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

Genesis 2:7 and 1
Thessalonians 5:23 "And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground [BODY],
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and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [SPIRIT]; and man became a living soul
[SOUL]." Body + the breath of life (spirit) = soul-a living being.
PASSAGES IN WHICH "SPIRIT" [pneuma]
IS USED BY MANY AS IF IT IS THE SAME AS "SOUL" [psukee]
Not one time is any part of a person said to have an existence after death or to be able
to function without the body.
[1]. THE SPIRITS IN PRISON 1 Peter 3:18-20
Most who uses this to prove the "spirit" is immortal believe the Protestant version that
lost souls go to Hell instantaneous at death; therefore, to them these disobedient spirits
that were destroyed in the time of Noah for being disobedient were not destroyed but are
now being tormented in Hell. If they were in Hell why did Christ go to these
disobedient spirits?
(1) For what purpose would Christ go into Hell and preach to only some that
were there? To save them? Can those in Hell ever be saved? The very ones who
believe there is a Hell and use this passage to prove the souls of the lost are alive in
Hell before they are raised from the dead and before they are judged also says no
that once a person is in Hell he or she can never get out, can never be saved.
(2) What message would He take them that can never get out of Hell; the time when
they could be saved was past therefore, the Gospel would do them no good? Would He
go to raise a hope of release that could never be, or to taunt them?
1. It would mean that Christ was alive in the three days from His death unto His
resurrection; therefore, He was never dead and could not have been raised from
the dead.
2. It would mean that Christ did not die for our sins, therefore, we are still in our
sins. If the soul is immortal and cannot die, Christ gave only His earthly body for
our sins. He was as much alive in the three days His earthly body was in the grave
as He was before He came to earth and as He was after the resurrection of His
earthly body. THEREFORE, CHRIST COULD NOT HAVE DIED FOR OUR
SINS IF HE WERE NEVER DEAD. 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 is now, or had before He came to earth. There
would have been no difference in Christ when only His earthly body was in the
grave than there is now when He is in Heaven, or in the time before He came to
earth. If His death were not a real death, than what did God gave when He gives
His only Son? Just one human body for three days. Nothing more. According to
today's teaching there was no real sacrifice by God or Christ, no real death or
resurrection as He was not really and in truth dead. Nevertheless, He said, "I am
he that lives, and was dead" [Revelation 1:18].
3. It would mean that those who were disobedient in the days of Noah were more
important than all others who were disobedient, and that Christ went into Hell to
preach unto them for those that say the soul is immortal and does not die, say the
lost go directly to "Hell" at death; therefore, Christ had to go into "Hell" to preach
to them. That these may have been given a second chance after death but all
others will not be. That God is a respecter of persons giving some a second
chance, but not to all.
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"Put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit" [1 Peter 3:18]. Notice carefully
what is said. This passage is used to prove there is an immoral spirit in all that can never
die. If it were speaking of an immoral spirit, this immortal spirit was "made alive,"
therefore it had to be dead. Made alive in the spirit AFTER He was put to death in the
flesh. If "made alive in the spirit" was not His resurrection, then the very thing they are
trying to prove is that the spirit cannot die, nevertheless, the spirit was dead and was
"made alive." IF HE WERE ALIVE AND NEVER DEAD, HE COULD NOT HAVE
BEEN "MADE ALIVE," BUT WOULD HAVE BEEN "KEPT ALIVE" OR
"PRESERVED ALIVE" AND THERE COULD HAVE BEEN NO RESURRECTION.
Made alive: "Quickened by the spirit" King James Version. "Made alive by the spirit"
New King James Version. Strong's word #2227 "made alive, give life, quicken."
If this preaching were by Christ in person, not by Christ through Noah, then the order
was:
1. Put to death
2. Quickened or made alive-His resurrection
3. Preached to the spirits in prison after His resurrection. Therefore, the preaching
would have been done after His resurrection, not before and would not prove that
His "soul" was alive in the three days before He was quickened or made alive.
To fit with today's theology Peter's order must be changed to:
1. Put to death
2. Preached to the spirits in prison in the three days before His resurrection
3. Quickened or made alive-His resurrection AFTER He had preached to the spirits
in prison. THE REASON THIS PASSAGE IS USED IS TO PROVE HIS SOUL
WAS ALIVE BEFORE HIS RESURRECTION, THAT IT WAS NEVER DEAD,
BUT THEY MUST CHANGE IT AND MAKE IT SAY CHRIST DID THE
PREACHING BEFORE HIS RESURRECTION. IF THEY DO NOT CHANGE
IT, IT DOES NOT PROVE WHAT THEY WANT IT TO. If this preaching were
by Christ during the three days He was in the grave, and if the prison were
somewhere other than Hell it would prove that there is somewhere like the
Catholic Purgatory but only for a few, and that most are not in it.
When was this preaching done? In the days of Noah, or in the three days Christ was
in the grave? This is the whole question. Was it:
[1] AFTER THEY WERE DEAD AND IN HELL WHEN THEY COULD NOT BE
SAVED? Those who believe the soul of the lost is transported instantly into Hell at death
do not believe any that are in Hell can be saved. According to their belief, all go to
Heaven or Hell at the moment of death, therefore, if Christ went and preached to them in
the three days He was in the grave, He would have had to preach to them either in
Heaven or Hell. Why would He go to Hell and preach to those who could not be saved?
Why do they use this verve? Is it not because they are desperate for any verse that will
prove their immortal soul that they will give a few a second chance after death to be
taken out of Hell if it would prove a part of a person is now immortal?
[2] OR WAS IT WHEN THEY WERE ALIVE AND COULD BE BENEFITED BY
THE PREACHING? Adam Clarke says He went and preached by Noah for one hundred
and twenty years. The preaching was done in the days of Noah through Noah, a preacher
of righteousness [2 Peter 2:5], not after the death of Christ. Noah warned them of the
destruction to come if they did not repent. How were they in prison? "His servants you
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are whom you obey" [Romans 6:16]. "For of whom a man is overcome, by this he is
enslaved" [2 Peter 19]. "To open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the dungeon, and
those who dwell in darkness from the prison" [Isaiah 42:7; also Isaiah 61:1; Psalm 142:7;
Luke 4:18; John 8:34-45]. Those who obey Satan are in prison to him. Those who would
not hear Christ preaching through Noah were in prison to Satan. "For we also once
were...enslaved to various lusts and pleasures" [Titus 3:3]. "For of whom a man is
overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage" [2 Peter 2:19]. "Then certain of
the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we would see a sign from you.
But he answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a
sign; and shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet: for as Jonah was
three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth" [Matthew 12:38-40]. If Jesus were in the
earth, the grave, from His death to His resurrection, how could He have gone to "Hell"
and preached to those in it? I do not think anyone believes "Hell" is in the grave, but the
grave is where Jesus was at onto His resurrection.
Adam Clarke: “‘He went and preached’ By the ministry of Noah, one hundred and twenty years.
Unto the spirits in prison. The inhabitants of the antediluvian world, who, having been disobedient,
and convicted of the most flagrant transgressions against God, were sentenced by his just law to
destruction. But their punishment was delayed to see if they would repent; and the long-suffering of
God waited one hundred and twenty years, which were granted to them for this purpose; during
which time, as criminals tried and convicted, they are represented as being in prison - detained under
the arrest of Divine justice, which waited either for their repentance or the expiration of the respite,
that the punishment pronounced might be inflicted” Clarke’s Commentary on 1 Peter 3:18-20.
Dillard Thurman: Gospel Minutes April 2, 1990, West Freeway church of Christ "Notice carefully
what is said. Jesus was put to death in the flesh, and died like any mortal man. But He was quickened,
or made alive by the Spirit. By what Spirit? By the same Spirit by which He once preached to spirits
imprisoned by sin and Satan in the days of Noah! When did this happen? The passage plainly states it:
'When once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.' The word 'when' is an adverb of
time that tells when the action took place: in the days of Noah! The idea of the Son of God being off
on a preaching junket for the three days and nights that His body was in the tomb is utterly foreign to
any Bible teaching! If false doctrines had not first brought forth this fanciful idea, this passage would
not have been twisted to support the error."
[2]. "FOR THE BODY APART FROM THE SPIRIT IS DEAD"
James 2:26
WHAT DOES THIS PASSAGE TEACH US ABOUT THE SPIRIT? Only that the
body is dead without it. Nothing more. To teach anything more than this from this
passage it must be read into it.
WHAT THIS PASSAGE DOES NOT SAY.
• It does not say the spirit is alive without the body, BUT THIS IS WHAT THEY
THINK IS PROVED BY IT.
• It does not say the spirit is an "immaterial, invisible part of man" that will live
without the body after the body is dead.
• It does not say the spirit, and the soul are both the same thing, but this passage is
used repeatedly to prove the "soul" is immortal. There could not be a better
example of adding to God's word then this passage when it is used to teach
mankind has an immortal soul, for it says nothing about a soul, Hell, torment,
Heaven, or eternal life but all these are read into it.
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• HOW IS THIS PASSAGE USED? IT IS CHANGED FROM SAYING "THE
BODY APART FROM THE SPIRIT IS DEAD" TO "THE