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

those who believe in Hell do not believe that a "soul" that has gone to Hell will
ever be taken out of it. If His soul [Hebrew-nehphesh; Greek-psukee] "was not left in
hades [the grave]," then His soul, the part of Him that cannot die, according to those who
say the soul is immortal, was in the grave [hades], IF NOT, IT COULD NOT HAVE
BEEN LEFT IN THE GRAVE OR TAKEN OUT OF THE GRAVE, IF HIS SOUL
WAS NEVER IN THE GRAVE IT WAS NEVER DEAD, THEREFORE, THIS
PASSAGES MAKES NO SENSE. IF, AS THE KING JAMES VERSION AND
MANY TEACH, CHRIST WAS ALIVE IN “HELL” HE WAS NEVER DEAD
AND THERE WAS NO RESURRECTION.
Hades in the passage
That has reference to death
(4) 1 Corinthians 15:55 "O death [thanatos], where is your sting; O grave [hades],
where is your victory?" It is so obvious that a place of torment after death is not what
Paul was speaking of that even the King James translators could not translate this into
Hell See Revelation 20:13-14 below. This is the only time in the King James Version that
hades is translated grave. The New American Standard and many others translate both
"thanatos" and "hades" into "death" only in this passage. "Death [thanatos] is swallowed
up in victory. O death [thanatos], where is your victory? O death [hades], where is your
sting? The sting of death [thanatos] is sin" [1 Corinthians 15:54-56]. They translate
"thanatos" into death many places, but this is the only time they translate "hades" into
death. Why the inconsistency? Was it not because translating either sheol or hades into
grave would not fit with their theology everywhere else? If death is only separation of an
immortal soul from God, the separated soul could not be in the grave; if it were, then it
could not be in Hell where many believe it to be.
This is believed by many to be a quote from Hosea 13:14 where the King James
Version translated "sheol" into "grave," not "death." "I will ransom them from the power
of the grave [sheol]; I will redeem them from death; O death, I will be your plagues; O
grave [sheol], I will be thy destruction." The whole chapter of Hosea 12 is about the
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nation of Israel; God redeeming the nation of Israel from captivity, restoring or
resurrecting the nation, not individual Jews being resurrected from the grave then or at
the second coming of Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:55 is speaking of the victory over death by
those who are in Christ at the resurrection. Neither Hosea 13:14 or 1 Corinthians 15:55
does not say anything about endless torment or what will happen to those who are not
saved.
Hades in the two passages
That has reference to the destruction of cities or nations
(5) Matthew 11:23 "And you, Capernaum, which are exalted unto heaven, shall be
brought down to HELL [grave-hades]: for if the mighty works, which have been done in
you, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." Capernaum, a city
to be brought down to the grave and remain no more just as Sodom did not remain.
(6) Luke 10:15 "And you, Capernaum, which are exalted to heaven, shall be thrust
down to HELL [grave-hades]." They were favored more than most cities by seeing and
hearing Christ "exalted unto heaven," but because of their unbelief they were brought
down to the grave. Capernaum ceased to exalt and was covered by sand of Galilee's
seashore, its grave. Not even those who believe in Hell believe cities will go to Heaven or
Hell, yet they use this passage to prove that lost souls of individuals will go to Hell just as
the King James translators sends Capernaum to Hell. Cities do cease to exalt [brought
down to hades-the grave]: as both Capernaum and Sodom have been. There is nothing
said about eternal torment of cities or nations. JUST AS CAPERNAUM WAS NEVER
LITERALLY IN HEAVEN, IT WAS NEVER LITERALLY IN "HELL."
"And you, Capernaum, which are [present tense] exalted to heaven, shall be [future
tense] be brought down to the grave." I know of no one who believes Capernaum, was at
the time Christ was speaking [present tense], was in Heaven with God, but would be
[future tense] brought down to Hell to be with Satan, yet this is what this passage would
have to be saying if it proved "Hell."
Albert Barnes, who believes in Hell, admits that in this passage Hell does not mean Hell. He said,
"This does not mean that all the people should go to hell; but that the city which had flourished
so prosperously, should lose its prosperity, and occupy the lowest place among cities. The word
hell is used here, not to denote a place of punishment in the future world, but a state of
desolation and destruction as a city" Note on Matthew 11:23.
Hades in the symbolic passages
(7) Luke 16:23 "And in HELL [grave-hades] he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and
seeing Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." This is one of the first passages
many use to prove there is torment after death. See THE INTERMEDIATE BOSOM in
chapter eight for notes on this parable.
(8) Revelation 1:18 "I am he that lives and was dead; and behold, I am alive for
evermore, Amen: and have the keys of HELL [grave-hades] and of death." Many do not
believe Hell will exist unto after the judgment, but they make Him be saying He has the
keys to a place that does not yet exist.
What this passage does not and does say:
• If it exists now or will not exist unto after the judgment, most all who believe in
Hell do not believe Christ will use the keys to open Hell and take out any who are
in it. They believe that once a person is in Hell he is there forever.
