Immortality or Resurrection by William West (philippa perry book txt) 📕

the spirit of all goes back to God at death is an immortal soul, then the immortal soul of no one will not go to Hell. There is nothing in the spirit returning to God that makes those who are saved any different from those who are not saved. The spirit of all returns to God; yet, those who use this to prove a person has an immortal soul say, "No, Solomon was wrong. The spirit of the lost does not return to God at death, some says it goes to Hell at death and others says it goes the bad side of hades at death."
Where do they send the “soul” at death?
1. Does the spirit (or soul) of the lost go to Hell at death?
2. Or does the spirit (or soul) of the lost go to the bad side of hades (Abraham’s bosom)?
3. Or does the spirit (or soul) of all, the lost and the saved, return to God?
Has the zeal to prove Plato's immortal soul, which needs no resurrection, blinded him so he does not see that he is going both ways at the same time? He believes that after the soul is freed from the body by death [as Plato put it, freed from its earthly prison] that it is just as alive as it will ever be, and when a person dies, he believes that person has everything that is ever going to be dead, already dead; and everything that will be alive after the resurrection is already alive and immortal from birth, the soul, the only part of a person that he believes will ever be immortal he believes is just as alive and just as immortal before death as it will be after death and after the resurrection.
The Hebrew word translated “spirit” in Ecclesiastes 12:7 is from Ruach, not from nehphesh, which is the word that is translated “soul.” Ruach is translated breath, wind, spirit, etc., but never translated “soul.” It is the breath of life [Genesis 2:7] that came from God and made man “a living being” and that returns to God. In Ecclesiastes 11:4 it is, “He who watches the wind [ruach].” If Ecclesiastes 12:7 did prove that a person has an immortal soul that returns to God in Heaven, then it proves that the same immortal souls preexisted with God in Heaven before the birth of the body. By misusing this verse to prove a person now has a part that is immortal and it is this immortal part of a person goes back to God at death then it would prove more than they want to prove. If the spirit that returns to God is an inward part of a person that is immortal, and it came from God, this inward immortal part of a person had to preexist in Heaven with God before the person was born. Most do not want preexistence before birth of ALL, neither do they want ALL, both the saved and the lost going back to Heaven unto second coming of Christ; but if their view were right, that the spirit is an immortal inter part of a person that came from and them returns to God at death, there would be no way around it. The incorrect use of this passage to prove a person is born with an immortal soul undeniably implies the preexistence of that soul and that at death all souls, the saved and the unsaved, also the souls of animals, returns to God who is in Heaven.
It would prove:
1. Before birth: The preexistence of ALL in Heaven. In the part of eternity before birth ALL would have been safe in Heaven.
2. At birth: ALL were put out of Heaven and sent down to earth.
3. From death unto the resurrection the body: At their death ALL will go back to Heaven with God unto the judgment. Some of the lost will be in Heaven for thousands of years before the judgment.
4. At second coming: ALL sent back to earth for judgment.
5. After judgment: ALL go to Heaven or Hell, the “many” in Hell. According to their teaching many who preexisted in Heaven before their birth (most of mankind) will go to Hell after the judgment. In the part of eternity that will be after the judgment, they will end up in Hell with God forever tormenting them. If this view were true, why did God not leave them in Heaven? Did He want most to be lost where He could torment them forever?
If the spirits that came from God is man’s immortal soul then:
• Birth is changed to be only a moving day from Heaven to earth for a soul that preexisted in Heaven before birth.
• Death is changed to be only a moving day from earth to Heaven or Hell for a soul that preexisted in Heaven but had moved to earth.
• From the resurrection onward: For many Protestants nothing happens; the saved are resurrected only to return to Heaven where they were before the resurrection and the lost are resurrected only to return to Hell where they were before the resurrection. Both the saved, and the unsaved would have to be judged at death to know whether they would go to Heaven or Hell. They say they believe in the resurrection and the judgment day, but by their teaching they deny both the Day of Judgment and the Resurrection by making both impossible.
• Both the saved and the lost preexisted in Heaven but most of them will never return to Heaven after the judgment.
It is the "spirit," not "an immortal soul" that returns to God. What is the spirit? "Then the Lord God formed a man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man [the body of dust] became a living being [a soul - nehphesh." - Genesis 2:7]. A body made of dust + the spirit, the breath of life from God [Genesis 2:7] = a soul, a living creature whether it is a person or an animal. The spirit (breath of life) all life comes from God whether a person or animal and returns to God. When the life returns to God, the body returns to dust and we will have no work, device, knowledge, or wisdom [Ecclesiastes 9:10] unto the resurrection when life comes from God. All life is from God.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 is the reverse of the process in Genesis 2:7.
• Body from the ground + breath of life from God = a soul, a living being [Genesis 2:7].
• Dust returns to the ground - spirit returns to God = a dead being (soul) [Ecclesiastes 12:7].
• Body minus the spirit = a dead soul (a dead being, a person or animal) [James 2:26].
Today's theology tells us two conflicting things
1. It says that most souls go to Hell at death and that some souls return to God at death
2. And at the same time it uses Ecclesiastes 12:7 to say all souls returns to God at death
The way Ecclesiastes 12:7 is misused to prove a person has an immortal part that cannot die makes this passage prove:
1. Before birth: Today's theology makes the soul be both alive and immortal; just the same as they say it was at birth and as it will always be. The view of many implies the spirit that came from God was an immortal, conscious, independent and an intelligent being before it came from God to man, before birth.
2. From birth to death: They make the soul be both alive and immortal; just the same as they say it was at birth and as it will always be.
3. From death unto the resurrection: They make the soul be both alive and immortal; just the same as they say it was at birth and as it will always be.
4. From the resurrection onward: They make the soul be both alive and immortal; just the same as they say it was at birth and as it will always be. Soul and spirit are used as if they are the same thing.
According to today's theology the only thing that can change for the soul is its location. Birth, death, and the resurrection are only three moving days for it. There could not be a real death for an immortal soul or a real resurrection for a soul that was not dead.
Proves Universalism, but not the same Universalism taught by the Universalist. If this "spirit" that returns to God is an immortal soul, they prove all, both good and bad will go to Heaven at death without the "attitude adjustments" taught by the Universalism; but it may not last forever for, according to their doctrine, ALL will be taken out of Heaven and return to earth at the judgment; then if one is a Christian or not a Christian, his spirit that came from God at birth goes back to Heaven to God at death, but all will leave Heaven for judgment and only some will go back. If the “spirit” that came from God were an immortal part (soul) of a person them most of the all that was with God in Heaven before their birth will end up in Hell, even if they do not believe what their incorrect use of this passage would prove, it would still prove it.
Job said, "If He should gather to Himself His spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust" [Job 34:14-15]. The breath of life came from God and returns to God, it was not a conscious immortal being before it came from God and is not a conscious immortal being after it returns to God. The spirit that returns to God at death is not an immortal soul. It is not the spiritual body that the dead in Christ will put on at the resurrection [1 Corinthians 15:44].
Most Eastern religions, most New Age believers, and many Christians believe in the preexistence of the soul, literally billions. Many Christians believe God creates a new soul for each at birth, some at the time of conception, some at the time of the first breath, which they believe to be only a part of a person that is immortal, and it is only this immaterial something in a person that will be in Heaven or Hell. However, if Ecclesiastes 12:7 is used to prove a person has an immortal soul that will live forever, there is no way to get around preexistence of the soul that came from Heaven at birth, or that all (the saved, the lost, and all beasts) will go back to Heaven at death.
It is said that the dead do not know anything was only, "The way the world perceives the dead" at the time Solomon wrote this, but that is not true. Most of the world at that time, other than the Jews, believed in reincarnation and the dead had some kind of life and thoughts in the underworld until they were reincarnated. Egypt where the Jews had come from believed the dead lived and had always lived and would always live, therefore, they would have had thoughts and known something. Many Pagans believed the soul has always existed and must always exist, that the soul is self-existence; it has always been reincarnated and always will be. If a person has an immortal soul that came from God and will go back to God; it lived before the person was born and will live when the person is dead. The inescapable conclusion would be that the pagans were right, and all that I