LIFE IN CHRIST
- - - - - - - - - - -
RESURRECTION
OR IMMORTALITY
Subtitle, The Resurrection, Our Only
Hope Of Life After Death
ISBN 978-1-4497-1503-8
William
Robert West
Author of The Rapture And
Israel
Chapter
Two
Life
Or Death
Is
"The
Wages Of Sin Death"
Or
Is
"The
Wages Of Sin Is Eternal Life With Torment In Hell"
Will There
Be A Resurrection From The Dead?
Or Do We
Now Have An Immortal Soul That Will Never Be Dead?
Life And
Death Are Opposites, They Are Not Two Kinds Of Life.
Death Is
Death, Not Eternal Life Anyplace.
Updated
9/16/2018
Over
1,101,600 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); believes have passed out of death into life
(John 5:24-29); this takes place when a person become a believer; the believer still
has a mortal body that will die and the person will sleep in Christ unto the
resurrection and be awaken with an immortal body at His coming (1 Corinthians
15:42-44) All of us who were baptized into Christwe shall be also in the
likeness of His resurrection (Romans 6:15); do you think it is a person
that is baptized that shall be also in
the likeness of His resurrection, or do you think it is a soul that is
baptized that shall be also in the
likeness of His resurrection?
Unto the resurrection
of life, 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, would have life and would always
have life without Christ. It is clear
that Christ is promising a resurrection to life to the persons that believed
(John 5:29), not promising life to deathless souls. The death they have passed out of (John 4:24) is
not an eternal life of misery for souls that cannot die, souls that cannot ever
be dead; therefore, have never pass out
of death into life (John 5:24).
Eternal life or immortality
is never said to be something a person is born with, but something that only
Christians ever have.
1. Eternal life WILL
BE INHERITED.
And shall inherit eternal life
(Matthew 19:29). A promise only to believers, not a present possession by an unbeliever,
or not a possession of a pagan soul some believe to be in a person.
2. Eternal life IS A
GIFT.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord
(Romans 6:23).
3. Eternal life IS NOW
A HOPE. We
might be made heirs according to the hope
of eternal life (Titus 3:7).
4. Eternal life IS
PROMISED.
And this is
the promise which he promised us, even eternal life (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 eternal life, and souls that are in
unbelievers will have eternal life in Hell. If no souls are dead, or will
ever be dead, the wages of sin cannot be death. Life is as essential to
suffering as it to happiness; without all having eternal life there could be no
eternal suffering in Hell, or any other place; therefore, believers in Hell
must change, The wages of sin is death" to, "The wages of
sin is an eternal life being
tormented by God." Destruction
must be changed to mean everlasting preservation in misery undestroyed. 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 happiness for a
soul that has life and cannot die.
How is it that when
Christ promised life to those that
believed Him if He did not mean life?
The argument is made
that all already had life and that
when Christ promised life to those
that believed Him that He was only promising happiness to souls that already
had continues existence. Life is existence. Those that do not have life do not have any existence. Those
to whom Christ does not give life
will have no existence.
1. There cannot be life without existence.
2. There cannot be existence without life. A soul cannot exist in misery if
it does not have life. A soul
cannot be endless tormented if it dose not have endless existence.
3. Death is not a living existence.
I 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 judgment
(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 mans 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 they must have endless life, but no
one will live without the resurrection to life.
"Death"
has been changed to life.
1. Changed from death
to an endless life of miserable existence.
2. Changed from death
to eternal 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, a deathless death. The
wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus
our Lord. 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. Changing life to happiness
and death to endless life in misery
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 eternal 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 hour of death of
death will be known. Neither birth nor death is a continuous action that never
ends, but for unconditional immortality to be true death must be changed into a
never ending dying but never dead, which we are told is not death but an
endless life being tormented by God; told that death is not death, that death
is life!
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 they will accept happiness from Jesus, but no
think to life; we already have endless life and do not need life.
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 are 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.
8. Life is necessary to both happiness and
misery; there is no misery without life.
HENRY HAMLET DOBNEY,
How was life to be better designated than by the self-same word itself? On
The Scripture Doctrine Of Future Punishment, page 193, 1850.
Eternal life is a conditional gift
only to the saved at the resurrection and judgment; it is not something that
every person is born with, only those in Christ will ever have it. He
that has the Son HAS ETERNAL LIFE. He that has not the Son HAS NOT LIFE;
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 eternal
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 in the Bible. Many are unwilling to believe that when
God said, "The wages of sin is
death" that God did really mean what He said, that death is death,
death is not eternal life in some place other than Heaven and being tormented
by God. 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, 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 eternal life with torment. 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
"immaterial, invisible part of
men" is to live if a soul is not subject to death, and it is only this
soul that will always live some place.
"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 lifethey that have
done good, unto the resurrection of life"
(John 5:24-29). It is a person, not a soul that
hears my word, and believes that has eternal life, not a soul that has
passes out of one kind of eternal life into another kind of eternal life; it is
a person (he) that has passed out
of death into life. If there were a soul that now has eternal life, it
could not be resurrected out of death
into life. 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). 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 shall live (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. 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). 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. You
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 day (John
6:53-54). It is the person that eats and drinks, it will be the person, not a
deathless soul that will be raised up from the dead at the last day. Those not
in Christ will not live forever. Christ
gives to the person that eats my flesh
and drinks my blood exactly what He said, life, not 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. He (the person) that eats this bread shall live for ever (John 6:58).
John 6 is speaking of the person that believes or dose not believe. Nothing 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 of
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
(1) Not either a better life–OR–(2)
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 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 of any kind of life any place.
Both the first death
and the second death are death, neither the first death or the second death
dose not means life.
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" (Romans 6:23) must be changed to be
something other than death, for if "death"
means "death" the sinner
will die, he cannot live forever in Hell. The
Bible teaching on death must be done away with or there can be no Hell;
Christ is made to say God will destroy souls that cannot be destroyed.
John 3:16, it is perish or life, to perish is not to live, perish is not to have a good life in
one place, or a bad life in another place. If all have a soul in them that
now has eternal life, and it will always have eternal life and cannot perish,
why did God give His Son that the soul of all who believe on Him would have
eternal life and not perish? How could the gift of God be life to the deathless
souls if these souls already have eternal life? Eternal life is only for the
persons that believe. Just as sure as
those that believe on Christ will have eternal life, the persons that do not
believe on Christ will not have eternal life any place. The gift of God to
those who believe on His Son is eternal life (John 3:16), and this gift is
something they did not already have; not something ALL were born with. If all
have eternal life from birth, even those who do not believe, how could life be
a gift only to believers? When those who believe that all now have a soul
that is inside of them and this soul now has eternal life read the Bible, and
change "life" into "a
reward" and 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 eternal life, life that those that are not in Christ will
never have, is changed by those who say they do not change Gods word, changed
to be to all are born with something in them that now has eternal life, and
only whatever a soul is that is in a person, only it will live forever, either
in Heaven or Hell. Life could not be given to a soul that is already deathless.
Should not perish, but have eternal
life, it is a person that will perish, or will have eternal life.
(1). The unbelieving person that will
perish will not have eternal life anyplace.
(2). The believing person that will
have eternal life will not perish.
C. S. LEWIS, You
either perish or you dont perish. The Problem of Pain. When a newspaper
says, Twenty persons perished in a plane crash, twenty persons died, perish
means die. Perish is not eternal life with a lost of well-being, perish is
not eternal life in torment, perish is not any kind of life anyplace.
1 John 3:11-12, God 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. The immortal soul doctrine, that all are born
with a soul that has eternal life, makes John be completely wrong when he said,
He that has not the Son of God has not
the life. How could those that have not the Son and; therefore, has not
life have immortality without life? Would they not be like an immortal rock
that will always 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 shall never die, then why did Jesus promise something that all,
even 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, Though
he die, yet shall he live (John 11:25), there will be no 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
eternal 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; Gods gift is not
just a reward to a soul that was born with eternal life and cannot die.
1.
The Greek concept of an immortal soul assumes that a soul already possess
eternal life and is not subject to death.
2. The orthodox view is that a person
has an "immaterial, invisible part
of men" (Vine), and only this soul that is in a person possessed
eternal life at the birth of the person it is put in; the orthodox view is that
it is only this deathless soul that will be in Heaven or Hell, not the person
that a 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) life
and (2) immortality (2 Timothy
1:10) were 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, Christ could not have
brought neither life nor immortality 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 much fewer times
in most translations; the times it is translated soul is down form 57 times to 23
times in New International Version in 2010–2011
update, and 0 times in some translations. (See THE
DYING USE OF SOUL IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 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 soul (1
Corinthians 15:45 in King James Version, living being 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 105 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 life 28 of the 50 times, us 1 time, and soul
only 21 of the 50 times. Life and soul are not synonymous in English; they do
not mean the same thing, life and soul are not even
close to being the same thing. In trying to put Platos 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 life when it was speaking of animal life, and
soul 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, be
immortal souls that cannot die; PSUKEE IS MADE TO MEAN BOTH WILL DIE AND CANNOT
DIE, BOTH MORTAL BEING AND IMMORTAL BEING. Psukee
is not both (1) sometimes a mortal being that must dies, (2) and sometimes 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 Platos immortal being. Whosoever 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) (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, Zoopoico...make alive, give life,
quicken) 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 lifetime
(Luke 16:25). It refers to the life given by Christ to believes in all but
about ten of the one hundred thirty times, and in those ten it is the gift of
earthly life; Seeing He Himself gives to all life (zoe), and breath, and
all things (Acts 17:25; Luke 12:15; 16:25; 1:75; 1Corinthians 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 believers 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 or will not ever 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 to have been in a lost person. Aionios life
is never used with the word psukee. 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 Christs atonement, and without His atonement there will be only
death, not endless life anyplace with or without torment. The wages of sin
is death, 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 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 being born with an immortal soul
that is in you that already has eternal life even if the person a soul is 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), 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, but is speaking of an immortal soul that shall not see life, then how is it
that the immortal soul that we are repeated told is deathless, but that
deathless soul shall not see life?
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 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
life that they did not have before the new birth. When Jesus said, "He that believes not the Son shall not
see life," will 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 the promise of eternal life and will not be subject to the Second Death.
LIFE, NOT IMMORTALITY
IS TAUGHT IN THE BIBLE, A RESURRECTION TO LIFE FOR BELIEVERS, OR A RESURRECTION
TO JUDGEMENT FOR UNBELIEVERS (John 5:28-29). The promise of 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 this promise of life to the faithful is so
certain that it is often spoken of as something believers now have; He who believes in the Son has eternal (aionios) life (zoe); but he who does not obey the Son shall not
see life (zoe) (John 3:36); life depends on having a
relationship with Christ; Therefore 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 glory (Colossians 3:1-4). A born again person cannot be given
immortality at the judgment if all are now immortal and cannot die for all
souls would now have eternal life, both the souls in the saved and in the lost.
The 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 only to
all who believes, it gives life to all souls that are in all, to even the worst
sinners at birth. 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
immortal, already has eternal 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 that soul couldnt not have life. God 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), (1 John 5:11-12). Yet we are told that he that has not the Son has a soul that now has life, that it is
not us but it 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 everHe 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. I 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 die (John 11:25-26).
3. As the living Father sent
me, and I live because of the
Father; so he that eats me, he also
shall live because of me (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 it is the life that is given only to believers.
Because those that
believe still die the first death, many apply 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 that are 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 it did not already have. It would
be a useless, empty, meaningless promise to a soul that already had life, and
that soul could never die, that a soul could never be without life even if the
person did not eat the bread Christ gives.
(3). It is mortal man
that is faithful unto death that is
promised life, not an immortal something that has always and always will have
life even if it were not faithful unto
death. To change the person (he
and everyone) that is given life
for believing to being an it that already has life even if it never believe
is not speaking where the Bible speaks and keeping silent where the Bible is
silent.
(4). The he
is the person that believes that shall live forever. There are all
kinds of attempts made to change this from he to it, to change it from
being a person to being a soul 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; it is a must with them to change this
from a person being given life to a soul that has life even if the person does
not eat of this bread, 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.
And this mortal must put on immortality 1
Corinthians 15:53.
3. "Made
alive" Ephesians 2:1-5.
4.
Who 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 souls (psukee-lives)
"the salvation of your lives." Our lives are saved from death by
the blood of Christ who gave His life to save our life, not just something that
is in a person. Set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at
the revelation of Jesus Christ
(1 Peter 1:3-13).
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.
"With the glory
which shall be revealed to us-ward"
Romans 8:18. When? Not now, but at the
resurrection.
7. "Waiting
for our adoption" Romans 8:23.
(Not an immaterial being waiting for "its" adoption).
8. "Foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son" Romans 8:29.
9. For this hope we must "with
patience wait for it" Romans 8:25.
10.
Four times in John 6:39-54 Christ says He will
rise up those that are his "at
the last day" (John 6:39, 40, 44, and 54).
Eternal 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, The
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 incarnation 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. Life
In Christ, Ch. 17, Section 2, 1875, http://www.robertwr.com/LifeInChrist.htm
HENRY HAMLET
DOBNEY, The 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 life, everlasting life, and the like. For seeing,
according to the common notion, that the wicked have everlasting life (taking
the phrase literally) as well the righteous, 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. On The Scripture Doctrine Of Future Punishment, An Argument, page
180, Kessinger Legacy Reprints, 1850.
WHEN DO WE RECEIVE
ETERNAL LIFE? Paul writing to Titus said, In hope of eternal life, which God who
cannot lie, promised (Titus 1:2). Eternal life will be given at the Day of
Judgment to those who seek for glory and
honor and incorruptionin the day when God shall judge the secrets of man
(Romans 2:5-16); could it be said in a more positively way that immortality is
something Christians seek for, and
not something that they or souls now have? Should
have eternal LIFE (zoe); and I will raise him up at the last day"
(John 6:40). Those who are believers will sleep unto all believers are raised
up to eternal life at the second coming. This life is so certain that it is
often spoken of as if believers now have it.
1. Will be received in the future (John 3:16), but have is future tense.
2. Will be inherited (Matthew 19:29), not something that a soul now has. 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 (1 Peter 1:5).
3.
Is the gift of God (Romans 6:23) only to those who obey
God, not something that souls that are in all sinners now have?
4. We now have the hope of eternal life in the future (Titus 3:7); something only
believers shall receive, but sinners never will have eternal life.
5. Eternal life is promised (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 waiting for our adoptionif
we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it
(Romans 8:23-25). Are we waiting and hoping for something we already have?
7.
Since, 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 glory (Colossians 3:1-4).
9. Be faithful unto death, and I will give
you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10). The crown of life is not
given before the second coming of Christ (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. It 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. All deathless souls, even these in the lost, would now have
eternal life; all would now be immortal and have no need for Christ to have
died in their place to give them eternal life. The immortal soul doctrine that
all have a soul that is immortal, that all now have eternal life is a gospel
that is totally different than the gospel of the New Testament (Galatians
1:6-9), which teaches that only those that believe and obey Christ will be
given eternal life and immortal, and that no one now has, or ever will have
eternal life without the resurrection.
BREAD
FROM HEAVEN–THE RESURRECTION–ETERNAL LIFE. Truly, 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. Therefore they said to Him, What shall we do, so that we may
work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of
God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. So they said to Him, What 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, He gave them bread out of
heaven to eat. Jesus then said to them, Truly, 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. Then they said to Him, Lord, always give us this
bread. Jesus said to them, I 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. Therefore the Jews were grumbling
about Him, because He said, I am the bread that came down out of heaven. They
were saying, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, I have come down out of
heaven? Jesus answered and said to them Do 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, And they shall all be taught of God.
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. Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, How can this man give
us His flesh to eat? So Jesus
said to them, Truly, 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 forever (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 who eat of it will be resurrected to life that never ends.
1. Those that eat the bread in the
wilderness died.
2. Those 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 that
these immortal souls did not already have.
J. M. DENNISTON, The
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 theirslife, including existence, comes to us only
through the Son as the Bread of Life. The Perishing Soul According To
Scripture, 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, to be
given life does not mean to be given existence.
1. Death is changed to
life separated from God.
2. Shall live
does not mean life, but is changed to mean for a deathless soul finds 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 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 does not eat of the bread Christ gives will have life that is
just as eternal 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 will live
their eternal life they already had will be in a different place then those
that do eat it, but both will have life, both will have existence. Even as You gave
Him authority over all mankind, that to all whom You have given Him, He may
give eternal life (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), which is the second death (Revelation 21:8).
In the Book of
Revelation it is life for those in Christ, death for those not in Christ. God will take away his name from the tree of
life (Revelation 22:19).
Eternal life is a gift
from God (Romans 6:23) only to believers.
Death is the oppose of life, not another kind of life.
Life is the oppose of death.
(2)
DEATH
IS DEATH DEATHLESS?
DOSE DEATH REALLY MEAN DEATH?
ARE THE DEAD REALLY DEAD?
IS DEATH THE ABSENCE OF LIFE?
OR IS DEATH ETERNAL LIFE WITH TORMENT?
DEATH, just plain death is the wages of sin, not some kind of death that
is not a real death. DEATH for believers has been changed and made into instant
glorious LIFE with Christ with everything that is promised at the resurrection.
Platonic theology makes death into the best of friends. Death has been made into an illusion where when a
person dies that person is not dead, but it 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 eternal life in Hell or some
place, them what word could have been used to mean completely dead? There is
not one word that we would not be told that it does not mean to be actual dead.
If death is not death, what would it take to be dead?
Salvation is from death, not from torment by God for souls that cannot
die. Both those that believe in Hell and
Universalist MUST prove death is not death, that the wages of sin is eternal
life; both MUST make there be no such thing as death, to be dead is 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; eternal life with torment in Hell would mean that there is no
absence of life, that there is no death; death is not an eternal deathless life
of being endless burned in fire by God. Death
is death, not life. If death were
death it would completely destroy the pagan immortal soul doctrine that the
real person dose not die, but goes on to live endlessly 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 to 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; if death is not literal real
death then life is not real life. Death being life is a change to Gods word
made by those that say they do not change Gods word; a change they must have
to make God be an eternal tormentor.
1. Life is changed from life to endless joy for a deathless
soul.
2. Death is changed from death to life, changed to endless
life being tormented by God.
According to the immortal soul doctrine, that a soul that is in a person
has never been subject to death, it cannot be dead, at the death of the person
a soul had lived in, that soul only changes the place where it lived while it
is in a person for a better place to live without the person.
1. The penalty of sin is death
(Romans 6:23), not eternal 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 the wages of sin is life, an eternal life of
being tormented by God in Hell for a soul that cannot be dead.
2. If the wages of sin is death, 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, is the greatest punishment possible.
3.
Whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness Romans 6:16.
4.
For the end of these things is death
Romans 6:21. Death for a
deathless soul? It would not be possible to torment the dead if they are
dead.
5. For godly sorrow
works repentance unto salvation, a repentance which brings no regret: but the
sorrow of the world works death 2 Corinthians 7:10.
6. Sin, when it is
full grown, brings forth death James
1:15.
7. And you shall call His
name Jesus; for He shall save his people from their sins
Matthew 1:2.
8. Christ Jesus made me free
from the law of sin and death Romans
8:2.
9. That He might redeem
us from all iniquity Titus 2:14.
10. Who delivered us out
of so great a death 2 Corinthians 1:10.
11. "Will
save him from death" New
International Version, James 5:20.
12. For to be carnal minded is death; but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace Romans 8:6.
13. But 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
victory (1 Corinthians 15:53-54). If, as we are repeatedly told, a soul never
dies, and only a soul w0ill be in Heaven, flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50), then how would it be possible
for death to be swallowed up in victory if death is not death, if a
soul cannot be dead, what would be swallowed up? If death is endless
life separated from God, how could life separated from God be swallowed up
in victory if life for souls separated from God is a separation that will
never ends? 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 victory
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, the wages of sin is death, not life for a person, not life for
a soul that had been in a person. 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 the wages of sin
is death; difficult to change death to life. All
attempts to explain death out of the Bible fall far short. Death is death, not
an eternal dying, but never dead; death is not eternal life being tormented by
God for a soul that we are told had been in a person.
Death and life in
torment are not synonymous terms; a dead person cannot be tormented. Salvation is from an endless death; there
is no passage that says anything about being saved from an eternal life of
torment. All have sinned; for all that has been saved from endless death
were saved by the death of Christ, the wages of sin is death. 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. The free gift of God is
not changing one kind of life for another kind of life, or life in one place
for life in another place; it is 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
eternal life and cannot die. 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 process that goes on forever without ever coming to an end is not
death. The wages of sin 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 but changes death to an endless
imprisonment for a deathless soul that will be endless tormented by God; them
for a soul there is no such thing as an actual death, the theology of those
that believe in Hell requires that they change Gods word to make it sustain
their teaching of a deathless soul.
Death is changed 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. Death is changed from death to life, to an unending life of
endlessly being torment by God.
Both doors change
death into life without a resurrection of the dead, and 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 because the dead
person it had been in had been converted. 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
nothing to the person the soul had been in. The mistranslation of psukee into soul in the King James Version makes a soul
that is believed to be deathless be saved from an eternal life of torment; it 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
person it has been in 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 sin unto an
eternal life of torment.
"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 you," not life to a
soul that is in you) 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, If you live after the flesh, you must be tormented? 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
life 1 John 3:14. We not it 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, If you believe not, your soul that cannot die,
shall die.
"The wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life"
(Romans 6:23). There are two reasons why the sinner will die in this passage.
(1) They will receive the wages they earned for sin, which is death. (2)
Eternal life, immortality, is given only to those who are in Christ. There is
not one text that says the lost will ever be given the gift of immortality.
J. W. McGARVEY, But 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. Commentary on Romans 6:23, Standard Publishing Company 1916.
Those who believe in eternal torment are saying
1. To the unsaved that they already have eternal life, but they will
spend it in the wrong place.
2. They are saying to the lost that they can never die, but that they
will live an unhappy everlasting life being tormented by God.
3. They are saying the lost will be in Hell, and they will be just as
alive as those in Heaven, and in no sense can the lost to be said to be dead;
in no plain common sense language can the wages of sin be said to be death to
an immortal being that cannot be dead; if it were dead it would not be an
immortal being.
4. They are saying that death cannot be death, but that death is only a
transfer of life from this realm to life in another realm. For a person to now
have an immortal soul that can never die, death, particularly the second death
must be changed to a second life. Those who believe men are now immortal must
take death out of the Bible. Death is not life. In all the repeatedly
times Christ promised eternal life to believers, He must be made not to mean
that what He promised is not eternal life, but He promised only a reward or
happiness. Life and death cannot be twisted to mean the same
thing, but the immortal soul doctrine says both are the same, that the wages
of sin is eternal life in Hell. 1 John 3:5 says, No murderer has
eternal life abiding in him, but the immortal soul doctrine says, Yes,
there is an immortal soul in a murderer that has life abiding in it, and life
will abide in that soul forever in Hell. This doctrine that gives eternal life
to all souls is a complete contradiction of the Bible doctrine that says Christ
gives eternal life only to person that believe.
"WAGES OF SIN IS
DEATH,"
not an eternal life of torment for a soul 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 in our place so that we would not have to. Christ could not be our savior, if the
wages of sin is eternal torment. Jesus died in our place (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 did not endure eternal torment in our place; therefore, if the
wages of sin were an eternal 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 have died for our sins.
1. It 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 life to all the faithful is changed to the gift of God is
only an escape from eternal torment in Hell for souls that were born with
eternal 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 "The 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 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.
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 doom...for the wages of sin is death"
New Living Translation.
7. "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, For 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 peacefor 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. Again, it
is life or death, live, or die, not two kinds of life.
James 1:15, The three steps to death. (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 our and the three steps are changed to (1) lust (2) sin (3) eternal 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, Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads
to salvation and leaves no regret, but
worldly sorrow brings death. Many read this and change death to life
in Hell even when there is nothing said about Hell or eternal life with torment
in it; why do they not believe God? Death is not eternal 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 hades. Death is not life
of any kind anywhere; death is death, not everlasting life with torment, not a
mere change in the mode of existence; death is not life in another condition, death
is not life separated from God. After death the unsaved cannot be both
eternally dead and eternally 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 the wages of sin is death if the wages of sin is life? Todays theology has changed
Gods death into life because Plato
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, The dog is dead, but when we say, The person is
dead, death must be changed to only be a separation but not death.
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). YOU 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 YOU that can live or die could not be
a soul that cannot die, nevertheless this passage that says, YOU will die is often used to prove
there is a soul that is in YOU and IT cannot die.
Narrow way = life // Broad way = destruction (Matthew 7:13-14)
1.
Life, or death (Romans 6:23;
4:17; 1 Corinthians 3:22)
2.
Life, or perish (John 3:16)
3.
Life, or die (Romans 8:13)
4.
Life and peace, or death (Romans 8:6)
5.
Salvation, or death (2
Corinthians 7:10)
6.
Saved, or destroy (James 4:12)
7.
Life, or destruction (Matthew
7:13-14)
8. Into life, out of death (1
John 3:14)
9. 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 eternal 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
made 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 person to
soul and say, "A soul shall surely
not die."
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 eternal life in Hell."
Will you believe them or Paul? You cannot believe both. "What fruit then had you at that time in the things whereof you
are now ashamed? For the end of these
things is death...You have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life, for the wages
of sin is death; but the free gift
of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:21-23). The gift of God to those who believe
on His Son is eternal life (John 3:16), and this gift is something they do not
already have; not something ALL were born with. If all have eternal life from
birth, even those who do not believe, how could life be a gift to believers?
When those who believe that all now have eternal life (an immortal soul) read
the Bible, and change "life"
into "a reward" and change death, die, perish, destroyed, and
destruction into "punishment." To them, the Bible cannot mean what it
says and they must change it.
FROM WHAT ARE WE SAVED? We are saved from death by the death of
Christ and given life, not saved from Hell. Christ died our death; He did not
suffer an eternal life in Hell.
ADDITIONS
TO THE BIBLE. Eternal Hell, immortal soul, save your immortal
soul, and eternal suffering in Hell fire, 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 (life as it exist now). The second death then must
also be the end of life (life as it will exist then), or it is not a second
death, but something altogether different from death, it is changed to a second
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 a person has an immortal soul, which
neither the first or second death can kill; therefore, death must be changed to
be something other than death for that soul; death is changed to be a
translation to eternal life in Heaven or 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 eternal life in Heaven for immortal souls that are already in
Heaven or to Hell where they already had eternal life for we are told that they
were already translated to eternal life in Hell by 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 at the judgment. 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 eternal life they
cannot endure eternal torment.
Our body 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 only a soul, not the person that will be in Heaven, then why would our
earthly bodies be, Fashion a new,
Change, Transform?
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 victorybut 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 (not their death) be just as eternal as the saved?
Summery - If it were
true that there is no real death, that death is only a separation from God, a
deathless death, then there could not be a resurrection of the dead for no one
could be really dead. 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 deathless soul (Luke 14:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 4:16;
1 Corinthians 15:51-55). THE BIBLE HAS
BEEN CHANGED TO TEACH THAT DEATH IS ETERNAL LIFE. "We have passed out of death into life" (1 John 4:14). It
is us (the whole person) that were dead in our relation to God, not a deathless
soul that passed out of death into
life, and that deathless soul is now alive. If we did have a soul that was dead, but that 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. It was the
person that was dead before they were in Christ, but 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.
Those who are
destroyed are not destroyed (James
4:12; 2 Peter 2:12; 2 Peter 3:7). What kind of destruction can that be which destroys nothing? There is no similarity between
destruction and endless torment.
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.
Mortals are born immortal (1 Timothy 6:16); therefore, how can there be any
such thing as being mortal? There are no mortals and could never be a mortal if
all were created immortal.
6. It is believed by many that the
second death is not a death, that death
is eternal life with torment (Revelation 21:8). That death is only a
miserable condition of endless life being tormented by God, 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.
Is THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH or IS THE
WAGES OF SIN AN ETERNAL LIFE OF TORMENT FOR A DEATHLESS SOUL?
It cannot be both. If all are immortal from birth, then death could not exist;
no one will ever die; no one will 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 teaching what they
want the Bible 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 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 shall have a new existence, a new life in Christ that is no longer subject
to the enemy, death. After the resurrection they will have a victory over
death, and the saved will 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). 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, When
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 doesnt mean what it says,
then nobody knows what it does mean. Page 195-206, If 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. The Indictment Of Eternal Torment–The Self-negation Of A Monstrous Doctrine,
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, One
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
dayThe 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
Gods word. Six Sermons On The Inquiry, Is There Immortality In Sin And
Suffering? Page 131-132, Bible Examiner, 1856.
J. M. DENNISTON, Many seem to think that they can at once
demolish all our arguments by a simple application of such statements as–to be carnally minded is death; to be spiritually minded is life and peace;–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
living, the never dying, the everlasting life 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 perishing, destruction, death 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! The Perishing Soul According To
Scripture, page 68, Longmans, Green, and Co., 1874.
EDWARD WHITE, That
the persistent resolution, through many ages, to strip these converse terms
Life and Death, in their application to Christs work and Mans 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
ChristianityBut, indeed, this has been the delusion alike of Jews and Gentile,
that the Bible scarcely ever means what it saysThe 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. Life in Christ, chapter 17. Free on line at www.robertwr.com/LifeInChrist.htm
THOMAS DAVIS, Putting
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 destruction
itself; and destruction, we say, cannot mean endless preservation in misery.
