RESURRECTION
OR
IMMORTALITY
LIFE ONLY IN CHRIST
Chapter Two
Subtitle,
The Resurrection, Our Only Hope Of Life After Death
ISBN
978-1-4497-1503-8
William
Robert West
Author
of ÒThe Rapture And IsraelÓ
Unconditional Immortality
Makes The Great Doctrines Of The New Testament Useless And\Or
Impossible
Is "The Wages Of Sin Death"
Or
"Eternal Life With Torment In HellÓ
An Immortal Soul And The Doctrine Of Hell
Updated
1/18/2021
Over
1,594,450 downloads
CHAPTER
TWO
Life or
Death
In John 5 and 6 when the
Pharisees, Sadducees, and the great multitude that fallowed Christ heard Him
say He will give life to those that hears His word and believes on Him (John
5:21); those that believe have Òpassed out of death into lifeÓ
(John 5:24-29); this takes place when a person become a believer; the believer still
has a mortal body that will die, then the person will sleep in Christ unto the
resurrection, and be awaken with an immortal body at His coming (1 Corinthians
15:42-44) ÒAll of us who were baptized into ChristÉwe shall be also in the likeness of His resurrectionÓ (Romans 6:15);
do you think it is a person or a soul that is baptized that Òshall be also in the likeness of His
resurrection?Ó
ÒUnto the resurrection
of lifeÓ
(John 5:29), they would never have understood Him to be saying He would give a
reward to already immortal souls that had been in the believers; souls that if
they did exist they would already have life and would always have life without
Christ. It is clear that Christ is
promising a resurrection to life only to the persons that believed not
promising life to souls that are already deathless. The death Òthey have passed out ofÓ (John 5:24) is
not passing out of an endless life of misery for souls that cannot die, souls
that cannot ever be dead; therefore, souls cannot Òpass out of death into lifeÓ (John 5:24).
Eternal life or
immortality is never said to be something a person is born with, but something
that only the faithful will ever have.
(1). Eternal life WILL
BE INHERITED. ÒAnd shall inherit eternal lifeÓ (Matthew 19:29). A
promise only to believers, never a possession of unbeliever, or not a
possession of a pagan soul some believe to be in a person.
(2). Eternal life IS A
GIFT. ÒFor the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our LordÓ (Romans 6:23).
(3). Eternal life IS
NOW A HOPE. ÒWE might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal lifeÓ (Titus 3:7).
(4). Eternal life IS
PROMISED. ÒAnd this is the promise which he promised US, even eternal lifeÓ (1 John 2:25).
Many continually
preach, "The wages of sin is death,"
but then by
what they preach they contradict themselves by
preaching that all now have a soul in them that now has endless life, and souls
that are in unbelievers will have eternal life in Hell. If no ÒsoulsÓ are dead,
or will ever be dead, the Òwages of sinÓ
cannot be death. Life is as essential to suffering as it is to happiness;
without all having endless life there could be no endless suffering in Hell, or
any other place; therefore, believers in Hell must change, ÒThe wages of sin is death" to, "The wages of sin is an eternal life being endlessly tormented by
God." ÒDestructionÓ must be
changed to mean Òeverlasting preservation in misery undestroyed.Ó In death,
life comes to an end; if it did not the resurrection would have no meaning,
only the dead can be resurrected from the dead. If, as many tell us, the dead
are not really dead then the resurrection could not be really a resurrection of
the dead.
THE CHANGING OF LIFE AND DEATH
"Life" has been changed to mean only a "reward," or ÒhappinessÓ for a
soul that already has life and cannot die.
How is it that when
Christ promised ÒlifeÓ to those that
believed Him if He did not mean Òlife?Ó
The argument is made that
all already have ÒlifeÓ and that when
Christ promised ÒlifeÓ to those that
believed Him that He was only promising happiness to souls that already had
Òcontinues existence.Ó Life is existence. Those that do not have ÒlifeÓ do not have any existence. Those
to whom Christ does not give ÒlifeÓ
will have no existence after the second death.
1.
There
cannot be ÒlifeÓ without existence.
2.
There
cannot be existence without Òlife.Ó If
there were a soul it could not exist in misery if it does not have Òlife.Ó A soul cannot be endlessly
tormented if it dose not have endless existence.
3.
Death
is not a living existence.
ÒI say to you, an hour
is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and
those who hear will live. For just
as the Father has life in Himself,
even so He gave to the Son also to have life
in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at
this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who
did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who
committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgmentÓ (John 5:26-29).
1.
The
Father has life.
2.
The
Son had life with the Father (John
1:1-10), but give it up and became a man and He died in manÕs place (Hebrews
2:14-16); God raised Him up from death and give Him the life He had had before He became a man.
3.
Those
that believe and obey Christ will be resurrected
to life (John 5:29). After the resurrection they will not die, will not
have tears, death, mourning, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4); there will be
endless happiness in Heaven, but to have the endless happiness there must be
endless life, but no one will live and have endless life without the
resurrection to life at the coming of Christ.
"DEATH" HAS BEEN CHANGED TO ÒLIFEÓ
(1). Changed from
death to an endless life of miserable existence.
(2). Changed from
death to endless life being tormented by God.
(3). Changed death to
be a deathless death.
(4). The orthodox view
changes death into a different mode
of life, makes death into a deathless
death. ÒThe wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our LordÓ (Romans 6:23) is changed to mean the wages of sin is
not death, but the wages of sin is endless life with endless torment by God.
Changing ÒlifeÓ to happiness and ÒdeathÓ to endless life in misery being endlessly
tormented by God is nothing more than a feeble attempts to make a person have a
soul in them that leaves a person at the death of the person, and that soul has
endless life even if the person a soul had been in did not believe in Christ. Death
is the opposite of birth, just as birth is the beginning of life, death is the
ending of life; just as we know the day and hour of birth, the day and the hour
of our death will be known. For a soul to have unconditional immortality to be
true, death must be changed into endless dying but never dead, which we are
told is not death but an endless life being endlessly tormented by God; told
that death is not death, that death is life, a deathless soul cannot be resurrected
from the dead.
(5). The Greek in
which the New Testament was written is one of the best and most expressive
languages the world has known. If the Greek had no words to express the ideas
of happiness and misery, then the use of life to mean happiness and death to
mean endless life in misery would have been an exceedingly poor choice. Believers
in an immortal soul are saying that the souls that are in them will accept
happiness from Jesus, but Òno think to life; their souls already have endless
life and do not need life from Christ.Ó
(6). Death does not
mean life in misery; a dead person has no life or misery, life or death mean
existence or non-existence. Death and an endless life of misery is not even
close to being the same thing.
(7). Many persons have
life but little or no happiness. We may possess life without happiness, but we
cannot possess happiness without life; life and happiness are
not the same thing. Life is necessary to
both happiness and misery; there could not be endless misery without eternal
life.
Eternal life is a
conditional gift only to the saved; it is not something that every person is
born with, only the faithful will ever have it. ÒHe that has the Son HAS
ETERNAL LIFE. He that has not the Son HAS NOT LIFE;Ó therefore, cannot
have immortality (1 John 5:12); how could it be said any clearer that those
that do not believe in Christ dose not have endless life? "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).
Life and death are two
of the most misused words by those that believe in Hell. Many are unwilling to
believe that when God said, "The
wages of sin is death" that God did really means what He said, that
death is death. Death is not endless life being tormented by God in some place
other than Heaven. Death is not life, not a life long imprisonment with
torture. Death is not a better life in
Heaven, or a worse life in Hell; it is life or death, death is not one kind of
life for believers and another kind of life for unbelievers. Death is the
exact opposite of life, and death cannot be changed to be endless life being
endlessly tormented by God. For a person to have an immortal soul from 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 being that will survive death, the law of God
would have no power over whether that soul lives or dies, for according to
innate inborn immortality a soul cannot die; God can only say how or where this
soul, this "immaterial, invisible
part of men" is to live if it is not subject to death and it is only
this soul that will always live some place without the dead person that a soul
had been in.
"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 lifeÉthey that have
done good, unto the resurrection of life"
(John 5:24-29). It is a person, not a soul Òthat
hears my word, and believesÓ that has life, not a soul that was not dead that
has passes out death into life; it is a person (ÒheÓ) that has Òpassed out of death into life.Ó
If there were a soul that now has life, it could not be resurrected Òout of death into life.Ó The life could
not be literal (real) life if the death was not literal (real) death.
"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 now 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. 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), it is life or death for a person, not life of death for a
deathless soul. ÒIf YOU are living according to the flesh, YOU must die; but if by the Spirit YOU are putting to death the deeds of the body, YOU shall liveÓ (Romans 8:13).
JESUS
THE BREAD OF LIFE (John 6). After Jesus fed the five thousand He taught
them that He is the bread of life that
came down out of Heaven. The bread given to the five thousand preserved life
for a short time, the bread Jesus give from Heaven preserved life without end. ÒI am the living bread which came down out
of heaven: if any MAN eat of this
bread, HE shall live foreverÓ (John
6:51). Bread is not a symbol of happiness but a preserver of life, if a person
has no food that person would die. Believing
in Christ gives life to the person that believes, and without Christ that
person will die. Endless life
depends on having Christ, the bread that came down out of Heaven; without
Christ a person will have no life,
will perish just as a person that has no food. ÒYou have not life in yourselves.
HE that eats my flesh and drinks my
blood has eternal life: and I will raise HIM up at the last dayÓ
(John 6:53-54). It is the person that eats and drinks, it will be the person,
not a deathless soul that already has life that will be raised up from a grave
at the last day. Those not in Christ will not Òlive forever.Ó Christ gives to the person Òthat eats my flesh and drinks my bloodÓ exactly what He said, life, not just a reward to a soul that
already has life.
1.
It
is the person that if he or she eats that person will live.
2.
If
the person does not eat, that person will not live.
3.
The
literal endless life of a person depends on receiving Christ and being faithful
to Him.
4.
ÒHe (the person) that eats this bread shall live for everÓ
John 6:58. John 6 is speaking of the person that believes and the person that dose not believe. Nothing, not one word is said
about a deathless soul.
5.
It
is the literal life or death of a person at the last day, the Judgment Day, not
the well-being, or the lost or the well-being of a
soul that has life and cannot die even if the person that soul was in did not
believe in Christ.
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
It is not either a better life–––OR––a
worse life in misery
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 (Revelation 2:11). The
clear implication is that anyone who does not overcome shall be hurt of the
second death at the judgment. "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). Death dose not mean life; to have a conscious existence
there must be life, not death. The dead do not have conscious existence; if
they did have an endless conscious existence they would not be dead.
1.
The first death is not any kind of life.
2.
The second death is not a second life.
Both the first death
and the second death are death, neither the first death, or the second death
dose not means any kind of life anyplace.
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 there is something that is in a person, and
believe that this something cannot die knows "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) must be changed
to be something other than death, for if "death"
means "death" the sinner
will die, neither a sinner or a soul that had been in a sinner could not live
forever in Hell if death is death. The
Bible teaching on death must be done away with or there can be no Hell;
Christ is made to be saying God will destroy souls that todayÕs theology says cannot
be destroyed.
John 3:16, it is either ÒperishÓ or Òlife.Ó To ÒperishÓ is
not to live, ÒperishÓ is not to have
a good life in one place, or a bad life in another place. If all have a ÒsoulÓ
in them that now has endless life, and it will always have endless life and
cannot perish, why did God give His Son that the ÒsoulsÓ that are in all who
believe on Him would have endless life and not perish? How could the gift of
God be life to deathless souls if these souls already have endless life?
Eternal life is only for the persons that believe, not souls. Just as sure as those that believe on
Christ will have endless life, the persons that do not believe on Christ will
not have endless life any place. The gift of God to those who believe on
His Son is endless life (John 3:16), and this gift is something they did not
already have; not something ALL were born with. If all have souls in them that
have endless life from birth, even those who do not believe, how could life be
a gift only to believers? When those who believe that all now have a ÒsoulÓ
that is inside of them and this soul now has endless life read the Bible, and they
change "life" into "a
reward," they must change death,
die, perish, destroyed, and destruction into "endless life." To them,
the Bible cannot mean what it says and they must change it to make it say what
they want it to say.
Only those that are in
Christ will be given immortality that those that are not in Christ will never
have, is changed by those who say they do not change GodÕs word, changed to be
to all are born with something in them that now has endless life, and only
whatever a soul is that is in a person, only it will live forever, either in
Heaven or Hell. If there was a soul that is deathless, life could not be given
to a soul that is already deathless. ÒShould
not perish, but have eternal life,Ó it is a person that will perish, or a
person that will have endless life. Perish in John 3:16 is from ÒapollumiÓ in
the Greek and is translated ÒdestroyÓ
in James 4:12, ÒThere is one lawgiver and
judge who is able to save and to destroy (apollumi).Ó
1.
The unbelieving person that will perish, will be
destroyed, will not have endless life any place.
2.
The believing person that will have endless life will not perish.
3.
You either perish or you donÕt perish. When a newspaper says, ÒTwenty persons
perished in a plane crash,Ó twenty persons died, perish means die. Perish is
not endless life with a Òlost of well-being,Ó perish is not endless life in endless
torment, perish is not any kind of life anyplace.
1 John 3:11-12, ÒGod gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that has the Son has the life; he that has not the Son of God has not the life.Ó The immortal
soul doctrine, that all are born with a soul that has eternal life makes John
be completely wrong when he said, ÒHe that has not the Son of God has not
the life.Ó How could those that have not the Son and; therefore, has not
life, but have immortality without life? Would they not be like a rock that
exist but has no life, no thoughts?
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." If no one Òshall never die,Ó then why did Jesus
promise something that all, even all sinners already had? "And declare unto you the life, the eternal life" (1
John 1:1). Only those who are raised with Christ through baptism (Romans 6:4-5)
have life. Only those in Christ are the only ones who, ÒThough he die, yet shall he liveÓ (John 11:25), there will
be no endless life or immortality for those that are not in Christ, no
immortality for those that die in sin. Christianity without a resurrection to
life for those in Christ is inconceivable.
(1). LIFE
The gift of God is endless
LIFE, but only to those in Christ. God's gift is LIFE, life could not be a gift
to a soul that has life and can never not has life; GodÕs gift is not just a
reward to a soul that was born with endless life and cannot die.
(1). The Greek concept of an immortal soul
assumes that a soul would be better off without the person it is in, that it
already possess endless life and is not subject to death.
(2). The orthodox view
is that a person has an "immaterial,
invisible part of men" (Vine), and only this soul that is in a person
possessed endless life at the birth of the person it was put in; the orthodox
view is that it is only this invisible deathless soul that will be in Heaven or
Hell, not the person that a invisible soul had been in,
(3). The Bible says 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 nothing that is now in a
person now has immortality. Both (1) Òlife,Ó
for a person after the death of the person, and (2) Òimmortality,Ó life
that will have no end (2 Timothy 1:10) was
brought to light through the gospel of Christ; both were not known about
before Christ; there cannot be one without the other, cannot be immortality
without life, or endless life without immortality. If there were a soul in a
lost person and that soul already had endless life then Christ could not have brought neither life nor immortality to light. If
life and immortality after death for a person or for a soul was taught in the
Old Testament, Christ could not have brought life and immortal to light.
PSUKEE (LIFE)
Psukee (life) is the
only word that is translated soul in the New Testament. The adjectives eternal and everlasting (aionios–ageless)
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, but psukee is translated soul much fewer times in most
translations; the times it is translated soul is down from 57 times in the King
James Version to 23 times in New International
Version in 2011 update, and 0 times in some translations. (See ÒTHE DYING USE OF ÔSOULÕ IN THE NEW TESTAMENTÓ in chapter
one, also the dying translation of nehphesh into soul in the Old Testament).
Psukee (life) is the natural life of a person or animal (Revelation 8:9; 16:3).
It is the life common to all living creatures, man, and all animals. All living
creatures by natural birth have psukee (life) from birth to death. "The first man Adam
become a living soulÓ (1
Corinthians 15:45 in King James Version, Òliving beingÓ in most
translations). Psukee is the same as nehphesh in the Old Testament; Adam became
"a living being"–nehphesh–
(Genesis 2:7); nehphesh is the life Adam had in common with animals and all
living creatures, life that can be destroyed, saved, lay down, end, loss, put
in danger, or die.
Psukee is used about
104 times in the New Testament, with 50 of them in the four gospels. In spite
of the belief of the King James translators they were compelled to translated
it ÒlifeÓ 28 of the 50 times, ÒusÓ 1 time, and ÒsoulÓ only 21 of the 50 times.
Life and soul are not synonymous in English; life and soul are
not even close to being the same thing. In trying to put PlatoÕs teaching into
the mouth of Christ they were forced to translate the same word into two words
that are not even close to meaning the same thing; basically they translated
psukee ÒlifeÓ when it was speaking of animal life, and ÒsoulÓ when it was
speaking of mankind. Unfortunately most English
readers never see what the translators did, that they made psukee be both (1) any earthly mortal life
that cannot keep from dying, (2) and the same word, psukee, sometimes in the
same sentence to be immortal souls that cannot die. Psukee is not both (1)
a mortal being that must dies, (2) and an immortal being that cannot die, if it
did mean both there would have been no way the translators could have known
when a psukee was a deathless immortal being that cannot die, and when a psukee
was a mortal being that cannot keep from dying. In spite of their belief that
souls are immortal and cannot die they were forced to translate psukee as
mortal life that can die more times than they were able to mistranslate it as
PlatoÕs cannot die soul being that is inside of a person. ÒWhosoever will save his life
(psukee) shall lose it; and whosoever
will lose his life (psukee) for my sake shall find it. For what is a
man profited if he gains the whole world and lose his
own soul (psukee -life)? Or what shall he give in exchange for his soul (psukee -life)Ó (Matthew
16:25-26); in the same verse they made psukee mean both (1) animal life, mortal
life that they believed must die, (2) and an immortal, immaterial soul that
they believed cannot die. When rightly translated, psukee always means the life
of a mortal being, either the life of a person, or the life of an animal.
ZOE LIFE
Zoe (life) (Strong's word 2227,
ÒZoopoico...make alive, give life, quickenÓ) Zoe (life), endless life
is a gift from Christ to those who believe, the life He gives to those who are
His; an ageless life that those that are not His will never have. "Zoe" is used
about one hundred thirty four times, and is translated "life" every time but one where it is translated ÒlifetimeÓ (Luke 16:25). It refers to
the life given by Christ to believes in all but about ten of the one hundred
thirty four times, and in those ten it is the gift of earthly life; ÒSeeing He Himself gives to all life (zoe),
and breath, and all thingsÓ (Acts 17:25; Luke 12:15; 16:25; 1:75; 1 Corinthians
15:19; James 4:14, and about three more). All life (zoe) of ever-living thing
on this earth come from God and is a gift from God to both persons and animals.
Christ gives life
(zoe) to believerÕs now, a life that will be continued after the resurrection
in the ages to come (John 6:40); a life that will last beyond this earthly life
that nonbelievers do not now have and will never have. Life (zoe) that Christ
gives to a believer is endless existence for a believer as opposed to
non-existence or death for a nonbeliever; neither endless life nor any kind of
endless existence are not once used to describe the future state of the lost,
not to a lost person, or not to a soul that many believe had been in a lost
person. The penalty for sin is death,
but Christ made the atonement for our sins by his death; endless life for a
believer is only through ChristÕs atonement, and without His atonement there
will be only death, not endless life anyplace with or without torment. ÒThe wages of sin is death,Ó and Christ
has not made the atonement for the sins of the wicked that never believe Him,
and there is no life for them; neither a person nor a soul could not be
endlessly tormented by God if they have no life.
(1). "Shall
inherit eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe)"
Matthew 19:29.
(2). "That whosoever believes may in
him have eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe)"
John 3:15. The only way to have eternal life is through believing in Christ,
not by birth, not, as many believe, by being born with whatever they believe an
immortal soul to be, even if the person a soul is believed to be in never
believes in Christ.
(3). "Whosoever
believes on him should not perish, but
have eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe)"
John 3:16.
(4). "He
that believes on the Son has eternal (aionios) LIFE
(zoe); but
he that obeys not the Son shall not see
LIFE (zoe),Ó John 3:36. He or
she that obeys not the Son is not now immortal, and will never be immortal in
Hell or any place, will never have eternal life any place. If this is not
speaking of the person, if it was speaking of an immortal soul that Òshall not see life,Ó then how is it
that the immortal soul that we are repeatedly told is deathless, but that
deathless soul Òshall not see life?Ó
(5). "The water I shall give him shall become in him a well or water
springing up unto eternal (aionios) LIFE
(zoe)" John 4:14.
(6). "Fruit unto LIFE (zoe) eternal (aionios) John
4:36.
