Immortality or Resurrection (Updated) by William West (reading strategies book .TXT) 📖

RESURRECTION
OR
IMMORTALITY
Subtitled: The Resurrection, Our Only Hope Of Life After Death
ISBN 0-7414-4620-0
William Robert West
Author of “The Rapture And Israel”
ISBN 978-1452895352
Is "The Wages Of Sin Death"
Or
"Eternal Life With Torment In Hell"
An Immortal Soul and the Doctrine of Hell
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Foreword
What does the Bible say about an immortal soul and/or spirit? Together soul and
spirit are used almost 1,100 times in the King James Version, but not one time is
immortal ever used in the same verse with either one. Immortal and immortality are in the
Old Testament zero times, in the New Testament, immortal one time, immortality five
times, all by Paul. What does he say?
1. "Now unto the King eternal, immortal" [1 Timothy 1:17].
2. Only God has immortality [1 Timothy 6:16].
3. Christ "abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the
gospel" [2 Timothy 1:10].
4. "To them (Christians) that...seek for glory and honor and immortality" [Romans
2:7].
5. "This mortal must put on immortality" [1 Corinthians 15:53] at the resurrection.
6. "This mortal shall have put on immortality" [1 Corinthians 15:54] after the
resurrection.
Why are we to "seek for" immortality if we are born immortal? Why will we "put on
immortality" if the only part of us that will ever be immortal has been immortal from
birth (or before birth)? The fact that a person must "seek for...immortality" and
immortality must be "put on" at the resurrection is conclusive proof that a person
does not now have it. If Romans 2:7 and 1 Corinthians 15:53 teaches nothing more, it
teaches that no part of a person now possess immortality. NOT ONE PASSAGE IN
THE BIBLE SAYS ANYONE NOW HAS IMMORTALITY; WITH OUT NOW
HAVING IMMORTALITY NO ONE CAN NOW HAVE A SOUL THAT IS
IMMORTAL.
There are only two views that are commonly believed about what will happen to
mankind after death. [One] That the soul of all will live forever and cannot die, the soul
of the lost must exist somewhere for all the lost have eternal life and are not subject to the
wages of sin which is death, or [Two] the wages of sin is death and the lost will die, they
do not now have eternal life and never will.
[One]. The belief that everyone has a soul in them that will live forever and cannot
die, therefore, death is not the wages of sin. A person has something in them that cannot
die, cannot ever be destroyed; ALL ARE BORN WITH ETERANL LIFE AND CAN
NEVER DIE. This view has two major divisions.
• That all mankind has a "soul" that cannot ever die or be destroyed, but for most of
mankind God will forever torment this part of a person they call "soul."
• Universalism: that all mankind has a "soul" that cannot ever die or be destroyed,
everyone has something in them that will live forever but it will be saved. If this it
(soul) is not saved in this lifetime it will be saved after death.
[Two]. The wages of sin is death; the lost will die the second death; they will forever
be destroyed. Those who do not believe this view gave it the name "annihilation." This
name is not in the Bible, but what it means is eternal destruction, nevertheless, I think it
best not to call Bible teaching by a name not in the Bible.
Most Protestant Premillennialists believe the lost will be totally destroyed but there
are two Premillennial views on how or where the lost will be destroyed.
1. Many Protestant Premillennialists believe that the destruction of the lost will be
on this earth and the saved will forever live on this earth; no person will ever be in
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Heaven. Many believe the Valley of Gehenna will be restored and the lost will
literally be burn to ashes in it.
2. Some Protestant Premillennialists believe that the saved will be with Christ in
Heaven, not on earth after the thousand years, the second death will be the end of
the lost, but they are not burned to ashes on this earth.
But then some Protestant Premillennialists believe the wages of sin is eternal life with
torment for the soul that cannot die, which puts them in the camp of those that believe
death is not the wages of sin.
If the soul or spirit were immortal and could never die or be dead, how could there be
a resurrection of the dead? Do you believe in the resurrection of the dead? If yes, what do
you believe will be resurrected? Will your dead body be raised from the dead or do you
believe a soul that is not dead will be raised from the dead? When I first begin this study I
was surprised and made to tremble at how few believed in the resurrection and how many
there are that do not really know what they believe about it. Many believe some part of
themselves will instantly be transited from this world to Heaven or Hell at death without
a resurrection, before the resurrection and Judgment Day and before the second coming
of Christ, but when asked what is the reason for the resurrection, they not only do not
know but have never really thought about it. Death is looked at as being a doorway to life
in another form, that death is not really death, and there is nowhere in their thoughts or in
their faith for a resurrection for their theology says no one is really dead. The resurrection
has been removed from the faith of many by today's theology that says some immortal
part of a person will go to Heaven at the moment of death. BUT IS THERE ANY LIFE
AFTER DEATH BEFORE THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THE
RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD? Paul said at the resurrection, "This mortal must put
on immortality," but if the soul is now immortal, then what is it that is now mortal that
will put on immortality at the resurrection?