Sometimes it is death; and death,
we say, cannot mean eternal life in suffering. Sometimes it is being burnt up like chaff; and being burnt
up like chaff, we contend, cannot mean being kept unconsumed, like the bush of
old, in the flames. Sometimes it is being
devoured (as the Scripture, Judgment
and fiery indignation shall devour them); and being devoured, we assert,
cannot rightly be thought to signify being kept whole and living to undergo
suffering for ever. So of several other expressions, such as to perish, to be slain, to be killed,
to lose life, to be consumed, to reap corruption, to be blotted out,
to be rooted up, to be cut off, to be cut down, to be dashed in pieces,
to be lost, to be ground to power, to be cut asunder, to be cast away,
to have the house broken up, to be torn to pieces, to be put away as
dross, to melt away, not to abide for ever, to be as nothing. Many
of these are doubtless figurative phrases; but
if they do not indicate finality, no language would suffice to do so. Endless Sufferings Not The Doctrine Of Scripture pages 16-17;
Longmans, Green, and Co. 1867.
PHILIP E. HUGHES, It
would be hard to imagine a concept more confusing than that of death which
means existing endlessly without the power of dying. Facing Hell, The Story
of a Nobody, 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, 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 the souls that were 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 those who are born
with something in them that already has eternal life. Is it not unreasonable to
say the many times Christ promised eternal life to those that believe Him, that
He promised them only a reward, not eternal life? And just as unreasonable to
say that He promised life to only something in a person that already had
eternal 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, 39, 44, 47, 57, 63, 68), shall
not see life, shall not be alive, but those that shall not see life is changed from persons that will not see life,
to being souls that will see life in torment! "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!
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." The
Duration and Nature of Future Punishment" 1871.
(2) Death must be changed so that it does not
mean death, but an eternal 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 eternal 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, if both souls that are in the
saved, and if souls that are in the lost are alive, then both must have eternal
life; to the saved death must be changed to means an instant doorway to a
greater and fuller life, but life only for souls that is thought to be in them,
not life for the persons; to the lost an instant doorway to an eternal life of
pain. In no plain language can death be
said to be the wages of sin to an immortal being that cannot die.
Death is made to be not death, but a mere change in the mode of
existence for a soul that cannot be dead. To many, death means for a soul
to be alive, to have eternal life, but life that is separated from God, yet
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 death will destroy
their view. All plain passages like Romans 6:23 (the wages of sin is death) 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, but death is endless life 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; death in figurative language could not
mean any kind of life. 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 death
literally means death when it is an
animal or a person that is dead, but death
means life but only when it relates
to a soul 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 would be dead if death were used with its 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 eternal as souls that we are told are in believers.
When the death of anyone is spoken of in
the Bible, the modern phraseology (they have gone to be with Christ, have gone
to their reward, have gone to be with their loved ones in Heaven, etc.) is
never used. Not even Abraham is said to have gone to his home in Heaven at 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 a life in
torment is a denial of death; 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 is in; therefore, a soul is not subject to death. 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, The wages of sin is death,
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 are worthy of death (Romans 1:28-32), but
instead of death Platonism gives them endless life in Hell being tormented by
God.
Sin is unto death
(Romans 6:16) Leads to death New International Version.
The wages of sin is death
(Romans 6:23), but the wages can never be paid because man teaches an immortal
soul cannot die.
For if you live according
to the flesh, you must die (Romans 8:13), but an
immortality soul would have eternal life and can never die.
For the end of these
things is death
(Romans 6:21). These things result in death New International Version.
This has been changed to, For the end of these thing is eternal life in
torment for souls, for whatever many believe a soul to be.
Acts that lead to death
(Hebrews 9:14) New International Version.
His servants you are whom
you obey; whether sin unto death, or
obedience unto righteousness (Romans
6:16).
For to be carnal minded is death
(Romans 8:6).
Sinbrings forth death(James
1:15), but we are repeatedly told that an
immortal soul is not subject to death.
For except you believe that
I am he, you shall die in your sins
(John 8:24), but we are told there is a soul in you that cannot die! Then what
did Christ say, the person will die, but after the death of the person a soul
that was in the person will live?
Those that teach death
is an eternal life of torment are as one writer said, Forced to argue that a
horse could not die so dead that it cannot stop dying deader. 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? Why would He say the wages
of sin is DEATH 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. For 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 reconciliation (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? His death
was not life with a lost of well being. 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. Therefore,
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 mans disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through
the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous (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 of the dead.
(3). DEATH BY SIN. The 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? (Romans 5:20-21).
(4). LIFE IN CHRIST. Or 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 grace
(Romans 6:1-14). All the pronouns in this passage are to the living person, not
to a soul. It is the person, not a soul
that shall also live with Him.
(5). SIN BRINGS DEATH, NOT TORMENT. What 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 death (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 but
separated from God? Therefore, they have done away with the second death, for
they tell us that the lost are already "spiritual dead," and will
always be spiritual dead, even when the souls that had been in them are alive
in Hell. The use of spiritual dead is not to speak where the Bible speaks,
and be silent where the Bible is silent. 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 Scriptural or the literal sense?
What 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 Biblical Lexicons 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 Scriptural
sense 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,
Enter
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.
We know
what destruction 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 Scriptural sense of the word. So we
turn to The Polymicrian Greek Lexicon to the New
Testament 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 Bagsters
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 perdition
misery etc. We look at the word perdition, in Websters Dictionary, and
find that its religious sense is
the utter loss of the soul, or of final happiness, in the future state. We
know also, what the word life 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 Scriptural sense 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 eternal happiness. Now having got the true scriptural meaning
of these two crucial words, from this learned lexicographer, we know how to
understand the passage it should be read thus,
Enter
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.
Again, we read
in Romans 5:12, as follows,
Wherefore
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.
We know
well enough what the ordinary sense of the death is, and that it means the
same as thanatos in
Greek, but that we may know what the Scriptural
sense 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, an unchanging eternal state of wretchedness and misery passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. Hence, we are to understand this passage as
though it reads as follows,
Wherefore,
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.
Where, we
ask, did our Biblical lexicographer get the peculiar Scriptural Sense, which he puts upon the pivotal words, in these
and other similar texts, bearing on this question? How does he know that the destruction of the wicked does not mean
destruction, but only misery, and
that the life, which is promised to the righteous, is not actual life, but
simply eternal happiness, or that
the death that is the fruit of sin, is not actual death, but on the contrary,
is an unchanging eternal state of
wretchedness and misery. 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. The Unspeakable Gift, pages
25-26.
1. John 11:25, I am the resurrection, and the life (zoe) (they change
life to happiness).
2. John 6:54, He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has life (zoe)
(they change life to happiness for a soul after the person it was in is dead).
3. 1 Timothy 4:8, Godliness is profitable for all things,
having promise of the life (zoe) which now is,
and of that which is to come. They change life to happiness for a soul
after the person it was in is dead.
4. Revelation 1:19, I 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 (the grave).
Christ was not in endless torment the three days He was in the 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 they are in it for there is no salvation from Hell.
5.The Pagan theology that
is in both Roman Catholics and most orthodox Protestants says that there is a
soul in you that will live forever after you are dead, and that God has no
chose but to endlessly torment that soul, or give it endless happiness, all
because of what you, not what a soul did or did not do; to teach this they must
give meanings (a scriptural sense)
to many words that these words do not have, example, death must be given a scriptural
meaning of endless life in misery because they believe a soul is deathless.
That death is used in 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 spiritual death 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 to an
endless life being tormented by God, nothing about dead being an endless life
or torment.
But 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 Lord (Romans 6:22-23). TO
MAKE DEATH NOT BE DEATH IS A DELIBERATE CHANGE OF GODS WORD, A DELIBERATE
SAYING NOT SO GOD, YOU ARE WRONG.
(3)
DIE
"If
you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the spirit you
put to death the deeds of the body, you
shall live"
(Romans 8:13). The immoral soul doctrine must make die to mean exactly the same thing as live, just live in two different places; therefore, die is given a
scriptural sense, die is changed to endless life!
(1). You must be changed to a soul will
live after you are dead.
(2). Die 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 it 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, or about being
spiritual dead, it is saying the whole person shall die, the whole person
will be dead. The way many read this is, If you live after the flesh, a soul
that is in you must live forever in torment; but if by the spirit you put to
death the deeds of the body, that soul shall live in Heaven; 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 "eternal life in torment" when
it serves the purpose of the doctrine of eternal torment, and all other times
"to die" really means "to die"; just as obvious that we
must have someone tell us when "die" means "eternal life in torment"
and when "die" really means "die"; and without this help we
could never know when God intended us to understand the opposite of what He
said, and when He intended us to understand what He said in the way He said it.
(4)
DESTRUCTION
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 scriptural sense, and not be taken with their established meaning, but be
interpreted as "a loss of well being," or an "irreparable
loss." How could anyone know this without a revelation from God? How can
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 to existing forever being tormented by God, living forever in
misery. For destruction to mean existing in torment they much find a way to
somehow have a destruction that will preserve the destroyed person undestroyed.
Broad is the way that leads to destruction, (Matthew 7:13) is
changed to Broad is the way that leads to eternal life in misery 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, What if God, willing to show
his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering
vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction
(Romans 9:22). Anyone that is willing to change Gods word from destruction to
eternal 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.
Whose end is destruction (Philippians 3:19)
cannot be changed to, whose end is endless life of torment. 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, But
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 corruption (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 meansPeter says they shall utterly perish, 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 utterly perish that
instant. Indictment of Eternal Torment–The
Self-negation of a Monstrous Doctrine. Evangelist Church of Christ, F. L Rowe
Publisher, free on line at
www.robertwr.com/EternalTorment.htm
(5).
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 scriptural sense, meaning that is the opposite of their
true meaning; many words must always be changed and used with a meaning 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. 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
back to nothing. Those to whom Paul was writing would not have thought that if
a book were 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 they 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 they existed (2) and after they existed; both existed (1) before the
book existed (2) and after the book existed.
In Matthew 10:28 there is no
figurative language, but we are told that one word must be taken out of its
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 eternal 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 "an eternal life of
torment" for a soul that is in you.
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 torment.
3. Destroyed cannot be made to mean
both (1) death, going out of existents and (2) eternal life, never going out of
existents; not 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 in an attempt to
teach eternal torment of souls.
1. DEATH, when given a scriptural sense, when
made figuratively, to have a hidden secret meaning, death is changed to eternal life in Hell for a soul that is
separated from God, many believe that a
soul definitely cannot be dead.