(7). "Son also gives LIFE (zoe)" John 5:21.
(8). "He
that hears my word, and believes him that sent me, has eternal (aionios) LIFE
(zoe), and comes not into judgment,
but has passed out of death into LIFE (zoe)" John 5:24.
(9). "That you may have LIFE (zoe)"
John 5:40.
(10). "Unto the resurrection of LIFE (zoe)" John 5:29.
(11). "Food which abides unto eternal (aionios) LIFE
(zoe)" John 6:27.
(12).
"Should have eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe); and I will raise him up at the last day" John 6:40.
(13). "And I give unto them eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe)"
John 10:28. He is not giving them life that they already had, or life to a
being that is in them that had eternal life at the birth of the person it was
put in, but Christ gives life that no one did not have before the new birth.
When Jesus said, "He that believes
not the Son shall not see life," how could these that shall not have
eternal life have eternal life in torment?
(14). "He
should give eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe)" John 17:1-3.
(15). "And
that believing you may have LIFE (zoe)"
John 20:31. This life is a free gift given to the person that believes; it is
not a gift of life to a soul that those that believe in unconditional immortal
tell us that a soul already has life, and according to them all souls will
always have life someplace.
(16). "The
free gift of God is eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe) in Christ Jesus our Lord" Romans
6:23.
(17). "Believe
on Him unto eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe)"
1 Timothy 1:16.
(18). "Lay
hold on the LIFE (zoe) eternal (aionios), whereunto you were called" 1 Timothy 6:12.
(19). "May lay hold on the LIFE (zoe)
which is LIFE (zoe) indeed"
1 Timothy 6:19.
(20). "Abolished
death and brought LIFE (zoe) and
immortality to light" 2
Timothy 1:10.
(21). "In hope of eternal (aionios) LIFE
(zoe)" Titus 1:2.
(22). "We
might be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal LIFE (zoe)" Titus 3:12.
(23). "Shall
receive the crown of LIFE (zoe)"
James 1:12.
(24). "Declare unto you the LIFE (zoe), the eternal (aionios) LIFE
(zoe), (Christ) which was with
the Father" 1 John 1:2.
(25). "And this is the promise which he promised us, even the LIFE (zoe) eternal (aionios)" (1 John 2:25). At the
resurrection the saved shall put on immortality (eternal life). This is so sure
that it is spoken of as if we now have it.
(26). "And
in the world (age) to come eternal (aionios) LIFE
(zoe)" Mark 10:30. (1)
"God gave unto us eternal (aionios) LIFE
(zoe), (2) and this LIFE (zoe) is in his Son.
(3) He that has the Son has the LIFE
(zoe); (4)
he that has not the Son of God has not
the LIFE (zoe)" 1 John 5:11-12. No invisible immaterial soul in a
person that is not in Christ now has eternal life, or the promise of eternal
life.
(27). "And the end, eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe)"
Romans 6:22.
(28). "Looking
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe)" Jude 21.
(29). "That of all that which he has given
me I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up at the last day" (John 6:29). "For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholds the Son, and believes on him, should have
eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe); and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). "And I will raise him up at the last day"
(John 6:44) 30. "And I will raise him up at the last day"
(John 6:54).
(31). "Who will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption,
eternal (aionios) LIFE (zoe)"
Romans 2:7.
(32). "I
AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE (zoe)" "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the LIFE (zoe): he that believes on me, though he die,
yet shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes on me
shall never die" (John 11:25-26).
(33). "Our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought LIFE (zoe) and
immortality to light through the
gospel" (2 Timothy 1:10). Christ is the Word of life.
(34).
"Concerning the Word of life (and
the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto
you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father)" (1 John
1:2). Only those raised with Christ through baptism have eternal life and will
not be subject to the Second Death.
LIFE
FOR THE PERSON THAT BELIVES IS TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE, NOT IMMORTAL SOULS.
IT IS A RESURRECTION TO LIFE FOR BELIEVERS, OR A RESURRECTION TO JUDGEMENT FOR
UNBELIEVERS (John 5:28-29). Eternal life at the
judgment only to those who believe in and obey Christ is positive proof that no
person does not now have immortality, but life to the faithful is so certain
that it is often spoken of as something believers now have; ÒHe
who believes in the Son has eternal (aionios) life (zoe); but he
who does not obey the Son shall not see life
(zoe)Ó (John 3:36); having life
depends on having a relationship with Christ; ÒTherefore if you have been
raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated
at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things
that are on earth. For you
have died and your life (zoe) is
hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life (zoe), is
revealed, then you also will be
revealed with Him in gloryÓ (Colossians 3:1-4). The man made theology that
says a person is born with an immortal soul in them that is deathless gives
life to all and robs Christ of giving the gift of life to all who believes, it
gives life to all souls that are in all at birth, even endless life to the
souls in the worst sinners. These
passages make no sense if there were a soul in us that now has eternal life,
and that soul can never die, and this soul that is not subject to death is all
that will ever be in Heaven. This theology makes Christ give life only to a
soul that already is deathless, already has endless life and it cannot die.
Immortality is conditional on being in Christ; there is no eternal life except
to these in Christ. It would be nonsense for Christ to promise life in the age
to come to a deathless soul if there were a soul that soul already had life and
couldnÕt ever not have life. ÒGod gave unto US eternal (aionios) LIFE
(zoe), and this LIFE (zoe), is in his
Son. HE that has the Son has the LIFE (zoe); HE that has not he Son of God
has not the LIFE (zoe),Ó (1
John 5:11-12). Yet we are told that Òhe
that has not the SonÓ has a soul that now has life, that it is not ÒusÓ but ÒitÓ that now has eternal life.
(1). "Your fathers ate the manna in the
wilderness, and they die. This is
the bread, which came down out of heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread
which came down out of heaven; if any
man eat of this bread HE shall live
for everÉHE that eats this bread shall
live forever" (John 6:51-58). The comparison is undeniable that a
person will die if that person does not eat of this bread, but that a person
will live if he or she does eat the bread; absolutely nothing is said about a
deathless soul that cannot die, not that a soul will live if it eats, or of a
soul that cannot die if it does not eat of this bread.
(2). ÒI am the resurrection and the LIFE (zoe); HE who believes in Me shall live even if HE dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never dieÓ (John 11:25-26).
(3). ÒAs the living Father sent me, and I
live because of the Father; so HE
that eats me, HE also shall live
because of meÓ (John 6:57). Dose anyone believe this is not speaking of
endless life–endless existence, that it
is only speaking only of endless happiness of the person that eats? Happiness
would beyond any doubt be included in the endless life, but Christ gives endless
life only to believers.
Because those that
believe still die the first death, many misapply this promise of life only to a
soul, not to the person.
(1). If this life was to a
soul, not the person, then a soul that is in the person that does not believe
will die; therefore, it would make souls, if there were souls in all that do
not believe in Christ be both mortal and will die.
(2). If, as we are
told, all souls have always been immortal and can never die, then this promise
of life does not give anything to a soul that a soul did not already have. It
would be a useless, empty, meaningless promise to a soul that already had life
and it could never die, if there were a soul it could never be without life
even if the person did not eat the bread Christ gives.
(3). It is mortal man
that is Òfaithful unto deathÓ that is
promised life, not an immortal something that has always and will always have
life even if it were not Òfaithful unto
deathÓ. To change the person (ÒheÓ
and ÒeveryoneÓ) that is given life for believing to being an ÒitÓ that already has
life even if ÒitÓ never believe is not Òspeaking where the Bible speaks and
keeping silent where the Bible is silent.Ó
(4). The ÒheÓ
is the person that believes that Òshall live forever.Ó There are all
kinds of attempts made to change this from ÒheÓ
to Òit,Ó to change it from being a person to being a soul that will live
forever, either live a better life, or live a worse life. The person living
forever just will not work with unconditional immortality, therefore; they must
change this from a person being given life to a soul that already has life even
if the person does not eat of Òthis
bread,Ó after all, according to them it is only a soul that will live
forever, not the person.
1.
"WE shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection" Romans 6:5.
2.
ÒAnd this MORTAL must put on immortalityÓ 1 Corinthians 15:53.
3.
"Made alive" Ephesians 2:1-5.
4.
ÒWho according to his
great mercy begat US again unto a
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto an inheritance incorruptible, and
undefiled, and that fades not away,
reserved in Heaven for YOU, who by the power of God are guarded through
faith unto a salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time...receiving the end of YOUR faith, the salvation of YOUR
soulsÓ (psukee-lives) "the salvation of your lives. Set your hope perfectly on the grace that
is to be brought unto YOU at the revelation of Jesus ChristÓ (1 Peter
1:3-13). Our lives are saved from death by the blood of Christ who gave His
life to save our lives from death, not just to save something that is in a
person from a death that cannot die; therefore it cannot be saved from death.
5.
"But if by the
Spirit, YOU put to death the deeds
of the body YOU shall live" Romans 8:13.
6.
"That WE may be also glorified with Him" Romans 8:17.
7.
"With the glory which shall be revealed to
us-ward"
Romans 8:18. When? Not now, but at the resurrection.
8.
"Waiting for OUR adoption" Romans 8:23. Not an
immaterial being waiting for "its" adoption.
9.
"Foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son" Romans 8:29.
10. For
this hope we must "with patience wait for it"
Romans 8:25.
11. Four times in John 6:39-54 Christ says He will rise up those that are His "at the last day" (John
6:39; 6:40; 6:44; and 6:54).
Endless life is the
gift of Christ only to those who obey Him, not some- thing all mankind now
possess without obeying Christ. Innate
immortality denies that Christ will give eternal life to those that believe by
teaching that all souls already have eternal life; eternal life cannot be given
to a soul that already has eternal life. It cannot be changed to a better
life in Heaven, or a worse life in Hell; it is life of death, not life or life.
We can choose between life and death, not a better life, or a worse life of
torment.
EDWARD WHITE, ÒThe
second line of doctrine which runs throughout the gospel of John from the first
paragraph to the last, is that this Incarnation of the Divine Logos of God has
for its object TO GIVE LIFE ETERNAL TO MANKIND. This is repeated more than
thirty times in the most emphatic manner. And if the epistles of John are added
to the account, it will be found that nearly fifty times does this apostle
declare the gift of LIFE, or LIFE EVERLASTING, to the end of the incarnationÉ The
statement if reiterated in every possible form that His work on earth is to
give life, everlasting life, to prevent men from dying, from perishing.Ó ÒLife In Christ,Ó Ch. 17, Section 2, 1875. This book is free
at: http://www.robertwr.com/LifeInChrist.htm
HENRY HAMLET
DOBNEY, ÒThe holders of the popular doctrine, proceeding on the assumption that
all man have eternal life, in the literal sense, must of course deny altogether that the idea of existence is even
included in the terms Ôlife,Õ Ôeverlasting life,Õ and the like. For seeing,
according to the common notion, that the wicked have everlasting life as well
the righteous (taking the phrase literally), when this is promised to the
followers of Christ, as something peculiar to them and unutterably glorious,
they must perforce affirm that the phase is used metaphorically, and only so.Ó ÒOn The Scripture Doctrine Of Future Punishment, An Argument,Ó page
180, Kessinger Legacy Reprints, 1850.
WHEN DO WE RECEIVE IMMORTALITY?
Paul writing to Titus
said, ÒIn hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie, promisedÓ (Titus
1:2). Immortality will be given at the Day of Judgment to those who Òseek for glory and honor and
incorruptionÉin the day when God shall judge the secrets of manÓ (Romans
2:5-16); could it be said in a more positively way that immortality is
something Christians Òseek for,Ó and
not something that they or souls now have? ÒShould
have eternal LIFE (zoe); and I will raise HIM up at the last day" (John 6:40). Those who are
believers will sleep in Christ unto all believers will be raised up with
immortal bodies at the second coming.
(1). Immortality will be received by persons in the future
(John 3:16).
(2). Immortality will be inherited by persons (Matthew
19:29), it is not something that ÒsoulsÓ now have. ÒUnto an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for YOU, who by the power of God are guarded
through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last timeÓ (1
Peter 1:5).
(3). The gift of God is life (Romans 6:23) is
only to those who obey God, not something that souls that are in all sinners already
have?
(4). The saved now
have the hope of endless life in the
future (Titus 3:7); something only believers shall receive, but sinners do not
have this hope and never will have endless life.
(5). Endless life is promised only to the saved (1 John
1:25). If all have it from birth, then life could not be the gift of God
promised only to believers.
(6). Christians are Òwaiting
for OUR adoptionÉif we hope for that which we see not, then do we with
patience wait for itÓ (Romans 8:23-25).
(7). ÒSince, then, you have been raised with
Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and YOUR life
is now hidden with Christ in God.
(8). When
Christ, who is our life appears, then YOU also will appear with Him in gloryÓ (Colossians 3:1-4).
(9). ÒBe
faithful unto death, and I will give YOU the crown of lifeÓ (Revelation
2:10). The crown of life is not given before the second coming of Christ, and
will be given only to the faithful (2 Timothy 4:8).
Summary - If there
were now a soul in everyone that is immortal and deathless, that soul could not
be given life even if the person it was in was a believer, it could not be
given life or immortality at the resurrection, it would make much of the New Testament
be complete nonsense. If there were a soul that is now immortal and deathless,
that soul would not be subject to death, it could not die, it could not pay the
wages of sin which is death, it could not be resurrected for it would not be
dead. If there were deathless souls, even these souls in the lost would now
have endless life; all souls would now be immortal and have no need for Christ
to have died in their place to save deathless souls from death (Romans 6:23).
The immortal soul doctrine that all have a soul that is immortal, that all
souls now have endless life is a gospel that is totally different than the
gospel of the New Testament (Galatians 1:6-9), which teaches that only those persons
that believe and obey Christ have endless life, and that no person now has, or ever
will have immortality without the resurrection.
BREAD
FROM HEAVEN–THE RESURRECTION–ENDLESS LIFE. ÒÔTruly, truly, I say to you,
you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because
you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes,
but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give
to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.Õ Therefore they said to
Him, ÔWhat shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?Õ Jesus answered
and said to them, ÔThis is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has
sent.Õ So they said to Him, ÔWhat then do You do for a
sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You
perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ÔHe
gave them bread out of heaven to eat.Õ Jesus then said to them, ÔTruly, truly,
I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it
is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God
is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.Õ Then they
said to Him, ÒLord, always give us this bread.Õ Jesus said to them, ÔI am
the bread of life; HE who comes to Me will not hunger, and HE
who believes in Me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the
one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down
from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of
Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me,
that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father,
that EVERYONE who beholds the Son
and believes in Him will have eternal
life, and I Myself will raise HIM up on the last day.Õ Therefore the Jews
were grumbling about Him, because He said, ÔI am the bread that came down out
of heaven.Õ They were saying, ÔIs not this Jesus, the
son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ÔI have
come down out of heaven?Õ Jesus answered and said to them ÔDo not grumble among
yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father
who sent Me draws him; and I will raise HIM
up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ÔAnd they shall all be
taught of God.Õ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father,
comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from
God; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, HE who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your
fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and
they died. This is the bread, which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if ANYONE eats of this bread, HE will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the
life of the world is My flesh.Õ Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, ÔHow can this man give
us His flesh to eat?Õ So Jesus
said to them, ÔTruly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, you have no
life in yourselves. HE who eats My flesh and drinks My
blood has eternal life, and I will raise HIM up on the last day. For My
flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. HE who eats My
flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in HIM. As the living Father sent Me, and I
live because of the Father, so HE
who eats Me, HE also will live because of Me. This is the
bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; HE who eats this bread will
live foreverÕÓ (John 6:26-58). The fathers were given bread in the
wilderness, but that bread was only to sustain earthly life for a little time, while
the bread of Christ gives endless life; those persons who eat of it will be
resurrected with life that never ends.
1.
Persons that eat the bread in the wilderness died.
2.
Persons that eat the bread that Christ gives will never die.
This is speaking of the
persons that died in the wilderness, and the persons that will not die if they
eat the bread Christ gives. If it were speaking of an immortal something that
cannot die that had been in a person, then Christ would be giving no life to
these immortal souls that already had life.
J. M. DENNISTON, ÒThe
one thing really announced is that, through Christ the living Bread, there
comes to believers an endless duration which did not come by the manna–the clear understanding being that in no
other way than through that Bread can such duration be theirsÉlife, including existence, comes to us only
through the Son as the Bread of Life.Ó ÒThe Perishing Soul According To
Scripture,Ó pages 55-56, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874.
The usual orthodox
argument is that to be dead dose not mean to be without an existence.
1. Death is changed to
life separated from God, to be dead is not to live any kind of life some place
where God is not at.
2. ÒShall liveÓ they say does not mean life, but is changed to mean a
deathless soul will find favor with God.
There cannot be life
without existence, or existence without life.
1. Existence is life,
to existence is to be alive.
2. Life is existence;
when Christ gives endless life to believers He give endless existence that they
did not already have.
For a person to have
life, or for a person to have existence is exactly the same thing. If there
were souls that have endless existence, to say Christ gives them life would be
to say Christ gives them nothing.
Those who do not eat of the
bread Christ gives will die; to teach that all will live some place is to teach
that all that do not eat of the bread Christ gives already have life that is
just as endless as those that do eat; therefore, even if they do not eat of
this bread of life they can never die; only the place where they would live
their endless life they already have would be in a different place then those
that do eat it, but both would have life, both would have existence. ÒEven as You gave
Him authority over all mankind, that to all whom You have given Him, He may
give eternal lifeÓ (John 17:2).
While it is beyond all
doubt that there will be endless happiness in Heaven, life cannot be changed to
be only happiness, death cannot be changed to be endless existence being
tormented by God. In this world there can be life without happiness, there
cannot be happiness without life. In Heaven there will be both endless life and
endless happiness.
IN THE
BOOK OF REVELATION
ONLY
BELIEVERS WILL BE GIVEN LIFE
1.
The tree of life (Revelation 2:7; 22:2; 22:14).
2.
The crown of life (Revelation 2:10).
3.
Name written in the book of life (Revelation 20:12; 20:15; 21:27; 22:19).
4.
A river of water of life (Revelation 22:1-2).
5.
Those who are not in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire
(Revelation 20:15), Òwhich is the second
deathÓ (Revelation 21:8).
In the Book of
Revelation it is life for those in Christ, death for those not in Christ. God Òwill take away his name from the tree of
lifeÓ (Revelation 22:19).
Endless life is a gift
from God only to believers (Romans 6:23). Death is the opposite of life, not another
kind of life. Life is the opposite of death.
(2) DEATH
IS DEATH
DEATHLESS?
DOSE DEATH
REALLY MEAN DEATH?
IS DEATH ETERNAL
LIFE WITH TORMENT?
ARE THE
DEAD REALLY DEAD?
IS DEATH
THE ABSENCE OF LIFE?
DEATH, just plain
ÒdeathÓ is the wages of sin, not some kind of death that is not a real death. Platonic
theology changes death from being death. Death has been
made into an illusion where when a person dies that person is not dead, but is
more alive then when he or she were alive; death is made to means more alive
than life does. If, as we are repeated told, death is not death, but death
means endless life in Hell or some place, them what word could have been used
to mean completely dead? There is not one word that could have been use that
many would not say death does not mean to be actual dead. If death is not death, what would it take to be dead?
Salvation is from
death for the person that sinned, not from being endlessly tormented by God for
souls that cannot die. For believers DEATH has been changed and made into a
glorious LIFE with Christ. Both those that believe in Hell and Universalist
MUST prove death is not death, that the wages of sin is endless life; both MUST
make there be no such thing as death, to be dead is changed and made to be
alive. Whether it is in plants, animals, or person, death by definition is the
absence of life; there is no life in a dead plant just as there is no life in a
dead person; endless life with endless torment in Hell would mean that there is
no absence of life, that there is no death; death is not an endless deathless
life of being endless burned in fire by God. Death is death, not life. Death
being death completely destroys the pagan immortal soul doctrine that the real
person dose not dies, but a soul goes on to live endlessly without the person,
without the resurrection. The breath of life is given by God, it is a
priceless blessing; death is the removal of the priceless life that came from
God; death ends life; the second death, the end of all life will be a terrible
punishment for sin. It is life or death, not a bad kind of life in one place,
or a good kind of life in another place, death is not any kind of life, not a
good or a bad life; if death is not a literal real death then life is not real
life. Death being life is a change to GodÕs word made by those that say they do
not change GodÕs word; a change they must have to make God be an endless
tormentor. Death is changed from death to life, changed to endless life being endlessly
tormented by God.
According to the
immortal soul doctrine, that a soul that is in a person has never been subject
to death and cannot be dead. At the death of the person that a soul had lived
in, that soul only changes the place where it had lived when it was in a person
for another place to live without the person.