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Table of Contents
AN IMMORTAL SOUL OR RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
The Resurrection, Our Only Hope Of Life After Death
By William West
CHAPTER ONE - The reinterpretation of the nature of man - what is man?
CHAPTER TWO: Life or Death
CHAPTER THREE: The reinterpretations of the great doctrines of the Bible
CHAPTER FOUR: From where came Hell?
CHAPTER FIVE: Sheol, Hades, and Tartarus
CHAPTER SEVEN: A strange and unexplainable silence: The reinterpreting of life,
death, torment, destruction, destroy, perish, die, and end.
CHAPTER EIGHT: The interpretation of figurative language, metaphors, and
symbolical passage
CHAPTER NINE: Universalist: The "age lasting" Hell
CHAPTER TEN: The results of attributing evil Pagan teachings to God.
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CHAPTER ONE
What Is Man?
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What is a man? Is a person born with an immortal soul, or do the saved put on
immortality at the resurrection? Is a person a three part being, an animal body with both a
soul and a spirit that will live without the body? This is one of the most important
questions of all time. It has more influence on our conception of our nature, our view of
life in this world and life after death than any other question.
Soul [nehphesh] in the Old Testament: (Strong spells it "nehpesh" Hebrew word
#5315). If “soul” were an immortal "immaterial, invisible part of man" (Vine), why is
this Hebrew word that is translated soul also translated "living creature" when it is
speaking of animals in Genesis 1:21; 1:24; 2:19; 9:10; 9:12; 9:15; 9:16 when the same
Hebrew word [nehphesh] is translated "living soul" in Genesis 2:7 when it is speaking of
a person? In the Hebrew, if this were an immaterial, immortal part of a person, it would
also be an immaterial, immortal part of animals.
[1] Genesis 1:20 "The moving creature that has life" [soul - nehphesh, used referring
to animals]. Footnote in the King James Version, "The moving creature that has soul."
"Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures" [soul - nehphesh] (American
Standard Version) "The moving creature that has life" (footnote in KJV).
[2] Genesis 1:21 "living creature" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] "And
God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature [soul - nehphesh] that
moves wherewith the water swarmed.”
[3] Genesis 1:24 "living creature" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] "And
God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures [soul - nehphesh] after their kind,
cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth."
[4] Genesis 1:30 "life" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] "And to every
beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps upon
the earth, wherein there is life" [soul - nehphesh]. Animals are "a living soul."
ALL FOUR TIMES THAT SOUL [nehphesh] IS USED IN GENESIS ONE, IT IS
USED REFERRING TO ANIMALS, NOT TO A PERSON. ANIMALS WERE
SOULS BEFORE ANY MAN EXISTED. "Then God said, 'Let the waters teem with
swarms of LIVING SOULS [soul - nehpheshs], and let birds fly above the earth in the
open expanse of the heavens.' And God created the great sea monsters, and every
LIVING SOUL [soul - nehphesh] that moves with which the waters swarmed after their
kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. And God
blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let
birds multiply on the earth.' And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth LIVING SOULS [soul - nehpheshs] after their
kind: cattle and creeping thing and beasts of the earth after their kind'; and it was
so...and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that
creeps upon the earth, wherein there is LIFE [soul - nehphesh], I have given every green
herb for meat" [Genesis 1:20-30]. “Living creatures" [soul - nehphesh] is used to
describe all living things on earth, animals, birds, fish, people; not eternal life or
some immaterial invisible part of them that is eternal.
[5] Genesis 2:7 "A living soul" [soul - nehphesh, used referring to a person]. The
first time the King James Version translated nehphesh into "soul," most other
translations did not agree with it, not even the New King James Version. "Man
became a living being" New King James Version.
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• “A living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:20
• “A living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:21
• “A living creature" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:24
• “Wherein there is life" [nehphesh] Genesis 1:30
• “A living soul" [nehphesh] Genesis 2:7
o It is obvious that the translators translated according to a preconceived
opinion in an attempt keep animals from having souls.
Man became:
• "A living being" New King James Version, New American Standard Version,
Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New International
Version, Amplified Version, The New American Bible.
• "A living person" New Century Version, The Living Bible, New Living
Translation.
• "A living creature" The Revised English Bible, Young's Literal Translation.
• "Life" Contemporary English Version.
The first time nehphesh is used referring to a person, most translations apply it
to the living breathing being or person, not to an invisible inter part of a person.
ADAM BEING SPOKEN OF AS A "LIVING BEING" [nehphesh] PROVES HE
WAS MORTAL, NOT IMMORTAL, JUST AS ALL "LIVING BEINGS"
[nehphesh] FISH, BIRDS, ANIMALS, ARE MORTAL, NOT IMMORTAL. HOW
CAN THIS BE ONE OF THE PROOF TEXTS USED TO PROVE ADAM WAS
MADE WITH AN IMMORTAL SOUL? IF IT PROVES ADAM HAD AN
IMMORTAL SOUL, THEN IT PROVES THAT