2. DESTRUCTION, when given a scriptural sense, when
made figuratively, is changed to a loss of well-being,
an endless life of misery.
3. DESTROY AND PERISH, when
given a scriptural sense, when made figuratively, means to preserve forever.
Did God intend to say imperishable when He said perish?
4. SLEEP, when given a scriptural sense, when
made figuratively, is to be 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 that person will wake up.
SATAN AND DEMONS TO BE DEATROYED. Christ
shall bring to nothing him (destroy
him King James Version) that has the
power of death, that it, the devil (Hebrews 2:14), not just destroy the
happiness of the devil. Demons will also be destroyed, Are you come to destroy us? (Mark 1:24).
(6).
PERISH
Perish like destruction and destroy, perish must be changed to mean, "can
never perish, or never be destroyed, but 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 to perish is to live forever is a complete contradiction.
How can anyone believe that parish is synonymous with living forever in
misery?
Do you wonder why the
writers of the Bible said the lost will die, be destroyed, perish, but today we
are told souls that were in the lost cannot die, cannot be destroyed, and
cannot perish?
Words that, according
to both Catholic and Protestant, must be given a scriptural sense.
1.
Death must be changed to endless life in misery.
2.
Die must be changed to live in endless misery.
3.
Destruction must be changed to endless life in misery undestroyed.
4.
Perish must be changed to endless life in misery imperishable.
5.
Sleep must be changed to endless life awake in misery for souls that were in
the lost.
If 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 perished (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 they
have perished if the dead are not
raised, that they would forever remain dead, they had perished; if Christ was
not raised there is neither a resurrection nor immortality; if Christ was not
raised He has perished, and there is no savior from death; He would now be
dead, and there would 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 cease to exist. 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, Death, no
resurrection, therefore no life after death (have perished) when it
is speaking of those in Christ if there is no resurrection.
2. TODAY, Eternal life
in torment, life with a loss of well being that can never 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 now
alive without a resurrection?
H. L. HASTINGS, We
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. After The Verdict, page 4, 1982.
JACOB BLAIN, When I
read that all who came out of Egypt over twenty years of age–of the fate of Sodom and Pharaohs 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 perished and
were destroyed. Death Not Life:
Or, The Theological Hell and Endless Misery Disproved, page 21, Public domain.
If perish and destroy
means to live in misery, as 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
consumed, devoured, burned up, &c., if it is indestructible, as many
say a soul is.
FRED THOMPSON, Without
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 Gods
terms are beneficiaries of the promise. Thus, not to be included in the company
of the saved is to be excluded from life. What the Bible
Says about Heaven and Hell, page 299, College Press, 1988.
1. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18).
2. If there is
no resurrection, Then those also how
have fallen asleep in Christ have
perished (1 Corinthians 15:18). Perish
would be the same to both those that are saved and those that are lost, neither
one would have eternal life with a lost of well-being.
Whose end is destruction (Philippians 1:28).
End cannot be changed to endless.
Destruction cannot be changed to
eternal life with a lost of well
being.
ASHLEY
JOHNSON, Founder and president of the Johnson Bible College. Perish!
Perished!! And Perishing!!! 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, His hand has perished. We say: For want of
rain our crops have perished. We say: Babylon has perished. We say: The
seed we sowed perished because it was without life. 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. The
Resurrection And The Future Life, 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 todays theology to be true fire must be given a scriptural sense, 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 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
would. NO LIFE CAN EXIST IN FIRE.
It is argued that an
immaterial soul cannot be destroyed by fire and worms; if there were an immaterial soul that fire cannot destroy by fire then
that soul could not be 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 it had been in.
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, And
they died before the Lord (Leviticus 11:1-2).
(3).
Fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men
who were offering the incense (Numbers 16:35), consumed, not tormented.
(4).
And 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. Zerahites,
his family, and all that belonged to them were burned with fire (Joshua
7:15-26).
(5).
Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty
(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 Lords
anger being poured out in Hell, it would make beasts, trees, fields, and the
fruit of the ground be in unquenchable fire in Hell. In Jeremiah 17:27 it is the palaces of Jerusalem that would be
destroyed by an unquenchable fire; are the
palaces of Jerusalem now burning in Hell or any other place?
(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 burning today.
(9). Cities, nations, people, Israel,
Israels 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). Fire will burn up the useless chaff of wheat (Matthew 3:12, Luke
3:17).
(2). Fire will burn up the weeds, tares and bad fish (Matthew 13:30-50).
(3). Fire will burn up the withered branches (John 15:6).
(4). God will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:16-17).
1. When fire burns up
broken off branches, dead weeds, and stubble, they are already lifeless and
worthless; it is not torment, but the outcome of being useless. Chaff, tares,
weeds, stubble, dry branches are highly combustible materials that are soon
completely destroyed by the fire, but the figurative fire of todays theology
is nothing like fire, and the figurative fire of theology burn up nothing.
2. The burning up of
weeds is the complete destruction of the weeds; fire as we know it destroys; it
is not possible to say the weeds continue in existence after they were burned
up. Complete destruction of weeds, chaff, or branches by fire cannot be
symbolic of an endless life of torment of something that cannot be destroyed;
anything that is burned up cannot be given a scriptural sense, and be changed
to or made to be symbolic of forever existing.
The above parables may
be symbolic speaking of the destruction of the nation of Israel in A. D. 70,
not of the lost at the judgment.
(5). The end of worthless ground is to be burned (Hebrews 6:7-8).
(6). Fire totally destroyed, not forever tormented Sodom and Gomorrah
(Jude 7; 2 Peter 2:6-9; Luke 17:28-29).
(7).
For 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 adversaries (Hebrews
10:26-17). For our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).
(8).
But 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 menBut 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 up
(2 Peter 3:7-9).
(9). The lake of fire which is the
second death (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 spiritual is added to
death despite the fact that spiritual death 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 Gods word were a sin, why would both adding spiritual death,
and preaching spiritual death that is not in the Bible not be a sin? Many who
say they, Speak when the Bible speaks and are silent where the Bible is
silent, then add spiritual. Romans 6:23 is changed to, The wages of sin is
spiritual death. What is spiritual death?
1. If physical death is the end of all
life of the body.
2. Then spiritual death would be the
end of all life of a spirit.
3. Death would be death to both, not
death to one, and eternal life to the other. Death is death; death is not
eternal 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 spirit
is dead? If they mean "lost," why do they use an unscriptural term
that does not say what they mean? In his review of my "From Where Came
Hell" Csonka says, "We are spiritually dead
when, as Isaiah says, 'your sins have separated you from your God,'"
Guardian of Truth, (now Truth Magazine) January 5, 1995, page 17, (Isaiah
59:2). He must know that Isaiah is speaking about "the house of Jacob their sins" (Isaiah 58:1) "A nation" (Isaiah 58:2). This
is about a nation that had left God being separated from God, and there is not
one word about any kind of death of a person in it, but he reads it in. He
changes this from a nation (Israel) being separated from God to a person
"we" being separated from God, and then changes this person
"we" from a living person separated from God to a soul that is not
really dead, but alive and this soul has eternal life in Hell forever separated
from God. Has he heard this verse misused so often he does not know that he is
misusing it? He must add changes to changes to make the nation of Israel be a
deathless soul that was 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 spirit had no
life for if it still had life it would not be dead. If a soul were living
somewhere with eternal life, how could that soul be dead? It could not be
"dead" if it were "alive." 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 now in, just a continuation of the lost being separated from God?
Therefore, they have done away with the second death, for they tell us that the
lost are already "spiritual dead," and will always be spiritual
dead, even when the souls that had been in them are alive in Hell. The use of
spiritual dead is not to speak where the Bible speaks, and being silent
where the Bible is silent. 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
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 from which the person will awake,
without the resurrection death would be the end of life. The metaphor of the
dead 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 and the unrighteous dead being asleep; asleep does not mean
awake, not awake in Heaven, not awake in Hell. The second death is never called
sleep; there will be no waking up from it.
May they rest
in peace that is often on graves would make no sense if the person in the
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 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 scriptural sense that is total opposite
to the real sense. All these words must be given a theological meaning that
is not found in the words, but we are never told how they know what this
theological meaning is. But one thing is clear, if they did not change them
into figurative language, their theology would be destroyed. Death,
destruction, destroy, and perish are simple words, and there is no hint of them
being figurative language when they are used in plain passages; therefore, they
must be taken in their simple literal meaning. These words cannot be changed to
be figurative, and given a meaning not found in the words to save a
theologically that is not in the Bible. They can and; therefore, must be taken
literally. 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
eternal life in Hell not possible.
When figurative
language (Lake of Fire) is 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 eternal life in Hell.
When we say anything, a plant, animal, or person is dead, we do not mean that
plant, animal, or person is alive and being tormented. Death must be made to
mean one thing when it is a plant or animal that is dead, and another when it
is a person that is dead. 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." Life In Christ, 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." Preliminary Dissertation, 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, At, http://www.robertwr.com/LifeinChrist.htm
GEORGE STORRS, The
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 significationNot 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 itWhat 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! 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 menNo 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." After The Verdict, page
30-31, reprinted 1982.
"Death" used
in a figurative sense to be "eternal life separated from God" is
never required by the context but that "death" means "eternal
life" is a must for todays 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
always dead yet never dead.
4.
To die must be changed to mean to living forever in torment.
5.
Destruction must be changed to mean eternal torment; the destroyed are not
destroyed.
6.
To perish, to be destroyed, must be changed to mean for a soul 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, not something that
devours or consumes. The consuming fire
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 eternal torment
by God in an eternal Hell in the Bible is the exactly opposite of what the
scripture clearly say, and it 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 eternal 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 eternal life in
torment. How could the wages of sin be death if souls that had been in sinners
will have an eternal life in Hell? Without a revelation from God, no one could
know that God meant only a loss of well being when He used these words 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 eternal 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, consumed, kill, end, burned up, and sleep, must
be redefined in a way that the world does not use them; to mean the very
opposite of their meaning; therefore, there must be "a class of
inspired men to unfold and reveal its true sense to mankind" for if we did
not then the Bible would be understood to mean what it says. The belief that
men are born with an immortal soul in them it and can never die makes death
impossible, and death must be redefined as a different kind of life in a
different place. This is just what they have done by saying death does not mean
to be dead, but death means a soul is alive and living a deathless eternal 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, is 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 thought 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 is to
make them mean the very opposite of there true meaning.