(1). The
penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23), not endless life in Hell for a soul that is
not subject to death. 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 deathless something in them that
cannot die, and the wages of sin for that deathless something in a person is
not death; according to them Òthe wages of sinÓ is life for a soul that
cannot be dead, an endless life in Hell being tormented by God.
(2). If Òthe wages
of sin is death,Ó then after the penalty, the second death, there will be
no life of any kind for the lost that are dead; death is total nothingness, no
awareness of anything, no love, no hope, no relationships, no joy, no torment,
no thoughts, no nothing. Eternal death
is eternal punishment, the punishment last as long as the death. Eternal
suffering would be a saving from the wages of sin, a saving from death. Life
in Heaven is the greatest possible reward that God can give to us; therefore,
death, the lost of all that the saved have gained, the lost of endless life is
the greatest punishment possible.
(3). ÒWhether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousnessÓ Romans
6:16.
(4). ÒFor the
end of these things is deathÓ Romans 6:21. Death for
a deathless soul? It would not be possible to torment the dead if they
are dead.
(5). ÒFor godly sorrow works repentance unto
salvation, a repentance which brings no regret: but the
sorrow of the world works deathÓ 2 Corinthians 7:10.
(6). ÒSin, when it is full grown, brings forth deathÓ James 1:15.
(7). ÒAnd
you shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save his people from their sinsÓ Matthew 1:2.
(8). ÒChrist
Jesus made me free from the law of
sin and deathÓ
Romans 8:2.
(9). ÒThat He might redeem US from all
iniquityÓ Titus 2:14.
(10).
ÒWho delivered US out of so great a deathÓ 2 Corinthians 1:10.
(11).
"Will save him from death" James 5:20, New International Version.
(12).
ÒFor to be carnal minded is death;
but to be spiritually minded is life
and peaceÓ Romans 8:6.
(13).
ÒBut when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, than shall come to pass the saying that is
written, Death is swallowed up in victoryÓ (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). If, as
we are repeatedly told, that a soul never dies, and only a soul will be in
Heaven, then how would it be possible for death to be Òswallowed up in
victoryÓ if death is not death, if a soul cannot be dead, what would be Òswallowed
upÓ? The victory is not a victory
over Hell; it is a victory over death. The victory is not a deathless soul
saved from endless life in Hell; the ÒvictoryÓ over death is a person
saved from death. Those that are not in Christ, that do not have the
victory over death will die the second death never to have life again, Òthe
wages of sin is deathÓ (Romans 6:23), not life for a person, not
life for a soul that had been in a person that is dead. Mankind has a love of
life and a dread of death; life is the most precious thing that we have, death takes all life away.
It is difficult not to
understand this passage; it is difficult to explain away Òthe wages of sin
is death;Ó difficult to change ÒdeathÓ to Òlife.Ó All
attempts to explain death out of the Bible fall far short. Death is death, not
an endless dying but never dead; death is not endless life for a soul being
tormented by God because of the sins of a dead person that soul had been in.
Death and life in
torment are not synonymous terms; a dead person cannot be tormented. Salvation is from an endless death, Òthe
wages of sin is death;Ó there is no passage in the entire Bible that says
anything about being saved from an endless life of being tormented by God.
All have sinned, and all that have been saved from endless death were saved by
the death of Christ, Òthe wages of sin is death.Ó Death is God's penalty
for sin; how could God have said this anymore clear and simple? The gift of God
canceled the wages of sin and gives life to the person that sinned. The free
gift of God is not changing one kind of life for another kind of life, it is
not changing life in one place for life in another place; it is a person being given life
in place of death. This is made possible not by Christ being
eternally 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 a
soul that already has endless life and cannot die; therefore, it cannot be
given life. NO PROCESS OF DYING IS NOT DEATH UNTO THE PERSON
IS DEAD; DEATH IS NOT DEATH UNTO THERE IS NO LIFE IN THE PERSON. Any endless
torment that goes on forever without ever coming to an end is not death. The Òwages
of sinÓ is not death if there is no death; the penalty of the law has not
been inflicted on any that are not dead. The immortal deathless soul doctrine
must make death not be death, it changes death into an endless imprisonment for
a deathless soul that will be endlessly tormented by God; according to this doctrine
for a soul there would be no such thing as an actual death, the theology of
those that believe in Hell requires that they change GodÕs word to make it
sustain their teaching of a deathless soul. This theology has changed
death into two doors that open instantly into two parallel endless lives.
1.
Door one, opens into instant endless life in Heaven.
2.
Door two, opens into instant endless life in Hell.
Both doors change
death into life, but only life for souls, not for persons, life without a
resurrection of the dead, and life without a Judgment Day.
"Shall save a soul (psukee–life
or person) from death." "Will save him from death," New International Version, James 5:20. The
person saved is saved from death, not saved from an unending life of torment.
It is the person that is converted that is saved from death, not a deathless
soul that had been in a person that is dead, not a soul saved from a death that
a soul could not die, not a deathless soul saved from being tormented by God only
because the dead person it had been in had been converted when the person still
had life. From the many sermons I have heard, and the many books I have read,
the belief of most Protestants is that the conversion of the person will give
endless life in Heaven to a soul, but gives nothing to the person that a soul
had been in. The mistranslation of psukee into soul in the King James Version
makes a soul that is believed to be already deathless be saved from an endless
life of torment for a soul could not be dead to be saved from death.
When the second death
is changed from death to endless life with torment then who or what will have
the endless torment. It has been changed from the person that sinned to a soul
that had been in the person that sinned having endless torment because the dead
person it has been in had sinned.
"Receiving the
end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls (life–psukee)" 1 Peter 1:9. "Sin
unto death" Romans 6:16, not saved from an endless life of torment
for a soul that cannot be dead, that cannot Òsin unto death.Ó
"What fruit then
had you at that time in the things whereof you are now ashamed? For the end of those 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 (at the judgment).
For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal
life"
Romans 6:21-23; death is not a gateway to a better life; death is an "enemy," and our only hope for
life after death is the resurrection, not death being life. "For you
shall be recompensed in the resurrection" (Luke 14:14), not
recompensed instantly after death.
"Be YOU faithful unto death (end of this life)
and I will give YOU the crown of
life (at the judgment)...shall not be hurt of the second death."
"I will give YOUÉlife,"
not life to whatever a soul is (Revelation 2:10).
And with the world they
shall "passes away" 1 John 2:17. "For if YOU live after the flesh, YOU MUST
DIE; but if by the Spirit YOU
are putting to death the deeds of the body, YOU WILL LIVE"
Romans 8:13. "You" must die, not something that is in "you"
that cannot die must die. Why did Paul not say, ÒIf you live after the flesh,
you must be tormentedÓ? Did Paul not know there is a big difference in dying
and in living in torment; did Paul not know that if you die you could not be
tormented?
"We have passed out of
death into lifeÓ 1 John 3:14. ÒWeÓ not ÒitÓ passed out of death
into life. Death is so sure to those not in Christ that they "abides
in death" 1 John 3:14.
"If we have only
hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable. But now
has Christ been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them
that are asleep. For since by man came death, by man came also the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all DIE, so also in
Christ shall all be made ALIVE" (1 Corinthians
15:19-23). In the plainest language possible, Jesus
said, "If you believe not, YOU
shall die in your sins" (John 8:21-24). Many read this
passage and see, ÒIf you believe not, a soul that cannot die shall die because
of your sins.Ó
"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. There is not one passage that says
the lost will ever be given the gift of immortality.
J. W. McGARVEY, ÒBut
now having been made free from the slavery of sin, and having become a servant
of God, your present reward is the blessedness and joy of a clean life, and
your future reward is life eternal. And this is obvious, for, following my
figure of slave, masters and wages to the end, the wages which men earn and
receive from your former master, sin, is death; but the wages which you cannot
earn, or deserve, but which God freely gives you for serving him, is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.Ó Commentary on Romans 6:23,
Standard Publishing Company 1916.
Those who
believe in eternal torment are saying
(1). To the unsaved
that they have souls that already have endless life, but these souls will spend
their endless life in the wrong place.
(2). They are saying
to the lost that there is a souls in them that can never die, but that soul
will live an unhappy everlasting life being endlessly tormented by God because of
the sins of the person that soul was in.
(3). They are saying to
the lost that a souls that is in them will be in Hell, and that soul will be
just as alive as souls in Heaven, and in no sense can the souls that had been
in 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 soul that cannot be dead; if there
were a soul and it was dead it would not be immortal.
(4). They are saying
that death cannot be death, but that death is only a transfer of life for a
soul 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 a second life.
Death
is death, death is not endless life.
In all the repeatedly times Christ promised endless life to believers, He is
made by those that believe in an immortal soul to mean that what Christ
promised is not endless life, but He promised only a reward or happiness to a
deathless soul, not life to a person. ÒLifeÓ and ÒdeathÓ cannot
be twisted to mean the same thing, but the immortal soul doctrine says both are
the same, that the Òwages of sin is deathÓ is endless life in Hell. 1
John 3:5 says, ÒNo murderer has eternal life abiding in him,Ó but the
immortal soul doctrine says, ÒYes, there is an immortal soul in a murderer that
has life abiding in it, and life will abide in that soul forever in Hell.Ó This doctrine that gives endless life to
all souls is a complete contradiction of the Bible doctrine that says Christ
gives endless life only to persons that believe, not life to deathless
souls.
"WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH," not an endless
life of being tormented by God for a ÒsoulÓ that cannot ever be dead (Romans 6:23). Death is
not life in a different form; death ends life, and without the resurrection
death means the utter destruction of life to both believers and unbelievers.
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; He died in our place so that we would not have to die.
Christ could not be our savior if the
wages of sin is endlessly being tormented. Jesus died in our place (Romans
3:24-25; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:21-22; Hebrews
9:12-15; 1 Peter 1:18-19), but He is not enduring endless torment in our place;
therefore, if the wages of sin were an endless life of torment Christ could not
be our savior; He would not have paid our debt. He did "taste of death for every man" (Hebrews 2:9); He paid our
debt in full with His death. When today's theology says that death is only life
in a different place, and death is not really death, then it makes our
salvation impossible by making the death of Christ not to have happened if
there is no death, it makes Christ not to have died for our sins.
1.
Theology
destroys the Bible doctrine of the wages of sin being death.
2.
It
destroys the Bible doctrine of a Judgment Day to come by making all be judged
at death.
3.
It
destroys the Bible doctrine of a resurrection by making no soul be dead to be
resurrected from the dead.
4.
It
changes the gift of God from being endless life given to all the faithful to only
being an escape from endless torment in Hell for souls that were born with and
already have endless life.
ROBERT TURNER,
"Sin separates us from God, and 'the soul that sinneth, it shall
die.'" Florida College Annual Lectures, page 172, 1986. Which one is he
saying? (1) That a soul that sins lives forever separated from God, (2) or that
a soul that sins shall die. The two are a total contradiction of each other and
both cannot be true, but many are so blinded by their man made theology that
they are unable to see the contradiction, that he is saying both a soul cannot
die and a soul that sins will die.
Romans 6:23
1. "For the end
of these things is death...for the wages of sin is death" King James
Version.
2. "For the
outcome of these things is death...for the wages of sin is death" New
American Standard.
3. "These things result in death...for
the wages of sin is death" New International Version.
4. "These things only bring death...when
people sin, they earn what sin pays–death" New Century Version.
5. "And they lead to death...sin pays off
with death" Contemporary English Version.
6. "Things that end
in eternal doomÉfor the wages of sin is deathÓ New Living Translation.
7. ÒGodly sorrow brings repentance that leads
to salvation and end in eternal doom...for the wages of sin is death"
New Living Translation.
8. "The result of
those things is death...for sin pays it wage–death" Today's English Version.
There is not the
slightest sign of an immortal soul that is not subject to death in this
passage; it is the person that sins that will die.
Romans 8:5-13, ÒFor those who are according to the flesh
set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the
Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the
Spirit is life and peaceÉfor if YOU are living according to the flesh, YOU must die; but if by the Spirit YOU are putting to death the deeds of
the body, YOU will live.Ó Again,
it is life or death for a person, live or die for a person, not two kinds of
life for a deathless soul.
The three steps to death, 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 death is
taken out and the three steps are changed to (1) lust (2) sin (3) LIFE in Hell.
1. "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death," King James Version.
2. "Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin: and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death," New King James Version.
3. "Then the lust, when it hath conceived, beareth sin: and the sin, when it is full grown, bringeth forth death," American Standard
Version.
4. "Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death," New American Standard
Version.
5. "Then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death." New
Revised Standard Version.
6. "Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." New
International Version.
2 Corinthians 7:10, ÒGodly sorrow brings repentance that leads
to salvation and leaves no regret, but
worldly sorrow brings death.Ó Many read this and change death to life
in Hell even when there is nothing said, not one word about Hell, nothing about
an endless life of endless torment, why do they not believe God? Death is death;
death is not endless life any place.
It is life or death, not reward or torment, 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 foreknew men would change the
death that is 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; death is not just another kind of life. Death
is not life in Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, or in AbrahamÕs bosom. Death is not
life of any kind anywhere; death is death, not everlasting life being endlessly
tormented by God, not a mere change in the mode of existence; death is not life
separated from God, dead is dead. After death the unsaved cannot be both endlessly
dead and endlessly alive and conscious; they cannot be both dead and alive at
the same time. Why would God say one thing to us, and mean the opposite of what
He said? Why would God say Òthe wages of sin is deathÓ if Òthe wages
of sin is life endlessly being tormented by God?Ó TodayÕs theology has
changed GodÕs death into life
because Plato and much of the heathen world said man has a soul that cannot be
dead, that a soul will live after the person it is in is dead. Death dose not
mean endless life any more than life means endless death; life is existence, death is non-existence. Death is not life in
Hell being tormented by God.
Death is understood by
all to be death when we say, ÒThe dog is dead,Ó but when we say, ÒThe person is
dead,Ó death must be changed to be life. The dog is dead–the person is dead. Which one is dead? How can this mean
one is dead and the other is alive?
"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). ÒYOUÓ will live or die,
not just an "immaterial, invisible
part of man" (W. E. Vine). A
person that is lost "will die,"
a person that is saved "will
live," but we are told that a soul cannot die; therefore, the ÒYOUÓ that can live or die could not be
a soul that cannot die, nevertheless this passage that says, ÒYOU will dieÓ is often changed to say
after ÒYOUÓ are dead there is a soul
that that had been in ÒYOUÓ and ÒITÓ
cannot die.
1.
Narrow way = life // Broad way = destruction
(Matthew 7:13-14)
2. Life, or death (Romans 6:23; 4:17; 1 Corinthians 3:22)
3. Life, or perish (John 3:16)
4. Life, or die (Romans 8:13)
5. Life and peace, or death (Romans
8:6)
6. Salvation, or death (2 Corinthians 7:10)
7. Saved, or destroy (James 4:12)
8. Life, or destruction (Matthew 7:13-14)
9.
Into life, out of death (1 John 3:14)
10.
Under the Old Testament Law (earthly life or death)
a.
Life and death (Deuteronomy
30:15-20)
b.
Death and live (Ezekiel 18:23)
c.
Death and live (Ezekiel 18:32)
The Bible says what it
means, and means what it says. God inspired John to say, "Should not perish," but many say God did not mean, "perish," but "shall have
an endless life of torment." Death has been made not to exist, no one ever
dies, they just pass from one kind of life to another kind of life; death is changed
to be a transfer of life to life in another realm. The popular theology of
today represents Jesus as using language so ambiguously that no one can
understand what He said.
Is the world on Satan's side?
1.
God said, "You shall surely die" (Genesis 2:17).
2.
Satan said, "You shall surely not die" (Genesis 3:4).
3.
Most Protestant change the person to a soul and say, "A person shall
surely die, but a soul that had been in the forever dead person Ôshall surely not die,Õ (Genesis 3:4)" that it will live without the
dead person it was in.
In Romans 1:28-23 Paul
gives a list of sins, and then he said, "They that practice such things are worthy of death." He did
not say, "They that practice
such things have souls in them that are worthy of endless life in Hell being
tormented by God." 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 endless life (John 3:16), and this gift is something
they do not already have; not something ALL were born with. If all have endless
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 endless life (an immortal
soul) read the Bible, and change "life"
into "a reward" and change death, die, perish, destroyed, and
destruction into life with "punishment." To them, the Bible dose not
mean what it says, they have change it to what they want it to say.
FROM WHAT ARE WE SAVED? We are saved from death by the death of
Christ and given life, not saved from endless life in Hell. Christ died our
death; He is not now suffering an endless life in Hell for us.
ADDITIONS
TO THE BIBLE. ÒEternal
Hell,Ó Òimmortal soul,Ó Òsave your
immortal soul,Ó and Òeternal suffering in Hell fire,Ó are not in the Bible, but
are used often by preachers and Bible teacher, and are falsely presented as
being the teaching of the Bible.
The first death is the
end of life of the flesh, the end of life as it exist
now. The second death then must also be the end of life. The end of life as it
will exist for the unsaved after the resurrection, or it is not a second death,
but something altogether different from death; the second death is changed to a
second life that will never not be life; those that believe there is a soul in
a person that has endless life much change the second death to life; an endless
life of torment is not a second death. The traditional concept is that there is
a immortal soul in a person, which neither the first or second death can kill;
therefore, death must be changed to be something other than death for souls;
death is changed to be a translation from this life to endless life in Hell,
the second death is changed to be only a translation from one life form to
another life form, a translation from this life to endless life in Hell where souls
already had endless life for we are told that souls were already translated to
endless life in Hell at the first death. On about every page throughout the New
Testament it is life or death, not rewarded or tormented. The unsaved die, perish, are destroyed, and are lost. The obedient are
saved from death and are given life and immortality. Why is there so much in the Bible on death if there is no death?
Many have believed what their preacher or church says, and they have rejected
the Bible as being untrue, although most do not realize they have put the
teaching of a church or preacher over the Bible. Eternal life is frequently
promised to the righteous, but never to the wicked. If the wicked do not have endless
life they cannot endure endless torment.
Our body (not a soul) will be
1. "Fashion
a new" American Standard Version, Philippians 3:21
2. "Change"
King James Version
3. "Transform" New American Standard Version
If it were going to be
a soul, not the person that will be in Heaven, then why would our earthly
bodies be, ÒFashion a new,Ó ÒChange,Ó ÒTransformÓ?
1 Corinthians 15:53-54, "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 victoryÉbut 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; will
not their life in Hell (not their death) be just as endless as the life of the
saved in Heaven? Those in Hell would have to be just as alive, have just as
much of a victory over death as those in Heaven.
Summery - If it were
true that there is no real death, that death is life that is separated from
God, a deathless death, then there could not be a resurrection of the dead for
no one could be really dead; all souls would already have endless life, souls
in Hell would have life just as endless as those in Heaven. The pagan doctrine
of the immortality of a 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 persons at the coming of Christ, not on a
resurrection of deathless souls (Luke 14:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1
Corinthians 15:51-55). THE BIBLE HAS
BEEN CHANGED TO TEACH THAT DEATH IS ENDLESS LIFE.
"We have
passed out of death into life" (1 John 4:14). It is us,
the whole person that was dead in our relation to God, not a deathless soul
that Òpassed out of death into life,Ó
and that a deathless soul is now alive. If
we did have a soul that was dead, but that dead soul is now alive, it would be
a contradiction of the doctrine that a soul can never die, for an immortal soul
that cannot be dead would have been dead, and a deathless soul that could not
be dead would have "passed out of
death into life;" a
soul, which we are told can never be dead would have been dead at one time, but
now a soul that was a dead soul is now alive again; it was the person that was
dead before they were in Christ; the person that is now alive in Christ; it is
the person that has passed out of death into life, not an undying immaterial
soul that could never be dead but was dead, but now the dead soul is alive.
Those who are
destroyed are not destroyed (James
4:12; 2 Peter 2:12; 2 Peter 3:7). What kind of destruction can it be which destroys nothing? There is no similarity between
destruction and endless life in torment in Hell.
Believers in immortality
from birth must change the Bible to say,
1.
Those
who perish do not perish (1
Corinthians 1:8; John 3:16).
2.
Those
who die do not die (Romans 6:23)
(Death is not death).
3.
The
end of the wicked is not their end
(Philippians 3:19; Hebrews 6:8).
4.
Those
who are consumed are not consumed
(Hebrews 10:27).
5.
It
is believed by many that the second death is
not a death, that death is endless life with torment (Revelation 21:8). That
death is only a miserable condition of endless life being tormented by God, that
death is not an actual death; therefore, life that is given by Christ to
believers is changed to be not actual life, but endless joy and well-being to a
soul that cannot be dead; therefore, that soul cannot be given life.
Is ÒTHE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATHÓ or ÒIS THE
WAGES OF SIN AN ENDLESS LIFE OF TORMENT FOR A DEATHLESS SOUL?Ó It cannot be both. If there
is a soul in a person that is immortal from birth, then death could not exist;
no soul could ever die; no soul could ever be dead; therefore, the wages of sin
could not be death. Are they really teaching the Bible when they corrupt it
into saying the opposite of what it really says, when they are changing the Bible
to make it say what they want it to say?
Death, the enemy defeated for believers. "Jesus said unto
her, your brother shall rise again. Martha said unto
him, I know that he (not a soul)
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); the same he that shall die is the same he that shall live, not the same soul
that cannot die that shall live. "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 life in Christ that is no longer subject to the enemy, death. They have a
victory over death, and the saved are be able say, "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). Living
Christians now have the victory over death, 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), for all the faithful
believers Christ defeated the enemy by His resurrection.
ALEXANDER CAMPBELL,
"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 from 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." An essay on "Life And
Death" from the Millennial Harbinger, 1844.
E. D. SLOUGH, ÒWhen the Lord talked with men, and used human language,
if he placed other meanings on the words than those understood by men, how could God teach us? Or if he used
them in a figurative sense, in their last and most important application, why
were we not apprised of the change...if
the Bible doesnÕt mean what it says, then nobody knows what it does mean.Ó
Page 195-206, ÒIf the people would allow the words in the Bible to teach them
the same thought they get from the Dictionary, and from common use–allow
God to mean the same thing when talking to us that we mean when talking to one
another–these disputes would quickly
adjust themselves. The condition of unrest everywhere on these issues of the
Bible is ample argument that something is needed as a standard which makes
words mean the same whether in or out of the Bible.Ó ÒThe Indictment Of Eternal
Torment–The Self-negation Of A Monstrous
Doctrine,Ó page 42, F. L. Rowe, Publisher, 1914, evangelist, Church of Christ.
This book is free on line at www.robertwr.com/EternalTorment.htm
GEORGE STORRS, ÒOne evil of the common theory of endless being in sin
and suffering, is, it sustains the
mischievous practice of mystifying, or making the Scriptures to have a secret
or hidden meaning, in the plainest texts. This mischievous practice was
brought into the church, almost as soon as the Apostles had left the world. The
converts from heathenism seemed intent on uniting heathen philosophy with
Christianity. Hence they must find an abundance of mysteries in the Scriptures;
and the practice of allegorizing, i. e. making the
language to contain something that does not appear in the words, commenced and
generally prevailed, before the third century. This was done, doubtless, with a
view to lead heathen philosophers to embrace Christianity, as affording them a
fruitful field for their researches. But it led the church astray into the wild
fields of conjecture; and every lively imagination could find hidden wonders in
the Bible, while the plain literal meaning of the text was disregarded. That
fatal practice increased from age to age, till the simplicity of the gospel was
totally eclipsed, and the obscuration has not wholly disappeared to this
dayÉThe common method of making the terms life and death mystical, or
figurative, i. e. to mean something more, and far
different from what appears in the literal and obvious signification of the
words, I conceive is unwarranted by the Scriptures, and tends only to throw
confusion upon the plainest subjects of the Bible, and also to take away the
force and beauty of very many otherwise clear and intelligible portions of
GodÕs word.Ó ÒSix Sermons On The Inquiry, Is There Immortality In Sin And
Suffering?Ó Page 131-132, Bible Examiner, 1856.
J. M. DENNISTON, ÒMany seem to think that they can at once
demolish all our arguments by a simple application of such statements as–Ôto be carnally minded is death; to be spiritually minded is life and peace;Õ–the
inferences which they draw from them being these, (1) That neither does life refer to existence, nor death to the cessation of it. (2) That life signifies simply a right spiritual
condition, and death a wrong one.
(Which two conditions, extended into the next world, and there developed, become
respectively everlasting life and everlasting death.
Hence, it is maintained, all the statements in the New Testament as to the
Ôliving,Õ the Ônever dying,Õ the everlasting lifeÕ of believers have no
reference at all to the continuance, but only the character of their being; –while the multiplied assertions and
descriptions of the Ôperishing,Õ Ôdestruction,Õ ÔdeathÕ of the ungodly do not
mean what such language invariably means elsewhere–in
the Bible or out of it–but, instead of
that, endless evil and misery of souls that are imperishable. A serious
conflict indeed betwixt the Old Testament and the New in their employment of
the same language–yes, betwixt the New
and everything else, not excepting them self!Ó ÒThe Perishing Soul According To
Scripture,Ó page 68, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874.
EDWARD WHITE, ÒThat
the persistent resolution, through many ages, to strip these converse terms
Life and Death, in their application to ChristÕs work and ManÕs destiny, of
their proper signification, has resulted in eclipsing fully one-half of the
light of the Sun of Righteousness, of the glory of Christ, of the truth of
ChristianityÉBut, indeed, this has been the delusion alike of Jews and Gentile,
that the Bible scarcely ever means what it saysÉThe notion is deeply rooted
that when God speaks, as in the person of Christ, the Incarnate WORD, scarcely
any of His words are to be taken in their obvious sense. Surely the rule of
thought ought to be the opposite, and we ought to think that He who was the
Truth as well as the Life employed human speech in its most direct signification.Ó
ÒLife in Christ,Ó chapter 17. This book is free on
line at www.robertwr.com/LifeInChrist.htm
THOMAS DAVIS, ÒPutting
together all the passages which teach, either expressly or constructively, that
the end of sinners is absolute destruction, the number may be counted by
hundreds. Sometimes the word used is ÔdestructionÕ
itself; and destruction, we say, cannot mean endless preservation in misery.
Sometimes it is Ôdeath;Õ and death,
we say, cannot mean eternal life in suffering. Sometimes it is being Ôburnt up like chaff;Õ and being burnt
up like chaff, we contend, cannot mean being kept unconsumed, like the bush of
old, in the flames. Sometimes it is Ôbeing
devouredÕ (as the Scripture, ÔJudgment
and fiery indignation shall devour themÕ); and being devoured, we assert,
cannot rightly be believed to signify being kept whole and living to undergo
suffering for ever. So of several other expressions, such as Ôto perish,Õ Ôto be slain,Õ Ôto be killed,Õ
Ôto lose life,Õ Ôto be consumed,Õ Ôto reap corruption,Õ Ôto be blotted out,Õ
Ôto be rooted up,Õ Ôto be cut off,Õ to be cut down,Õ Ôto be dashed in pieces,Õ
Ôto be lost,Õ Ôto be ground to power,Õ Ôto be cut asunder,Õ Ô to be cast away,Õ
Ôto have the house broken up,Õ Ôto be torn to pieces,Õ Ôto be put away as
dross,Õ Ôto melt away,Õ Ônot to abide for ever,Õ Ôto be as nothing.Õ Many
of these are doubtless figurative phrases; but
if they do not indicate finality, no language would suffice to do so.Ó ÒEndless Sufferings Not The Doctrine Of ScriptureÓ pages 16-17;
Longmans, Green, and Co. 1867.
PHILIP E. HUGHES, ÒIt
would be hard to imagine a concept more confusing than that of death which
means existing endlessly without the power of dying.Ó ÒFacing Hell, The Story
of a Nobody,Ó page 223, Paternoster Press, 1998.
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 have a meaning attached to
them that are unlike the way they are used in any other book in the world,
unlike the way they were used in the language of the people God was speaking
to?
Death is a lost of
life, death is not an endless life with a lost of all joy, happiness, and well-being. To traditionalists death is just an illusion,
the dead are not dead, the dead are more alive than when they were alive; to traditionalists
souls in the lost are incapable of ever being dead.
CHANGES THAT MUST BE MADE
A new meaning must be
given to words to make them teach what many traditionalists want them to teach.
Any
person can prove anything if they are allowed to change the meaning of words to
whatever they want to, if they are allowed to change death to be life.
(1) LIFE must be changed to be
not life, but to be only a reward to something that is in a person that already
has endless life. Is it not unreasonable to say the many times Christ promised
endless life to those that believe Him, that He promised only a reward to a
soul, not endless life to the persons that believed in Him? And just as
unreasonable to say that He promised life to only something in a person that
already had endless life and could not die. This doctrine of an immortal soul
that cannot die makes Christ promise something over and over that souls already
had. Throughout the Book of John Christ repeatedly promised life to persons who
believed, not life to souls, and those persons who did not believe would not see
life (John 3:36; 4:14; 4:36; 5:21; 5:40; 6:33; 6:39; 6:44; 6:47; 6:57; 6:63; 6:68),
Òshall
not see life,Ó shall not be alive, but THOSE THAT ÒSHALL NOT SEE LIFEÓ IS CHANGED FROM PERSONS THAT WILL NOT SEE
LIFE, CHANGED TO BEING SOULS THAT WILL SEE LIFE, THEN BEING ENDLESSLY TORMENTED
BY GOD IS ADDED TO THE LIFE OF THESE SOULS. "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 persons
who believe in Jesus will have life, and those persons who do not believe will not be given any life anywhere.
ALEXANDER CAMPBELL in
the preface to "The Living Oracles," his translation of the New
Testament said, "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!Ó
How many changes "death" to "life," by changing "the wages of sin is death" to
"the wages of sin is eternal life with torment"?
HENRY CONSTABLE,
"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." ÒThe
Duration and Nature of Future Punishment" 1871.
(2) DEATH must be changed so that
it does not mean death, but an endless life with torment for a soul that can
never be dead. The dead cannot really be dead if death is only "a loss of
well-being," a loss of happiness and if death were really endless life
with endless torment by God. Death must be changed to be not death, but changed
to a doorway to a spiritual world where the souls that are in all must have endless life; to the saved
death must be changed to mean an instant doorway to a greater and fuller life,
but life only for souls that are believed to be in them, not life for the
persons; to the lost an instant doorway to an endless life of pain. In no plain language can death be said to
be the wages of sin to an immortal soul that cannot die.
Death is made to be not death, but a mere change in the mode of
existence for a soul that cannot be dead. To many, death means for a soul
to be alive, to have endless life, but life that is separated from God, yet we
are told they are somehow tormented by the God that they are separated from. To
make the word "death" fit
their view; they must make death figurative. The true meaning of the word
ÒdeathÓ will destroy their view. All plain passages like Romans 6:23, Òthe wages of sin is deathÓ must be
changed into figurative language, but they cannot tell us how they know what
the figurative language means, how they know death is not death, how do they
know that death is endless life that is separated from God. They cannot tell us
how they know "death" means
"life." Figurative language always draws it meaning from literal language,
it never means the opposite of the literal; ÒdeathÓ
in figurative language could not mean any kind of Òlife.Ó Any word that sometime has a figurative sense must have a
well-known literal sense. 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 ÒdeathÓ literally means ÒdeathÓ when it is an animal or a person
that is dead, but ÒdeathÓ figuratively
means ÒlifeÓ only when it relates to whatever
they believe a soul to be. They cannot tell why death must be made figurative
other than it would destroy their teaching that there is a deathless something
in a person that lives after the person is dead if death were used with itÕs
true meaning, if death is really death with it's universally understood
meaning. If there were a Hell, for souls in it to feel pain they could not be
dead, they would literally have to be just as alive as souls in Heaven; they
would have to have life just as endless as souls that they believe are in
believers.
When the death of
anyone is spoken of in the Bible, the modern phraseology, Òthey have gone to be
with Christ, have gone to their reward, have gone to be with their
loved ones in Heaven, etc.Ó are never used. Not even Abraham is said to have
gone to his home in Heaven at his 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 change of death to
be an endless life in torment is a denial of death; it is an attempt to evade
death by saying in each person there is a deathless soul that will live after
the death of the person it had been in; therefore, a soul is not subject to
death, but a person is. It is a deliberate carefully thought out wresting of
the scriptures (2 Peter 3:16). If the Bible does not mean what it says, then
nobody can know what it does mean; when the Bible says, ÒThe wages of sin is death,Ó if the wages of sin is not an actual
real death, then who can know what the wages of sin
is? Death is definitely the forfeiture of life, and without a resurrection there
would never be any kind of life anyplace.
DEATH HAS BEEN CHANGED TO LIFE. Those that refused to have God in their
knowledge Òare worthy of deathÓ (Romans 1:28-32), but
instead of death, Platonism gives them endless life in Hell being endlessly tormented
by God.
1.
Sin
is Òunto deathÓ (Romans 6:16) ÒLeads
to deathÓ New International
Version.
2.
ÒThe wages of sin is deathÓ (Romans 6:23), but the
wages can never be paid because man teaches an immortal soul cannot die.
3.
ÒFor if you live according to the flesh, you must dieÓ
(Romans 8:13), but if there were an immortality soul would have eternal life,
it could not die.
4.
ÒFor the end of these
things is deathÓ (Romans 6:21). ÒThese things result in deathÓ New International Version. This has been changed to,
ÒFor the end of these thing is eternal life in torment for souls;Ó endless life
for whatever it is that many believe a soul to be.
5.
ÒActs that lead to deathÓ (Hebrews 9:14) New
International Version.
6.
ÒHis servants you are
whom you obey; whether sin unto death,
or obedience unto righteousnessÓ (Romans 6:16).
7.
ÒFor to be carnal minded
is deathÓ (Romans 8:6).
8.
ÒSinÉbrings forth deathÓ(James 1:15), but we are repeatedly
told that an immortal soul is not subject to death.
9.
ÒFor except you believe that I am he, you shall die in your sinsÓ (John 8:24), but we are told there is a soul in
us that cannot die, that we will die, but after we are dead a soul that had
been in us will live?
Those that teach death
is an endless life of torment are as someone said, ÒForced to argue that a
horse could not die so dead that it cannot stop dying deader.Ó Do you believe the dead keeps on dying but
are never dead? Do you believe the destroyed keeps on being destroyed but are
never destroyed? Why would God say one thing to us and mean the opposite of
what He said?
(1) DEATH, when given a
Òscriptural sense,Ó when made figuratively, is made to have a hidden secret
meaning, death is changed from being
dead to endless life in Hell for a soul, most that believe there is a soul believe that a soul definitely cannot
be dead.
(2) DESTRUCTION, when given a
Òscriptural sense,Ó when made figuratively, is changed to a loss of well-being, an endless life of misery, but believers in Hell
says destruction never means destruction. How can a person be destroyed without
ceasing to exist?
(3) DESTROY AND PERISH, when given a
Òscriptural sense,Ó when made figuratively, destroy and perish both means to
preserve forever. Did God intend to say imperishable when He said perish?
(4) SLEEP, when given a
Òscriptural sense,Ó when made figuratively is a soul that is now awake in Heaven or Hell, but definitely not asleep, that would make their "immaterial, invisible part of
men" be asleep in Hell; therefore, they have labeled this "soul
sleeping." It is true that the Bible says nothing about "soul
sleeping" of an "immaterial,
invisible part of men," but it repeatedly says a person, not a soul,
sleeps unto the person wakes at the resurrection, not an immaterial something
in a person that sleeps; it is the resurrection that turns the death of a
person into a sleep from which a person, not a soul, will wake up.
SATAN AND DEMONS TO BE
DEATROYED.
Christ shall Òbring to nothing him (Òdestroy himÓ King James Version) that has the power of death, that it, the
devilÓ (Hebrews 2:14), not just destroy the ÒhappinessÓ of the devil.
Demons will also be destroyed will be brought to nothing,
will not exist.
(3). PERISH
Perish like destruction and destroy, perish must be changed to mean, "can
never perish, or never be destroyed, changed to live forever in an unhappy and
miserable condition in Hell." It is difficult to imagine a perpetually but
inconclusive process of perishing that never ends. Forever perishing, but
imperishable! To say Òto perishÓ is to Òlive foreverÓ is a complete
contradiction. How can anyone believe that ÒparishÓ is synonymous with Òliving
forever in misery unperished?Ó
Do you wonder why the
writers of the Bible said the lost will die, be destroyed, will perish, but we
are told souls that had been in the lost persons cannot die, cannot ever be
destroyed, and cannot ever perish?
Words that, according
to both Catholic and Protestant, must be given a Òscriptural sense.Ó
1. Death must be changed from death to
endless life in misery.
2. Die must be changed to live, to never
being dead.
3. Destruction must be changed to endless
life in misery undestroyed.
4. Perish must be changed to imperishable.
Would the Bible say, ÒThe wages of sin is DEATHÓ if the wages
of sin is LIFE? How could the wages of sin be death to a soul that cannot die!
LIFE AND DEATH IN ROMANS CHAPTERS FIVE AND SIX
(1) DEATH OF CHRIST. ÒFor while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for
peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die. But God commended his own love toward US, in that, while WE
were yet sinners, Christ died for US.
Much more then, being now justified by
his blood, shall WE be saved
from the wrath of God through
him. For if, while WE were enemies, WE were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much
more, being reconciled, shall WE be saved by his life; and not only so, but
WE also rejoice in God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, through whom WE
have now received the reconciliationÓ (Romans 5:6-11). Can anyone read of
how Christ was put to death, was burred, and resurrected on the third day and
say His death was not a real death? Say His death was only life with a Òlost of
well being.Ó Death is death, not any kind of life anyplace, Christ died for us.
When Christ died for us, died our death, He ceased to live; to have any kind of
life unto God raised Him from the dead.
(2) ALL DIE. ÒTherefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed
unto all men, for that all sinned; for until the law sin was in the world;
but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them that had not
sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that
was to come But the free gift is not like the
transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace
of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not
like that which came through
the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression
resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions
resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one,
death reigned
through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of
the gift of righteousness will reign in
life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all
men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as
through the one manÕs disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through
the obedience of the One the many will be made righteousÓ (Romans 5:12-19).
When a person dies and is burred, before the resurrection that person is really
dead, and will be forever dead if there is no resurrection.
(3) DEATH BY SIN. ÒThe Law
came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased,
grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin
reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may
increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?Ó (Romans 5:20-21).
(4) LIFE IN CHRIST. ÒOr do YOU not
know that all of US who have been
baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized
into His death? Therefore WE have been buried with Him through baptism
into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead through the glory of the Father, so WE too might walk in newness
of life. For IF WE have become
united with Him in the likeness
of His death, certainly WE shall
also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this,
that OUR old self was crucified with
Him, in order that OUR body of sin might be done away
with, so that WE would no longer be
slaves to sin; for HE who
has died is freed from sin. Now if WE have died with Christ, WE believe
that WE shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from
the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He
died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives He lives to God. Even
so consider YOURSELVES to be dead to
sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in YOUR mortal body so that YOU obey its lusts, and do not go on
presenting the members of YOUR body
to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present YOURSELVES to God as those
alive from the dead, and YOUR
members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master
over YOU, for YOU are not under law but under graceÓ (Romans 6:1-14). All
the pronouns in the above passages are to living persons, not one is to souls. It is the person that Òshall also live with Him,Ó not whatever a soul is believed to be.
(5) SIN BRINGS DEATH,
NOT TORMENT.
ÒWhat then? Shall we sin because we are
not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you
present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the
one whom you obey, either of sin
resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But
thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin,
you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were
committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of
righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of
your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to
lawlessness, resulting in further
lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting
in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to
righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of
which you are now ashamed? For the
outcome of those things is deathÓ (Romans 6:15-21).
Is not the second
death changed and made to be nothing more that a continuation of the state they
say the lost are now in, just a continuation of lost souls being alive?
Therefore, they have done away with the second death, for they tell us that the
lost are already "spiritual dead," and the souls that had been in
them will always be Òspiritual dead,Ó even when the souls that are dead are
alive in Hell. The use of Òspiritual deadÓ is not to Òspeak where the Bible
speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent.Ó There is a parallel between
the two deaths, between death as we know it and the
death of the lost after the judgment. Look at a dead person and there is no
life; there will be no life for the lost after the second death.
JOHN HANCOOK
PETTINGELL, The ÒScripturalÓ or the
Òliteral senseÓ?