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• It does say Christ will use the keys to take all out of the grave [hades] at the
resurrection and judgment day.
(9) Revelation 6:8 "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that set on
him was Death, and HELL [grave-hades] followed with him. And power was given unto
them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with
death, and with the beasts of the earth." This is a symbolic passage, but to prove Hell it is
taken out of context and made literal, but when they do they have Hell, which they
believe to be a place of torment after death, killing the living before their death, which is
definitely not what they believe. If those in Hell will be killed with the sword and with
hunger, how can they be tormented forever? If this were made literal, then death and Hell
would have power over only one fourth of mankind. Will the other three fourths live
forever without dying and never go to Hell? If so, then they had no need of the death of
Christ to save them from death or Hell. EVEN FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN HELL
IT MUST BE DIFFICULT TO IMAGINE DEATH LITERALLY RIDING ON A
HORSE, AND HELL AND A PLACE LITERALLY FOLLOWING THE HORSE; but
without badly mistranslating there is nothing about Hell in Revelation 6:8. The New King
James Version has hades, not Hell, following death; which do you believe, Hell or hades?
(10) Revelation 20:13 "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and
HELL [hades-footnote in King James Version says "the grave"] delivered up the dead
which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." Will the
"Hell" that is taught today give up those who are in it? If made literal, this also would not
be today's theology; those in this “Hell” are dead, not alive in torment. This passage
makes a distinction between the dead in the sea and the dead in the grave [hades]. If
hades were a place where all the dead go, the good to one side of hades (Abraham's
bosom) and the lost to the other side of hades, all the dead would be in hades and none in
the sea. Neither the Catholics or Protestant versions of Hell believe any will come out of
Hell, but the way the King James Version is translated ALL that are in Hell do come out
of Hell when this is made literal, and many do make it literal when they are trying to
prove Hell is real.
(11) Revelation 20:14 "And death and HELL [grave-hades] were cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second death." NEITHER DO THEY BELIEVE HELL WILL BE CAST
INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE. THEY BELIEVE HELL IS THE LAKE OF FIRE. If it
were, then the King James Version would have Hell being cast into Hell, but John says it
is death and the grave that are being cast into the lake of fire, not Hell cast into Hell. THE
GRAVE, NOT HELL, WILL DELIVER UP THE DEAD AT THE COMING OF
CHRIST. The victory of death over mankind will have ended [See I Corinthians 15:55
above]. MOST ALL THAT USE THIS MISTRANSLATION IN THE KING JAMES
VERSION DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THE KING JAMES VERSION SAYS, THAT
HELL WILL DELIVER UP THOSE IN IT, FOR IF IT DID THEIR HELL WOULD
NOT BE ETERNAL. This mistranslation in the King James Version makes Hell end at
the resurrection.
Dr. George Campbell: "It is very [interesting] that neither in the Septuagint version of the Old
Testament, nor in the New, does the word hades convey the meaning which the present English
word hell, in the Christian usage, always conveys to our minds" Diss. vi., Page 181.
Conscious in sheol-hades or Conscious in Heaven or Hell; some believes and teach
two contradictory beliefs at the same time.
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1. CONSCIOUS IN SHEOL-HADES. A disembodied soul in sheol that will be
transmigrated back to its earthly body at the judgment. They believe sheol to be
under the Earth or who knows where, but anyone in sheol is not in Heaven or
Hell.
2. OR CONSCIOUS IN HEAVEN OR HELL. A living soul in Heaven or Hell,
which will leave there and come back to Earth for judgment, then go back to
Heaven or Hell after the judgment. If the dead are in Heaven or Hell, they are not
in sheol.
Both cannot be right, but I have heard preachers say one at one time, then the other at
another time. Did they just forget what they had said the first time? If they prove one,
they disprove the other. They spend much time and use many passages of scripture to
prove both. Which one do they believe? MANY THAT BELIEVE THE PROTESTANT
VERSION WORK HARD TO PROVE THERE IS CONSCIOUSNESS IN SHEOL BUT
WHY? IF THE LOST GO DIRECTLY TO HELL AND THE SAVED GO TO THEIR
ETERNAL HOME IN HEAVEN AT DEATH, THEN THEIR IMMORTAL SOULS
CANNOT BE IN SHEOL. THEY COULD NOT BE IN TWO PLACES AT THE SAME
TIME. IF THEY DID PROVE THE DEAD ARE ALIVE IN SHEOL, THEY WOULD
PROVE THAT THE DEAD ARE NOT IN HELL OR HEAVEN. ARE THEY TRYING
TO DISPROVE THEIR OWN BELIEF? HOW CAN THEY NOT SEE HOW
INCONSISTENT THEY ARE?
"Christians, when they speak of hell, adopt the phraseology used about Sheol and Hades rather
than Gehenna, though it is contended that Gehenna is the word which signifies the place of
endless misery. I shall explain what I mean. For example, it is evident, from an inspection of the
passages in which Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna occur, that Gehenna for depth is never contrasted
with heaven for height, like Sheol and Hades. Nor do we read of persons going down to
Gehenna; of