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 eternal life
and can never be dead.
2).
Death cannot be changed to life
with torment. Death is death and it is the opposite of life, not a different
form of life. Not eternal life separated from God but being tormented by God even
though separated from Him; death is not eternally 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 in
eternal torment. 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 undestroyed everlasting living.
4).
End changed to be endless. End
is end, not going on forever without an end.
5).
Kill is to end life, and does not mean never able to be killed, never able
to end life.
6).
Burned up is burned up, it does not mean never able to be burned up. Burn up must be changed to God to
endlessly burning, but He is never able to burn up.
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 awake in Heaven or Hell.
10). Die changed to live. Die is to be alive. A soul cannot die.
11). To lose life changed to be preserved alive in a miserable existence.
12).
Destroyed 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. He that believes on the Son has eternal
life; but he that believes not the Son shall not see life (John 3:36) must
be changed to, He that believes not the Son was born with eternal life, and
that person will see life in Hell where he will live forever.
15).
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and few are
they that find it (Matthew 7:13-14) must be changed to, For the gate is
narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life in Heaven, and most souls shall
see life in Hell.
16).
For God so loved the world that He give His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believes on Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16) must
be changed to, Souls that had been in all will have eternal life someplace, in
Heaven or in Hell.
17).
Even He who is able to save and to destroy (James 4:12) must be changed
to, Even He who is able to save souls alive in Heaven, or save souls alive and
undestroyed in Hell.
18).
For 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 life (Galatians
5:8) must be changed to, Both shall reap eternal life, just not both in the
same place, some eternal life in Heaven, some eternal life in Hell.
19).
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23) must be changed to, For the wages of
sin is eternal torment in Hell for those who were born with eternal life, and
the gift of God is eternal life must be changed to an escape from eternal
torture for a soul that already has eternal life, and a reward for the soul
that is in you that now has eternal life.
The changes that must
be made by those who teach eternal life in Hell for a deathless soul could be
extended to many pages, but this should be enough for anyone who loves the
truth more than the doctrines and
precepts of men (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
opposition of their meaning (death changed to endless life in endless
torment, 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 Platos
pagan philosophy requires these words to be given a new meaning that is the
very opposite of there true meaning, death cannot be death if Platos 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;
the wages of sin is death must be
changed to be the wages of sin is some kind of endless miserable life. The
deathless soul doctrine makes Christ not to save us from death, but He saved a
deathless soul from living in torment; Christ did not give His life to save a
soul, according to them Christ gives life to save no ones life from death, or
save no soul from death, but 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 must 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 Gods 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, there is a
"soul" in all mankind has that is now immortal and cannot die, then
all the murderers would now have an "immaterial,
invisible part of man" (W. E. Vine); without eternal life a murderer
cannot have an immortal soul; if he did
have an immortal soul, he would have eternal life abiding in him; if he does
not have eternal life abiding in him he does not have an immortal soul. To
teach all have a soul in them that is eternal and it can never die make there
be a soul in them and it now has eternal life, it can only be a question of
where that soul will spend its eternal 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 eternal life, that
murderers have not passed out of death
into life?
ROGER D. CAMPBELL, In
Seek The Old Paths, printed by Leoni Church of
Christ, Brother Campbell has an article, The Reality Of Death, but then says
only the body dies, death is not real to the soul. He
said, Death 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. 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, souls in it would be alive, not dead; their life would be
just as eternal as the souls that had been in the saved.
1). Death makes Hell impossible.
2). Hell makes death impossible.
3). Immortal souls and 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, 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
(Ps. 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 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 any
are alive in Heaven they cannot be resurrected, those not dead cannot be
resurrected from the dead.
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 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 taught by Christ there never would be life after death. Many plain statements that there is no knowledge in the 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, but it is only "life...viewed from
the perspective where God is left out." Because it was conductivity to his
belief that salvation is by faith only without works, Calvin did with the book
of James the same as many do to Ecclesiastes. There is much in Ecclesiastes
that cannot be said to be the way those in the world look at life (see
Ecclesiastes 12:1, 12:13, and many other statements throughout the book), but
to do away with some parts of Ecclesiastes they are willing to do away with all
of it. If Ecclesiastes is "life...viewed from the perspective where God is
left out," why is it not use it that way when Ecclesiastes 12:7 is used 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 which 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 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).
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).
2. "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 a soul, whatever a soul is thought 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). And you did he make alive, when you were dead through your trespasses and sinseven when we were dead through our trespassed, made us alive together with Christand
raised us up with him (Ephesians
2:1-10), it was us we 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 like 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 And you did he make alive when you were
dead...made us alive together with Christ.
Just as the resurrection at the coming of Christ will be, it is a
resurrection that will happen only one time; it is the person that is
resurrected, not a pagan immaterial, deathless soul. The endless life that
begins when a person comes up out of the water or baptism, That like as Christ was raised
from the dead" (Romans 6:3-4). If
then you have been raised up with Christyou 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 glory (Colossians 3:1-4). Life after the
resurrection for those alive from the dead
(Romans 6:13) is not a different life but a continuance of the life that began
when a person was raised up with Christ
when baptized, then our life is hid with Christ, it is in his
keeping and at His coming that our life will be revealed with Him in
Glory. All the faithful in
Christ have been raised from the dead when we were buried 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 life (Romans 6:4), and now have life as long as they remain
faithful and shall not be hurt of the
second death (Revelation 2:11). At the second coming of Christ, those that
are alive in Christ, whether they have fallen asleep in Christ or remain unto
He comes, when He come they will be changed and put on incorruption,
immortality, and forever have the victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:52-55).
The first resurrection
is pictured under two figures
(1). A RESURRECTION. Resurrected 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 alive unto God in Christ Jesus
(Romans 6:11).
(2). A BIRTH. Born to a new life in Christ, a new birth of water and
the spirit (John 3:5). Except one be
born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
According to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration (Titus
3:5).
In John 5 Christ gives
eternal life to those that believe,
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). All persons that hear and believe Christ have now passed out of
death and have endless life, but are still in the image of Adam, have not yet
put on an incorruptible body; they will sleep with their life hidden with Christ in God. But 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. At that time they will awake in the image of Christ with
incorruptible bodies that will be suitable for endless life in Heaven (1
Corinthians 15:42-44). All others, They
that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment (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 to immortality 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 fallen asleep in Christ (1
Corinthians 15:18). Believes comes not
into judgment, but are raised from sleep to life, those that do not
believe will be raised for judgment, not life; those that believe not shall not see life (John 3:36), after
they have been raised for judgment (John 5:29), they shall be hurt of the
second death (Revelation 21:8).
In John 11:25-26 Christ
speaks of the life the believer will receive both now and after the judgment. I 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 die Even
when the saved are asleep in Christ they live unto God; it is the person that
is asleep in Christ that will wake up from their sleep.
All that are in
the grave, both saved and lost, will hear His voice and come forth at the
resurrection. All will be raised and stand before
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 bad (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 is not a second death; it is eternal life with torment; an endless life of torment bears no resemblance to a death. There
is a resurrection to judgment and a second
death, but there is nothing said about another resurrection to 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 Death And The
Afterlife, page 79, is nothing but thoughts and will not have a body, that
immaterial souls have no substance; a soul that is thoughts only could not feel
fire.
Summary - All are dead
unto they are buried with Christ through
baptism into death and raised from the dead through the glory of the
Father (Romans 6:3-5). All saved persons now have eternal 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 hidden with Christ in God unto the second coming of Christ; at
that time the persons that believed and has been given life, the same persons
will put on 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 believed.
HOMER HAILEY,
"There are only two alternatives, the crown of life-eternal life-or the
second death." Revelation, 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 be hurt of the second death (Revelation 2:11). The saved
will not have a part in 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 the second death is used say that those in Christ
will not 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. All three come to the same end. All three are
completely destroyed; both hades and death will come to an end, but neither
dead nor hades can be tormented (Revelation 20:14-15). The symbolical lake of
fire pictures all three as coming to an end just as a literal lake of fire
would bring any thing, living or nonliving to an end. The lake of fire is a
symbol picture of total destruction of any thing cast into it, an endless
death, not an endless life.
(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 it.
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 eternal life of torment in Hell
forever, but never devoured, or as preached by many an eternal life in Hell at
death before and without the resurrection and Judgment Day.
1. The Bible speaks of two deaths, the
first, and the second, if the first death is death, but if the second death is
eternal life being tormented by God, but then the second death would not a
death.
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.
3. The second death is never spoken of
as a sleep; there is no waking up or resurrection from it.
4. The first death is the end of living
in this temporal life, which all die and is not the wages of sin. The second
death is the end of living in whatever kind of life the lost will have when
they are resurrected from the dead (when the dead are resurrected for judgment
they will have life of some kind at the judgment, but not eternal life that is given only to believers–resurrection
means life restored, if not then it would not be a resurrection).
a.
And the sin, when it is full grown, brings
forth death (James 1:15).
b.
Whoever turns a sinner away from his error will save him from death (James 5:20) New International
Version.
c.
For the end of these things is death
(Romans 6:21).
d.
They that practice such things are worthy
of death (Romans 1:32). Those
who practice such things deserve to die
New Revised Standard Version.
e.
For if you live after the flesh, you must die (Romans 8:13).
f.
The wages of sin is death
(Romans 6:23).
g.
And their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death (Revelation
21:8).
5. Death, not eternal torment, is the
end of the sinner. The second death is a real death, just as real as is the
first death; both the first and second death are both an end of life, as the
first death 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 all existence after
the resurrection and the judgment.