ÒWhat if the Greek and Hebrew words of the Original Scriptures will not bear
these new senses that they would put upon them? What if these meanings are not
to be found in their Standard Classical Lexicons? These too must be over
hauled, and special ÔBiblical LexiconsÕ prepared for the use of Bible scholars,
with these new meanings put upon these words, and the places in the Bible
particularly referred to, where these words should be taken in this new sense;
and this is called the ÔScriptural
senseÕ of these words!! This is no exaggerated hypothesis. The writer has
such an improved (?) Lexicon attached to his Greek Testament, which he bought
when a student of Theology. It was evidently prepared in the interest of the
Platonic theory of the natural immortality of man, and in support of such
interpretations of Scripture as this theory required. It may be instructive to
give from its pages a few specimens of this sort of leaned philosophy. We open the Testament at Matthew 7:13
and read as follows,
ÔEnter ye in at the strait gate; for wide
is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction (apbleian)
and many there be with go in thereat; because strait is the gate, narrow is the
way which leads unto life (zoe) and few there be that find it.Õ
We
know what ÔdestructionÕ means in the ordinary sense of the word, and what apoleia means in Greek; they both mean
the same thing. But we want to know the ÔScriptural
senseÕ of the word. So we turn to ÔThe Polymicrian Greek Lexicon to the New
TestamentÕ in which the various senses of the words and distinctly explained in
English, and authorized by references to
passages of Scripture. By W. Greenfield, Editor of BagsterÕs Comprehensive
Bible. The Polymicrian Greek Lexicon; and after the various ordinary
definitions are given, we are referred to this passage, and informed that it here
means ÔperditionÕ ÔmiseryÕ etc. We
look at the word perdition, in WebsterÕs Dictionary, and find that its religious sense is Ôthe utter loss
of the soul, or of final happiness, in the future state.Õ We know also, what
the word ÔlifeÕ means in English, and what the word zoe
means in Greek; they both mean the same thing. But that we may find out just
what the ÔScriptural senseÕ of the
word is, we again consult our biblical Lexicon, where its ordinary sense is
very correctly given; but we are referred to this passage, and told that it
here means Ôeternal happiness.Õ Now
having got the true ÔscripturalÕ meaning of these two crucial words, from this
learned lexicographer, we know how to understand the passage it should be read
thus,
ÔEnter ye in at the strait gate; for wide
is the gate and broad is the way that leads to misery, and many there be
which go in thereat; because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which
leads unto eternal happiness, and few there be that find it.Õ
Again,
we read in Romans 5:12, as follows,
ÔWherefore as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death (thanatos) by sin; and so death (thanatos) by sin; and so death
(thanatos) passed upon all men, for
that all have sinned.Õ
We
know well enough what the ordinary sense of the ÔdeathÕ is, and that it means
the same as thanatos in Greek, but that we may know what the
ÔScriptural senseÕ of the word is,
we again consult our Biblical Lexicon. We find the word correctly defined, so
far as its ordinary sense is concerned, but we are referred to this passage,
and told that it here means, Ôan
unchanging eternal state of wretchedness and misery passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned.Õ Hence, we are to understand this passage as though
it reads as follows,
ÔWherefore, as by one man sin entered the
world, and an unchanging, eternal state of wretchedness and misery by sin,
and so an unchanging, eternal state of wretchedness and misery passed upon all man, for that all have
sinned.Õ
Where,
we ask, did our Biblical lexicographer get the peculiar ÔScriptural Sense,Õ which he puts upon the pivotal words, in these
and other similar texts, bearing on this question? How does he know that the ÔdestructionÕ of the wicked does not mean
destruction, but only misery, and
that the Ôlife,Õ which is promised to the righteous, is not actual life, but
simply Ôeternal happiness,Õ or that
the ÔdeathÕ that is the fruit of sin, is not actual death, but on the contrary,
is Ôan unchanging eternal state of
wretchedness and misery.Õ The
classical writings of the Greeks, in the time of our Lord, and when the
Scriptures were written, do not justify any such sense as the lexicographer
puts into there Greek words. What authority has he then, for putting this sense
into them in his Biblical Greek Lexicon? None whatever, unless it be the authority of his cotemporaries and predecessors, of
the same school of philosophy, whose lead he has followed. They all have evidently, first read these meaning into these words, to
make them accord with their own philosophy.Ó ÒThe Unspeakable Gift,Ó pages
25-26.
1.
John
11:25, ÒI am the resurrection, and the
life (zoe), life is changed from
life to be only the Òscriptural senseÓ of happiness.
2.
John
6:54, ÒHe that eats my flesh and drinks
my blood has life (zoe), they
change life to Òscriptural senseÓ of happiness for a soul after the person a
soul had been in is forever dead.
3.
1
Timothy 4:8, ÒGodliness is profitable for
all things, having promise of the life
(zoe) which now is, and of that which
is to come.Ó Life of a person is changed to the Òscriptural senseÓ of
happiness for a soul after the person a soul had been in is dead, after the
person dose not exist.
4.
Revelation
1:18, ÒI was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I
have the keys of death (thanato, mistranslated, changed to Hell in King
James Version) and Hades (grave).Ó
Christ was not in endless torment the three days He was in a grave; He was dead
and resurrected from the dead on the third day; He could not have been
resurrected if He was alive in Hell. According to orthodox teaching no one can
get out of Hell once anyone is in it for they tell us there is no salvation
from Hell.
5.
The Pagan theology that is in both Roman Catholics Church
and most orthodox Protestants Churches says that there is a soul in you and that
soul will live forever after you are dead, and that God has no chose but to
endlessly torment that soul all because of what you did, not for what a soul
did or did not do; to teach this they must give meanings to many words that
these words do not have, they are given a
Òscriptural sense,Ó example, death must be given a scriptural meaning of
endless life in misery because they believe there is a soul in you that is
deathless. That death is given a
scriptural sense in the Bible to make death be nothing like death for if death
is death their theology completely falls apart.
6.
There
is nothing about Òspiritual deathÓ in the Bible; it is a made up death that is
not a real death in attempt to do away with a real death, and to change death into
an endless life being tormented by God, there is nothing about being dead being
an endless life or torment.
ÒBut now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your
benefit, resulting in sanctification, and
the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is
death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LordÓ (Romans 6:22-23). TO MAKE DEATH NOT BE DEATH IS A
DELIBERATE CHANGE OF GODÕS WORD, A DELIBERATE SAYING ÒNOT SO GOD, YOU ARE
WRONG.Ó
(4). 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 is given a Òscriptural
sense,Ó die is changed to deathless life! But dead definitely cannot be dead!
1. ÒYouÓ must be changed to Òa soulÓ will live after ÒyouÓ are forever dead.
2. ÒDieÓ must be changed to endless life with torment. It must be
changed from speaking of you that
will die if you live after the
flesh, to a soul that cannot die but
that soul will live forever in Hell if you
live after the flesh.
This passage is
speaking of you the person; there is nothing about a soul that cannot die in
it, nothing about being Òspiritual dead,Ó it is saying the whole you shall die,
the whole you will be dead. The way many read this is, ÒIf you live after the
flesh, a soul that is in you must live forever being endlessly tormented by God;
but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, that soul shall
live in Heaven;Ó accord to the endless
torment doctrine if you sin it is
not you that will be torment in Hell, but a soul that is now in you will be
tormented for your sins after you are dead.
Die and live must be
interpreted to both means to live forever! Who can believe it? It is obvious
that die is only interpreted to mean "endless life in torment" when
it serves the purpose of the doctrine of endless torment, and all other times
"to die" really means "to die"; just as obvious that we
must have someone tell us when "die" means "endless 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.
(5). DESTRUCTION
Destruction must be
changed to be only a loss of well-being. The traditionalist argument is that
the words "destroy" and "destruction" should be given
a Òscriptural sense,Ó and not be taken with their established meaning, but be
interpreted as "a loss of well being." How could anyone know this
without a revelation from God? Why do the Scriptures speak of the destruction
of the lost if they are not destroyed? The
word destruction would be meaningless if there is not a point where the
destruction is complete. Why would God say He was going to destroy the lost
if He knows a soul is immortal and He could not destroy it? Destruction has been changed and given a
Òscriptural senseÓ of existing forever being tormented by God, living forever
in misery undestroyed. For destruction to mean existing undestroyed in endless
torment by God they much find a way to somehow have a destruction that will
preserve the destroyed person undestroyed. ÒBroad
is the way that leads to destruction,Ó
(Matthew 7:13) is given a Òscriptural senseÓ and changed to ÒBroad is the
way that leads to endless life in miseryÓ for a soul that cannot be destroyed; Christ is comparing life to destruction,
not life in one place to life in another place. Paul said, ÒWhat if God, willing to show his wrath, and
to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath
fitted unto destructionÓ (Romans
9:22). Anyone that is willing to change GodÕs word from destruction to endless
life being tormented by God has no respect for His word; they would change
anything to make it say what they wanted it to say.
ÒWhose end is destructionÓ (Philippians 3:19)
cannot be changed to, Òwhose end is an undestroyed endless life of torment.Ó
Destruction means destruction, not indestructible life. It is life or death,
not a high quality life in Heaven or a low quality life being endlessly
tormented by God. Death is not life; death is death.
E. D. SLOUGH, ÒÔBut
these as natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the
things they understand not and shall utterly perish in their own corruptionÕ (2
Peter 2:12). What is the plain and
natural sense of perish? Is it not a literal
destruction? The people of the flood perished. Sodom and Gomorrah perished.
Fifteen hundred in the great Titanic tragedy perished. Five hundred people in
the Iroquois Theater fire perished. And thousands, tens of thousands, perish
annually in one manner or another. Oh, Yes. We too keenly realize what the plain
and natural sense of perish meansÉPeter says they shall Òutterly perish,Ó
utterly, completely, absolutely, put an end to. Why not plead for the plain,
natural sense of the word then? Listen, reader, he knows his theory would
Òutterly perishÓ that instant.Ó ÒIndictment of Eternal Torment–The Self-negation of a Monstrous Doctrine.Ó
Evangelist Church of Christ, F. L Rowe Publisher, this book is free on line at
www.robertwr.com/EternalTorment.htm
(6). DESTROY
Destroy does not mean
unable to be destroyed; destroy must be changed to mean to preserve forever
undestroyed. "Can never be" must be added to destroy and make it
read, "Can never be destroyed." It is argued 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 really mean
"death," but these words must mean something; therefore, they are
changed and given a Òscriptural sense,Ó a meaning that is the opposite of their
true meaning; many words must always be changed and used with a meaning of a
Òscriptural senseÓ that is the opposite of what the words mean. It is argued
that annihilated in the scientific sense, that nothing is annihilated by fire;
it just changes its form; it assumes that God is bound by the laws of science,
that He can neither make or destroy matter, just change it form as man does;
the power to create and destroy is taken from God; matter is made to be
uncreated and is just as eternal as God is, that God did not create anything,
only changed the form of matter in the creation that was not a creation. 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 He has the power to send all things that He made out of nothing back to
nothing. Those to whom Paul was writing would not have thought that if a book was
burnt up that it was not destroyed. Just as they would not have thought the
elements that the book was made of was a book before the elements were made
into a book. When destroy is applied to things it is always the end of them,
they no longer exist even though the elements that were in them existed both
(1) before the book existed (2) and after the book dose not exist.
In Matthew 10:28 there is no
figurative language, but we are told that one word must be taken out of itÕs
literal context and used in a figurative way to mean just the opposite of its
true meaning, that the one word "destroy" must be changed to mean
"an endless life of torment for souls;" one word must be made
figurative, even when nothing is figurative in the context that the word is in.
There is no figurative language in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, but two words,
"destruction" and "perish" must both be changed to
figurative, changing both words to the same meaning, both changed to be "an
endless life of torment" only for a soul that is in you that they believe
cannot be destroyed or perish.
1.
In
the Old Testament God destroyed many
cities and nations. Sodom was completely destroyed, not just lost its well being; it is an example of the destruction that is
coming to the lost (2 Peter 2:6).
2.
The
lost will be destroyed, not live
forever in endless torment.
3.
ÒDestroyedÓ
cannot be made to mean both (1) death, going out of existents and (2) endless
life, never going out of existents; cannot mean endlessly being destroyed but
never destroyed, not a destroying that God will never be able to complete.
Words that orthodox
Protestants mystify to sustain the mischievous practice of making the
Scriptures have a secret or hidden meaning by mystifying words, by changing death to endless life in misery
imperishable. Sleep must be changed
from persons being asleep in Christ changed unto souls having endless life
awake in misery for all souls that had been in the lost, dead persons.
ÒIf Christ has not
been raised then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we
are even found to be witnesses of God, because we witnessed against God that He
raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not
even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is
worthless; you are still in your sins. Then
those also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perishedÓ (1 Corinthians
15:14-18). Certainly Paul did not say that those who are asleep in Christ are
alive and in torment if there is no resurrection; he clearly said that those
that are asleep have perished if the
dead are not raised, that they would forever remain dead, they had perished; if
Christ was not dead and raised up from the dead there is neither a resurrection
nor immortality; if Christ was not raised from the dead there will be no life
after death for neither the saved nor the lost. Perished cannot be made to mean
one thing when it is speaking of the saved, those in Christ, and another thing
when it is speaking of the lost; without the resurrection perish means all that
died have ceased to exist forever, and when we die we will also forever cease
to exist if there is no resurrection. There is no way it could it be said any
plainer that not one dead person will be alive anyplace before the resurrection
at the second coming of Christ at the end of this Christian age.
Perished cannot mean
both life and death.
1.
PAUL,
Òhave
perishedÓ (1 Corinthians 15:14-18) when it is speaking of persons that
are in Christ if there is no resurrection.
2.
TODAY,
Eternal life in torment, life with a loss of well being that cannot ever perish when it is speaking
of souls that were in lost persons.
3.
Why
would their labor be in vain if there is no resurrection if a soul is now
immortal, and is now alive without a resurrection?
If perish and destroy
means to live in misery, as some preachers
say, then beasts live in endless woe, for these terms are often applied to
them. It is a perfect contradiction in language to say a thing is to be
Òconsumed,Ó Òdevoured,Ó Òburned up,Ó &c., if it is indestructible, as many
say a soul is.
H. L. HASTINGS, ÒWe
shall be guided by the literal meaning of these word, refusing to give them a
strange or unusual signification for the purpose of saving or up building a
cherished theory.Ó ÒAfter The Verdict,Ó page 4, 1982.
JACOB BLAIN, ÒWhen I
read that all who came out of Egypt over twenty years of age–of the fate of Sodom and PharaohÕs army–of the 2,000 swine which ran into the sea, I
shall not go to the learned to find out whether they died, or were only made miserable,
when it is said they ÔperishedÕ and
were Ôdestroyed.ÕÓ ÒDeath Not Life:
Or, The Theological Hell and Endless Misery Disproved,Ó page 21, Public domain.
FRED THOMPSON, ÒWithout the Divine gift
of immortality man is doomed to die, perish, cease to
exist. His mortal condition is terminal. Immortality is neither a part of his
nature nor an unconditional bestowal of God. Only those who meet GodÕs terms
are beneficiaries of the promise. Thus, not to be included in the company of
the saved is to be excluded from life.Ó ÒWhat the Bible Says
about Heaven and Hell,Ó page 299, College Press, 1988.
1.
ÒFor the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish, foolishnessÓ (1 Corinthians 1:18).
2.
If
there is no resurrection, ÒThen those
also how have fallen asleep in Christ have
perishedÓ (1 Corinthians 15:18). Perish
would be the same to both those that are saved and those that are lost, neither
one would have endless life with a lost of well-being.
ÒWhose end is destructionÓ (Philippians 1:28).
ÒEndÓ cannot be changed to Òendless.Ó
ÒDestructionÓ cannot be changed to endless
life with Òa lost of well being.Ó
ASHLEY
JOHNSON, Founder and president of the Johnson Bible College. ÒÕPerishÕ!
ÔPerishedÕ!! And ÔPerishingÕ!!! What do these words mean? They occur in the
sacred scriptures about one hundred and forty times. Again, I ask what do they
mean? I answer in every reference the word carries the thought of destruction,
in numerous cases, utter annihilation, utter destruction. Let us suppose that
all we can know of the destiny of the ungodly we must get from the passages in
which these words are found. What would we conclude? Eternal conscious
punishment for all the wicked, without regard to how wicked? Not if there is any meaning in the
language? The word is used in the scriptures in the exact sense in which
the word as it stands in English is used, or its corresponding word in every
language and dialect. We say, ÔHis hand has perished.Õ We say: ÔFor want of
rain our crops have perished.Õ We say: ÔBabylon has perished.Õ We say: ÔThe
seed we sowed perished because it was without life.Õ What do we mean? We can
only mean one thing. Absolute destruction! So far as we know God has but one
way of communicating with man; namely, language. This language is clear,
pointed, unmistakable. Christianity has life, or immortality, and he offers it
to men here, and those who reject the light and the life must perish.Ó ÒThe
Resurrection And The Future Life,Ó page 420-421, Knoxville Lithographing
Company, 1913.
(7). FIRE
Fire causes things to
disappear; it completely destroys useless things. like
chaff. We know what fire is and what it does, fire consumes, devours and
destroys; fire is used in the Bible as a symbol of utter destruction, never as
a preservative; no life can survive in fire, no life can continue to live in
fire; there is no life that is not utterly destroyed by fire. FIRE BRINGS DEATH TO ANY LIVING THING
MAKING IT THE PERFECT SYMBOL OF A COMPLETE END OF LIFE. For todayÕs theology to
be true fire must be given a
Òscriptural sense,Ó changed into
figurative language of something that is nothing like fire, something that
is altogether different from fire, changed to something that preserves and
cannot consume, fire must be changed to a fire that cannot kill any living
thing. With the kind of "fire" that we are told will be in Hell 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. Literal fire always destroys, consumes; in figurative language there
is always a parallel; if it were figurative language total destruction would be
symbolized, just as real fire consumes the chaff, the wicked will be consumed,
devoured, destroyed by the wrath of God (Hebrews 10:27). If being consumed as chaff is consumed by fire does not denote the
utter destruction of both the chaff and the wicked there is no language that could
be able to. NO LIFE CAN EXIST IN FIRE; IT IS THE PERFECT SYMBEL OF THE
COMPLEATE END OF LIFE, OF COMPLEATE DESTRUCTION.
It is argued that an
immaterial soul cannot be destroyed by fire and worms; if there were an immaterial soul that cannot be destroy by fire then
that soul could not be endlessly tormented by fire, this argument is self
destructive. In neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament fire is not
used by God to eternally torment an immortal soul after the death of the person
a soul had been in, whatever a soul is believed to be.
FIRE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
(1). Consumed the
burnt offering, no one thinks the burnt offering was torment (Leviticus 9:24).
(2). Consumed Nadab and Baihu, ÒAnd they died before the LordÓ
(Leviticus 11:1-2). Their life ended.
(3). ÒFire also came forth from the Lord and
consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incenseÓ
(Numbers 16:35), consumed, not tormented.
(4). ÒAnd it shall be that the one who is taken
with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that
belongs to him.Ó Zerahites, his family, and all
that belonged to them were destroyed by fire (Joshua 7:15ff).
(5). ÒThen the fire of God came down from heaven
and consumed him and his fiftyÓ (2 Kings 1:10-12).
(6). "Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, mine anger and my wrath shall be poured out upon this place,
upon man and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of
the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched"
(Jeremiah 7:20). If this was the LordÕs anger being poured out in Hell, it
would make beasts, trees, fields, and the fruit of the ground be in
unquenchable fire be a Hell that is on this earth. In Jeremiah 17:27 it is Òthe palaces of JerusalemÓ that would be
destroyed by an unquenchable fire; are Òthe
palaces of JerusalemÓ now burning in Hell?
(7). Ezekiel speaks of Judah being destroyed by
Babylon using the imagery of a forest burning. "And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, son of man, set
your face toward the south, and drop your word toward the south, and prophesy
against the forest to the field in the South; and say to the forest of the
South, Hear the word of Jehovah: Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will
kindle a fire in you, and it shall consume every green tree in you, and it
shall devour ever green tree in you, and ever dry tree; the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces
from the south to the north shall be burnt thereby. And all flesh shall see
that I, Jehovah, have kindled it; it
shall not be quenched" (Ezekiel 20:47-48). This fire that could
not be quenched by mankind was not in Hell, it was not a literal fire, it was
God using Babylon to destroy Israel for their sins (Ezekiel 21:19; Nehemiah
1:3).
(8). Living people on
this earth go out to look at dead bodies that were slain by the Lord and were
being consumed by an unquenchable fire (Isaiah 66:15-24). No one could put it
out, but when it had did what the Lord wanted it to do it went out, it is not still
burning the dead bodies today.
(9). Cities, nations, people,
Israel, IsraelÕs enemies, and fortresses were consumed and destroyed by fire,
(both literally or figuratively) Hosea 8:14; Amos 1:7; 1:14; Jeremiah 17:27;
49:27; Numbers 21:28; Obadiah 18; Joel 2:2-3; Isaiah 1:31; 34:6-15; 47:14;
Malachi 4:1-3; 1 Kings 14:10; Ezekiel 20:47-48.
FIRE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
(1). The end of
worthless ground is to be burned (Hebrews
6:7-8). All the worthless plants are destroyed, not tormented
(2). Fire totally destroyed, not forever
tormented Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7; 2 Peter 2:6-9; Luke 17:28-29).
(3). 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 10:26-17). ÒFor our God is a consuming fireÓ (Hebrews
12:29).
