Immortality or Resurrection (Updated) by William West (ereader with dictionary .txt) 📕

it were "alive." Most who believe in Hell say the second death is a "spiritual
death" which is only separation from God, not a real death; but they also say the lost are
now "spiritual dead" even before they die. Do they not make the second death be nothing
more that a continuation of the state they say the lost are now in, just a continuation of
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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 they are alive in Hell.
In "Truth Magazine," June 7, 2001, Page 343, Johnie Edwards has a short article,
"What Death Says." What does death say? It says that for there to be life after death, there
must be a resurrection from the dead. What does the resurrection say? It says if there is to
be a resurrection there must be death, not a higher kind of life than we now know. It says
someone who is not dead cannot be raised from the dead by a resurrection. The
resurrection says death is a real death.
2 Corinthians 2:16 "The meaning therefore is, the Gospel, which arises from Christ and which is
preached through us, is to the unbelieving, but the incense arising from one crucified and dead,
and so it is to them a savor from the dead and producing death. But to the believing it is a savor
FROM THE LIVING, PRODUCING LIFE." J. W. McGarvey, 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." J. B. Coffman.
The sentence of death has been removed for those in Christ, and the promise of life
(immortality, incorruption) given to them. For those not in Christ, there is only death, the
wages of their sin. They will be raised only to face the judgment and the second death "a
savor from death unto death."
"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 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.
"In all classical literature no instance can be found where the word death has this signification of
eternal torment" H. L. Hastings, "The Last Judgment," 1853
For those who are not in Christ, there is no eternal life anywhere.
Chapter Three
Truth Magazine, August 7, 2008, page 457 had an article about “Reinterpretation Of
The Scripture.” The main point this article makes is about reinterpreting Genesis 3 to
mean the Serpent was not real, but was taken from well-known pagan myths. The article
points out that when one reinterpretation is accepted more will soon come and gives some
reinterpretations they think may come. Without doubt, many have made reinterpretations
of many scriptures and many more will make reinterpretations. Reinterpretation that the
magazine said nothing about have been made and accepted by many. Some
reinterpretations that have been made in the past that are historical facts and believed by
many today, reinterpretations that have caused many of the divisions we now have are
Purgatory, Limbo, worship of Mary and Saints, Nether World, holy water, the rosary,
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forbidding Priest to marry, the crucifix, Monks and Nouns, forbidding eating of meat on
Friday, and candle-burning. About all Protestants believe Purgatory to be a change or
reinterpretation, and there are hundreds more reinterpretations that are historical facts and
are believed by many today, but no one believes all to the hundreds of reinterpretations
made in the past. Most believe only a few of them, and all the many others they believe to
be the doctrine of man, not God. On what does anyone basic his or her belief that most
reinterpretations are not from God, but a few are from God? Going to God's word is the
only way anyone can know whether any teaching is from man or if it is from the Bible.
THE SUBJECTS OF THIS CHAPTER
(1) THE NATURE OF MAN, FROM MANKIND NOW BEING MORTAL
REINTERPRETED TO MANKIND NOW BEING IMMORTAL. The reinterpretation of
the nature of a person; that a person has a part that is now immortal and it goes to Heaven
or Hell at death. The general confusion of soul and spirit. Are they both the same or are
they two different immortal parts of a person that one or both will live after the person is
dead? The resurrection versus an immortal soul that cannot die, therefore, needs no
resurrection.
(2) THE WAGES OF SIN BEING CHANGED FROM DEATH TO BEING ETERNAL
LIFE WITH TORMENT. "The wages of sin is death" reinterpreted to be the wages of sin
is an eternal life of torment in Hell for an immortal soul that is not subject to death.
(3) THE REINTERPREATION OF THE FINAL DESTINY OF A PERSON CHANGED
FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH. That the saved will forever be with Jesus in Heaven is
reinterpreted to be that Jesus will forever be with the saved on this earth and no person
will ever be in Heaven.
These three reinterpretations are believed by many today and have caused many of the
divisions we now have.
UNCONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY MAKES MANY OF THE GREAT DOCTRINES
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT USELESS ANDOR IMPOSSIBLE.
[1] THE REINTERPRETATION
OF THE DEATH OF JESUS
"Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the
righteousness of God in him" [2 Corinthians 5:21]. Jesus actually died for our sins
[Romans 5:8], and "We were reconciled to God through the death of his Son" [Romans
5:10]. The wages of sin is death [Romans 6:23], and Christ died our death that we may
have life, not to keep us from an eternal life of torment, but to give us life [eternal life].