"IF YOU LIVE
AFTER THE FLESH, YOU SHALL DIE." For 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 live (Romans 8:13). All
mankind, even the faithful, have been dying the first death since the sin of
Adam, this is not a reference to the first death but the second when only those
who live according to the flesh will die. Paul did not say, "If you live
after the flesh you are now spiritually dead," (present tense), but "you
shall die" (future tense). Not A soul that shall live forever
separated from God, but "you shall die." Why do many
that say they believe God, but work hard to change His word? "But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you shall live." It is you
that will live or die, not something that will always live and cannot die. For the wages of sin is death (Romans
6:23). Not the death of the flesh, which all die, but the second death.
I 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)
(John 6:48-50). All die the first death, even the apostles, but there will be a
resurrection, and those who eat of the bread that came down out of Heaven will
not die the second death, all that do not eat of it will die the second death.
J. M. DENNISTION, The
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. The Perishing Soul According To Scripture, Longmans, Green, and
Co., 1874.
I 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) (John 11:25-26). Although those who believe
will die the first death just as all do, they will be resurrected, 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. 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).
For 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 burned (Hebrews
6:4-8). Those that fall away will be burned in the lake of fire, which is the
second death, just as thorns are burned.
ASHLEY JOHNSON,
founder and president of the Johnson Bible College. Why do we burn briers and
thorns? To destroy them, to get permanently rid of them. Page 413, The
Resurrection And The Future Life. 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" Haileys quote of Afford in Haileys 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 who
belong to him will come when he
comes, at the resurrection, not many harvests at the death of each saved
persons.
Death is the end. Paul
says of those who are servants of sin that "the
end of those things is death" (Romans 6:21-22). But, many now say,
"The end of those things is eternal life with torment without an
end"? Who are you going to believe, God, or man?
The
sting of death 1 Corinthians 15:54-57.
After the resurrection when the saved will have put on immortality, death will have been swallowed up in
victory. Victory over what? Over
death. After the resurrection we will have put on immortality, and will
never again be subject to death, but we are now subject to it, and it takes
away our life. If we now have immortality we would now have the victory over
death. If there is no death, then death has no sting. If there were a soul in a
person that is deathless, that soul would have always 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 and it 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 when our friend takes 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 a little longer, even if it were in pain? Why do we mourn and not rejoice
if a love one who lives in pain would go to their everlasting residence in
Heaven immediately after death 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 the dead are under the power of death onto the
resurrection, not alive in Heaven; do they not by their actions demonstrate
beyond any doubt that they do not believe what they profess, do not believe that
death is a friend that takes their loved one to be with Christ? 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, 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 who 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 are
never dead to be resurrected? If no one is dead, the Bible teaching of a
resurrection is out of place and should not be in the Bible. Maybe this is why
the teaching of the resurrection is being abandoned in many churches. If death is not real, there is no
resurrection. If death is real, 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;
death is made into a Christ-less and God-less endless life, life that is
separated from God. 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 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 endless life but "being separated from God" (a
definition of death that is believed by many), for then death will last
forever, and could never be "abolished." Death is to be
"abolished" before Christ will be subjected" to God (1
Corinthians 15:28ff), before when we will be in Heaven, "death shall be no more" (Revelation 21:4); therefore,
all "wages of sin" (Romans
6:23) shall have been paid; if not, they can never be paid as there will be no
death, and cannot go on being paid in Hell forever; for then death would last
as long as the "wages" were
bring paid, which would be forever for if death is being alive but "being
separated from God," then death must last as long as the lost are
separated from God, must last forever. If death (being alive separated from
God) did not last forever then Hell could not last forever, the last enemy (death)
can never be abolished (1 Corinthians 15:26). The people in Bible times would
not have understood death to mean alive but separation (having life that dose
not come form God) any more than the people of the world today understand it or
use death to mean alive. We use death in our everyday language to mean to be
dead, not to have life, but in the theology use of the word, it does not mean
dead, to be dead is to have life, to be more alive than we are while we are
living! Why did God not just say what He means, that death means 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, You are going to Hell and be eternally tormented by God say,
You are going to be eternally alive separated from God. 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 theology to explain death out of the Bible. Trying to put having
life that is 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 is nothing more that a denial of the Bible.
SEPARATION, Wayne Jackson in an article he called, The Second
Death–Separation or Annihilation?
printed by the Christian Courier redefined the Second Death to be separation.
Jackson changed death to eternal life separated from God. I understand him to
be saying that after the person is dead a soul that was in an unsaved person
lives forever being tormented by God. Does he think a soul has life if it is
separated from God? Where does the life of a soul that is separated from God
come from? 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 are 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 separation. It sounds better to say
death is separation 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 separation from God always do, it is only a
way to try to make their belief to make God not seem to be as evil as endless
torment in Hell does.
SECOND DEATH, But 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 death (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, not a soul, which committed these sins, will die? This is speaking of persons after they have been resurrected from the
dead and judged, the persons that had committed these sins while that 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 separation 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;
souls must live someplace forever alive but alive 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 eternal life separated from God (as if there
could be any kind of life anyplace that is separated from God) for a soul that
had been in the person that sinned.
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 some place 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 just returned from somewhere, just a reunion,
but He could not have been resurrected from the dead if He were alive.
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 some place
without God" Colossians 1:18.
4. "He
that raised up Christ Jesus from the separation from God but alive some place
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, just separated from God. It would make His death not be a genuine
death, His resurrection just a reunion of Jesus and God when neither one was
dead, just separated from each other. If
the Father and the Son were just separated from each other for the three days
the Son was in the grave, 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, Then 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 separated or dead 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.
And whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die John
11:26. Shall never have a separation of body and soul.
It
is life or death, not life or life; if death is not literal death, then life is
not literal life.
Whatever death is, (1)
if death is really death, (2) or if is that death is not death, but death is
alive separated from God, but tormented by God who would not be where they are
if they were separated from Him, it would be undeniable that James 2:26 says it
is the earthly body that is separated (dead); therefore alive, For as the body apart from the spirit is
dead is used repeatedly to prove death is not death, that a spirit that
had been separated from the lost person is alive, but it is separated from God,
yet it is somehow tormented by God; in this
passage it is speaking of the body that is dead without the breath of life, it
says nothing of a dead soul that is not dead, (spirit and soul are not the
same). If death is alive but separation from God, James would be saying, For
as the body apart from the spirit is separated, nothing is said about the spirit being dead or alive, it says nothing about the spirit being alive
but separated from the body (the person), but
they do not want to make the dead body be alive, they want this to be saying
only the spirit is alive without the dead person it had been in. The change
they want to make is that death is not death for a soul, but only a living soul
separated from God. But we are told that
the body (person) is dead if separated from a soul, but a soul will live and
will live better after it is separated from the person it was in. Is only one
side of separation death? I do not believe anyone will say a body in the
grave is alive.
If death is only separation,
not death, when the body and the spirit were separated from each other.
1. Then would a dead body not be dead,
would it be alive (separated) in one place, but just as alive as the spirit
from which it is separated?
2. The spirit (pnuma)
would be alive (separated) in another place, but no more alive then the body
from which it would be separated.
What kind of problems are made by making death be life separated from God? Both
the dead body and the spirit (pnuma) would be
equality separated from each other, would both be alive while they are
separated from each other? If death were only separation, not a real death, the
body that was separated from the spirit would be just as alive as the spirit is
that is separated from the body. The
spirit would be no more separated (alive) then the body. UPON THE PRINCIPLE
THAT DEATH IS ONLY A SEPARATION, A MERE CHANGE IN THE MODE OF EXISTENCE FOR
BOTH BODY AND SOUL IS ALL THAT DEATH IS MADE TO BE; BOTH ARE SEPARATED FROM
EACH OTHER, BOTH WOULD BE ALIVE (SEPARATED) WITHOUT THE OTHER.
For the wages of sin
is death, but the free gift of God
is eternal life (Romans
6:23). If life is literal, then death
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, not separated from God but alive some place
where God is not, alive without God.
But, according to this theology, death cannot mean separation for the saved.
Death means alive but separated from God only when they want it to.
If death is only
eternal separation from God, that separation would be forever, and death could
never be destroy, the lost would always be separated form God and Paul was
wrong in 1 Corinthians 15:54. Any kind of life is not death. When we say God
cannot die, we mean God cannot cease to exist, not that God cannot
be separated.
The same ones that tell us death is separation from God also tell us
that God will forever be with the lost in Hell 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 no one is dead, the
resurrection will not be from the dead to living, but just a change of address
from the living who are separated to the living who are unseparated.
The English word death and the Greek word from which death is translated both
mean death, not life.
"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. When someone dies we say that person is dead, not that person is
separated but alive.
How can death be a
separation of the body and soul when a soul (a living being, person) is the
earthly body that is in the image of Adam? 1 Corinthians
15:48-50.
IS THERE LIFE WITHOUT
GOD? IF DEATH IS LIFE SEPARATED FROM GOD, THEN MANKIND CAN LIVE WITHOUT GOD,
AND LIFE CAN EXIST THAT IS NOT SUSTAINED BY GOD.
But, the truth is the dead can never be separated from God if the dead are not
dead, if they have eternal life with torment God is both (1) keeping them
alive, giving them life (2) and doing the tormenting. 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. If any have life in
Hell, God must be in Hell with them giving them this life, and He must be where
they are doing the tormenting, for if He were not, there would be no life and
no torment. To be separate from God can
only mean to be nowhere. If a person can exist separated from God, that person
is self-existing; they are a God for only a God can be self-existing;
therefore, according to today's theology, all the lost who are separated from
God are self-existing Gods. How
far will they go to prove "Hell"? Death is a separation from life, not
eternal self-existing life separated 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 it than God's kingdom? He will if the dead are separated alive from God and God is not
in Hell with them. If there were a Hell,
which way is it? (1) Either God is in
Hell doing the tormenting, and God is sustaining the life they have, and they
are not separated from Him, (2) or God is not in Hell, and the lost are
separated from Him and He is not doing the tormenting or sustaining the life
they have. It cannot be both ways. 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 eternal life with Christ, or eternal life separated from
Christ, for there is no life separated or apart from Christ. A sinner does not
have any kind of immortal life. Only those in Christ will have 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; a soul would be forever separated
from the earthly body for the body 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 death is death; death cannot mean
eternal life part of the time and 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 the
soul that was separated from the person it was in lives on without the person.
In this separation the person dies but a soul that was in the person lives on
without the person. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead (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 without, separated from the person
it was in.
Reasoning in an endless
circle
(1). Eternal separation from God is
used to prove all have an immortal soul that cannot die.
(2). An immortal soul that cannot die
is used to prove death cannot be death, but that a deathless soul is alive but
separation from God, that a soul will have life that dose not come from God.
(3). Then eternal separation from God
is used to prove death cannot be death, but that death is eternal life
separation from God.
(4). Then an immortal soul that cannot
die is used to prove death cannot be death, but that the deathless soul is
alive but separation from God.
After the second death
the dead will not be with God, but how can being dead, and not with God prove
that they have immortal souls that are alive some place, a place where God is
not there? Death is the opposite of life, another kind of life is not death,
not even if it was possible to exist and to have life separated from God; if
anyone were alive any place, that person would not be dead.
If death is
separation, what is separated from what? At death
the dead body goes back to the earth, the person goes to the grave and is
really dead. But we are told that a soul that was in a dead person is separated
from the person that it had been in, but the soul is just as alive as it was
when it was in the person; the person is without life–if
the deathless soul lives, then what could be resurrected from the dead?
Only the dead body of the dead person, only the dead body 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, then not separation or death is "the
wages of sin." Being tormented by God is made to be the thing they
call death, but those who change death from being death, to death being alive
but separation from God do not seem to see they are teaching two completely
different doctrines at the same time.
(1). Death is an eternal life of
torment with God doing the tormenting.
(2). And death is an eternal life
separated from God. But who do they believe would be doing the tormenting if
the living dead were separated from God? This redefining of death to be life
has caused much of the confusion and division in the church.
John 3:36, "But, he that
obeyed not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on
him." Implied, he shall see death, the opposite of life. You are
alive, or you are dead, no in between. Will those in Hell that cannot die have
no life; if they "shall not see
life," how can they be alive to be tormented when they are in Hell?
Can a rock that does "not see
life" be tormented? "Shall
not see life" is not to be alive anywhere, not to be alive in Hell.
How much clearer could Jesus have possibly have been, how much clearer could He
have said whoever rejects Him shall not see life, shall not see an eternal life
of torment?
Everlasting life, or everlasting
destruction Matthew 7:13-14. Enter
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. 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 eternal life in
one place and the broad gate to eternal life in another place. Jesus said as
clear as language can be that the wide gate leads to destruction, not to life. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in
Siloam fell, and killed themexcept
you repent, you shall all likewise
perish (Luke 13:4-5). Killed
and likewise perish are both the
same, both mean death, neither one means eternal life.
Worthy of death, but cannot
die Romans 1:32. "They that
practice such things are worthy of death," but if they have an
immortal never dying something from birth, and this something cannot ever die
then why did Paul bother to say they are worthy of death, if he knows whatever souls
that are in them are, that these souls could not die?
When do sinners die? If death means only separation, the sinner is
separated from God now. Is the second death to be a "double separation?"
Could they be any more separated than they now are? If the lake of fire, which
is the second death, is only a separation from God, and souls are now separated
from Him, they cannot be any more separated after the second death than they now
are before the second death.
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, The Biblical concept of eternal extends to both life and death.
1. The Biblical concept, endless death.
2. The Biblical concept, endless life.
Death
will last just as long as life, if life is without end, death is also without
end.
The Biblical concept
is that the death is just as long lasting as the life. 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.
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). Eternal "death" is as literal as eternal "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, immaterial, invisible "soul" that cannot
die; therefore, death of a deathless soul has to be changed to be only a
figurative death.
(2). There
is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy (James 4:12). But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved (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 was in her was alive
at the time Paul wrote this, that whatever a soul is, it cannot ever be dead. Then what was, Dead while she lives, 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 nothing about a soul
or a spirit; spiritual death or
spiritual life is not in the Bible, not in the Old or New Testament, but both
are added and used repeatedly to prove a soul or a spirit cannot be dead. Ruach is in the Hebrew many times but is translated
spiritual only one time in Hosea 9:7 in the King James Version is
mistranslated spiritual man, with a
foot note, Hebrew, man of the spirit; translated inspired man in the New American
Standard, New International Version and many others. In the New Testament pnumatikos is translated spiritual all 26 times it is
used; spiritual gift, things, meat, drink, body, blessings, songs, house, and
sacrifices, but never spiritual death, or spiritual life.
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
came to give (John 5:21-29). They have only the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29) to look forward to, and the
wages of sin, death (Romans 6:23), not the resurrection
of life (John 5:29). Both life for those who believe, and death for those
who do not believe, are so certain that through out the New Testament it speaks
as thought they now have the eternal life or death, which will come at the
judgment. The only life she has is
physical life. How can an immortal soul that will always have life be gotten
out of "dead while she lives"?
It was her body that "lives,"
not an immortal, immaterial, invisible something that lives without her body;
therefore, if a "soul" were in this passage it could only be in the
part of her that was "dead," which
is changed to spiritual dead.
(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 is said about an immortal soul, or an immortal
spirit, nothing about any kind of life after death; nothing about her or any
thing that was in her being immortal.
(2). This passage is
often used to prove that the "soul" cannot be dead, but it has
another kind of life, even when there is nothing said about a "soul"
in it.
(3). Death must be removed from this passage, and
life with torment for something that cannot be dead that is in a person 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.
(4). She is of the world, which will pass away, will come to an end; just as the world will pass away she will pass away, she will not abide forever.
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 figurative use of death is often confused with the
literal use of death. The Christian widow that has her hope set on God had a relationship with God but if she gives herself to pleasure that
relationship is dead; it no longer exist, it is the relationship that is dead.
The
literal use of death–something has
ceased to exist. Life ceased to exist.
The
figurative use of death–something has
ceased to exist; her saved relation with God has ceased to exist.
In Luke 15:11-32,
Matthew 8:21-22, "Follow me; and
leave the dead (those 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 to bury the dead persons. Neither the dead that was doing
the burying, nor the dead that was being buried was not a dead immortal soul
that cannot be dead, both the one that was alive, and the one that was dead
were both 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, then 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 deathless soul) was dead when the 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 and the
father no longer has a son.
"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). He was not saying the
hour had came when He was going to the graveyard, and the dead there would hear
His voice and live, be resurrected from the graves. He was not speaking of a
physical or literal resurrection, but of those
who are not believers (dead by the Hebrew and Oriental cultures) becoming believers and alive to God.
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.
1. And YOU were dead in YOUR trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).
2. But SHE who gives
HERSELF to wanton pleasure is dead even while SHE LIVES (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, not one
thing is said about a soul, not about it being alive or it being dead, not that
a soul even exist; why then is this passage used repeatedly to show all have an
immortal something in them?
The widow is under the
sentence of death, but the sentence of death has been removed for those in
Christ, and the promise of life (immortality, incorruption) given to them. For
those not in Christ, there is only death, the wages of their sin,
they 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 that anything is alive while it is in a person, and 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, a
city, 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, "The meaning therefore is, the Gospel, which arises
from Christ and which is preached through us, is to the unbelieving, but the
incense arising from one crucified and dead, and so it is to them a savor from
the dead and producing death. But to the believing it is a savor FROM THE
LIVING, PRODUCING LIFE. J. W. McGarvey, 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 Savor from life unto life" 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 Savor from death unto death"
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 this 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.
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CHAPTER ONE. The reinterpretation of the
nature of man. http://www.robertwr.com/index.html
1. Soul in Genesis, Soul in the New Testament, Old Testament
words, which are translated life, spirit, breath, or soul, are all used
referring to both a person and animals, Soul in the Old Testament.
2. Soul in the New Testament, Plato's immortal soul versus
Christ's life and resurrection, Historical proof of reinterpretations of the
Bible. The great confusion—Soul or Spirit
CHAPTER TWO. Life or death? http://www.robertwr.com/life.html
CHAPTER THREE. The reinterpretations of the great doctrines
of the Bible. http://www.robertwr.com/immortal.html
CHAPTERS
FOUR, FIVE, SIX, AND SEVEN.
http://www.robertwr.com/hell.html
Chapter Four, From
where came hell? The given no chance Hell, Edward Fudge's Short Hell, The
Changing Hell, The Vanishing Hell.
Chapter Five. Sheol,
Hades, Tartarus, and the Nether World. A soul is the
image of Adam.
Chapter Six. The
thirty-one passages where Hell is used in the King James Version.
Chapter Seven. A Strange
and Unexplainable Silence.
CHAPTERS
EIGHT, NINE, TEN, ELEVEN, AND TWELVE.
http://www.robertwr.com/heaven.html
Chapter
eight, 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
nine, Universalist, The
"age lasting" Hell
Chapter
ten, The
results of attributing evil Pagan teachings to God
Chapter eleven, Historical proof of the changing of the teaching of the Bible
Chapter
twelve, ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION. Scripture about the destruction of Israel that are misapplied to
Hell, Israels weeping, gnashing of teeth, outer darkness, Matthew
24, Preterits Eschatology, Realized Eschatology, A. D. 70
Doctrine, The day of the Lord, 2 Peter 3
Appendix
one
OTHER WEB SITES of William
Robert West, Church of Christ
THE
RAPTURE AND ISRAEL can be downloaded free at http://www.robertwr.com/rapture.html
THE PRINTED BOOK AT https://www.createspace.com/3457158
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/ReadMyEMtailandReviews.html
http://www.robertwr.com/twentyfourHells.html
--------------------------------------------------------------
A Growing Opposition To
Hell In The Churches of Christ
http://www.robertwr.com/OppositionToHell.htm
=================================================
THE INDICTMENT OF ETERNAL TORMENT, THE SELF-NEGATION OF A
MONSTROUS DOCTRINE, 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
LIFE IN CHRIST 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 the 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
A HISTORY OF THE DOCTRINE
OF THE SOUL 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
FOUR 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
(4) http://www.robertwr.com/GodsJudgments.htm
A
web page of a friend who is not a member of the Church of Christ. http://www.jewishnotgreek.com/