(4). ÒBut the heavens that now are, and the
earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of
ungodly menÉBut the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved
with fervent heat, and the earth and the
works that are therein shall be burned upÓ (2 Peter 3:7-9).
(5). ÒThe
lake of fire which is the second deathÓ (Revelation 21:8).
(8). SPIRITUAL DEATH
Spiritual death is not
found in the Bible, but it has been added, and it is 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 we are told would be a death that is not
really a death to a soul if a soul or a spirit can never be dead. The wages of
sin is death to the person whom sins are not washed away by the blood of
Christ. If adding to GodÕs word were a sin, why would both adding Òspiritual
death,Ó and preaching Òspiritual deathÓ that is not in the Bible not be a sin?
Romans 6:23 is changed to, ÒThe wages of sin is spiritual death.Ó What is
spiritual death?
1.
If
physical death is the end of all life of the body.
2.
Then
it there was a spiritual death it would be the end of all life of a soul if
there were a soul.
3.
Death
would be death to both, not death to one, and endless life to the other. Death
is death; death is not endless life anyplace.
Spiritual (pnumatikos)
is used in the New Testament 21 times in the King James Version, but
"spirituality death" not one time, yet many preach it continually.
From where did they get this? Do they mean a soul 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, (now ÒTruth MagazineÓ) January 5,
1995, page 17, (Isaiah 59:2). Csonka 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, and there is not one
word about any kind of death of a person in it, absolutely nothing about a soul
in it, but he reads it in. He changes this from a nation (Israel) being in
bondage to another nations, changed to persons "we" being separated from God, and then adds another change, he
changes these persons "we"
from living persons to souls that are not really dead, but are alive and these
souls have endless life in Hell forever separated from the God that is endless tormenting
them. Has he heard this verse misused so often he does not know that he is
misusing it? Csonka added changes to changes to make the nation of Israel be a deathless soul that had been in a person, but he did
not seem to know whether he wanted it to be (1) a soul that is now alive in
Hell that had been in a dead person, (2) or a living person that is now "spiritually
dead."
If there were such a
thing as "spiritual death," it would have to be when a soul had no
life for if it still had life it would not be dead. If there were a soul that
was living somewhere with endless life, how could that soul be dead? A soul
could not be "dead" if it were "alive" anyplace.
Most who believe in Hell say after the
resurrection the second death will be a "spiritual death," that a
deathless soul will be alive but separated from God, not a real death; the
second death must be changed to something other than death. Do they not make the second death be
nothing more that a continuation of the state they say the lost are already in,
just a continuation of the lost being already alive, but being Òspiritual deadÓ?
Therefore, they have done away with the second death that will be after the
judgment (Revelation 21:8), for they tell us that the lost are already
"spiritual dead," before the judgment and will always be Òspiritual
dead,Ó even when the souls that had been in them are alive in Hell. The use of
Òspiritual deadÓ is not to Òspeak where the Bible speaks, and is not being
silent where the Bible is silent.Ó There is a parallel between the two deaths,
between death as we know it and the second death of the lost after the judgment;
look at a dead person and there is no life; there will be no life for the lost
after the second death.
(9). SLEEP
If souls are being endlessly
tormented in Hell, how could they in any way be sleeping; therefore, sleep
could not really mean sleep and must be changed to awake. All the dead persons are sleeping unto the resurrection; it is the
resurrection that turns death into a sleep of a person from which the person
will awake, without the resurrection death would be the end of life; no person
would come out of a grave at the coming of Christ. The metaphor of the dead
person being asleep that is used repeatedly in the Bible is made void and
foolishness by the doctrine of an immortal soul being awake in Heaven or Hell
before the resurrection. The Bible does not use words in such a
self-contradictory manner. Death is referred to as sleep about 67 times in the
Bible, about 47 in the Old Testament, and about 20 in the New Testament with
both the righteous dead persons and the unrighteous dead persons being asleep;
asleep does not mean awake, not awake in Heaven, not awake in Hell, not awake
in AbrahamÕs bosom. The second death is never called sleep; there will be no
waking up from it.
ÒMay they rest
in peaceÓ that is often on graves would make no sense if the person in a grave
was not asleep, but were awake and enjoying Heaven or suffering in Hell. Sleep
would be a very inappropriate and misleading word if the dead were awake in
Heaven, if they were more awake than we are. That a person sleeps between death
and the resurrection, and then wakes up at the resurrection makes going to
Heaven at the time of death, or being in AbrahamÕs bosom not possible; innate
immortality and being asleep are contradictions, both cannot be.
(10). KILL
"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 - Death and
all these words must be changed into figurative language even when they are in
plain passages, they must be given a Òscriptural senseÓ or a Òtheological
meaningÓ that is total opposite to the real sense, but we are never told how anyone
knows what this theological meaning is. But one thing is clear, if they did not
change them into figurative language the theology of deathless souls 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. These
words cannot be changed to be figurative, and given a meaning not found in the words
to save a theology that is not in the Bible. They can and therefore must be
taken literally, to be killed dose not mean to be alive. The only reason these words are made to be figuratively language
is that if these words are taken with their literal meaning they make the
doctrine of an immortal soul and endless life in Hell not possible.
When figurative
language (Lake of Fire) is changed and made literal, then the literal language
must be changed to agree with the figurative language that 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. Death is not life in
Hell. There are no stronger words that
could have been used to say the end of the wicked is a total end of existence; DEATH
IS CEASING TO LIVE. 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 it would conflict with
their Platonic theology.
R. F. WEYMOUTH,
"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." ÒLife In Christ,Ó page 365. R. F. Weymouth is the translator of
"The New Testament in Modern Speech."
DR. C. CAMPBELL, who
believed in eternal torment said, "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." ÒPreliminary Dissertation,Ó Part 1, Sect. 1, 1854.
EDWARD WHITE,
"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. "Life in Christ," 1875, This
book is free at, http://www.robertwr.com/LifeinChrist.htm
GEORGE STORRS, ÒThe
next principle of interpretation I would lay down is that it is a truth, from
which we are not to depart without the clearest evidence, that words are never
used to mean more than their primary significationÉNot to adhere to this
principle is to make revelation no revelation. Those who abandon it may as well
admit, at once, that the common people ought not to have the Bible, for it will
only lead them astray. Why should Protestants boast over the Catholics in this
respect? Do not both, virtually, claim that the language of Scripture is mystical,
or has a meaning that does not appear in the common signification of the words?
And, therefore, the Priests must interpret them to the people? Might we not as
well give our Bibles altogether into the hands of these interpreters?
Especially, if the plain common sense meaning of words is not to be followed,
when there is no clear necessity for departing from itÉWhat should we think of a law that says, "For murder thou shalt
die," if we were told the meaning is not, that the transgressor shall
actually die, but be kept alive in indescribable torments, protracted to the greatest possible extent?
Would any man think he was fairly dealt with by such an administration? And
would he not have just cause of complaint at the want of definiteness in the
terms used to denote the punishment threatened!Ó Sermon One, page 13.
JOHN LOCKE, "By
death some understand endless torments in hell fire; but it seems a strange way of understanding a law, which requires the
plainest and directs 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.
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
being 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 menÉNo stronger expressions can be found in
Greek or English, to denote the utter extirpation of the ungodly. If these
words can be evaded or explained away, then, if the doctrine be
ever so true, it would be impossible to teach it. If these words do not convey the idea, than no words can be made to do it." ÒAfter The Verdict,Ó page
30-31, reprinted 1982.
That "death"
be changed to "eternal life" is a must for todayÕs theology. Today's teaching is that the Bible almost
never means what it says and must be interpreted, and one of the ways it must
be interpreted is to explain the meaning of death to be life.
The Bible must be made
to use words with a meaning that is opposite than what the words means. The
theological use of these words today is the same as saying white is black,
sweet is bitter, night is day.
1.
White must be changed to mean
black.
2.
Sleep must be changed to mean
awake.
3.
Death must be changed to mean
life. Death is made to be deathless, to be Òalways dead yet never dead.Ó
4.
To die must be changed to mean
to living forever in endless torment.
5.
Destruction must be changed to mean
the destroyed are never destroyed, but are alive being endlessly tormented by
God.
6.
To perish, to be destroyed, must
be changed to mean for a soul (not a person) to be preserved incorruptible and
imperishable in Hell. Perish and destroy do not and never has had a meaning of
a loss of well-being.
7.
Fire must be changed into
something that preserves life, not something that devours or consumes life. The
Òconsuming fireÓ could not consume.
THE ONLY WAY THE FORCE
OF THESE WORDS CAN BE BROKEN IS TO DENY THAT LIFE MEANS LIFE, AND DENY THAT
DEATH MEANS DEATH. WITH DEFINITIONS SUCH AS ARE GIVEN BY TODAY'S THEOLOGY,
ANYTHING, WHATEVER ANYONE WANTS CAN BE PROVED, AND WHATEVER ANYONE DOES NOT
WANT CAN BE DISPROVED. To put endless torment by God in an endless Hell in the
Bible is the exactly opposite of what the scripture clearly say. That God is an
endless tormenter must be read into the Bible.
Those who believe in
Hell give God the power to "destroy
both body and soul in Gehenna," but only after they put their own
meaning on both destroy and Gehenna, and they say the meaning of both destroy
and Gehenna is an endless life of misery and suffering in Hell being tormented
by God.
There is no way that
anyone could know that death is not death, but that death is endless life in
torment. How could the wages of sin be death if souls that had been in sinners
will have an endless 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. If Hell exists then death cannot be death;
if death is death there cannot be a Hell.
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 endless life of torment (4) spiritual dead. 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. Many words, life, death, die, dead, destroy, perish, destruction, kill,
end, consumed, burned up, and sleep, must be redefined in a way
that the world does not use them; to mean the very opposite of their real
meaning; therefore,
there must be "a class of inspired menÓ to unfold and reveal its true
sense to mankind for if there were not then the Bible would be understood to
mean what it really says. The belief that men are born with an immortal soul in
them that can never die makes death impossible, and death must be redefined to
be life, but 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 a soul
is alive and living a deathless, endless life being tormented by 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; they
are compelled to change all texts that speak of the lost being destroyed to
mean that souls are only tortured forever but cannot ever be destroyed.
"Destroy" cannot be understood, "In the fair, stipulated, and well-established meaning of the terms,"
(Alexander Campbell). Interpretation of parables, symbols, and figurative
languages are made to be superior over plain statements. What is clear language
must be made to agree with what is believed to be said
in the symbolic language.
CHANGES THAT MUST BE
MADE BY THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ETERNAL LIFE IN HELL MUST MAKE TO MAKE THE BIBLE
AGREE WITH THEM. If there were a deathless soul, changing the meaning of these
words is the only way in which the force of these words can be broken, they
must be changed to make them mean the very opposite of there true meaning.
A DOUBLE CHANGE
1.
First
change is to change from being a person that will be in Heaven must be changed
to being whatever a soul is, that only it will be in Heaven.
2.
Then
the meaning of many words must be changed (1 to 19 below).
GOD SAID IT THE WAY HE MEANT IT
1.
Life is life, not just a
reward to an immaterial invisible being that is in a person that now has endless
life and can never be dead.
2.
Death cannot be changed to endless life with torment.
Death is death and it is the opposite of life, not a different form of life; death
is death, not endlessly dying but never dead.
3.
Destruction is destruction.
Destruction does not mean there is something in a person that can never be destroyed.
Destruction does not mean kept alive, undestroyed being endlessly tormented by
God. Not after being destroyed by God for thousands of years yet are no more
destroyed then when God first began the destroying. Everlasting destruction
cannot be changed to everlasting living undestroyed.
4.
ÒEndÓ changed to be endless. End is end, not going on
forever without an end.
5.
Kill is to end life, kill does
not mean never able to be killed, not life that can never end.
6.
Burned up is burned up, it does
not mean never able to be burned up. ÒBurn
upÓ must be changed to God endlessly burning, but God is never able to Òburn
up.Ó
7.
Consumed is consumed, it does
not mean 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
forever awake in Heaven or Hell.
10. Die changed to live; to die is not to be alive.
11. Lose lifeÓ changed to be
preserved alive in a miserable existence.
12. ÒDestroyedÓ changed to preserved without ever being destroyed.
13. To be devoured, to perish, and to be consumed, all these must be
changed to being immortal and indestructible.
14. Traditionalist must
change the Bible to say the opposite of what it says. ÒHe that believes on the Son has eternal life; but he that believes not
the Son shall not see lifeÓ (John 3:36) must be changed to, ÒHe that
believes not the Son was born with a deathless soul in them, and that soul will
see life in Hell where it will live forever being tormented by God.Ó
15. ÒFor the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to
life, and few are they that find itÓ (Matthew 7:13-14) must be changed to, ÒFor the
gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life in Heaven, and most
souls shall see life in Hell being endlessly tormented by God.Ó
16. ÒFor God so loved the world that He give His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have eternal lifeÓ (John 3:16) must be
changed to, ÒAll souls that had been in all persons will have endless life
someplace, in Heaven or in Hell.Ó
17. ÒEven He who is able to save and to destroyÓ (James 4:12) must be
changed to, ÒEven He who is able to save souls alive in Heaven, or save souls
alive and undestroyed in Hell.Ó
18. ÒFor he that sows unto his own flesh shall of the flesh
reap corruption: but he that sows unto the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap
eternal lifeÓ
(Galatians 5:8) must be changed to, souls, not Òhe,Ó that were in both shall reap endless life, just not both life
in the same place, some souls will reap endless life in Heaven, some souls will
reap endless life in Hell.
19. ÒFor the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our LordÓ (Romans 6:23) must be changed to, ÒFor the
wages of sin is endless torment in Hell for souls that already have endless
life, and the gift of God is endless life must be changed to an escape from endless
torture for a ÔsoulÕ that already has endless life, and just a reward, not endless
life for a ÔsoulÕ that is in you that now has endless life.Ó
The changes that must
be made by those who teach eternal life in Hell for a deathless soul that is
being tormented by God could be extended to many pages, but this should be
enough for anyone who loves the truth more than the Òdoctrines and precepts of menÓ (Matthew 15:9). These words do not teach what many believe;
therefore, they must change the meaning of these words to make the Bible say
what they believe, changed to be the opposite of their meaning, death changed
to endless life being endless tormented by God, etc. changed even by those who
say they do not believe the Bible should be changed. Why we are told that
the words used in the New Testament must be changed–they
give us no reason but that the belief in the pagan Greek philosophy that was
believed by PlatoÕs requires these words to be given a new meaning that is the
very opposite of there true meaning, death cannot be death if PlatoÕs immortal
soul was true, destruction cannot be destroyed but must be changed to be an
undestroyed soul that just lost its well being. In the traditional teaching we
are told death cannot be death, death must be changed to be anything but death;
Òthe wages of sin is deathÓ must be
changed to be Òthe wages of sin is some kind of endless miserable life.Ó The
deathless soul doctrine makes Christ not to save us from death, but is changed
to be that Christ only saved a deathless soul from living its endless life being
tormented by God; According to them Christ did not give His life to save a soul
from death, Christ give His life to save no ones life from death, or save no
soul from death, but according to them He just give His life to change where a
soul will live the life that a soul already has. The orthodox position is that
Christ gives happiness only, not life to a deathless soul that Christ does not
save from death. They substitute (1) happiness in place of life, (2) torment in
place of death.
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 plus many more changes and many adding to GodÕs word. Was Paul
trying to deceive by using the word "destruction,"
and today's theology has to correct him by saying, "No Paul, you really
meant to say everlasting torment"? Destruction does not mean to preserve
alive undestroyed being endlessly tormented by God.
"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, all
"souls" that are in all mankind are now immortal and cannot die, then
all the murderers would now have an "immaterial,
invisible part of man" (W. E. Vine); without endless life a murderer
cannot have an immortal soul; if he did
have an immortal soul, he would have endless life abiding in him; if he does
not have endless life abiding in him he does not have an immortal soul. To
teach that all persons have a soul in them that is endless and it can never die
make there be a soul in them and it now has endless life, it can only be a
question of where that soul will spend itÕs endless life. John 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 endless life abiding in him, any clearer that a
murderer has not Òpassed out of death
into lifeÓ?
ROGER D. CAMPBELL, In
ÒSeek The Old Paths,Ó printed by Leoni Church of Christ, Brother Campbell has
an article, ÒThe Reality Of Death,Ó but then says only the body dies, and death
is not real to the soul. He said, ÒDeath is the closing chapter of one phase of
our existence – the earthly stage. However, there is an eternal aspect of
out being, as each human has a spirit that will never pass through death or go
out of existence.Ó He makes no different in the souls he thinks are in the lost
and the souls of the saved, he used Ecclesiastes 12:7 to prove all souls that
are in both the saved and the lost return to God at the death of the person
they were in without the resurrection. Volume 28, number 4, page 29.
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 endless as the life of the saved; if there were souls that are living in
Hell they could not be paid Òthe wages of
sin is deathÓ (Romans 6:23).
1.
ÒThe wages of sin is deathÓ makes
Hell impossible.
2.
Hell makes, ÒThe wages of sin is deathÓ
impossible.
3.
Immortal life in Hell makes the resurrection of the dead impossible.
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 an immortal soul, which
takes away our resurrection; therefore, our hope of salvation?
WHAT THE DEAD DO NOT DO
1.
There is no activity (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
2.
They do not have plans (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 (Psalm 6:5).
6.
They give God no thanks (Psalm 6:5).
7.
They have no thoughts (Psalm 146:4).
8.
They know nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5).
9.
The wicked are silent, no speech (Psalm 31:17).
What do the dead do,
think, and know? Nothing. Does anyone think this is a picture of Heaven or
Hell? Without the resurrection that was
made known by Christ the dead would never know anything after death, would
never have any kind of life (1 Corinthians 15:12-22). Only the dead can be resurrected from the dead. If there were any souls alive in Heaven
they could not be resurrected, those not dead cannot be resurrected from the undead.
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" (Psalm
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 there
is a immaterial, invisible soul that 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, and without
the resurrection that was unknown about in the Old Testament, unknown about by
anyone that there will be any life after death unto it was taught by Christ. Many plain statements that there is no knowledge in a grave must be
rejected by those that believe in a deathless soul, and many plain
statements that death is a sleep must be rejected. See Isaiah 38:18-19; Psalm
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 a soul being immortal that many try to
make the whole book not be the truth, that the whole book 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 many do to Ecclesiastes. There is
much in Ecclesiastes that cannot be said to be the way those in the world looks
at life, see Ecclesiastes 12:1; 12:13, and many other statements throughout the
book, but to do away with some parts of Ecclesiastes they are willing to do
away with all of it. If Ecclesiastes is only "life...viewed from the
perspective where God is left out," why is it not used that way by the
very ones that say this when they use Ecclesiastes 12:7 to prove the
"soul" is immortal? If Ecclesiastes is, "life...viewed from the
perspective where God is left out," then nothing in the book is the truth.
Was a book that is not the truth inspired by God? If the book is only
"life...viewed from the perspective where God is left out," what good
could it be to those that read it? Then why do we have this book in the Bible?
Because it is not true that it is only the way the world sees life with God
left out.
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 some deathless
something that they believe is an "immaterial, invisible part of man"
(Vine). If there is something in a person
that can never die, the lost could never be dead; common sense tells you
that an immortal being can never die, that a deathless soul would have no need
of a savior to die in its place to keep it from dying. Death is not life, not a
good life in Heaven, or not a bad life in Hell. To die is not to live. There
cannot be life after death without a resurrection that ends the death.
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).
"But God is so rich in
mercy, and he loved us so much, that even while we were dead because of our
sins, he gave us life when he raised
Christ from the dead...for he raised us
from the dead along with Christ" (Ephesians 2:4 New Living Bible).
"But God, rich in
mercy, for the great love he bore us,
brought us to life with Christ...He raised us up" (New English Bible).