He paid the wages for our sin and died our death in our place, but He is not forever being
tormented in our place. Death alone is the penalty for sin, not torment. [Hebrews 9:11-28;
1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:16-19; Matthew 27:20; John 10:15; 12:23-26; 1 Corinthians
15:3; Hebrews 2:14; 9:16-17; 10:14; Isaiah 43:12]. IF, AS MANY TEACH, THE
WAGES OF SIN IS ETERNAL LIFE IN TORMENT, CHRIST DID NOT SUFFER
ETERNAL TORMENT FOR US, THEREFORE, HE WOULD NOT HAVE PAID THE
WAGES OF SIN FOR US. Jesus bore the punishment of sin that the sinner will bear at
the judgment, but He is not suffering eternal torment; therefore, if eternal torment were
the wages of sin, He is not paying it for us. Life is His gift to us, not just a reward for an
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immaterial, invisible "soul" that has eternal life and cannot die. Those who do not reach
the blood of Christ [His death] will die, for the wages of their sin is death, "For if we
have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection" [Romans 6:5]. If those not united in the likeness of His death will not
be in the likeness of His resurrection, then what likeness will they have in Hell? THE
WAGES OF THEIR SIN IS DEATH, NOT HAVING THE LIKENESS OF
CHRIST OR ADAM OR ANY OTHER LIKENESS WHEN IN HELL. The only part
of a person many says is immortal and will be in Heaven or Hell is his undying soul that
can never die, therefore, Christ could not have died in its place to save it from the wages
of sin for that immortal soul would not be subject to death have would have no need for
Him to have died in its place.
If Christ were as much alive in the three days His earthly body was in the grave as He
was after the resurrection then there was no difference in Christ (1) than when before He
came to earth (2) than when His earthly body was in the grave (3) and now when He is in
Heaven, if His death were not total and complete. If only His earthly body were dead,
then He was the same spiritual being with all the power and glory in the three days His
body was in the grave that He had before He came to earth, or that He now has in
Heaven. Jesus could have given nothing but His earthly body for our sins. According to
those who believe we have a soul, which is only a part of us that cannot die, the soul of
Christ could not and did not die, THEREFORE, ACCORDING TO THEIR TEACHING
JESUS DID NOT DIE FOR OUR SINS FOR HE WAS NEVER DEAD, and the death of
Jesus was not just a door by which He went instantly back to Heaven before His
resurrection. He was not "received up from you into heaven" [Acts 1:11] unto 50 days
after His death, not at the time of His death, not before His resurrection.
CHRIST “POURED OUT HIS BEING UNTO DEATH” [Isaiah 53:12]. “He poured
out Himself to death” New American Standard Bible. Christ poured out his being, not
just a human body, unto dead. Unto His resurrection He was dead, not His being alive in
Hell or any other place.
THE DEATH CHRIST DIED AND HIS RESURRECTION ARE OPPOSITES. IF
HIS DEATH WAS NOT A REAL DEATH, HIS RESURRECTION COULD NOT
BE A REAL RESURRECTION. Then what would God has given when He give His
only Son, nothing more than one human body for three days. There was no real sacrifice
by God or Christ, NO REAL RESURRECTION as Jesus was not really and in truth dead.
We are told repeatedly God raised Christ [Acts 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30; 13:37;
Romans 4:24; 8:11; 10:9; 1 Corinthians 6:14; 15:15; 2 Corinthians 4:14; Galatians 1:1;
Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Peter 1:21]. "May the God of
peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back form the dead our
Lord Jesus" [Hebrews 13:20 New International Version]. Christ was as dead and as much
under the power of death as mankind will be after death. He was not somewhere very
much alive with the same body [spiritual body], and the power and glory He had before
He came to earth; and just came back to His human body. THAT WOULD NOT HAVE
BEEN A DEATH OR A RESURRECTION, and we would still be in our sins with no
hope. His coming back to His earthy body on the third day would not have been a
resurrection of anything but His earthly body. The Wages of sin is death [Romans 6:23]
and Christ died in our place with all God's wrath that we would have had upon us at the
judgment. JESUS PAID OUR DEBT IN FULL. HE "LAY DOWN HIS LIFE" FOR US
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[John 15:13] BUT HE IS NOT SUFFERING ETERNAL PUNISHMENT FOR US,
THEREFORE, IF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT IS THE WAGES OF SIN, HE IS NOT
NOW PAYING OUR DEBT. Suffering is never said to be the wages of sin, but MANY
TAKE AWAY THE WAGES OF SIN (death) AND PUT AN ETERNAL LIFE OF
SUFFERING IN HELL IN ITS PLACE. Not to take anything