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

doctrine of hell, which takes away our resurrection and hope of salvation?
WHAT THE DEAD DO NOT DO?
1. There is no activity (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
2. They do not have plan (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
3. They have no wisdom (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
4. Their bed is in darkness (Job 17:13)
5. They do not mention God (Psalms 6:5)
6. They give God no thanks (Psalms 6:5)
7. They have no thoughts (Psalms 146:4)
8. They know nothing (Ecclesiastes 9:5)
9. The wicked are silent, no speech (Ps. 31:17)
What do the dead do, think, and know? Nothing. Does anyone think this is a picture of Heaven or Hell? Without the resurrection the dead would never know anything after death (1 Corinthians 15:12-22).
Unwilling to accept god's word: Inspired writers speak often about death being a sleep, and about its unconscious nature. "His breath goes forth, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalms 146:4). If Solomon had said, "Their love, as their hatred and their envy will continue...for there is work, and device, and knowledge, and wisdom, in Sheol, whither you go" (Ecclesiastes 9:5-10), then those who teach a "immaterial, invisible part of man" is alive from our death unto the resurrection, could rightly say this ends all debate on this subject. But, when it is put the way God inspired it; They reject it. If you try for the rest of your life, you would never be able to say any stronger than Solomon that there is nothing after death unto the resurrection. Unconditional immorality must have knowledge in sheol, the grave, and therefore, many plain statements that there is no knowledge in the grave must be rejected, and many plain statements that death is a sleep must be rejected. See Isaiah 38:18-19; Psalms 115:17; 6:5; John 11:11-14; Daniel 12:1-2; Job 14:12-15; 1 Corinthians 15:20.
Some say that Ecclesiastes is the view of those in the world, the way they see life when God is left out, but it is not the way a child of God sees life. Ecclesiastes has statements that are so conductivity to the soul being immortal that many try to make the whole book not be the truth but it is only "life...viewed from the perspective where God is left out." Because it was conductivity to his belief that salvation is by faith only without works Calvin did with the book of James the same as many do to Ecclesiastes. There is much in Ecclesiastes that cannot be said to be the way those in the world look at life (see Ecclesiastes 12:1, 12:13 and many other statements throughout the book) but to do away with these statements, they are willing to do away with all. If Ecclesiastes is "life...viewed from the perspective where God is left out" why do they not use it that way when they use Ecclesiastes 12:7 to prove the "soul" is immortal?
Death that never dies! The living dead! The undead dead! If this sounds like something out of a horror film, it is the teaching of many about some deathless something which is an "immaterial, invisible part of man." If there is a "part of man" that can never die, the lost can never be dead; common sense tells you that an immortal being can never die would have no need of a savior to die in its place to keep it from dying. Death is not life whether good or bad. To die is not to live. There cannot be life after death without a resurrection that ends the death.
"If a man die, shall he live again?" Job 14:14 must be changed to read, "When a man dies, he does not die but continues to live." It must be changed from a question "shall he live again" to a statement "he continues to live," and "man" must be changed to only an "immaterial, invisible part of a person” that continues to live after the other part of him or her is dead. If Job's "soul" were not going to die, but go to Heaven just as soon as the body was dead, this passage, just as many others, would make no sense.
FIRST RESURRECTION-SECOND DEATH
"He that over comes shall not be hurt of the second death" (Revelation 2:11, 20:6). The first resurrection is when a person is "born anew...born of the water and the Spirit" (John 3:3-5). "And you did he make alive when you were dead...made us alive together with Christ (by grace have you been saved), and raised us up with him" (Ephesians 2:1-6; Galatians 2:18-19; 3:1). The first resurrection is when, "We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead" (Romans 6:3-4). "And you did he make alive...even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ...and raised us up with him" (Ephesians 2:1-6). "I say unto you, the hour comes, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25).
"There are only two alternatives, the crown of life-eternal life-or the second death" Homer Hailey, Revelation, Page 128, Baker Book House. It is life or death, not life in Heaven or life in Hell. Death is real.
• "But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead...for he raised us from the dead along with Christ" (Ephesians 2:4 New Living Bible).
• "But God, rich in mercy, for the great love he bore us, brought us to life with Christ...He raised us up" (Ephesians 2:4 New English Bible).
All that are in the grave, both saved and lost, will hear His voice and come forth at the resurrection. All will be raised for judgment. All who are born again, made alive by being raised with Christ through Baptism, and live faithful shall not be hurt of the second death after the judgment. Christ paid the wages of sin for them. All others will pay their own wages of sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). From this death there will never be a resurrection. The results will be eternal. An endless life of torment is not a second death; it is eternal life with torment. It bears no resemblance to a death. To feel pain, those in Hell would have to be just as alive as those in Heaven are. For an immortal, immaterial soul that cannot be dead to be forever alive and tormented in a literal lake of fire is so dissimilar to death that a person would be in desperate need to prove his or her theology to say an eternality of being alive in a like of fire is death.
I. D. Williamson, "Relative to the question, whether the lake that burns with fire and brimstone is to be understood literally or figuratively, I have little to say. During the dark ages, it might have been necessary to discuss that question; but the day has passed when any man, claiming even a tolerable share of theological knowledge, would risk his reputation, as a man of sane mind, in an attempt to maintain the existence of a real lake of literal fire and brimstone, in which immortal and immaterial spirits are to be burned. It is a figure used to represent a reality, and this reality is the second death." "An Examination Of The Doctrine Of Endless Punishment."
"The Second Death" is used four times, all in Revelation.
1. He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death (Revelation 2:11). The saved will not have a part in the second death. Only the lost.
2. Those who are buried and raised with Christ (Romans 6) in the first resurrection, "Over these the second death has no power" (Revelation 20:6).
3. Death and hades, and any not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire; which is the second death. All three come to the same end. All three end in death (Revelation 20:14-15).
4. He that overcomes shall inherit and be God's son, but for all others, "Their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). No ransom has been offered for the second death. It is forever.
SECOND DEATH
IN PLAIN UNSYMBOLIC LANGUAGE
"There remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:27). For the lost (1) judgment then (2) devour in the lake of fire, which is the second death. Not as it is preached today (1) judgment (2) then an eternal life of torment in Hell forever but never devoured, or as preached by many an eternal life in Hell at death before and without the resurrection and judgment day.
"IF YOU LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YOU SHALL DIE" “For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die (apothncesko); but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). All mankind, even the faithful, have been dying the first death since the sin of Adam, this is not a reference to the first death but the second when only those who live according to the flesh will die. Paul did not say, "If you live after the flesh you are now spiritually dead," but "you shall die." Not your soul shall live forever separated from God, but "you shall die." Why do many that say they believe God but work hard to change His word? "But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live." It is you that will live or die, not a part of you that will always live and cannot die.
“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Not the death of the flesh which all die, but the second death.
“I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died (apothncesko). This is the bread which came down out of Heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die (apothncesko)” (John 6:48-50). All die the first death, even the apostles, but there will be a resurrection and those who eat of the bread that came down out of Heaven will not die the second death, all that do not eat of it will die the second death”
“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes on me though he die (apothncesko), yet shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes on me shall never die (apothncesko)” (John 11:25-26). Although those who believe will die the first death just as all do, they will be resurrected and never die the second death; those who do not believe will also die and be resurrected for judgment and will die the second death. “For the hour comes in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29). “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice