Immortality or Resurrection - William West (best pdf ebook reader for android TXT) 📗

are in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man has done nothing amiss’. And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’. And he said unto him, ‘Truly I say unto you, to-day you shall be with me in Paradise’’" [Luke 23:33-38].
• One robber railed on Christ by saying, "Are not you the Christ? Save yourself and us."
• The other robber by saying, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom." What would “remember me when” mean to the Jews of that day; they understood the kingdom to be an earthly kingdom of Israel, the Old Testament kingdom restored. The thief know he was dying and was speaking to a person that he could see was dying, mocking Him about coming into His kingdom when He was dying. Neither of the robbers thought this dying man was the Christ or that He would come into a kingdom. Saying to someone whom he knows would soon be dead, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom" was nothing more than mockery just as the sign the thief could see over His head saying "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS" was mockery. Neither of the robbers would have understood the messianic kingdom the Jews were looking for to be anything but a physical kingdom of Israel with an earthly king.
CHRIST DID NOT GO TO PARADISE THAT DAY. When will anyone go to paradise or Heaven? Not unto after the judgment. We must wait for the resurrection and judgment before we will go to heaven. Did Christ tell the theft that he would be in Heaven that day? Jesus did not go to paradise that day. He had said He would be in the heart of the earth [grave] for three days [Matthew 12:40]; “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.” It was on Friday evening just before the beginning of the Sabbath day when Christ told the robber that he would be with Him in Paradise, but on Sunday morning He said, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father" [John 20:17]. Paul said Christ died, was buried, and was raised on the third day [1 Corinthians 15:3-4; see Matthew 12:40]. He was dead and in the grave unto the third day when the Father raised Him. If Christ were alive and went to Heaven the day he died, what was His resurrection on the third day? It would be nothing but mockery to say He was raised from the dead when He was alive in Heaven. Christ said, "No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man" [John 3:13]. If Moses did not ascend into Heaven at his death and had not ascended at the time Christ spoke this how did the robber ascend to Heaven if Moses and David did not? In an attempt to make a passage say someone went to Heaven at death the thief has been made to be better than Moses and David? Where was Christ from His death to His resurrection? "He foreseeing this spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God raise up" [Acts 2:31-32]. This is from Psalm 16:10, "Because you will not abandon me to the grave (sheol)" New International Version.
WHICH WAY DO THEY SEND CHRIST? The advocates of an immortal soul say Christ went both up and down at His death.
• In THE SPIRITS IN PRISON 1 Peter 3:18-20 the advocates of an immortal soul say Christ went down to Hell to preach to the spirits in prison at His death.
• In THE ROBBER Luke 23:43 the advocates of an immortal soul say He went up to Heaven at His death. They say one place one time and another place another time.
• The advocates of an immortal soul send Christ both down to Hell to preach to spirits in prison AND up to Heaven with the robber, both places at the same time.
WHAT IS NOT SAID: Nothing is said about the robber believing after he had "reproached him." This is added by those who say they do not believe in adding to the word of God. I have been told the robber "could have" heard Christ before this. If he did, he did not believe for he was still a robber and even after he was on the cross he railed on Christ ("reproached him"). He was one of the many that could have heard Christ before this but if he had heard Christ he did not believe for he was one of the many who railed on Christ. Anyone can prove anything that they want to with a "could have."
Christ went to the grave that day, not Heaven. Both Christ and the robber were in hades - the grave - on "this day.”
THREE PROBLEMS
1. Christ did not go to Heaven that day.
2. It must be assumed that mankind now has immortality and will never die.
3. It must be assumed that all the saved go to Heaven at the moment of death, before and without the resurrection and judgment, none to sheol (the grave) and none to Abraham’s bosom.
4. It must be assumed that David did ascend into the heavens [Acts 2:34].
THE KING JAMES VERSION AND THE COMMA
The way it is worded in the Kings James Version makes Christ be asking the thief a question with the question mark left out and it ends the question with a period.
As it is in the Kings James Version and with the Old English changed to today English."
• "I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise."
• "I say unto you, To-day shall you be with me in paradise?"
Yet this question Christ asked is frequency used to prove Christ was telling the thief that they both would be together in Heaven that very day. Christ went to the grave that day. Where is Paradise? The only other uses of Paradise in the New Testament are:
[1] Paul was "caught up into paradise," which he says is in "the third heaven" [2 Corinthians 12:2-4].
[2] "To him that overcomes, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God" [Revelation 2:7]; the tree of life is in the New Jerusalem [See Revelation 21:1 to 22:5].
Many translations make Christ be telling the thief they both would be together in paradise (Heaven?) that day.
• Wycliffe New Testament: “And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise”
• English Standard Version: “And he said to him, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”
• Young's Literal Translation: "And Jesus said to him, Verily I say to thee, To-day with me thou shalt be in the paradise"
• New International Version: "Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise"
• New American Standard Bible: "And He said to him, Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise"
• English Standard Version: "And he said to him, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise"
• Amplified Bible: "And He answered him, Truly I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise"
• English Standard Version: "And he said to him, Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise"
• Darby Translation: "And Jesus said to him, Verily I say to thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." This Catholic Bible also makes Christ be asking the thief a question without using a question mark.
• Holman Christian Standard Bible: "And He said to him, I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise"
• New International Reader's Version: "Jesus answered him, What I'm about to tell you is true. Today you will be with me in paradise"
• Today's New International Version "Jesus answered him, Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise"
• New International Version - UK: "Jesus answered him, I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise"
• Marshall Parallel New Testament In Greek And English: "Truly thee I tell, Today with me thou will be in the paradise"
With the comma where it is in most translations, Christ answer to the mockery of the thief was that he would be with Him that day. That day Christ was in the grave, therefore, Christ told the thief that he would be in the grave that day. Telling the thief that he was going to die and be in the grave that day does not sound like an answer the thief would have received if he had truly repented and was forgiven.
If Christ were telling the thief that he would be with Him in Heaven it was not on that day; the comma, which is not in the Greek must be moved for both Christ and the thief went to the grave that day, not to Heaven. "I say unto you to-day, you shall you be with me in paradise." This would not make the being in paradise be on that day, not on the day of their death. No one goes to Heaven at death before the resurrection and judgment. If the thief truly did repent and by "paradise" Christ was telling the thief that he would be in Heaven with Him, the comma must be put after "today" for Christ or the thief did not go to Heaven that day.
The Greek, in which the New Testament was written, did not have chapters or punctuation. Men have added the punctuation. The oldest manuscripts are all capitals, the words are not separated, and there is no punctuation. Cardinal Huge de Sancta Caro divided it into chapters in A. D. 1250. Robert Stevens divided the Bible was into verses about A. D. 1550. Manutius, a printer of Venice in A. D. 1490, invented the comma. It was put in the King James Version in A. D. 1611, but it was not used by Luke before it was invented, therefore, there was no comma in Luke 23:43. There was not a comma in the whole New Testament. Men put all the punctuation marks in the Bible we use today, not God. The translators could sometimes make it say what was consistent with their beliefs by the way they used punctuation. Move the comma, which was not invented unto 1490 and was added by uninspired men in the King James Version by man in A. D. 1611, and it does not say when they would be in paradise.
• VERILYISAYUNTOYOUTODAYYOUSHALLBEWITHMEINPARADISE The oldest Greek manuscripts have all capitals letters with no separation between words and sentences, and no punctuation marks.
• VERILY.I.SAY.UNTO.YOU.TODAY.YOU.SHALL.BE.WITH.ME.IN.PARADISE
Dots were put into the Greek in the ninth century to separate the words. The dots and all later punctuation of all Greek texts, which has been added after the ninth century is entirely on human authority.
• “Verily I say unto you, ‘To-day you shall be with me in paradise.’”
• “Verily I say unto you today, ‘You shall be with me in paradise.’” The comma was invented in1490 and put in the Bible by men.
"This day" is a common expression in the Bible.