEVERS: "Jesus said unto her, your brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes on me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die" (John 11:23-26). "If a man keep my word, he shall never see death" (John 8:55). "I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever" (John 6:51). It is evident that Jesus was not speaking of physical death for like Lazarus believers shall die, but unlike nonbelievers they have a new existence, a new life in Christ that is no longer subject to the enemy, death. They have a victory over death and can say with Paul, "Death is swallowed up in victory, O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin: and the power of sin is the law: but thinks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:55-56). We are told twice that the second death has no power over believers (Revelation 2:11; 20:6). They are not subject to it and shall live forever. "Our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). Christ defeated the enemy by His resurrection and gave life to faithful believers.

     "The words of the Bible contain all the ideas in it. These words, then, rightly understood, and the ideas are clearly perceived. The words and sentences of the Bible are to be translated, interpreted, and understood according to the same code of laws and principles of interpretation by which other ancient writings are translated and understood; for, when God spoke to man in his own language, He spoke as one person converses with another-IN THE FAIR, STIPULATED, AND WELL-ESTABLISHED MEANING OF THE TERMS. This is essential to its character, as a revelation from God; otherwise, it would be no revelation, but would always require a class of inspired men to unfold and reveal its true sense to mankind" Alexander Campbell, "The Christian System," Page 3, Gospel Advocate Company, 1835. "It is absolutely essential to the very idea of a Divine communication in the form of a revelation, that its words and sentences be understood according to their usual sense at the time when that communication was made, and amongst the people to whom it was addressed and to whose care it was committed" A. Campbell, An essay on "Life And Death" from the Millennial Harbinger, 1844. Those who believe men are now immortal have to make the words that God used not mean what they say. Is it not unreasonable to make words in the Bible has a meaning attached to them that is unlike the way they are used in any other book in the world, unlike the way they were used in the language of those God spoke to? THE WORDS USED IN THE BIBLE TO DESCRIBE THE FATE OF THE LOST ARE SIMPLE WORDS THAT ALL CAN UNDERSTAND BUT ARE WORDS THAT MUST HAVE THEIR MEANING CHANGED TO PUT A DEATHLESS SOUL, WHICH IS ONLY A PART OF A PERSON, INTO THE BIBLE. God could not have chosen better words than die, death, destruction, destroy, perish, consume and burn up to describe a literal death; He could not have chosen worse words to describe eternal life in torment. ÒThe wages of sin is DEATHÓ and ÒThe soul who sins will DIEÕ [Romans 6:23; Ezekiel 18:4]. Yet there are many who change GodÕs words and at the same time preach that it is a sin to change His word [1 Peter 4:11; 2 Peter 3:16; 2 John 9; Revelation 22:18-19].

     (1) LIFE must be changed to be not life but is only a reward to those who are born with eternal life. Is it not unreasonable to say the many times Christ promised eternal life to those that believe Him, that He only promised them a reward and not eternal life? And just as unreasonable to say that He promised life to only to a part a person that was born with eternal life and cannot die and only this part person will be in Heaven. This doctrine of an immortal soul that cannot die makes Christ promise us something over and over that we already had. Throughout the Book of John, Christ repeatedly promised life to those who believed and those who did not believe would not see life (John 3:36; 4:14; 4:36; 5:21; 5:40; 6:33, 39, 44, 47, 57, 63, 68). "That to all whom you have given him, he should give eternal life. And this is life eternal, that they should know you the only true God, and him whom you did send, even Jesus Christ" (John 17:2-3). There could not be a stronger statement saying only those who believe in Jesus will have life, and those who do not believe will not be given any life anywhere.

     Alexander Campbell in his preface to "The Living Oracles," his translation of the New Testament says, "The reader will please to consider, that, when God spoke to man, he adopted the language of man. To the fathers of the Jewish nation he spoke in their mother tongue. By his Son, and his Son by the Apostles, spoke to every nation in its own language. When he spoke to any nation, he uniformly adopted the words of that nation in expressing his will to it. And that he used their words in the commonly received sense, needs no other proof than this, that if he had not done so, instead of enlightening them in the knowledge of his will, he would have deceived and confounded them: than which, no hypothesis is more impious. For example: were God to speak to us in English, and select from our vocabulary the words death, punishment, perpetual, and wicked; were he to use the last term as we use it, and annex to the others a significant different from that we affix to them--such as to mean life by the term death, happiness by the punishment, and a limited time by the word perpetual; and without apprising us of such a change, in their meaning...what a deception would he practice on us!" HOW MANY CHANGE "DEATH" TO "LIFE," BY CHANGING "THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH" TO "THE WAGES OF SIN IS ETERNAL LIFE WITH TORMENT"?

     "Its uniform testimony (the New Testament) is that 'eternal life' hereafter will be the exclusive possession of the just, and that the wicked will certainly not obtain it: 'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.' Our simple enquiry is, what is meant by that Greek word translated 'life' in the passages referred to. Our Lord in addressing Himself to the Jewish people, Luke in writing a Gospel for the Gentile world, Paul in writing to Rome, the metropolis of heathenism, or Corinth priding itself on the Grecian tongue, James, Peter, and Jude writing to Christians wherever scattered over the earth, all alike use this word as universally understood. We have only, therefore, to refer to our classical dictionaries, and there we find its primary and universally accepted sense to be existence. If we want any further confirmation, let us listen to the Apostle James defining it's meaning: 'What is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeared for a little time, and then vanishes away.' On the classical usage, and express definition of the New Testament, we take our stand. Dictionaries of the New Testament, and commentators on it, may, if they please, put upon the phrase the sense of 'happiness' in the numberless passage where it occurs, but we deny to them the right to alter the meaning of a well understood Grecian word for the sake of bolstering up their baseless and horrid creed" Henry Constable, The Duration and Nature of Future Punishment" 1871.

     (2) DEATH must be changed so that it does not mean death but eternal life with torment for those who can never be dead. The dead are not really dead for death is only "a loss of well being" a loss of happiness and is eternal life with torment. Death must be made to be not death but a doorway to a spiritual world where ALL, both the saved and the lost are alive and have eternal life; to the saved death means an instant doorway to a greater and fuller life; to the lost an instant doorway to an eternal life of pain. In no plain language can death be said to be the wages of sin to an immortal being that cannot die.

 DEATH IS MADE TO BE NOT DEATH BUT A MERE CHANGE IN THE MODE OF EXISTENCE. TO MANY, DEATH MEANS TO BE ALIVE, TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE, BUT SEPARATED FROM GOD AND TORMENTED BY GOD. TO MAKE THE WORD "DEATH" FIT THEIR VIEW; THEY MUST MAKE IT FIGURATIVE. THE TRUE MEANING OF THE WORD WILL DESTROY THEIR VIEW. ALL PLAIN PASSAGES LIKE ROMANS 6:23 (THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH) MUST BE MADE INTO FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, BUT THEY CANNOT TELL US HOW THEY KNOW WHAT THE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE MEANS. THEY CANNOT TELL US HOW THEY KNOW "DEATH" MEANS "LIFE." A basic rule of Bible study, which is accepted by most, is a word or a passage must be assumed to be literal unless the context demands that it must be taken figuratively. They cannot tell why the word "death" must be made figurative (but figurative in only a few of the 118 times death is used in the New Testament) other than it would destroy their teaching if it were used with it's true meaning. An example of a passage that must be made figurative, "And out of his mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword" (Revelation 1:16). "And out of his mouth proceeds a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations" (Revelation 19:15). Christ does not literally have a sword coming out of His mouth. The two-edged sword is figurative of His word. To make this passage literal would make Christ into a monster. But, even in the figurative passage, it is death that is being spoken of, not two kinds of life; the sword is used to kill. We will be judged by His words (John 12:48) and are given life if we obey them, (Romans 1:16, Matthew 4:4) or death if we do not (John 3:36).

     For those in Hell to feel pain, they would have to be just as alive as those in Heaven. Theology has changed death into eternal life in Hell

When the death of anyone is spoken of in the Bible, the modern phraseology (they have gone to be with Christ, have gone to their reward, have gone to be with their loved ones in Heaven, etc.) is never used. Not even Abraham is said to have gone to his home in Heaven at death before the judgment. "And Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people" (Genesis 25:8 New American Standard Version). Such a radical redefinition of death to be eternal life in torment is a denial of death; an attempt to evade death by saying the real person is immortal and therefore is not subject to death. It is a deliberate carefully thought out wresting of the scriptures (2 Peter 3:16).

á      Those that refused to have God in their knowledge Òare worthy of DEATHÓ (Romans 1:28-32)

á      Sin is Òunto DEATHÓ (Romans 6:16) ÒLeads to DEATHÓ New International Version

á      ÒFor the end of these things is DEATHÓ (Romans 6:21) ÒThese things result in DEATHÓ New International Version

á      ÒThe wages of sin is DEATHÓ (Romans 6:23)

á      ÒActs that lead to DEATHÓ (Hebrews 9:14) New International Version

á      Sin Òbrings forth DEATHÓ (James 1:15)

á      ÒFor if you live according to the flesh, you must DIEÓ (Romans 8:13)

     (3) DIE "If you live after the flesh, you must DIE; but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall LIVE" (Romans 8:13). The immoral soul doctrine must make DIE to mean exactly the same thing as LIVE, just live in two different places; therefore, "die" and "live" both mean eternal life! "Die" and "live" must both be interpreted to means to exist forever! Who can believe it? It is obvious that "die" is only interpreted to mean "eternal life in torment" when it serves the purpose of the doctrine of eternal torment, and all other times "to die" really means "to die"; also that we must have someone tell us when "die" means "eternal life in torment" and when "die" really means "die"; and without this help we could never know when God intended us to understand the opposite of what He said and when He intended us to understand what He said in the way He said it.

     (4) DESTRUCTION must be changed to be only a loss of well being. The traditionalist argument is that the words "destroy" and "destruction" should not be taken with their established meaning but be interpreted as "a loss of well being" or an "irreparable loss." How could they or anyone know this without a revelation from God? How can the Scriptures speak of the destruction of the lost if they are not destroyed? Why would God say He were going to destroy the lost if He knows the soul is immortal and He could not destroy it? DESTRUCTION HAS BEEN CHANGED TO EXISTING FOREVER IN TORMENT.

     (5) DESTROY must be made to mean to preserve forever. They must add, "Can never be" to destroyed and make it read, "Can never be destroyed." They argue that an immortal soul cannot die, therefore, "destroy" cannot mean "destroy" and the Bible did not really mean "destroy" when it said "destroy," just as "death" cannot mean "death" and the Bible did not really mean "death" when it said "death." But, these words must mean something; therefore, they are reinterpreted and given a meaning that is the opposite of their true meaning. Many words MUST always be used with a meaning that is the opposite of what the words mean. They argue that nothing can be annihilated in the scientific sense, that nothing is annihilated by fire; it just changes its form. They overlook the fact that the Bible is not a scientific book and is not written in today's scientific language, and that God made all things out of nothing and all things will go back to nothing. No one to whom Paul was writing would not have thought that if a book were burnt up that it was not destroyed. See "The nothing can be destroyed argument" in chapter seven.

     In Matthew 10:28 there is no figurative language, but we are told that one word must be used in a figurative way to mean just the opposite of its true meaning, that the one word "destroy" must be made to mean "an eternal life of torment." There is no figurative language in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, but two words, "destruction" and "perish" must be made figurative to mean the same, "an eternal life of torment." One word must be made figurative even when nothing is figurative in the context that the word is in.

      (6) PERISH like destruction and destroy, perish must be made to mean, "can never perish or be destroyed but to live forever in an unhappy and miserable condition in Hell." Forever perishing but imperishable!

      (7) FIRE destroys useless things like chaff, we know what fire is and what it does, fire consumes, devours and destroys. For todayÕs theology to be true fire must be made into figurative language of something that is not like fire, something that is altogether different from fire, something that cannot consume. With this kind of "fire" you would only have to put wood in your fireplace one time and it would heat your house forever. It took some thought to come up with a fire that does not do what fire does, a fire that burns but never burns, which consumes but never consumes. In figurative language there is always a parallel; if it were figurative language, whatever fire was figurative of would consume just as a real fire would, just as the fire consumes the chaff the wicked will be consumed, devoured, destroyed by the wrath of God (Hebrews 10:27).

á      FIRE WILL BURN UP the useless chaff of wheat [Matthew 3:12, Luke 3:17]

á      FIRE WILL BURN UP the weeds, tares and bad fish [Matthew 13:30-50]

á      FIRE WILL BURN UP the withered branches [John 15:6]

o   But the Òfigurative fireÓ of todayÕs theology burn up nothing

(8) SPIRITUAL DEATH is not found in the Bible but added and used repeatedly in today's preaching. To escape from death being death the word ÒspiritualÓ is added to death despite the fact that Òspiritual deathÓ is not in the Bible. The wages of sin is not spiritual death, which is a death that is not really death to a spirit that can never be dead; the wages of sin is death to the person whom sins are not washed away by the blood of Christ. Adding to GodÕs word is a sin; therefore, adding and preaching Òspiritual deathÓ is a sin.

     (9) SLEEP does not mean sleep but awake. If the dead are being tormented in Hell, how could they in any way be sleeping? ALL the dead are sleeping unto the resurrection. The metaphor of the dead being asleep that is used repeatedly is made void and foolishness by the doctrine of an immortal soul being awake in Heaven or Hell. The Bible does not use words in such a self-contradictory manner.

     "The body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory (Phil. 3:20, 21). We do not expect this at the moment of each one's death, for at death we sleep in Jesus and rest, but when He comes from heaven." Bill Reeves, Truth Magazine, February 15, 1973.

     (10) KILLS "And I will KILL her children with PESTILENCE" (Revelation 2:23). Kill is used interchangeably with die and destroyed. "To be killed," "to die," "to be destroyed."

     Summary: LIKE DEATH, THESE WORDS MUST BE MADE INTO FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE EVEN WHEN THEY ARE IN PLAIN PASSAGES. ALL THESE WORDS MUST BE GIVEN A THEOLOGICAL MEANING THAT IS NOT FOUND IN THE WORDS, BUT THEY NEVER TELL US HOW THEY KNOW WHAT THIS THEOLOGICAL MEANING IS. BUT, ONE THING IS CLEAR, IF THEY DID NOT CHANGE THEM INTO FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, THEIR THEOLOGY WOULD BE DESTROYED. DEATH, DESTRUCTION, DESTROY, AND PERISH ARE SIMPLE WORDS AND THERE IS NO HINT OF THEM BEING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE WHEN THEY ARE USED IN PLAIN PASSAGES, THEREFORE, THEY MUST BE TAKEN IN THEIR SIMPLE LITERAL MEANING. THEY CANNOT BE MADE TO BE FIGURATIVE AND GIVEN A MEANING NOT FOUND IN THE WORDS TO SAVE A THEOLOGICALLY THAT IS NOT IN THE BIBLE. THEY CAN AND THEREFORE SHOULD BE TAKEN LITERALLY. The only reason many make these words figuratively language is that if these words are taken with their literal meaning they make the doctrine of an immortal soul and eternal life in Hell not passable. Many use these words and put their theology figurative meaning to them and will not accept the meaning that these words have in everyday language, the way they themselves use them.

     WHEN FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE (LAKE OF FIRE) IS MADE LITERAL, THEN THE LITERAL LANGUAGE TO AGREE WITH THE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE, WHICH HAS BEEN CHANGED INTO LITERAL LANGUAGE. If not, the Bible would say in one place that destruction is not destruction and in many others that destruction is destruction; and say that there is no death, but the wages of sin is death.

     To say an immortal soul can die, be destroyed or perish is a contradiction of words or terms. THE PRESENT DEFINITIONS OF WORDS MUST BE DESTROYED, AND NEW DEFINITIONS GIVEN. The new definitions end up being the opposite of the old definition, death is no longer death; it is eternal life in Hell. No other book in the world uses these words this way. Did God use words in a way that would be a deliberate misleading of mankind? They are not used with these meaning in our everyday language. When we say anything, a plaint, animal or person is dead, we do not mean that plaint, animal or person is alive and being tormented. Death must be made to mean one thing when it is a plaint or animal that is dead and another when it is a person that is dead. I somehow missed the revelation by which they know this. Where is the book, chapter and verse for it? IS THERE ANY WORD GOD COULD HAVE USED THAT THEY WOULD NOT SAY IT DOES NOT MEAN WHAT IT SAYS? No, there is not a one that would not be changed if would conflict with their theology.

"My mind fails to conceive a grosser misinterpretation of language then when the five or six strongest words which the Greek tongue possesses, signifying 'destroy,' or 'destruction,' are explained to mean maintaining an everlasting but wretched existence. To translate black as white is nothing to this" R. F. Weymouth, Life In Christ, page 365, translator of "The New Testament in Modern Speech."

Dr. C. Campbell, who believed in eternal torment says, "If the words and phrases employed by the apostles and evangelist, in delivering the revelation committed to them by the Holy Spirit, had not been agreeable to the received usage of the people to whom they spoke, their discourse being unintelligible, could have conveyed no information, and consequently would have been no revelation to the hearers" Preliminary Dissertation, Part 1, Sect. 1, 1854.

"There must exist some argument of almost overpowering influence which has thus determined the interpretation of masses of language to a sense exactly contrary to its natural meaning. For the process by which such terms as death, perishing, destruction are made to stand for the idea of endless misery, is one so remarkable as to arrest attention and demand instant inquiry. A corresponding action on the word 'life' so often used in the Bible to denote the eternal reward of the saints would result in making it stand for the strange idea of a happy extinction, or a blessed abolition of existence--an euthanasia. The radical idea of destruction, that is extinction of being, if first taken out of the term Death; then the word is made to stand for its opposite, eternal being; and then the associated idea of misery is grafted upon the stock of the converted primary; the result being, that destruction stand for endless misery. An exactly parallel treatment of the promise of Life, therefore, will result, first, in taking out of it its radical idea or conscious existence--next, in making it stand for its opposite, extinction--and lastly, in joining the idea of happiness with the converted primary, -so that you obtain the complex result of a happy extinction. It would require some argument of overmastering force to persuade nine-tenths of the scholars of Christendom to perform this operation upon the promise of life to the righteous" Edward White, "Life in Christ," page 357.

     The Bible must be made to use opposite word than what it means. The theological use of these words today is the same as saying white is black, sweet is bitter, night is day.

     There is no way anyone could know that death is not death but eternal life in torment. How could the wages of sin be death when the sinner will have an eternal life in Hell? Without a revelation from God, no one could know that God meant only a loss of well being when He used these words.

 

THE MISSING WORDS

     Words that are not in the Bible but are preached today as if they were on every page (1) Immortal soul (2) Hell (3) An eternal life of torment. The Bible is made to say what the readers want it to say and their faith (what they believe) is only a projection of their own desires.

     John Locke wrote, "By death some understand endless torments in hell fire; but it seems a strange way of understanding a law, which requires the plainest and directest of word, that by death should be meant eternal life in misery."

     Dean Alford, "A canon of interpretation, which should be constantly born in mind, is that a figurative sense of words is never admissible except when required by the context" Commentary on Acts 10:42. "Death" used in a figurative sense to be "eternal life separated from God" is never required by the context but that "death" means "eternal life" is a must for today's theology. Today's teaching is that the Bible almost never means what it says and must be interpreted. One of the ways it must be interpreted is to explain the meaning of death to be life.

      H. L. Hastings, "Eight times he (Paul) speaks of the wicked as destined to perish. Death is used to express their destiny seven times. Nine times they are spoken of as be destroyed, once as devoured by fire, and once as burned. Not one of these words has, in the original or the translation, the meaning of eternal torment. Not one of them means any such thing in common conversation, AND IT IS ONLY BY A 'THEOLOGICAL' OR FALSE DEFINITION, ALIKE REPUGNANT TO THE LAWS OF LANGUAGE AND COMMON SENSE, THAT SUCH AN IDEA CAN BE CONVEYED BY SUCH LANGUAGE. Paul does not tell us that he used these words in a peculiar or theological sense. No Greek would have supposed so, had they heard him; and we are led to conclude that as Paul would not use words calculated to mislead, therefore, we should take these words in their most obvious and current signification. Paul did teach the utter destruction or perishing, or death, or extermination of ungodly men. He would not have taught it unless it was true; therefore, it is the truth" The Last Judgment, Page 22.

     Summary: If immorality is unconditional and the only part of a person that will live forever in Heaven or any other place cannot die, then many words cannot "be translated, interpreted, and understood according to the same code of laws and principles of interpretation by which other ancient writings are translated and understood." MANY WORDS, LIFE, DEATH, DIE, DEAD, DESTROY, PERISH, DESTRUCTION, CONSUMED, KILL, END, BURNED UP, AND SLEEP, MUST BE REDEFINED IN A WAY THAT THE WORLD DOES NOT USE THEM. We must have "a class of inspired men to unfold and reveal its true sense to mankind." The belief that men are born immortal and can never die makes death impossible and it must be redefined as a different kind of life in a different place. This is just what they have done by saying death does not mean to be dead, but death means to be alive and living an eternal life with torment separated from God. Anyone who reads the Bible believing that a soul is an "immaterial, invisible part of a person" (W. E. Vine) that is immortal and can never die, is compelled to change all texts that speak of the lost being destroyed to mean that they are only tortured forever but are not destroyed. "Destroy" cannot be understood "IN THE FAIR, STIPULATED, AND WELL-ESTABLISHED MEANING OF THE TERMS." Parables, symbols, and figurative languages are made to be superior over plain statements. What is clear language is made to agree with what they think is said in the symbolic language. In truth, they are saying the clear language just is not the truth, and God did not know what He was saying. If God had used words in a way that those hearing Him would not understand them in the way He used them, and those reading them today would also not understand them in the way He used the words; THEN HE DELIBERATELY MISLEADS OR LIED TO THEM AND US. Does not today's theology make God a liar by making Him says something one way when He meant the opposite of what He said?

God said it the way He meant it.

1.    LIFE is life, not just a reward to a part of a person that now has eternal LIFE and can never be dead.

2.    DEATH is death and it is the opposite of life, not a different form of life. Not eternal life with torment.

3.    DESTRUCTION is destruction. Destruction does not mean there is a part of a person that can never be destroyed.

4.    END is end, not going on without an end.

5.    KILL is to end life and does not mean never able to be killed, never able to end life.

6.    BURNED UP is burned up. Not never able to be burned up.

7.    CONSUMED is consumed. Not never able to be consumed.

8.    PERISH is perish. Not just a loss of well being to those who cannot perish.

9.    SLEEP is sleep. Not to be awake in Heaven or Hell.

     The reinterpretation of the many words used that mean the end of life has no equal. Other reinterpretations are based on the changing of a few passages; Peter being the first Pope is based mostly on a reinterpretation of Matthew 16:18; but for souls to be deathless and tormented forever there had to be many + many more reinterpretations. "Everlasting destruction" had to be changed to be "everlasting life with torment." Was Paul trying to deceive using the word "destruction" and today's theology has to correct him by saying, "No Paul, you really meant to say 'everlasting torment'"?

     In Matthew 10:39 LOSE HIS LIFE (Greek psukee-soul) MUST BE REINTERPRETED TO MEAN AN EVERLASTING LIFE OF TORMENT.

1.    "He who finds his life (soul-psukee) shall lose it."

2.    "He who loses his life (soul-psukee) shall find it." (This is one of the passages the translators did not dare make "psukee" be "soul.")

     The person who saves his life by denying Christ will lose it at the judgment. The person that loses his life because he is a Christian and will not deny Christ will find life at the judgment. There is no way Christ could have said it any clearer or plainer. It is "LIFE" that is being spoken of, not a part of a person that was born with life and cannot lose it. There is not a word said about eternal life with torment in this passage. THOSE WHO DO NOT OBEY CHRIST SHALL LOSE THE VERY THING THAT IS SAVED BY THOSE WHO DO OBEY HIM. THEY SHALL LOSE LIFE. THE LOST SHALL DIE. THE SAVED SHALL LIVE.

"AND YOU KNOW THAT NO MURDERER HAS ETERNAL LIFE ABIDING IN HIM" (1 John 3:15). Was John wrong when he said no murderer has eternal life? If, as many say, mankind has a "soul" that is immortal and cannot die, and if the only part of men that shall live after the judgment is an ever-living soul which all have, then a murderer does have eternal life from birth and can never die, for they have the same "immaterial, invisible part of man" (W. E. Vine) that will live forever that all have. Without eternal life, a murderer cannot have an immortal soul. If he did have an immortal soul, he would have eternal life abiding in him; if he does not have eternal life abiding in him, he does not have an immortal soul. To teach the soul of all is eternal and can never die make all have eternal life, it can only be a question of where they will spend their eternal life. John had said, "And this is the promise which he promised US, even the life eternal" (1 John 2:25). "We have passed out of death into life...no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:14-15). Is there anyway John could have said any clearer that a murderer does not have an immortal soul that now has eternal life?

DEATH IS NOT HELL. A DEAD PERSON CANNOT BE TORMENTED. THEY CAN FEEL NO PAIN. ONLY THE LIVING CAN BE TORMENTED. IF HELL WERE A REAL PLACE, THOSE IN IT WOULD BE ALIVE, NOT DEAD. THEIR LIFE WOULD BE JUST AS ETERNAL AS THE LIFE OF THE SAVED.

     If there is no death, there cannot be a resurrection of the undead. If there is no resurrection, we have no hope 1 Corinthians 15:16-19. CAN THERE BE A DOCTRINE MORE HARMFUL THAN THE DOCTRINE OF HELL, WHICH TAKES AWAY OUR RESURRECTION AND HOPE OF SALVATION?

 

WHAT THE DEAD DO NOT DO?

1.    There is no activity (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

2.    They do not have plan (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

3.    They have no wisdom (Ecclesiastes 9:10)

4.    Their bed is in darkness (Job 17:13)

5.    They do not mention God (Psalms 6:5)

6.    They give God no thanks (Psalms 6:5)

7.    They have no thoughts (Psalms 146:4)

8.    They know nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5)

9.    The wicked are silent, no speech (Ps. 31:17)

o   What do the dead do, think, and know? Nothing. Does anyone think this is a picture of Heaven or Hell? Without the resurrection the dead would never know anything after death (1 Corinthians 15:12-22).

     UNWILLING TO ACCEPT GOD'S WORD: Inspired writers speak often about death being a sleep, and about its unconscious nature. "His breath goes forth, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalms 146:4). If Solomon had said, "Their love, as their hatred and their envy will continue...for there is work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom, in Sheol, whither you go" (Ecclesiastes 9:5-10), then those who teach a "immaterial, invisible part of man" is alive from our death unto the resurrection, could rightly say this ends all debate on this subject. But, when it is put the way God inspired it; THEY REJECT IT. If you try for the rest of your life, you would never be able to say any stronger than Solomon that there is nothing after death unto the resurrection. Unconditional immorality must have knowledge in sheol, the grave, and therefore, many plain statements that there is not knowledge in the grave must be rejected, and many plain statements that death is a sleep must be rejected. See Isaiah 38:18-19; Psalms 115:17; 6:5; John 11:11-14; Daniel 12:1-2; Job 14:12-15; 1 Corinthians 15:20.

     Some say that Ecclesiastes is the view of those in the world, the way they see life when God is left out, but it is not the way a child of God sees life. Ecclesiastes has statements that are so conductivity to the soul being immortal that many try to make the whole book not be the truth but it is only "life...viewed from the perspective where God is left out."

Because it was conductivity to his belief that salvation is by faith only without works Calvin did with the book of James the same as they do to Ecclesiastes. There is much in Ecclesiastes that cannot be said to be the way those in the world look at life (see Ecclesiastes 12:1, 12:13 and many other statements throughout the book) but to do away with these statements, they are willing to do away with all. If Ecclesiastes 12:7 is "life...viewed from the perspective where God is left out" why do they not use it that way when they use Ecclesiastes 12:7 to prove the "soul" is immortal?

     DEATH THAT NEVER DIES! THE LIVING DEAD! THE UNDEAD DEAD! If this sounds like something out of a horror film, it is the teaching of many about "it," which is an "immaterial, invisible part of man" after death. If there is a "part of man" that can never die, the lost can never be dead. Common sense tells you that an immortal being can never die; therefore, that being would have no need of a savior to die in its place. Death is not life whether good or bad. To die is not to live. There cannot be life after death without a resurrection that ends the death.

     "IF A MAN DIE, SHALL HE LIVE AGAIN?" Job 14:14 must be made to read, "When a man dies, he does not die but continues to live." It must be changed from a question "shall he live again" to a statement "he continues to live," and "man" must be changed to only an "immaterial, invisible PART" of a person that continues to live after the other part of him or her is dead. IF JOB'S "SOUL" WERE NOT GOING TO DIE, BUT GO TO HEAVEN JUST AS SOON AS THE BODY WAS DEAD, THIS PASSAGE, JUST AS MANY OTHERS, WOULD MAKE NO SENSE.

 

FIRST RESURRECTION-SECOND DEATH

     "He that over comes shall not be hurt of the second death" (Revelation 2:11, 20:6). The first resurrection is when a person is "born anew...born of the water and the Spirit" (John 3:3-5). "And you did he make ALIVE when you were dead...made us ALIVE together with Christ (by grace have you been saved), and RAISED US UP with him" (Ephesians 2:1-6; Galatians 2:18-19; 3:1). The first resurrection is when, "We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was RAISED FROM THE DEAD" (Romans 6:3-4). "And you did he MAKE ALIVE...even when WE WERE DEAD through our trespasses, MADE US ALIVE together with Christ...and RAISED US UP with him" (Ephesians 2:1-6). "I say unto you, the hour comes, and now is when THE DEAD shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and THEY THAT HEAR SHALL LIVE" (John 5:25). "There are only two alternatives, the crown of life-eternal life-or the second death" Homer Hailey, Revelation, Page 128, Baker Book House. It is life or death, not life in Heaven or life in Hell. Death is real.

     All that are in the grave, both saved and lost, will hear His voice and come forth at the resurrection. All will be raised for judgment. All who are born again, made alive by being raised with Christ through Baptism; and live faithful shall not be hurt of the second death after the judgment. Christ paid the wages of sin for them. All others will pay their own wages of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; WHICH IS THE SECOND DEATH" (Revelation 21:8). From this death there will never be a resurrection. The results will be eternal. An endless life of torment is not a second death; it is eternal LIFE with torment. IT BEARS NO RESEMBLANCE TO A DEATH. To feel pain, those in Hell would have to be just as alive as those in Heaven are. For an immortal, immaterial soul that cannot be dead to be forever alive and tormented in a literal lake of fire is so dissimilar to death that a person would be in desperate need to prove his or her theology to say death is an eternal life of torment.

I. D. Williamson, "Relative to the question, whether the lake that burns with fire and brimstone is to be understood literally or figuratively, I have little to say. During the dark ages, it might have been necessary to discuss that question; but the day has passed when any man, claiming even a tolerable share of theological knowledge, would risk his reputation, as a man of sane mind, in an attempt to maintain the existence of a real lake of literal fire and brimstone, in which immortal and immaterial spirits are to be burned. It is a figure used to represent a reality, and this reality is the second death." "An Examination Of The Doctrine Of Endless Punishment."

"THE SECOND DEATH" is used four times, all in Revelation.

1.    He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death (Revelation 2:11). The saved will not have a part in the second death. Only the lost.

2.    Those who are buried and raised with Christ (Romans 6) in the first resurrection, "Over these the second death has no power" (Revelation 20:6).

3.    Death and hades, and any not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire; which is the second death. All three come to the same end. All three end in death (Revelation 20:14-15).

4.    He that overcomes shall inherit and be God's son, but for all others, "Their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). No ransom has been offered for the second death. It is forever.

SECOND DEATH

IN PLAIN UNSYMBOLIC LANGUAGE

     "There remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of JUDGMENT, and a fierceness of fire which shall DEVOUR the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:27). For the lost (1) judgment then (2) devour in the lake of fire, which is the second death. Not as it is preached today (1) judgment (2) then an eternal life of torment in Hell forever but never devoured, or as preached by many an eternal life in Hell at death before and without the resurrection and judgment day.

á      "IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YOU SHALL DIE" ÒFor if you are living according to the flesh, you must die (apothncesko); but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will liveÓ (Romans 8:13). All mankind, even the faithful, have been dying the first death since the sin of Adam, this is not a reference to the first death but the second when only those who live according to the flesh will die. Paul did not say, "If you live after the flesh you are now spiritually dead," but "YOU shall die." Not your soul shall live forever separated from God, but "YOU shall die." Why do many that say they believe God but work hard to change His word? "But if by the Spirit YOU put to death the deeds of the body, YOU shall live." It is YOU that will live or die, not A PART OF YOU that will always live and cannot die.

á      ÒFor the wages of sin is deathÓ (Romans 6:23). Not the death of the flesh which all die, but the second death.

á      ÒI am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died (apothncesko). This is the bread which came down out of Heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die (apothncesko)Ó (John 6:48-50). All die the first death, even the apostles, but there will be a resurrection and those who eat of the bread that came down out of Heaven will not die the second death, all that do not eat of it will die the second deathÓ

á      ÒI am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes on me though he die (apothncesko), yet shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die (apothncesko)Ó (John 11:25-26). Although those who believe will die the first death just all do, they will be resurrected and never die the second death, those who do not believe will also die and be resurrected for judgment and will die the second death. ÒFor the hour comes in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgmentÓ (John 5:28-29). ÒFor if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversariesÓ (Hebrews 10:26-27).

á      ÒFor the land (those who were once enlightened and fell away Hebrews 6:4-6) which has drunk the rain that comes oft upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing form God: but if it bears thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to e burnedÓ (Hebrews 6:4-8). Those that fall away will be burned in the lake of fire, which is the second death just as thorns are burned.

á      "As there is a second higher life, so there is also a second and deeper death. And as after that life there is no more death, SO AFTER THAT DEATH THERE IS NO MORE LIFE" Afford. As quoted by Homer Hailey in "Revelation." The resurrection of all at the coming of Christ makes death be a sleep from which all will awake, but there will be no resurrection from the second death. It will be permanent and everlasting death.

MADE ALIVE AT HIS COMING, NOT AT DEATH: "In Christ all will be made alive. But, each in his own turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him" 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 New International Version. Paul says that those who belong to Christ will be "made alive" at His coming. If the "immaterial, invisible part of man" is very much alive in Heaven or Hell it could not be "made alive" at the resurrection. Christ the first fruits of them that are asleep (now) then they that are Christ's, at his coming. Unconditional immortality makes all, Christ, those that are His, and those that reject Him now be alive before, not at His coming, therefore, Christ could not have been the "first born" (Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15-18) for all who died before Christ died would have been alive before Him.

     DEATH IS THE END: Paul says of those who are servants of sin that "the end of those things is death" (Romans 6:21-22). But, many now say "the end of those things is eternal life with torment without an end"? Who are you going to believe, God or man?

     THE STING OF DEATH 1 Corinthians 15:54-57: After the resurrection when the saved will have put on immortality, DEATH would have been swallowed up in victory. Victory over what? Over death. We will have put on immortality, and will never again be subject to death, but we are now subject to it and it takes away our life. If we now have immortality we would now have the victory over death. If there is no death, then death has no sting. The doctrine of unconditional immortality from birth makes nonsense out of 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, and gives all, those in Christ, and those not in Christ the victory over death; and gives all this victory without the death and resurrection of Christ. If all are born immortal and cannot die, then no one is subject to death from the day of their birth and never will be. What kind of victory could there be over the nothingness of death to a soul that was never subject to death?

IS DEATH AN ENEMY OR A GATEWAY TO HEAVEN? A companion of Paul, Epaphroditus, was nigh unto death but God had mercy on him. If death is a gateway to Heaven, then when God had "mercy on him," was God not being cruel by keeping him out of Heaven? Why do most do all they can to live a little longer even if it is in pain? If death is a friend, why is this friend not a welcome visitor? Why are we grief-stricken and not rejoicing when someone we love is taken by his "friend" to be with Christ and God in Heaven? How could going from this life (from pain and troubles for many) to paradise be an enemy? If death is a doorway by which we go to Heaven at the moment of death, why would a person who had lived in pain for years, do everything possible to live a little longer? Why do we mourn and not rejoice if a love one who lives in pain would go to their everlasting residence in Heaven at death where there is no pain? Is it not because we know death is an enemy, not a friend (1 Corinthians 15:26), and they are under the power of death, not in Heaven? We will not have the victory over death unto the resurrection? But, many say going to Heaven is just what happens at death, even for the Old Testament saints who died before the death of Christ, therefore before their sins were paid for by His death. If this were true, death would then be a friend, not an enemy. HOW CAN DEATH BE AN ENEMY TO AN IMMORTAL "IMMATERIAL, INVISIBLE PART OF MEN" (W. E. Vine) THAT IS NOT SUBJECT TO IT AND CANNOT DIE?

     What is it that will be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26)? Just what is the "enemy?" Could the enemy be anything other than changing from life on this earth to life in Heaven? Is not this change what many say death is, that the dead are not dead, but have only those who are alive moved from earth to Heaven or Hell? There would be no death, and it is impossible to die. DEATH (moving to Heaven or Hell) WOULD BE AN ENEMY ONLY TO THE LOST WHO WERE MOVING TO HELL. IT WOULD BE A FRIEND TO THE SAVED WHO WERE MOVING TO HEAVEN. But there is a problem. HOW CAN THERE BE A RESURRECTION IF NO ONE IS DEAD? If no one is dead, the Bible teaching of a resurrection is out of place and should not be in the Bible. Maybe this is why the teaching of the resurrection is being abandoned in many churches. IF DEATH IS NOT REAL, THERE IS NO RESURRECTION. IF DEATH IS REAL, THE RESURRECTION IS OUR ONLY HOPE. Without the resurrection, we perish forever when we die (1 Corinthians 15:18). Without the resurrection, the enemy of death will never be destroyed and we will be forever dead.

     DEATH IS TO BE "ABOLISHED" (1 Corinthians 15:26) American Standard Version "DESTROYED" King James Version. How? By being cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14). Yet, some teach that when evil men are cast into this same lake of fire, they are tormented by it; but not abolished or destroyed. DOES THE LAKE OF FIRE ABOLISH DEATH BUT TORMENT PEOPLE? "Death shall be no more" Revelation 21:4. Therefore, "being cast into lake of fire" cannot be "being separated from God" (their definition of death), for then death will last forever and could never be "abolished." Death is to be "abolished" before Christ will be subjected" to God (1 Corinthians 15:28ff), before when we will be in Heaven, "death shall be no more" (Revelation 21:4). Therefore, all "wages of sin" (Romans 6:23) shall have been paid. If not, they can never be paid as there will be no death; and cannot go on being paid in Hell forever; for then death would last as long as the "wages" were bring paid, which would be forever. If death is "being separated from God," then death must last forever. If death did not last forever, Hell could not last forever, the last enemy (death) can never be abolished (1 Corinthians 15:26). The people in Bible times would not have understood "death" to mean "separation" any more than the people of the world today understand it or use it in this way. It has never been used with this meaning, but theological makes it be used in a way it has never been used, all because many do not want death to be death. We use "death" in our everyday language to mean dead, but in the theology use of the word, it does not mean dead, but more alive than we are while we are living! Why did God not just say what He means, that death means alive not dead! Why do some think God, in some way apart from His word, revealed to them that He did not mean what He said in the Bible, but He only revealed this to some and not to all?

 

IS DEATH ONLY SEPARATION FROM GOD?

IS THERE LIFE WITHOUT GOD?

      Many who do not want to say, ÒYou are going to Hell and be eternally tormented by GodÓ say, ÒYou are going to be eternally.Ó They really believe God is going to forever be tormenting most of humanity but this is so revolting that they water down what they really believe.

     Hell cannot exist if there is a second death after the judgment. All who believe in Hell must use their theology to explain death out of the Bible. Trying to put separation in the place of death is a poor try, but is the best they could do. Such a radical redefining of death is nothing more that a denial of death. If death means "separation," then we can use it in place of death. Try it.

     This theology makes nonsense of the Bible. The Bible speaks repeatedly of death and the wages of sin being death, but this theology tells us that everyone is born deathless. If no one is dead, the resurrection will not be from the dead to living, but resurrected from the living to the living. Those who tell us that death means "SEPARATION" do not want to use "SEPARATION" when talking about the just dead, AND DEFINITELY NOT WHEN TALKING ABOUT THE DEATH OF JESUS, for then it does not fit in with the theology that says death cannot mean death, therefore, death can only mean separation for the lost. But, according to this theology, death cannot mean separation for the saved. DEATH MEANS SEPARATION ONLY WHEN THEY WANT IT TO MEAN SEPARATION. "Spiritual death" and "death is a separation" are not Biblical expressions. They are interpretations. They are additions used to teach what man wants to hear, not what the Bible teaches.

     Death and separation are different words in both the Hebrew and the Greek and have different meanings just as they do in English. When someone dies we say that person is dead, not that person is separated.

How can death be a separation of the body and soul when the soul (a living being, person) is the earthly body that is in the image of Adam? 1 Corinthians 15:48-50: It is the image of Adam, the soul that is flesh and blood and cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

     IS THERE LIFE WITHOUT GOD? If death is life separated from God, then mankind can live without God, and life can exist that is not sustained by God. But, the truth is the dead can never be separated from God if they have eternal life with torment with God doing the tormenting. There could be absolutely NO EXISTENCE if one is separated from God for there can be NO LIFE without God, and without life there can be NO TORMENT. If any have life in Hell, God must be in Hell with them giving them this life; and He must be there to do the tormenting, for if He were not, there would be no life and no torment. TO BE SEPARATE FROM GOD CAN ONLY MEAN TO BE NOWHERE. IF A PERSON CAN EXIST SEPARATED FROM GOD, THAT PERSON IS SELF-EXISTING. THEY ARE A GOD FOR ONLY A GOD CAN BE SELF-EXISTING, THEREFORE, ACCORDING TO TODAY'S THEOLOGY, ALL THE LOST ARE SELF-EXISTING GODS. How far will they go to prove "Hell"?

The King James Version puts God in Hell. "If I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there" (Psalms 139:8). If those in Hell are separated from God, then God cannot be in Hell but by its mistranslation to put Hell in the Bible the King James Version says that God is in Hell. Do they think God has forever given the lost to Satan to do with them what he wants to? Will Satan have his own kingdom where he is in total control, which will have more in it than God's kingdom? He will if the dead are separated from God and God is not in Hell with them. If there were a Hell, which way do they want it? (1) Either God is in Hell doing the tormenting and sustaining the life they have and they are not separated from Him; (2) or God is not in Hell and the lost are separated from Him and He is not doing the tormenting or sustaining the life they have. It cannot be both ways. Today's theology makes many problems. Where did the concept come from that there is any life when one is separated from God, the source of all life? It is not a matter of eternal life with Christ or eternal life separated from Christ, for there is no life separated or apart from Christ. A sinner does not have any kind of immortal life. Only those in Christ will have it.

     If death is "separation" of our soul from this earthly body and not a real death, then the resurrection could only be the return and reuniting of the soul to the earthly body and they must forever be together or the resurrection would not be forever. If the earthly body ends at the end of the world, then death (separation) of the saved will be forever.

Campbell said, "Every word not specially explained or defined in a particular sense by any standard writer of any particular age and country, is to be taken in the current or commonly received signification of that country and age in which the writer lived and wrote." Theological meaning of words came about after the New Testament. Both the Old Testament and New Testament use the words as they were used then. THERE ARE NO WORDS IN THE BIBLE THAT HAVE A THEOLOGICAL MEANING IN PLACE OF THE COMMON MEANING THAT THE PEOPLE HEARING THEM WOULD UNDERSTAND. Did God say one thing, but mean something different from what He said? If so, then we need a Pope or someone who is inspired to tell us what God said, "otherwise it would be no revelation, but would always require a class of inspired men to unfold and reveal its true sense to mankind" (Campbell, Christian System, Page 3). There is no need for us to read the Bible. No one could know that God used "death" to mean "separation" without a revelation from God, or someone who is inspired to tell us. Who was the inspired person that told us "death" means "separation?" If no inspired person did tell us, many preach that which they have no way of knowing, for they would have no revelation to tell them that when God said death that He really intended to say separation.

     Summary: IF, AS SOME TEACH, THAT HELL IS THE PUNISHMENT FOR SIN, THEN TORMENT, NOT SEPARATION OR DEATH IS "THE WAGES OF SIN." TORMENT, NOT SEPARATION, IS MADE TO BE THE THING THEY CALL DEATH, BUT THOSE WHO SAY DEATH IS SEPARATION DO NOT SEEM TO SEE THEY ARE TEACHING TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DOCTRINES AT THE SAME TIME. (1) DEATH IS AN ETERNAL LIFE OF TORMENT WITH GOD DOING THE TORMENTING, AND (2) DEATH IS ETERNAL LIFE SEPARATED FROM GOD. MOST UNCONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY DO NOT THINK OF THE LOST AS REALLY BEING SEPARATED FROM GOD BUT OF GOD BEING WHERE THE LOST ARE AND TORMENTING THEM FOREVER. THEY SAY SEPARATION, BUT THAT IS ONLY AN ATTEMPT TO TAKE DEATH OUT OF THE BIBLE WHEN THEY ACTUALITY THINK AND TEACH GOD IS THE ONE WHO WILL BE WHERE THE LOST ARE ETERNALLY TORMENTING THEM. THEY DO NOT REALLY BELIEVE SEPARATION FROM GOD IS THE WAGES OF SIN OR THAT THE SINNER IS REALLY FOREVER SEPARATED FROM GOD. They seem to be somewhat confused for they say death is separation from God and "a loss of well being," but tell those who grieve at funerals that their dead loved ones are not separated from God but are in Heaven with Him, and their well being is now much better than it was before death. They are going both ways simultaneously, they say for the lost death is eternal life with torment, and for the saved death is eternal life in Heaven. If they were right, then for both the lost and the saved death is really life for there cannot be death to an immortal soul that is not subject to death, therefore, cannot die. Death must be reinterpreted to be eternal life for both the saved and the lost. BUT IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO DO AWAY WITH DEATH, THEY ARE DRIVEN TO SAY DEATH IS LIFE SEPARATION BUT WHAT THEY REALLY BELIEVE IS THAT DEATH IS ETERNAL LIFE BEING TORMENTED BY GOD, NOT ETERNAL LIFE SEPARATED FROM GOD.

     JOHN 3:36 "But, he that obeyed not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Implied: he shall see death, the opposite of life. You are alive, or you are dead, no in between. Will those in Hell that cannot die have no life? If they "shall not see life" how can they be alive to be tormented when they are in Hell? Can a rock that does "not see life" be tormented? "Shall not see life" is not to be alive anywhere, not to be alive in Hell. How much clearer could Jesus have possibly have been, how much clearer could He have said whoever rejects Him shall not see life, not see an eternal life of torment?

     EVERLASTING LIFE OR EVERLASTING DESTURUCTION Matthew 7:13-14: ÒEnter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.Ó Destruction is used in contrast to life, not two kinds of life. There is no way Jesus could have said any clearer that the wide gate leads to destruction not life. ÒOr those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed themÉexcept you repent, you shall all likewise perishÓ (Luke 13:4-5). ÒKilledÓ and Òlikewise perishÓ are both the same, both death, not eternal life.

     "WORTHY OF DEATH" BUT CANNOT DIE: Romans 1:32. "They that practice such things are worthy of death," but if they have an immortal never dying something from birth, they can never die. Why did Paul bother to say they are worthy of death if he knows they could not die?

WHEN DOES A SINNER DIE? If death means only separation, the sinner is separated from God now. Is the second death to be a "double separation?" Will they be any more separated than they now are? If the lake of fire, which is the second death, is only a separation from God, and they are now separated from Him, they cannot have any more punishment than they now have.

     LITERALLY OR FIGURATIVELY: Thomas Andrews says that those who accept annihilation as the end of mankind claim that the words destroy and death that are used to describe eternal punishment should be understood literally (1997 Florida College Lectures, Page 169). Those who believe in Hell must make "death" figuratively or allegorical, not real; but they make "life" real even when both are used in the same sentence. If one is figuratively, then both are. They cannot make one figuratively and the other literal just because they need it that way for their theology. If death is figurative, then there is no death, but two kinds of life. They cannot give any reason why death is figurative, and life is literal other than they need it to be, for it must be or there can be no "Hell."

