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

up" 1 Corinthians 15:55
• "Abolished is SEPARATION" 1 Corinthians 15:26. If separation is abolished or swallowed up, then where are the separated or dead going to be?
• "And the SEPARATED, shall be raised incorruptible" 1 Corinthians 15:52
• "By man came SEPARATION, by man came also the resurrection of the SEPARATED" 1 Corinthians 15:21
• "You proclaim the Lord's SEPARATION till he comes" 1 Corinthians 11:26
• "Whosoever lives and believes on me shall never SEPARATE" John 11:26
• "Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and SEPARATES" John 12:24
• "It is Christ Jesus that SEPARATED" Romans 8:24
• "The body is SEPARATED because of sin" Romans 8:10
• "Sin revived, and I SEPARATED" Romans 7:9
• "These all SEPARATED in faith" Hebrews 11:23
• "And I will kill her children with SEPARATION" Revelation 2:23
• "A name that you live, and are SEPARATED" Revelation 3:1
• "SEPARATION shall be on more" Revelation 21:4. Also "The last enemy that shall be abolished is SEPARATION" 1 Corinthians 15:26. This is the same as saying "separation shall be separated."
• "Though he DIE, yet shall he LIVE" John 11:25. This would be saying, "Though he be SEPARATED, yet shall he be UNSEPARATED."
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life” [Romans 6:23]. If “life” is literal then “death” in the same passage is just a literal. How could anyone know that just one word in a literal sentence is not just as literal as all the other words? If the death for sinner is not literal death, the life for believers is not literal life. The same persons that tell us death is not literally death tell us that death literally means death when it is used in reference to animals; dead animals are dead, not separated. Those who tell us that death means "separation" do not want to use "separation" when talking about the just dead or the death of animals, and definitely not when talking about the death of Jesus, for then it does not fit in with the theology that says death cannot mean death, therefore, death can only mean separation for the lost. But, according to this theology, death cannot mean separation for the saved. Death means separation only when they want it to mean separation.
If death is only eternal separation from God, that separation would be forever and death could never be destroy, the lost would always be separated for God and Paul was wrong in 1 Corinthians 15:54.
The same ones that tell us death is separation from God tell us that God will forever be with the lost in Hell tormenting them, that the lost can never be separated from God. Which time do they believe what they say? All life depends on God the giver of life; therefore, separated from God no one could have life, not life in Hell or any other place.
This theology makes nonsense of the Bible. The Bible speaks repeatedly of death and the wages of sin being death, but this theology tells us that everyone is born deathless. If no one is dead, the resurrection will not be from the dead to living, but just a change of address from the living who are separated to the living who are unseparated.
"Spiritual death" and "death is a separation" are not Biblical expressions. They are interpretations. They are additions used to teach what man wants to hear, not what the Bible teaches. Death and separation are different words in both the Hebrew and the Greek and have different meanings just as they do in English. When someone dies we say that person is dead, not that person is separated.
How can death be a separation of the body and soul when the soul (a living being, person) is the earthly body that is in the image of Adam? 1 Corinthians 15:48-50: It is the image of Adam, the soul, a living being that is flesh and blood and cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
Is there life without God? If death is life separated from God, then mankind can live without God, and life can exist that is not sustained by God. But, the truth is the dead can never be separated from God if they have eternal life with torment it would be God keeping them alive and doing the tormenting. There could be absolutely no existence if one is separated from God for there can be no life without God, and without life there can be no torment. If any have life in Hell, God must be in Hell with them giving them this life; and He must be there to do the tormenting, for if He were not, there would be no life and no torment. To be separate from God can only mean to be nowhere. If a person can exist separated from God, that person is self-existing. They are a God for only a God can be self-existing, therefore, according to today's theology, all the lost who are separated from God are self-existing Gods. How far will they go to prove "Hell"?
The King James Version puts God in Hell. "If I make my bed in Hell behold thou art there" (Psalms 139:8). If those in Hell are separated from God, then God cannot be in Hell but by its mistranslation to put Hell in the Bible the King James Version says that God is in Hell. Did they think God has forever given the lost to Satan to do with them what he wants to? Will Satan have his own kingdom where he is in total control, which will have more in it than God's kingdom? He will if the dead are separated from God and God is not in Hell with them. If there were a Hell, which way do they want it? (1) Either God is in Hell doing the tormenting and sustaining the life they have and they are not separated from Him; (2) or God is not in Hell and the lost are separated from Him and He is not doing the tormenting or sustaining the life they have. It cannot be both ways. Today's theology makes many problems. Where did the concept come from that there is any life when one is separated from God, the source of all life? It is not a matter of eternal life with Christ or eternal life separated from Christ, for there is no life separated or apart from Christ. A sinner does not have any kind of immortal life. Only those in Christ will have it.
If death is "separation" of a soul from the earthly body and not a real death, then the resurrection could only be the return and reuniting of the soul to the earthly body and they must forever be together or the resurrection would not be forever. If all earthly bodies end at the end of this earth, then death (separation) of the saved will last forever; the soul would be forever separated from the earthly body, which would not exist. But those who teach death is separation only want death to be separation when death is a soul that is alive but separated from God, all other times death is death; death means eternal life part of the time and death means death part of the time.
Campbell said, "Every word not specially explained or defined in a particular sense by any standard writer of any particular age and country, is to be taken in the current or commonly received signification of that country and age in which the writer lived and wrote." Alexander Campbell, Christian System, Page 3.
Theological meaning of words came about after the New Testament. Both the Old Testament and New Testament use the words as they were used by those to whom God was speaking.
Did God say one thing, but mean something different from what He said? If so, there is no need for us to read the Bible for no one could know that God used "death" to mean "separated but alive" without a revelation from God, or someone who is inspired to tell us. Who was the inspired person that told us "death" means "separated but alive?" If no inspired person did tell us, many preach that which they have no way of knowing, for they would have no revelation to tell them that when God said death that He really intended to say separated but alive.
Summary: If, as some teach, that Hell is the punishment for sin, then torment, not separation or death is "the wages of sin." torment, not separation, is made to be the thing they call death, but those who say death is separation do not seem to see they are teaching two completely different doctrines at the same time. (1) Death is an eternal life of torment with God doing the tormenting, and (2) death is eternal life separated from God. Most that believe unconditional immortality do not think of the lost as really being separated from god but of God being where the lost are and tormenting them forever. They say separation, but that is only an attempt to take death out of the Bible when they actuality think and teach God is the one who will be where the lost are and will be the one who will be eternally tormenting them. They do not really believe separation from God, as if there could be life any place where God is not, is the wages of sin or that the sinner is really forever separated from God. They seem to be somewhat confused for they say death is separation from God and "a loss of well being," but tell those who grieve at funerals that their dead loved ones are not separated from God but are in Heaven with Him, and their well being is now much better than it was before death. They are going both ways simultaneously, they say for the lost death is eternal life with torment, and for the saved death is eternal life in Heaven. If they were right, then for both the lost and the saved, death is really life for there cannot be death to an immortal soul that is not subject to death, therefore, cannot die. Death must be changed to be eternal life for both the saved and the lost. But in their attempt to do away with death, they are driven to say death is life separation from God but what they really believe is that death is not death but eternal life being tormented by God.
John 3:36: "But, he that obeyed not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Implied: he shall see death, the opposite of life. You are alive, or you are dead, no in between. Will those in Hell that cannot die have no life? If they "shall not see life" how can they be alive to be tormented when they are in Hell? Can a rock that does "not see life" be tormented? "Shall not see life" is not to be alive anywhere, not to be alive in Hell. How much clearer could Jesus have possibly have been, how much clearer could He have said whoever rejects Him shall not see life, not see an eternal life of torment?
Everlasting life or everlasting destruction Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate