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

which will always be on this earth. It seems to be
OK to not believe in Christ as being equal with God but not OK not to believe God to be
crueler than any other being and will torment most forever.
237
[11] REALIZED ESCHATOLOGY - THE A. D. 70 VERSION OF HELL: I have
found it difficult to pen down just what they believe. According to Samuel G. Dawson in
"Jesus' Teaching On Hell." Hell is something the Catholic Church invented to scare
people into obedience. They seem to believe that death is the end of those who are not
faithful, for them there will never be a resurrection. The second coming of Jesus was in
A. D. 70, the resurrection day was also in A. D. 70 when the Old Testament Saints where
resurrected, no judgment day to come, no day that the earth will end. All the Old
Testament faithful was resurrected in A. D. 70 which they believe to have been the
second coming of Christ and after that time each person judgment day, the second death
of the lost and the resurrection to eternal life is at the moment of death. This seems to be
their general teaching, but I am sure that are many variations within Realized
Eschatology.
[12] REPHAIM VERSION OF HELL - ONE OF THE PROTESTANT
VERSIONS OF HELL: A version of Hell that is Protestant, but in no way can it be
called orthodox or traditional although most who believe it call themselves both orthodox
and traditional. God, angels, and man (after death) are disembodied energy being capable
of thought and speech without the need of a body. This version of Hell is Protestant; as
far as I have been able to find no one teaches it but those who are called orthodox
Protestants, but it cannot be called traditional or orthodox. Rephaim is in the Hebrew Old
Testament eight times and is translated dead seven times and deceased one time in the
King James Version; it is defined in some Lexicons as "departed spirits," "shades,"
"shadows," "ghosts," "name of the dead in sheol."
FIVE OF THE EIGHT ARE IN THE POETICAL BOOKS.
1. Job 26:5-6 "They that are deceased (rephaim) tremble beneath the waters and the
inhabitants thereof. Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon ("Destruction" New
International Version) has no covering."
2. Psalms 88:10-12 "Will you show wonders to the dead (rephaim)? Shall they that
are deceased arise and praise you? Shall your loving kindness be declared in the
grave? Or your faithfulness in destruction?"
3. Proverbs 2:18-19 "For her ("adulteress" New American Standard Version) house
sinks down to death, and her tracks lead to the dead; (rephaim) none who go to
her return again, neither do they reach the paths of life."
4. Proverbs 9:18-19 "But he knows not that the dead (rephaim) are there; that her
(the foolish woman or adulteress) guests are in the depths of Sheol."
5. Proverbs 21:16 "The man that wandered out of the way of understanding shall
rest in the assembly of the dead (rephaim)."
All five refer to the lost and speak of their death, deceased, destruction, dead, not
attaining unto the paths of life, resting with the dead. The dead are simply spoken of as
being dead. Nothing is said about them being alive some other place, nothing about a soul
or a spirit that lives after the death of the body. THERE IS NOTHING IN ANY OF THE
FIVE PASSAGES ABOVE THAT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ANYONE BEING
ALIVE IN HEAVEN, HELL, OR ABRAHAM'S BOSOM AT ANY TIME, NOT
BEFORE OR AFTER THE JUDGMENT, BUT THEY AR AN UNDENIBLE
CONDICTION TO THE ORTHEDEX DOCTRINE OF GOING TO HEAVEN OR
HELL AT DEATH.
THREE OF THE EIGHT ARE IN ISAIAH
238
This is a book of many symbols, much like Revelation
(1) Isaiah 14:9-11 "Sheol from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming:
it rises up the dead (rephaim) for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up
from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall answer and say unto you,
Have you also become weak as we: have you become like unto us? Your pomp is brought
down to Sheol, and the noise of your viols: the worm is spread under you, and worms
cover you." This is a description of the fall of Babylon and has nothing to do with a part
of a person after death. In this metaphor the past dead nations, nations that no longer
existed were surprised to see a nation as strong as Babylon joining them. If the dead were
alive, why would the dead in sheol be surprised to see another person join them when all
that die would join them? It would make no sense if they were surprised to see anyone
joining them. Even the trees join in with the dead nations and talk [14:8]. Only in a
metaphor can past nations that are dead, that no longer exist, and trees talk [Isaiah 14:8].
In this passage Rephaim (one word) is translated:
• “The dead” (two words) in both the King James and the New King James
• “The spirits of the dead” (five words from one word) in the New American
Standard even though “ruach” (spirit) is not in the Hebrew they added it
• “The spirits of the departed” (five words from one word) in the New
International Version. It also added spirits even though it is not in the Hebrew
• “The ancient dead” (three words from one word) in the Revised English Bible
even though there is not a word in the Hebrew in this passage that is even
remotely kin to “ancient”
(2) Isaiah 26:14 "They [the Nations] are dead (rephaim), they shall not live; they are
deceased, they shall not rise; therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and made
all remembrance of them to perish." This is about nations that did not remember God. It
has nothing to do with an "immaterial, invisible part of man" after death. It is hard to
believe this passage is used to prove that a person has an immortal immaterial, invisible
part of a person for if it were speaking of this part of a person then that part of a person is
dead, deceased, shall not rise (no resurrection), and all remembrance of them has been
made to perish. If this were an immortal soul, it would be nothing like the immoral soul
of today's theology, it would teach there is no life or resurrection after death but some use
this passage anyway to prove that there is life for all after dead in either Heaven or Hell.
(3) Isaiah 26:19 "Your dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing,
you that dwell in the dust; for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast
forth the dead (rephaim)." The nation that was dead, they were not a nation but slaves in
bondage to another nation because they had left God, now they had repented and was
being restored as a nation.
WHAT DO MANY BELIEVE? These passages are used to prove all, both the good
and the evil souls are "rephaim." Many who believe the dead go immediately to Heaven
or Hell at death use it although it would make the dead not be in Heaven or Hell, as they
believe the immaterial, invisible part of a person will be after death.
1. The Protestant version is that the dead are now in Heaven or Hell.
2. The after judgment version is that the dead are now in hades with some on the
good side of hades and some on the bad side, but they use these passages and
have the dead being in three places simultaneously.
239
3. The rephaim version is that both the good and the bad are together and exist only
as shades or shadows not in Heaven or Hell. Yet, those who believe the Protestant
version or the newer after judgment version of Hell sometimes use "rephaim" to
prove "Hell" even though it would put all the dead together and not where they
believe them to be, AND DEFINITELY NOTHING LIKE THE IMMORTAL
SOUL OF TODAY'S THEOLOGY. The attack on Hell that is coming from many
in most all churches is forcing them to take views not many Christians believe. It
seems to be used only by those who are trying to prove a person has an immortal
soul but are hard pushed to find any passage to prove it.
Which way do they go? "Rephaim" is used in both the Protestant and the after
judgment versions of Hell in a way that does not agree with what they believe and teach;
both believe that the saved will be in their eternal home with Christ in Heaven at death or
comforted in Abraham's bosom; but both step away from their belief and say at death
both the saved and unsaved are together, and both have only a weak shadowy existence
and will have this shadowy existence unto the resurrection. Even if we did grant that
rephaim is the "immaterial, invisible part of man" after death, it would contradict their
beliefs about the "soul" being in Heaven, Hell, or Abraham's bosom. It makes all the dead
be "shades" "shadows." Anyway you look at it, the eight times rephaim is used does more
to refute the belief of going to Heaven or Abraham's bosom at death than it does to
support them. Are they so desperately in need of proof that a person has an immaterial,
invisible part that can never die that they reach for anything even if it is far from what
they believe and want to find?
Robert Morey, an orthodox Protestant, has written one of the most accepted and used
books in defense of the doctrine of Hell that has come out in recent years. In his book he
makes an argument for Hell which I think shows just how desperate he is for any kind of
proof. In "Death And The Afterlife," On page 79 he says FROM THE MEANING OF
REPHAIM, WHEN THE BODY DIES, MAN ENTERS A NEW KIND OF
EXISTENCE. HE THEN WILL EXIST AS A SPIRIT CREATURE AND
EXPERIENCES WHAT ANGELS AND OTHER SPIRITS EXPERIENCE. JUST AS
ANGELS ARE DISINCARNATE ENERGY BEINGS AND ARE COMPOSED ONLY
OF MIND OR MENTAL ENERGY AND ARE CAPABLE OF THOUGHT AND
SPEECH WITHOUT THE NEED OF AN EARTHLY BODY, WHEN MAN DIES, HE
BECOMES A DISEMBODIED ENERGY BEING AND IS CAPABLE OF THOUGHT
AND SPEECH WITHOUT THE NEED OF A BODY. This is nothing more than a
desperate attempt to prove that the "immaterial, invisible part of man" has some
kind of life somewhere before and without the resurrection. NOT A ONE OF THE
EIGHT PASSAGES REPHAIM IS USED IN SAYS ANYTHING ABOUT A
REPHAIM BEING LIKE GOD AND ANGELS. He must have made that up out of thin
air and hoped you would not see it is not in any of the eight passages. I wonder if he sees
how low he is making God if God were like the rephaim in the eight passages? That he is
making God be only "shades," "shadows," "ghosts," "name of the dead in sheol."
1. HE HAS MADE GOD BE NOTHING MORE THAN AN "ENERGY BEING,"
NOTHING MORE THAN MENTAL THOUGHTS WITH NO SUBSTANCE.
He has made God, angels, and mankind after the judgment to be nothing more
than mental thoughts; although he did not mention God, he has reduced God to
being nothing more than thoughts, an "energy being." Morey's God has no body,
240
no substance of any kind; therefore, Morey's Heaven can exist only in the mind of
God. It cannot be a real place.
2. HE HAS MADE GOD WEAK. He has made, man and angels be disembodied
energy being capable of thought and speech