     Three blind men were told to feel an elephant and tell what it looks like. One felt the tusk and said, "It is hard and smooth." One the leg- "It is like a tree." One the tail- "It is like a brush." Each one told only what a small part of the elephant is like, but not the elephant. "It is like a brush" is not a description of an elephant, and "separated" from God but alive without Him is not a description of death.

     "DEAD WHILE SHE LIVES" 1 Timothy 5:6: Dead and alive at the same time. In what sense is she alive? Physically she is not dead but alive. In what sense is she dead? She is the same as all other sinners and unsaved people. Their death is so certain that they are spoken of as being dead (See Luke 9:60). They do not have Christ living in them, and the "life" He came to give (John 5:21-29). They have only the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29) to look forward to, and the wages of sin, death (Romans 6:23), not the resurrection unto life (John 5:29). Both life for those who believe, and death for those who do not believe, are so certain that through out the New Testament it speaks as if we now have the eternal life or death, which will come at the judgment. THE ONLY LIFE SHE HAS IS PHYSICAL LIFE. HOW CAN AN IMMORTAL SOUL THAT WILL ALWAYS HAVE LIFE BE GOTTEN OUT OF "WHILE SHE LIVES"? It was her body that "lives," not an immortal, immaterial, invisible something that lives without the body; therefore, if a "soul" were in this passage, it could only be in the part of her that was "dead." BECAUSE THE PASSAGE SPEAKS OF HER BEING DEAD WHILE SHE LIVED, HER HAVING A SOUL THAT IS ALIVE WHILE SHE IS DEAD IS READ INTO THIS PASSAGE WHEN NOTHING IS SAID ABOUT A SOUL OR ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH. THIS PASSAGE IS OFTEN USED TO PROVE THAT THE "SOUL" CANNOT BE DEAD BUT IT HAS ANOTHER KIND OF LIFE EVEN WHEN THERE IS NOTHING SAID ABOUT A "SOUL" IN IT. "Dead while she lives" MUST be changed to be "Alive while she is alive." Death MUST be removed from this passage. This is what is called pulling something out of thin air.

      DIE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT: Die is from "moosh" in the Old Testament and occurs over 800 times. (Wigram, Old Testament, Pages 675-681). None of the 800 has any references to death being anything but death. In none is death a separation of the earthly body from the soul or spirit or that any part of a person lives after death. Throughout the Old Testament, "moosh" is used of both men and animals and makes no distinction between them. Both die. "For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies (moosh) so dies (moosh) the other" (Ecclesiastes 3:19). Fish, cattle, frogs, men, dogs, lions, a city, and flies all die (moosh). For all, death is the end of life and if there was no resurrection, a person would be as all the above, dead forever.

"SPIRITUALITY DEAD" Spiritual (pnumatikos) is used in the New Testament 21 times, but "spirituality dead" not one time, yet many preach it continually. From where did they get this? Do they mean the spirit is dead? If they mean "lost," why do they use an unscriptural term that does not say what they mean? In his review of my "From Where Came Hell" Csonka says, "We are spiritually dead when, as Isaiah says, 'your sins have separated you from your God'" Guardian of Truth, January 5, 1995, Page 17, (Isaiah 59:2). He must know that Isaiah is speaking about "the house of Jacob their sins" (Isaiah 58:1) "A nation" (Isaiah 58:2). This is about a nation that had left God being separated from God, and there is not one word about any kind of death of a person in it, but he reads it in. He changes this from a nation (Israel) being separated from God to a person "we" being separated from God and then changes this person "we" from a living person separated from God to a dead person that is not really dead, but living with eternal life in Hell forever separated from God. Has he heard this verse misused so often he does not know that he is misusing it? He must add changes to changes to make this be a living person in Hell, but he did not seem to know whether he wanted it to be (1) a dead person in Hell, (2) or a living person that is "spiritually dead."

     "Spiritual death" is not in the Bible, but if there were such a thing as "spiritual death," it would have to be when the spirit had no life for if it still had life, it would not be dead. If it were living somewhere with eternal life, how could it not be alive? It could not be "dead" if it were "alive." Most who believe in Hell say the second death is a "spiritual death" which is a separation from God, not a real death; but they also say the lost are now "spiritual dead" even before they die. Do they not make the second death be nothing more that a continuation of the state they say the lost are now in, just a continuation of the lost being separated from God? Therefore, they have done away with the second death, for they tell us that the lost are already "spiritual dead."

     In "Truth Magazine," June 7, 2001, Page 343, Johnie Edwards has a short article, "What Death Says." What does death say? It says that for there to be life after death, there must be a resurrection from the dead. What does the resurrection say? It says if there is to be a resurrection there must be death, not a higher kind of life than we now know. It says someone who is not dead cannot be raised from the dead by a resurrection. The resurrection says death is a real death.

     2 Corinthians 2:16 "The meaning therefore is, the Gospel, which arises from Christ and which is preached through us, is to the unbelieving, but the incense arising from one crucified and dead, and so it is to them a savor from the dead and producing death. But to the believing it is a savor FROM THE LIVING, PRODUCING LIFE." J. W. McGarvey. "McGarvey pointed out the extremely significant phrases 'from death' and 'from life' as used in this passage. To the unbelieving, the news of the Gospel is from one who was crucified and is dead: so, for them, it is an odor from death unto death EVEN ETERNAL DEATH; but to Christians, the news of the Gospel is 'from life unto life' in them that are saved." J. B. Coffman. The sentence of death has been removed for those in Christ, and the promise of life (immortality, incorruption) given to them. For those not in Christ, there is only death, the wages of their sin. They will be raised only to face the judgment and the second death "a savor from death unto death."

     "In all classical literature no instance can be found where the word death has this signification of eternal torment" H. L. Hastings, "The Last Judgment," 1853

     For those who are not in Christ, there is no eternal life anywhere.

Continue to chapter three

BACK TO INDEX AND CHAPTER ONE

Copyright November 2005 and August 2006 by William West

Download and Save the free pdf book "Unconditional Immortality Or Resurrection Of The DeadÓ at http://www.robertwr.com/resurrection.pdf By William Robert West, Infinity Publishing, ISBN- 0-7414-4620-0, 365 Pages, 2008. Third edition:

Or buy the printed copy FROM BOOKSTORES ON THE WEB:

Best web buys

Amazon

Barnes And Noble $18.36, Members $16.32

Others

Kindle 2 digital text platform edition is also available from Amazon.com/ for $9.99 at: http://www.amazon.com/Unconditional-Immortality-Resurretion Dead/dp/B001AWNQI0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236294815&sr=1-2

----------------------------------------------------------------

ree hit counter code

SIGN MY GUEST BOOK AND TELL THE WORLD WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT THIS WEB PAGE.

ree GuestBooks by Phaistos Networks!

Read My Guestbook! | Sign My Guestbook!

 

ree GuestBooks by Phaistos Networks!

Read My Guestbook! | Sign My Guestbook!