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

IMMORTAL SOUL DO NOT BELIEVE A SOUL CAN BE
SEEN, BUT WILL USE THIS TO PROVE THESE MEN WERE SEEING A SOUL
THAT THEY SAY CANNOT BE SEEN.
LUKE 24:27-29 and ACTS 7:59 Two of the passages, which W. E. Vine used to
prove a person has an immortal part are uninspired statements. What these disciples
thought they were seeing but were not, and what Stephen was asking that could not be
unless they believed in Christ. (See [2] Acts 7:59 above) DOES THIS NOT SAY
ANYTHING ABOUT HOW WEAK HIS PROOF IS?
[4]. W. E. VINE'S FORTH PASSAGE
“Longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven”
He used 2 Corinthians 5:5 to prove a person has an "immaterial, invisible part of
man." In 2 Corinthians 5:3-4 we are unclothed while we are in the earthly house, but will
be clothed in heaven. Nothing is said in this about a person being a dual being while in
the earthly house. IF IT WERE AS VINE SAYS, THAT THIS CLOTHING IS "A
NEVER-DYING SPIRIT" IT WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE TO BE UNCLOTHED. IF
THIS CLOTHING WERE OUR SPIRIT, TO BE "UNCLOTHED" OR "NAKED"
WOULD BE TO NOT HAVE A SPIRIT. He added "disembodied" to get his immaterial
soul, but adds it to both soul and spirit, which he said are not the same. IF ALL HAVE
AN IMMORTAL SOUL FROM BIRTH, NOT EVEN THE LOST COULD BE
“NAKED” OR “UNCLOTHED.”IF ALL HAVE AN IMMORTL SOUL AND THE
“HOUSE NOT MADE WITH HANDS” IS THIS SOUL, EVEN THE LOST HAVE THIS
“HOUSE NOT MADE WITH HANDS.”
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2 Corinthians 5:1-8 “(1) For WE know that if the earthly house of our tabernacle be
dissolved [if our earthly body be dead], WE have a building from God, a house not made
with hands, eternal, in the heavens [a new immortal body]. (2) For verily in this WE
groan, longing to be clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven; [wanting
to be with Christ in Heaven and clothed with our immortal bodies] (3) if so be that being
clothed [with a new spiritual immortal body] WE shall not be found naked [not be dead,
not have the life Christ gives to them that obey Him]. (4) For indeed WE that are in this
tabernacle [our earthly body] do groan, being burdened: [in this life we have
persecutions, sickness, death; but most of all a longing to be with Christ] not for that WE
would be unclothed, [Not that we want the sleep of death before we put on immortal life
at the resurrection. To be "unclothed" is not to have a body, not an earthly or spiritual
body from death unto the resurrection. To be "unclothed" is to be asleep without a body
waiting to wake up at the resurrection and "put on immortality." (1) We are NOW clothed
with the earthly body. (2) We WILL BE unclothed, asleep without a body from death to
the resurrection. (3) We LONG TO BE clothed [with our immortal bodies in Heaven] but
that WE would be clothed upon, that what is mortal may be swallowed up of life [that this
life on earth may be replaced with life in Heaven with an immortal body]. (5) Now he
that wrought US for this very thing is God, who gave unto US the earnest of the Spirit. (6)
Being therefore, always of good courage, and knowing that, while WE are at home in the
body, [while we are living on this earth] WE are absent from the Lord [not immortal in
Heaven with Christ] (7) (for WE walk by faith, not by sight): (8) WE are of good courage,
I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord
[willing to change this mortal body for an immortal body, and be in Heaven with
Christ]." It is not the "soul" which will be naked after death; it is “we” the whole person.
Those who believe the soul is an inter part of a person, which will be alive after
dead, BELIEVE THE SAME SOUL WE HAVE NOW IS THE SAME SOUL WE
WILL HAVE AFTER DEATH, AND IS THE SAME SOUL WE WILL HAVE IN
HEAVEN; FOR THEY BELIEVE "The immaterial, invisible part of man"-W. E. Vine
IS JUST AS IMMORTAL NOW AS IT WILL BE AFTER THE RESURRECTION
AND JUDGMENT, JUST AS IMMORTAL NOW WHILE WE ARE ON EARTH
AS IT WILL BE AFTER WE ARE IN HEAVEN. The soul being naked after death
does not fit into what many believe, and makes no sense if you believe a person now
has the immortal soul that he will always have; and that it is only this "immaterial,
invisible part of man" that will live forever in Heaven or Hell. A person being
"disembodied" is not in the Bible, and therefore is a doctrine of man. He added,
"disembodied," and makes it equal to "unclothed," or "naked"; it was Paul and the
Corinthians that would be "unclothed," or "naked," not an “immaterial” part of them.
He had to change Paul's words to get his immaterial immortal soul. Most Protestants
believe the soul goes immediately to Heaven or Hell at death, therefore, a soul being
"disembodied" does not fit with what most Protestants believe. The Catholic or the
Protestant views do not have any room for an intermediate "disembodied" state from
death to the resurrection. HIS "DISEMBODIED" SOUL FROM DEATH TO THE
RESURRECTION IS SAYING THEY ARE BOTH WRONG, FOR MANY IN THE
MAINSTREAM PROTESTANTS OR CATHOLICS DO NOT BELIEVE THERE IS A
"DISEMBODIED" STATE FOR THE SOUL FROM DEATH TO THE
RESURRECTION, BUT THAT THE SOUL GOES INSTANTLY TO HEAVEN AT
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DEATH. This passage is just another of the many passages that are an unexplainable
passage to anyone with the Protestant view, but he did the best he could even if he has to
be both unorthodox and change the Bible.
We need to take care that we do not put an interpretation on any passage that will
make it clash with other passages. It is evident that Paul did not expect the dead in Christ,
those who have fallen asleep [1 Corinthians 15:1-28], to be with Christ before the
resurrection.
1. In the body (now)
2. Death, out of the body
3. The resurrection to eternal life when ALL the dead in Christ will be raised
TOGETHER, all simultaneously. Then "so shall we ever be (at home) with the
Lord." Paul looked for and thought the Lord may come soon, maybe in his
lifetime. He said, "I tell you a mystery: WE all shall not sleep, but WE shall all be
changed [shall instantly put on a spiritual body] in a moment, in the twinkling of
an eye, at the last trump" [1 Corinthians 15:51]. He did not want to die [sleep
onto the resurrection] and be naked [have no body] but wanted to be alive at the
time Christ came and in a moment put off this earthly body and put on the
spiritual body and be with Christ. There is some evident in Paul's letters that he
and the church may have thought Christ would come in their lifetime. He seems
to have been longing for His return and the time when he would be at home with
Christ thinking it would be soon and that any day he would be at home with the
Lord without the sleep of death unto the resurrection, although he knows many
were already asleep in Christ [1 Thessalonians 4:14], already out of the body, but
not at home with the Lord.
Paul speaks of three states. (1) The earthly house or tabernacle [The present body]. (2)
The naked or unclothed [The state he did not groan for]. (3) A building of God not made
with hands eternal in the heavens [The clothed or resurrected body he wanted]. If the
naked state is the "disembodied" soul in Heaven during the intermediate state, why
does Paul not want to be "found naked." Did he not want to be in Heaven without
the earthly body in the intermediate state? Did he not want to be in Heaven with
Christ and all the saved unto the Judgment Day? No. Paul knew that he would not
be with Christ unto the Resurrection if Christ did not return before his death. He
knew that there is no life for the dead before the Resurrection. To be naked or
unclothed is to have no life, not be alive in Heaven or Hell. State two (2), Vine's
"disembodied" state is not believed by many Protestants who go from state one (1), this
present body, to state three (3), a building not made with hands, which will be in Heaven
at the moment of death.
The doctrine that the body is only a dwelling place of an immortal soul is not found in
this passage, but many read it into it. Neither is the doctrine that a person's immortal soul
leaves the body at death and goes immediately to Heaven without the resurrection and
judgment. The passage says nothing about a "soul." Paul used "we" not "our soul." "BUT
THAT WE WOULD BE CLOTHED UPON THAT WHAT IS MORTAL MAY BE
SWALLOWED UP OF LIFE." The context this passage is in is speaking of the
resurrection FROM THE DEAD [2 Corinthians 4:14 to 5:10]; not on being alive after
death without a body and having no need of the resurrection.
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• According to both the Catholic and Protestant versions, the body is now mortal
and the soul is now immortal. At the death of the body the soul is already
immortal and is not changed, and nothing of this mortal is swallowed up of life; at
death the body goes back to the earth and nothing of the body will put on
immortality or is swallowed up of life.
• According to the Bible version, this mortal is changed and puts on immortality at
the resurrection, immortality that this mortal does not now have [1 Corinthians
15:50-55; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17]. This mortal is swallowed up of life.
Paul says the same thing in Romans 8:23-24 and 2 "Corinthians 5:1-2.
ROMANS 8:23-24 | 2 CORINTHIANS 5:1-2
BUT OURSELVES ALSO, WHO HAVE THE | WHO GIVE UNTO US THE EARNEST OF THE
FIRST-FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT | SPIRIT" SEE EPH 1:13-14; ROM 8:11
EVEN WE OURSELVES GROAN | IN THIS WE GROAN,
WITHIN OURSELVES | .
WAITING FOR OUR ADOPTION, TO | LONGING TO BE CLOTHED UPON WITH OUR
WIT, THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODY | HABITATION WHICH IS FROM HEAVEN
"Waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" and "longing to be
clothed upon with our habitation which is from heaven" is the same thing and will be at
the resurrection, not at death and says nothing about a part of an immortal person that
will be alive from death unto the resurrection.
WHEN WILL WE BE PRESENT WITH THE LORD? If "to be present with the
Lord" is to take up our residence in Heaven immediately at death, what is the "naked"
and "unclothed" state of verses 3 and 4, and when is it? It is not while Paul was in "this
tabernacle" or when he would be clothed in Heaven, therefore, neither in this life nor in
Heaven is when he could be "unclothed." All will be absent from the body at death (the
naked state), but no one will be present with the Lord in Heaven unto after the judgment.
The intermediate nakedness from death unto the resurrection is something Paul did
not want, something he DID NOT GROAN FOR; it is death, not any kind of life
anyplace. From 1 Thessalonians 4:17 we learn that after death the only way we will be
with the Lord is the resurrection. WHEN WILL WE BE AT HOME WITH CHRIST,
immediately at death without the resurrection,