The first resurrection
is when a person, not whatever a soul is believed to be, puts on Christ. "We
were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ
was raised from the dead" (Romans
6:3-4). ÒAnd you did he make alive, when you
were dead through your trespasses
and sinsÉeven when we were dead
through our trespassed, made us alive together with ChristÉand
raised us up with himÓ (Ephesians
2:1-10), it was ÒusÓ ÒweÓ that were dead and made alive, not a soul. "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). The first resurrection is when a
person Òlike as Christ was raised from the dead" when
they were buried through baptism and
resurrected to a new life in Christ, a resurrection to a life that the unsaved
will never have; a life that begins when a person is buried through baptism and
ÒAnd you
did he make alive when you were dead...made us alive
together with Christ.Ó The
endless life that begins when a person comes up out of the water of baptism, ÒThat like as Christ was raised from the dead" (Romans
6:3-4). ÒIf then YOU have been raised up with ChristÉYOU have died and YOUR life
is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,
then YOU also will be revealed with
Him in gloryÓ (Colossians 3:1-4). Life after the resurrection for Òthose alive from the deadÓ (Romans
6:13) is not a different life but a continuance of the life that began when a
person was Òraised up with ChristÓ when
baptized, then our life Òis hid with Christ,Ó it is in his
keeping and at His coming that our life Òwill be revealed with Him in
Glory.Ó All the faithful in
Christ have been raised from the dead when they were Òburied with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ
was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk
in newness of lifeÓ (Romans 6:4), and now have life as long as they remain
faithful and Òshall not be hurt of the
second deathÓ (Revelation 2:11). At the second coming of Christ, those that
are alive in Christ, (1) whether they have fallen asleep in Christ, (2) or if
they are living when He comes, both will be changed and put on incorruption,
immortality, the saved have the victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:52-55). ÒEven when we were dead through our trespasses,
made us alive together with ChristÓ (Ephesians 2:5).
The first resurrection
is pictured under two figures
(1). A RESURRECTION to a new life in Christ,
a death burial and resurrection to life in Christ (Romans 6). Coming up
out of the water is the first resurrection when persons that were dead because
of sin, not deathless souls, become Òalive unto God in Christ JesusÓ
(Romans 6:11).
(2). A BIRTH. Born to a new life in Christ,
a new birth of water and the spirit (John 3:5). ÒExcept one be born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.Ó ÒAccording to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of
regenerationÓ (Titus 3:5).
In John 5 Christ gives
Òeternal lifeÓ to those that believe,
ÒHe
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 lifeÓ
(John 5:24). All persons that hear and believe Christ have now passed out of
death and they now have endless life, but they are still in the image of Adam, they
have not yet put on an incorruptible body; they will sleep with their life Òhidden with Christ in God.Ó But Òthe 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 lifeÓ (John 5:28-29). At that time they will awake
from their sleep and will be in the image of Christ with incorruptible bodies
that will be suitable for endless life in Heaven (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). All
others, ÒThey that have done evil, unto
the resurrection of judgmentÓ (John 5:29); in this passage Christ speaks
both (1) of the believers passing from death to life in this lifetime, (2) and
also a resurrection with immortal bodies for believes that will take place at
His second coming. It is a continuance of life for believes that begin when
they became Christians that never will have an end even when they have Òfallen asleep in ChristÓ (1 Corinthians
15:18). Believes Òcomes not into
judgment,Ó but are raised from their sleep with new bodies, those that do
not believe will be raised for judgment, not life; those that believe not Òshall not see lifeÓ (John 3:36), after
they have been raised for judgment (John 5:29), there will be the second death
for them, not life (Revelation 21:8).
In John 11:25-26
Christ speaks of the life the believer will receive both (1) when they become
believers, (2) and after the judgment. ÒI
am the resurrection, and the life; he
who believes in Me shall live even if he
dies, and everyone who lives and
believes in Me shall never dieÓ Even when the saved are asleep in Christ
they live unto God; it is the person that is asleep in Christ, and the person that
will wake up from their sleep. All that are in a grave, both the saved persons and
the lost persons, will hear His voice and come forth at the resurrection. All that
are in a graves will be raised and stand Òbefore
the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the
body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or badÓ (2 Corinthians
5:10). All who were born again, made alive by being raised with Christ through baptism,
and live faithful shall not be hurt of the second death, which will be 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). An endless
life of torment would not be a second death; if there were an endless
life of torment it would bear no resemblance to a death, not the first or
second death. There will be a resurrection to judgment and a Òsecond deathÓ for unbelievers, but
there is nothing said about another resurrection to any kind of life after the
second death.
To feel pain those in
Hell would have to be just as alive as those in Heaven are. If a dead person
were in a lake of fire, that dead person would not feel or know about the fire;
if an immaterial soul that, according to Dr. Morey in ÒDeath And The
Afterlife,Ó page 79, a soul is nothing but thoughts and will not have a body,
that immaterial souls have no substance; if there were a soul that is thoughts
only, that soul could not feel fire.
Summary - All are now dead
unto they are buried with Christ Òthrough
baptism into death and raised from the dead through the glory of the
FatherÓ (Romans 6:3-5). All saved persons now have endless life even though
their bodies are still in the image of Adam (John 3:15; 3:16; 3:36; 4:14; 5:24;
6:47; 11:28; 20:31). They will sleep with their life Òhidden with Christ in GodÓ unto the second coming of Christ; at
that time the persons that believed and has been given life, the same persons,
not souls, will be raised from their sleep with immortal bodies in the image of
Christ. The life a person will have after the resurrection is a continuation of
the endless life given to them when they first became Christians.
HOMER HAILEY, "There are only two alternatives, the crown of
life-eternal life-or the second death." ÒRevelation,Ó
page 128, Baker Book House. It is life or death, not life in Heaven or
life in Hell. Death is real.
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). Those that
overcomes shall not die the second death (Revelation 2:11). The saved will not die
the second death; only the lost will.
(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). The first two times Òthe second deathÓ
is used it say that those in Christ will not die the second death; only those
that are not in Christ will die the second death.
(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 (Revelation 20:14-15). All three come to the same
end. All three are completely destroyed; both hades and death will come to an
end. Endless life in Hell is not the wages of sin. The second death, the wages
of sin is the end of living, whatever kind of life the lost will have at the
judgment will come to an end; neither death nor hades can be tormented. The
symbolical lake of fire pictures all three as coming to an end just as a
literal lake of fire would literally bring any living thing to an end. The lake
of fire is a symbol picture of total destruction of any thing cast into it, an
endless being dead, an endless not existing, not an endless being tormented by
God.
(4). Those that
overcomes shall inherit and be God's sons, 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 without an end.
The second death is not said to be sleep as the first death is, no one will
wake up from it, there will be no resurrection from that death.
SECOND
DEATH IN PLAIN 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)
devoured, not tormented, in the lake of fire, which is the second death. Not as
it is preached today (1) judgment (2) then an endless life of torment in Hell,
but never devoured; not as preached by many an endless
life in Hell for a soul that begins at the death of the person it was in before
and without the resurrection and Judgment Day.
(1). The Bible speaks
of two deaths, the first, and the second, if the first death is death, but when
the second death is changed to endless life being tormented by God, then the
second death would not a death; the dead cannot be tormented.
(2). The second death
is a real death, just as real as is the first death; both the first and second
deaths are both the end of life, neither death is not life in another form or
place. Death cannot be changed to life.
(3). The second death
is never spoken of as a sleep; there is no waking up or resurrection from it.
(4). The death of the
earthly body is the end of living in this temporal life; all
that die will be resurrected from the first death. When the unsaved dead
are resurrected for judgment they will have life of some kind at the judgment,
but not endless life that only believers have–resurrection
means life restored, if not then it would not be a resurrection.
a.
ÒAnd their part shall be in the lake that
burns with fire and brimstone: which is
the second deathÓ (Revelation 21:8).
b.
ÒAnd the sin, when it is
full grown, brings forth deathÓ (James 1:15).
c.
ÒWhoever turns a sinner
away from his error will save him from deathÓ (James 5:20) New
International Version.
d.
ÒFor the end of these things is deathÓ (Romans 6:21).
e.
ÒThey that practice such things are worthy of deathÓ (Romans 1:32). ÒThose who practice such
things deserve to dieÓ New
Revised Standard Version.
f.
ÒFor if YOU live after the flesh, YOU must dieÓ (Romans 8:13).
g.
ÒThe wages of sin is deathÓ (Romans 6:23).
(5). Death is the end
of the sinner, not endless being tormented by God. The second death is a real
death, just as real as is the first death, As the death of the earthly body deprives
a person of all psychical life and is the final end of all earthly existence,
so the second death is the final end of existence after the resurrection and
the judgment.
"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). This
is not a reference to the first death but the second when only those who live
according to the flesh will die (the second death). Paul did not say, "If
you live after the flesh you are now spiritually dead," (present tense),
but " YOU shall die" (future tense). Not A soul that shall live
forever, 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
something in you that will always live and cannot die no mater what you do or
do not do. ÒFor the
wages of sin is deathÓ (Romans 6:23); not the
death of the flesh, which all die, but the second death.
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 mankind die the first death,
even the apostles, but there will be a resurrection of all, 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 Christ will die the second death.
J. M. DENNISTION, ÒThe one thing really announced is that, through
Christ the living Bread, there comes to believers an endless duration which did
not come by the manna–the clear
understanding being that in no other why than through that Bread can such
duration be theirs.Ó ÒThe Perishing Soul According To
Scripture,Ó Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874.
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 just as all will die the first death, they
will sleep in Christ and be resurrected from their sleep and will 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). Those that believe there is a soul in us say, (1) a soul will
never die; (2) a soul will never be in or come out of a tomb.
ÒFor the land which has drunk
the rain that comes often upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them for
whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God: but if it bears
thorns and thistles, it is rejected, and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burnedÓ (Hebrews
6:4-8). Those that fall away will be burned in the lake of fire, which is the
second death, destroyed just as thorns that are burned.
ASHLEY JOHNSON,
founder and president of the Johnson Bible College. ÒWhy do we burn briers and
thorns? To destroy them, to get permanently rid of them.Ó Page 413, ÒThe
Resurrection And The Future Life.Ó Knoxville Lithographing Company, 1913.
HOMER HAILEY. "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" HaileyÕs quote of Afford in HaileyÕs commentary on
"Revelation."
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; the harvest of those Òwho
belong to himÓ will be Òwhen he
comes,Ó at the resurrection, not many harvests at the death of each saved
persons both before the resurrection and before the coming of Christ.
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 by God 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 will have been swallowed up in victory. Victory
over what? Over death, victory over Òthe wages of sinÓ (Romans 6:23).
After the resurrection those in Christ will have put on immortality, and will
never again be subject to death, but all are now subject to it, and it takes
away our life. If there is no death, then death has no sting. If there were a
soul in a person that is deathless, that soul would always have had the victory
over death, it would never have been subject to death. 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 with an immortal soul that cannot die, then no soul
that is in anyone 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 that
is not 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 (Philippians 3:27).
If death is a gateway to Heaven, then when God had "mercy on him," was God not being cruel by keeping him
out of the glories of Heaven and making him suffer the pains and temptations of
earth longer? 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 if our ÒfriendÓ did take
someone we love to be with Christ and God in Heaven? How could going
from this life (from pain and troubles for most) to Heaven 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 stay out of
Heaven and live in pain a little longer? Why do we mourn and not rejoice if immediately
after death a love one who lives in pain would go to their everlasting
residence in Heaven where there is no pain? Is it not because we know death is
an enemy, not a friend, not a doorway to instant joy (1 Corinthians 15:26), and
all the dead are under the power of death onto the resurrection, not alive 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 soul that is not subject to death, how is death
an enemy to a soul that cannot die?
What is it that will
be destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:26)?
Just what is the "enemy?" 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 if they were moving to
Heaven. But there is a problem, how
can there be a resurrection if it is only souls, not us that will be in Heaven,
and souls that are never dead to be resurrected? If no soul 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
of life. 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 the dead will be forever dead.
IS DEATH
LIFE SEPARATED FROM GOD?
IS THERE
LIFE WITHOUT GOD?
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 alive and
tormented by it; death is not abolished or destroyed. Fire is a consumer, if it did not consume it would not be fire, to
use fire to illustrate something that dose not do what fire does, to change fire
into something that endlessly perseveres, but does not consume, would make the
language unintelligible. Does the Lake
of Fire abolish death but does not abolish people?
"Death shall be no more"
Revelation 21:4. Therefore, being cast into the lake of fire cannot be an endless
life being tormented for then death would 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 for if a dead person is alive, if death is being alive someplace;
if there were a Hell the last enemy (death) could not ever be abolished (1
Corinthians 15:26). We use death in our everyday language to mean to be dead,
not to have life, but in the theology use of the word death does not mean dead,
to be dead is changed to having life, to be more alive than we are while we are
living! Why did God not just say what He means, that death means being alive
not dead? Did God in some way apart from His word revealed to some that He did
not mean what He said in the Bible, but He only revealed this to some and not
to all?
Many who do not
want to say, ÒYou are going to Hell and be endlessly tormented by GodÓ say,
ÒYou are going to be endlessly alive separated from God.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. All who believe in
Hell must use their man made theology to explain death out of the Bible. Trying
to put having life someplace separated from God in the place of death is a poor
try, but it seems to be the best they could do. Such a radical redefining of death to be life that dose not come from
God, life that is separated from God (life not sustained by God) is nothing
more that a denial of the Bible, a denial that God is God.
SEPARATION, Wayne Jackson in an article he called, ÒThe ÔSecond
DeathÕ–Separation or Annihilation?Ó
printed by the ÒChristian CourierÓ redefined the Second Death to be separation,
not death. Jackson changed death to endless life separated from God, to life
that dose not come from God. I understand him to be saying that after the
person is dead a soul that had been in an unsaved person lives forever being
tormented by God even though that soul is separated from the God that is
tormenting it. Does he think a soul has life if it is separated from God? Where
does the life of a soul come from that is someplace that is separated from God?
If this soul was separated from God, who does he think is doing the tormenting,
if a soul were really separated from God than God could not be the one that was
doing the tormenting? But separation is not usually used to mean that souls or
spirits are really separated from God, but usually only in an attempt to make
death mean some kind of life, to make death not really be death.
Reason why death is called Òseparation.Ó It sounds better to say
death is ÒseparationÓ from God than to say death is endless life being
tormented by God, but when endless torment by God is added to the separation,
which those that believe death is life that is life separated from God always
do add torment, it is only a way to try to make God not seem to be as evil as
endless torment in Hell makes Him. The
Bible doses not say death is a separation of a soul from God. James 2:26 is
changed from saying Òthe body apart from
the spirit is dead,Ó and made to be saying that a soul that is apart from
God is not dead, but it is alive despite the fact that it is someplace that is separated
from God, that a soul has life that is not from God, but JAMES 2:26 SAYS
NOTHING ABOUT A SOUL THAT HAS LIFE AFTER THE PERSON IS DEAD; IT SAYS NOTHING
ABOUT ANY KIND OF LIFE FOR A PERSON OR A SOUL AFTER DEATH.
SECOND DEATH, ÒBut for the
fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and
all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone
which is the second deathÓ (Revelation 20:8). Who did all these things? (1)
Was it persons? (2) Was it souls? (3) Was it spirits? Did spirits murder other
spirits? Did immaterial, souls that do not have bodies commit fornication? Did
souls or spirits lie to each other? Could
God have said any clearer that the person that committed these sins will die the
second death, not a soul that cannot die will die because of the sins of a
person? This is speaking of persons after they have been resurrected from the
dead and judged, the persons that had committed these sins while they were
alive in the flesh and were not born again (John 3:5) will die the second
death, not deathless souls that we are told cannot die, cannot die the first or
second death. Wayne Jackson had to change death to life separation from God
to be able to change it from persons after the resurrection that would die the
second death to souls that he believes can never die a first or second death,
therefore; he believes souls must live someplace forever alive, but are alive in
a place that is separated from God even though the persons these souls had been
in are dead. The wages of sin is death for the person that sins, not endless
life separated from God, not life without God for a soul that had been in the
person that sinned, as if there could be any kind of life anyplace that is
separated from God.
If death means,
"separated but alive," for a deathless death, then we can use it in
place of death. Try it.
1.
"I was separation from God but alive someplace
without God, and behold, I am alive
without God for evermore" Revelation 1:18. Therefore, if Jesus were
always alive, separated, but alive,
there could not have been a resurrection. Jesus is made to have just returned from
somewhere, from wherever Christ was when He was separated from God, just a
reunion of Jesus and God, but He could not have been resurrected from the dead
if He were alive someplace that is separated from God.
2.
"It
is Christ Jesus that was separation from
God but alive, yet rather, that raised from the separated but alive " Romans 8:34.
3.
"The
firstborn from the separation from God
but alive someplace without God" Colossians 1:18.
4. "He that raised
up Christ Jesus from the separation from
God but alive someplace without God " Romans 8:1. This redefining of
death to be life would make Christ not to have died for our sins; therefore,
Christ could not have been raised from the dead; He was never dead, but was alive separated from God. It
would make His death not be a genuine death, it would make His resurrection be just
a reunion of Jesus and God when neither one was dead, just separated from each
other. If the Father and the Son were both
alive but were separated from each other for the three days, the Father would
have been just as separated from the Son as the Son was from the Father,
neither one would have died, God would have been separated from God. There is
no death in separation, no shedding of blood in separation, no New Covenant
bought with the blood of Christ.
5. "Christ was separation from God but alive some place without God for our
sins" 1 Corinthians 15:3
6.
ÒThen those also who have been separated have perished" 1 Corinthians 15:18.
7.
"The
law of sin and separation from God but
alive some place without God" Romans 8:2.
8.
"For
the mind of the flesh is separation from
God but alive without God " Romans 8:6.
9.
"I
through the law am separated from God
but alive to the law" Galatians 2:19.
10. "Again from the separation but alive" Hebrews 13:20.
11. "Was translated that he should not
see separation but alive"
Hebrews 11:5.
12. "How are the separation but alive raised?" 1 Corinthians 15:35.
13. "So also is the resurrection of the separation but alive some place without God"
1 Corinthians 15:42.
14. " Separation but alive some
place without God is swallowed up" 1 Corinthians 15:55.
15. "Abolished is separation but alive some place without God" 1 Corinthians
15:26. If separation is abolished or swallowed up, then where are the living separated going to be?
16. "And the separated from God but alive, shall be raised incorruptible" 1
Corinthians 15:52.
17. By man came separation but alive, by man came also the resurrection of the separation but alive" 1
Corinthians 15:21.
18. "You proclaim the Lord's separation but alive till he
comes" 1 Corinthians 11:26.
19. Whosoever lives and believes on me shall
never separate" John 11:26.
20. "It is Christ Jesus that separated but alive" Romans 8:24.
21. "The body is separated but alive because of sin" Romans 8:10.
22. "Sin revived, and I separated" Romans 7:9.
23. "These all separated in faith" Hebrews 11:23.
24. "And I will kill her children with separation from God but alive"
Revelation 2:23.
25. "A name that you live, and are separated from God but alive"
Revelation 3:1.
26. "Separation shall be on more" Revelation 21:4. Also "The
last enemy that shall be abolished is Separation
" 1 Corinthians 15:26. This would be the same as saying "separation
shall be unseparated."
27. Though
he die, yet shall he live" John 11:25. This would
be saying, "Though he be separated
but alive, yet shall he be unseparated."
28. ÒAnd whosoever lives and believes on me
shall never dieÓ John
11:26. Shall never have a separation of body and soul.
a. It is life or death, not life or life.
Whatever death is, (1)
if death is really death, (2) or if death is not death, but death is alive someplace
that is separated from God, someplace where God is not at that place, but
tormented by God who would not be in the place where they are if they were
separated from God. ÒFor as the body
apart from the spirit is deadÓ is used repeatedly to prove death is not
death, that a spirit that had been separated from the lost dead person is
alive, but a soul is someplace separated from God, yet a soul is somehow
tormented by the God that a soul is separated from. James 2:26 is speaking of the body that is dead without the breath of
life, it says nothing of a dead soul that is not dead after that soul has been
separated from the dead person it had been in, that a soul can be alive but
separated from God is added. Spirit is changed to soul but they are not the
same. If death is being alive but separation from God, James would be saying,
ÒFor as the body apart from the spirit is separated,Ó nothing is said about the spirit being dead or alive, it says nothing about the spirit being alive when
it is separated from the body, nothing about a soul or a spirit that is alive when
separated from the person it had been in, but
they do not want to make the dead body be alive, they want this to be saying
only the spirit is alive, that the spirit, changed to a soul that is a living
being after that soul is separated from the dead person. The change they
want to make is that death is death for the body, but death is endless life for
a soul. Changed to being only a soul, not the person that it has some kind of life
after the death of the person even though James says nothing, not one thing
about a ÒsoulÓ having any kind of life after the death of the person; not life
that comes form God or dose not come from God.
ÒFor the wages of sin
is death, but the free gift of God
is eternal lifeÓ (Romans 6:23). If ÒlifeÓ
is literal, then ÒdeathÓ in the same sentence
is just as literal. How could anyone know that just one word in a literal
sentence is not just as literal as all the other words? If the death of sinner
is not a literal death, the life for believers is not a literal life. The same
persons that tell us death is not a literally death tell us that death
literally means death when it is used in reference to animals; dead animals are
literally dead. But, according to this
theology, death cannot mean separation from God for the saved; death is
separation from God only for the lost. Death means alive but separated from God
only when they want it to.
If death is being
alive but endless separation from God, that separation would be forever, and
death could never be destroy, the lost would always be separated from God and
always have some kind of life that dose not come from God, and Paul was wrong
in 1 Corinthians 15:54. Any kind of life is not death. Death is to cease to
exist; when we say God cannot die, we mean God cannot cease to exist, not that
God is separated from God.
The same ones that tell us death is life that is separation from God,
that life can and does exist without God also tell us that God will forever be
with the lost in Hell forever tormenting them, that the lost can never be
separated from God. Which time do they believe what they say? ALL LIFE DEPENDS
ON GOD THE GIVER OF LIFE; THEREFORE, SEPARATED FROM GOD NO ONE COULD HAVE ANY
KIND OF LIFE, NOT LIFE IN HELL, OR ANY OTHER PLACE. THE ONLY WAY TO BE SEPARATED FROM GOD IS TO BE MADE NOT TO EXIST; TO
EXIST ANYPLACE MAKES BEING SEPARATED FROM GOD NOT POSSIBLE. 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 has a
deathless soul in them; if this were true a soul could not pay the wages of
sin, death. The English word death and the Greek word from which death is
translated both mean to be dead, not to have life, not to exist.
"Spiritual
death" and "death is a separation" are not Biblical expressions.
They are interpretations. They are additions used to teach what some 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.
IS THERE ANY LIFE, ANY EXISTENCES ANY PLACE 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. If the dead are not dead, if the dead are
alive, the living dead can never be separated from God, if they have endless
life with torment then God is both (1) keeping them alive, giving them any life
they may have (2) and God is made to be an endless tormenter. There could be absolutely no existence if a
person or a soul were separated from God, for there can be no life without God,
and without life there can be no
torment; all life in Heaven, earth, or where ever there is life, all life comes
from God, and without God there is no life. The immortal soul doctrine
makes God be giving souls endless life just so He can be an endless tormenter. To be separate from God can only mean to be
nowhere. If a person can exist separated from God, that person is a self-existing
God, only a God can be self-existing; therefore, according to today's theology,
all the lost who are alive but separated from God are self-existing Gods. How far will they go to prove
"Hell"? Death is a separation from life, death is not eternal
self-existing life separated from God.
The King James Version
puts God in Hell. "If I make my bed
in Hell behold thou art there" (Psalm 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 it is undeniable that the King James Version says that
God is in Hell. Do you 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 many more in his kingdom than are in God's kingdom? He
will if the dead are alive but are separated from God,
and Satan was the one doing the tormenting. If there were a Hell, which
way is it? (1) Either God would be in Hell doing the tormenting, and God would
be sustaining the life they have, and they are not separated from Him, (2) or
God would not in Hell, and the lost are separated from Him and He is not doing
the tormenting and He is not sustaining the life they have. It could not be
both ways. Where did the concept come from that there is any life when one
is separated from God, the only source of all life? It is not a matter of endless
life with God, or endless life separated from God; there is no life separated
or apart from God. A sinner does not
have any kind of immortal life. Only those in Christ will have immortality only
after the resurrection.
If death is
"separation" of a soul from the earthly body, and not a real death,
then the resurrection could only be the return and reuniting of a soul to the
earthly person, and they must forever be together or the resurrection would not
last forever. If all earthly bodies end at the end of this earth, then death
(separation) of the saved will last forever; all souls, whether souls of the
saved or the lost would be forever separated from the earthly bodies for the
bodies would not exist. But those who teach death is separation only want death
to be separation when death is a soul that is alive but separated from God, all
other times they believe death is death; death cannot mean both endless life
part of the time, and endless death part of the time.
DEATH IS SEPARATION IS
ONE SIDED
It goes back to the
Greek teaching as taught by Plato and many others that the person dies, but a
soul that was separated from the person it had been in in lives on separate
from the dead person. In this separation the person dies; it was believed that
there is a soul that had been in the person that lives on after the soul is
separated from the dead person. ÒFor as the body apart from the spirit is
deadÓ (James 2:26) is used to prove death as a separation of body and
spirit, the body is dead but a spirit that cannot die lives on separated from
the person it had been in; but then the spirit that is separated from the dead
body is changed from a spirit to a soul that is alive someplace, but that
someplace is separated from God.
If death is
separation, what is separated from what? At death the dead body goes back to the earth,
the person goes to a grave unto the resurrection. But we are told that a spirit,
after they change spirit to a soul that had been in a dead person is separated
from the dead person that it had been in, but that soul (spirit) is just as
alive as it was before it was separated from the dead person; we are told the person
separated from a soul is without life, but spirit changed to a soul separated
from the dead person is alive–if the
deathless soul lives, then what could be resurrected from the dead? Only the
dead body of the dead person that has gone back to the earth from which the
body came could be resurrected.
Summary - If, as some
teach, that Hell is the punishment for sin, then being eternally tormented by
God, not death is "the wages of
sin." Being alive and tormented by God is made to be the thing they
call death, but those who change death from being death, to death being a soul that
is alive someplace without God do not seem to see they are teaching two
completely different doctrines at the same time.
1.
That
death is an eternal life of torment with God doing the tormenting.
2.
And
also that death is an endless life someplace that is separated from God. This redefining of death to be life that is
life that dose not come from God has caused much of the confusion and division that
exist today.
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 if
they "shall not see life"?
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, shall not see an endless life
of torment?
Everlasting life, or everlasting
destruction 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 There are two gates, (1) one gate leads to life, (2) and one gate
leads to destruction. Destruction is used in contrast to life; destruction is
not life, not both gates leads to life, not the narrow gate to endless life in
one place and the broad gate to endless life in another place. Jesus said as
clear as language can be that the wide gate leads to destruction, not to life
that some believe to be some kind of life that is life that dose not come from
God. ÒOr those eighteen, upon whom the
tower in Siloam fell, and killed
themÉexcept you repent, you shall all likewise
perishÓ (Luke 13:4-5); you shall like them be killed, shall have your
life ended just as they did. ÒKilledÓ
and Òlikewise perishÓ are both the
same, both mean death, both mean the end of life, neither one means endless
life.
ÒWorthy of death,Ó 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, and this something cannot ever die
then why did Paul say they are worthy of death if souls cannot die?
Literally or
figuratively, Thomas
Andrews said 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). On
the same page Andrews said, ÒThe Biblical concept of eternal extends to both
life and death.Ó
1.
The Biblical concept, endless death.
2.
The Biblical concept, endless life.
The Biblical concept, death
will last just as long as life, if life is without end, death is also without
end. If death is figuratively and not real death, then life is figuratively and
not real life. If death is figurative life, then there are two kinds of
figuratively life and no death.
Those who believe in
Hell must change "death" to
be figuratively or allegorical, not a real death; but they make "life" real even when both are
used together in the same sentence. If
death is figurative, life is figurative.
(1). Endless "death" is as literal as endless "life." Does a real sin have a
figurative punishment? Death must be "wrest"
(2 Peter 3:16) into something that is not death to make it fit around the
doctrine of an immortal, invisible, immaterial "soul" that cannot
die; therefore, death of a deathless ÒsoulÓ has to be changed to be only a
figurative death.
(2). ÒThere
is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroyÓ (James 4:12). ÒBut we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are savedÓ (Hebrews 10:39). If the destroying is figuratively, and
is not literally destroying, then the saving is also figuratively, and is not
literally saving.
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." None told
what the elephant is like. "It is like a brush" is not a description
of an elephant, and "separated" from God, but are alive without Him
is not a description of death.
"Dead while she
lives"
1 Timothy 5:6
What was dead?
(1). Her body was
alive at the time Paul wrote this, (2) and according to those that believe
there was a deathless soul in her, believe that soul that had been in her was also
alive at the time Paul wrote this, that whatever a soul is, it cannot ever be
dead. Then what was,
ÒDead while she lives,Ó if neither
her body was dead; nor was there a dead soul in her, what was dead? SHE (a
person, not a deathless soul) was dead;
SHE was dead in her relationship to God. She did not have a dead body, or a
dead soul.
(2). Even though this
passage is used to prove she had an immortal soul, it says absolutely nothing about a soul or a spirit; Òspiritual deathÓ or
Òspiritual lifeÓ is not in this passage and not in the Bible, not in the
Old or New Testament, but both are added and used repeatedly to prove there is
both a soul and a spirit and that nether one of the two cannot be dead.
Dead and alive at the
same time, in what sense is she alive? Physically she was not dead, but she
was alive. In what sense is she dead
while she lived? The she that was dead is the same as all
other sinners and unsaved people, dead in their relationship to God. Their death is so certain that they are spoken of as if they are already dead
(See Luke 9:60). They do not have Christ living in them, and the "life" He gives to believes (John 5:21-29). They have only the Òresurrection of judgmentÓ (John 5:29)
to look forward to, and the wages of sin, death (Romans 6:23), not the Òresurrection of lifeÓ (John 5:29). Death
for those who do not believe is so certain that through out the New Testament
it speaks as though they now are dead. The
only life she had was physical life. How can an immortal soul that will always
have life be gotten out of "dead
while she lives"? It was her body that "lives," but now it has been changed to an immortal,
immaterial, invisible something that is in her that will live after her body is
dead; Òdead while she livesÓ is
changed to Òspiritual dead,Ó which makes it say, Òdead while she is spiritual
dead.Ó
(1). Because the passage speaks of her being
dead, dead in her relation to God while her body lived, her having a soul that
is alive while she is dead is read into this passage even when nothing, not one
thing is said about an Òimmortal soul,Ó or an Òimmortal spirit,Ó nothing about
any kind of life after her death; nothing about her or anything that had been
in her being immortal. This passage is often used to prove that a
"soul" cannot be dead, but it has another kind of life, even when
there is nothing, not one word said about a "soul" in it.
(2). Death must be removed from this passage, and endless
life with torment for whatever the something is that cannot be dead that is in
a person must be added to it; this is what is called pulling something out of
thin air, or reading into a passage something that is wanted to be in it.
(3). She is of the world, which will Òpass away,Ó will come to an end; just as the world will Òpass awayÓ she will Òpass away,Ó she will not Òabide forever.Ó
The Bible uses death
in both a literal and a figurative application. In the literal use of death
life has ceased to exist. The figurative use of a word must take it meaning
from it literal use. The Christian widow that Òhas her hope set on GodÓ had a relationship with God but if she Ògives herself to pleasureÓ that
relationship she had with God is dead; it no longer existent, it is her
relationship with God that is dead.
In Luke 15:11-32, Matthew
8:21-22, "Follow me; and leave the
dead (living persons who have no relationship with God) to bury their own dead." There is
nothing about an "immaterial invisible part of man" that is alive in
the persons that are burying the dead persons. Neither the dead that were dead
in their relationship with God that was doing the burying, nor the dead that was
being buried there was not a dead immortal soul that cannot be dead, both the
one that was alive, and the one that was dead were both persons that are dead
in their relationship to God even though one was alive as the widow was. The
prodigal son had a relationship with his father, the relationship ceased to
exist, the relationship was restored when the son returned. The son was alive,
then dead, then alive in his relationship with his father, but the son was
never literally dead, and there was no literal resurrection of the dead; in
this passage there is absolutely nothing said about an immortal soul although
it is repeatedly used to prove the prodigal son was an immortal soul, not a
person, that was separated from his father. Even today a Jewish family often
have a funeral for a person that has been converted to another religion, or
leaves the Jewish religion.
Frequently one person
is separated from another, but not counted as dead; when a child leaves home we
do not say our child is dead, but in Bible times the Hebrews would say the
child (not a soul) was dead when a child left home and had no relationship with
the father or mother, it was as if the child was dead to them; it was the
child, not a soul, that had no relations with the father. When God gives a
revelation, He used words and customs just as the persons to whom He gave the
revelation used them. To the Hebrew mind and some Oriental cultures even today
the prodigal son, a living person is counted as dead
while the child lives and the father no longer has a child. The widow was dead
to God just as the prodigal son was dead to his father because she had put
something ahead of God in her life; the resurrection at the second coming of
Christ is not spoken of in this passage about the widow.
"Truly, truly, I
say to you, he who hears My word,
and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into
judgment, but HAS PASSED OUT OF DEATH
INTO LIFE. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming AND NOW IS, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear
shall live" (John 5:24-25). Jesus
was not saying the hour is coming when He was going to a graveyard, and the
dead there would hear His voice and live, be resurrected from their graves. He
was speaking of those who are not
believers (dead by the Hebrew and Oriental cultures) becoming believers and alive to God.
1. ÒAnd YOU were dead in YOUR trespasses and sinsÓ
(Ephesians 2:1).
2. ÒBut SHE who gives HERSELF to wanton
pleasure is dead even while SHE LIVESÓ (1 Timothy 5:6).
Nothing is said about an immortal
something that cannot die being dead, it is the person that is dead to God. She
was dead to God even while she was still alive just as the Ephesians were dead
to God before they became Christians; in this passage not one thing is said
about a soul, not about a soul being alive, or a soul being dead, not that a
soul even exist; why then is this passage used repeatedly to show all have an
immortal something in them that cannot be dead?
The widow is under the
sentence of death, but the sentence of death has been removed from 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 are dead while they live. They will be raised only to face the judgment
and the second death "a savor from
death unto death."
There are two groups
that are living but are dead.
(1). Those that never
have believed in Christ have never been given the life that believers have been
given.
(2). Those that
believed and were given life, but became unfaithful by putting something ahead
of Christ.
Both
will be raised at the coming of Christ and judged, then the second death, not
life.
Die in the Old Testament
Die is from
"moosh" in the Old Testament and occurs over 800 times. None of the
800 has any references to death being anything but death. In not one of them is
death a separation of a dead earthly body from a living soul, or about anything
that is alive while it is in a person, and it will be alive after the death of
the person. 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, and
flies all die (moosh). For all, death is the end of life, and if there were no
resurrection a person would be as all the above, dead forever.
In "Truth Magazine," June 7,
2001, page 343, Johnie Edwards has an article, "What Death Says."
(1) What does death
say? It says that for there to be life after death, there must be a
resurrection from the dead.
(2) What does the
resurrection say? It says if there is to be a resurrection, there must be death
to be resurrected from, not a higher kind of life than life that we now have
that would not need a resurrection.
(3) The resurrection
says death is a real death; it says someone who is not dead cannot be raised
from the dead by a resurrection.
J. B. COFFMAN, 2
Corinthians 2:16, "ÕThe 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.Õ J. W. McGarvey, 1916. 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."
"A fragrance from life unto life"(2 Corinthians 2:16). The
new birth (John 3:3). "Walk
in newness of life" (Romans 6:4). "Have
passed out of death into life" (1 John 3:14). At the second coming of
Christ the saved shall "put on
immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:53), after which there will be no
death.
"A fragrance from death unto
death" (2 Corinthians 2:16). Dead while she lives (1
Timothy 5:6). "Abides in death"
(1 John 3:14). The lost will be raised from the dead at the second coming of
Christ, then judgment and the second death after which there will never be any
life, never a resurrection from the second death.
H. L. HASTINGS "In all classical literature no
instance can be found where the word death has this signification of eternal
torment." "The Last Judgment," 1853
For those who are not
in Christ, there is no eternal life anywhere.
Continue to chapter four, five, six, and seven The Changing Hell, The
Vanishing Hell.
=================================================
DOWNLOAD MY FREE BOOK ÒLife In Christ—Resurrection And ImmortalityÓ
Free
at: www.robertwr.com/resurrection.pdf
Or atÓ www.robertwr.com/resurrection.htm
PRINTED COPY-1007
pages at https://www.amazon.com
Kindle $4.99 Paperback $31.99 Hardcover $41.99
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/life+in+christ+william+west/_/N-8q8?_requestid=3074097
————————————————————————————
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: ÒThe nature of man–what is man?Ó
Is at http://www.robertwr.com/index.html
Chapter 2: ÒLife or DeathÓ
Is at http://www.robertwr.com/life.html
Chapter 3: ÒThe great doctrines of the BibleÓ
Is at http://www.robertwr.com/immortal.html
CHAPTERS 4, 5, 6, AND 7
Are at http://www.robertwr.com/hell.html
Chapter 4: ÒFrom where came Hell, from man or God?Ó
1. Unquenchable fire, weeping,
gnashing of teeth
2. Old Testament history of Gehanna
3. Gehenna used by Christ on four
occasions
4. The vanishing Hell
5. Twenty-nine plus version of Hell
Three Catholic versions of Hell
Seventeen plus Protestant versions of Hell
Nine other versions of Hell
Chapter 5: Sheol, Hades, and Tartarus
Chapter 6: The thirty-one Hell passages
Chapter 7: A strange and unexplainable silence of the Old
Testament on punishment and life after death, life, death, torment,
destruction, destroy, perish, die, and end
CHAPTERS 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, AND 13
Are at http://www.robertwr.com/heaven.html
Chapter 8: Figurative language, metaphors, and symbolical
passage
Part one, The rich man
Part two, The symbolic pictures in
Revelation
Part three, The forever and ever of the
King James Version
Chapter 9: Universalist, The "age lasting" Hell
Chapter 10: The results of attributing evil Pagan teachings to
God
Chapter 11: Historical proof of the
changing of the teaching of the Bible
Chapter 12: IsraelÕs destruction, scripture about
the destruction of Israel that are misapplied to Hell
1. IsraelÕs weeping, gnashing of teeth
2. Outer darkness
3. Matthew 24, Preterits Eschatology, Realized Eschatology
4. A D 70 Doctrine
5. The day of the Lord
6. 2 Peter 3 Chapter
13: After the Resurrection
The fate of
those who not are in Christ
The fate of
those who are in Christ
Appendix one
ALL THIRTEEN CHAPTERS ON ONE WEB
SITE ARE AT http://www.robertwr.com/resurrection.pdf
http://www.robertwr.com/resurrection.html
-————————————————————————
OTHER WEB SITES of William Robert West, Church
of Christ
ÒTHE RAPTURE AND
ISRAELÓ can be downloaded free at http://www.robertwr.com/rapture.html THE PRINTED BOOK
AT BOOKSTORES ask for ISBN
978-1452895352
Ch. 1 After the Judgment where will we spend eternity?
Ch. 2 When will the secret
rapture come to pass? Will you miss it?
Ch. 3 Will there be cars
without drivers after the rapture?
Ch. 4 What is the battle of Armageddon?
Ch. 5 Is Armageddon coming soon?
Ch. 6 Will Israel be restored?
Will there be a worldwide conversion of Jews?
Ch. 7 Will the temple be rebuilt
in Jerusalem?
Ch. 8 Will animal sacrifices be restored?
Ch. 9 What are the signs of the
second coming of Christ?
Ch. 10
Who are the 144,000?
Ch. 11
Will there be one, two, or three
resurrections?
Ch. 12
What is the "time of the Gentiles"?
Ch. 13
What is the "gap" theory?
Ch. 1 4 Who is the thirteenth tribe?
http://www.robertwr.com/ReadMyEMailandReviews.html
http://www.robertwr.com/ReadMyEMailandReviews.pdf
http://www.robertwr.com/ThirtyOneHells.htm
http://www.robertwr.com/GodsJudgments.htm
http://www.robertwr.com/OppositionToHell.htm
http://www.robertwr.com/AD70.html
http://www.robertwr.com/UnitedStatesAndTerrorist.htm
=================================================
ÒTHE INDICTMENT OF ETERNAL TORMENT: THE SELF-NEGATION OF A
MONSTROUS DOCTRINE,Ó by E. D. Slough, a preacher in the Church of Christ, F. L. Rowe
Publisher, 1914. I have put this book on the web free at
http://www.robertwr.com/EternalTorment.htm
http://www.robertwr.com/EternalTorment.pdf
ÒLIFE IN CHRISTÓ by Edward White was
published in 1875 may have been one of the first major protest against the
doctrine of an immortal soul. For the most part this book teaches the truth on
the doctrine of a soul and Hell however there are a few things in it that are
unbiblical. I have put this book on the web free at
http://www.robertwr.com/LifeinChrist.htm
http://www.robertwr.com/LifeinChrist.pdf
ÒA HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE SOULÓ by D.
M. Canright. Although there are a few things in this book that I do not believe
to be right, it is the best I have seen on the history of the origin of the
belief in a soul being in a person that will leave the person at their death,
that this belief came from pagan sources, and is not taught in the
Bible.
http://www.robertwr.com/soul.htm
http://www.robertwr.com/soul.pdf
GOOD WEB PAGES BY MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.
(1) Articles by Ken Fortier and C. Dickinson
http://kenfortier.com/site/articles
(2) "The Maxey—Thrasher Debate"
A debate on the eternal destiny of the wicked between two Gospel preachers.
http://www.zianet.com/maxey/MxThrshr.htm
(3) http://www.jeremyandchristine.com/articles/eternal.php
(5) http://www.robertwr.com/GodsJudgments.htm