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

only part of him that will ever be in Heaven and it is already there, then there could not be a resurrection of the dead for this part of a person would not be dead. The resurrection is at the coming of Christ; if those who have died in Christ are alive in Heaven, some for two thousand years or more, what would be the point of the second coming of Christ to receive them unto Himself [John 14:3]. Would it not be ridiculous for Christ to come to Earth for His people when they had been with Him in Heaven, some for thousands of years? There would be nothing on earth to rise but the earthly body that will never be in Heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:50 "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God."
There could not be a resurrection to immortal life if a person now has immortal life; the only part of them that would be in Heaven would just go on living. Can those who are not asleep wake up? Dying has been made into a translation to another kind of life, not a death. Death has been made into a doorway into a continuation of life without the resurrection in which the lost will be just as alive as the saved and have life that is just as eternal as the saved. The sting of death has been removed and death made into a victory, instantaneous life in Heaven, and in so doing has completely eliminated the need for a resurrection. Many believe the dead now have a spiritual body that now has incorruption [1 Corinthians 15:42], that it now has glory and power [1 Corinthians 15:43], and believe that it is now in the image of the heavenly [1 Corinthians 15:49]. If, as soon as they die, the dead are alive and they have the image of Christ, what more will they have or could want after the resurrection? Going instantly to Heaven at death makes David and all the Old Testament saints to have been saved and went to Heaven before and without any need of the death and resurrection of Christ.
What about those who would now be in Hell; are they to be resurrected; what could possibly be the purpose of their resurrection; if it is for judgment why are they now in Hell before they are judged? To judge them after they had been in Hell, some for thousands of years, would be nothing but pure mockery; it would make God to have sent them to Hell without a judgment, or be unsure of His first judgment and need a second one.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
IS AN UNSOLVABLE PROBLEM
For those who believe an undying soul is translated to Heaven or Hell at the moment of death without the resurrection at the second coming of Christ the resurrection is a problem for which they seem to have no solution. What do they think will be raised from the dead when Christ comes? What body will be raised; what will be done with the earthly body if it were raised from the dead? It cannot go to Heaven. What will happen to it after it is raised? A resurrection of those who are alive in Heaven or Hell is no resurrection at all. It is an empty show. It is an inescapable fact that according to the popular teaching, that there is no place for a resurrection in the popular view of today and no logical reason for it. A resurrection requires that the person raised be dead at the time of their resurrection, not more alive than when they were living. The Bible teaching of the resurrection of the dead at the coming of Christ cannot be reconciled with the heathen doctrine of an immortal soul. They are opposed to each other and both cannot be true.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD IS A FUTURE EVENT
[John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15]
If a person has an immortal soul that will never be dead and this "soul" is the only part of a person that will be in Heaven, the New Testament teaching of the resurrection has been destroyed. The Greek concept of the immortal soul assumes that an individual already posse's eternal life and the only question are, “where will this eternal life be spent?” It cannot be said that something that is now living can be raised from the dead. It is utterly impossible to harmonize the New Testament teaching of a resurrection with the pagan teaching of an immortal soul. If there is no resurrection, then all life ceases at death. "For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised: and if Christ has not been raised, you faith is vain; you are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable" [1 Corinthians 15:18]. There is no stronger way Paul could have said that there is no hope of life after death if there is no resurrection; that those who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished, that they are not now in Heaven before the resurrection. If they were in Heaven they could not have perished in any way.
1. Before the resurrection “they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished” if the dead are not raised.
2. Before the resurrection they that are fallen asleep in Christ have not perished for they are alive in Heaven before and without the resurrection.
Both cannot be true.
1. The resurrection of the dead
2. Destroys the theory of an immortal soul that is never dead, therefore, cannot be resurrected.
The two are incompatible.
1. An immortal soul makes the resurrection impossible.
2. The resurrection makes an immortal soul impossible.
Death is the end of life. The resurrection is a return to life. If death is life in another place, the resurrection is nothing more than a moving day from being alive at one place to being alive at another place, just a continuation of life in another place, not a real resurrection from the dead.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
IS THE ONLY HOPE OF LIFE AFTER DEATH
The Tible could not say any stronger than it does that an awakening from the dead by the resurrection is our only hope of life after death. Without the resurrection to life from death, there would be no existence after death. Being raised from the grave to immortality is the teaching of the New Testament [See 1 Corinthians 15; Matthew 22:31; Luke 14:14; John 11:25; Acts 17:31; Philippians 3:8-11; John 6:3-9]. Without the resurrection, "Your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished" [1 Corinthians 15:17-18]. "If from human motives I fought with will beasts at Ephesus, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" [1 Corinthians 15:32]; not tomorrow our immortal soul lives. Both reincarnation and the immoral soul from birth are a poor substitution for the truth. As clearly as life and death, the return of Jesus, the resurrection from the grave, and the Judgment Day are taught in the New Testament, how could anyone read the New Testament and believe reincarnation or that Plato's immortal soul is alive before and without the resurrection?
“If the dead are not raised” (1 Corinthians 15:16-19)
• “Neither has Christ been raise”
• “Your faith is vain (useless)”
• “You are yet in your sins”
• “They also that are fallen asleep (are dead) in Christ have perished.” If there is no resurrection of the dead there will be no hereafter for anyone who has died.
• “If we have only hoped in Christ I this life, we are of all men most pitiable” for there would be no resurrection, no judgment day, no second death, no eternal life
If we had a soul that will never be dead, it will always live independent of the resurrection; all would now have eternal life and will live forever without the death and resurrection of Christ. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul has replaced the resurrection of the dead and made the resurrection to be completely of no consequence, it has destroyed the need for the resurrection. It is a fact that the doctrine of an immortal soul that cannot die has pervaded over the doctrine of a resurrection in most churches. THERE COULD NOT BE A GOSPEL MORE DIFFERENT THAN THE GOSPEL OF AN IMMORTALTY SOUL THAT WILL NEVER DIE. Nothing is more plainly taught then there will be no life for anyone after death without the resurrection of the dead at the coming of Christ.
AFTER THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
IS THE ONLY TIME ANY OF THE DEAD
WILL BE ALIVE AND WITH THE LORD
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord" [1 Thessalonians 4:16-17].
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
IS WHEN THE JUST SHALL BE RECOMPENSED
NOT RECOMPENSED AT DEATH FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT DEAD
"For you shall be recompensed in the resurrection of the just" [Luke 14:14]. No one is recompensed by going instantly to Heaven at death before the resurrection and judgment. "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also" [John 14:3]. No one or no deathless part of a person will at the death of the body go to His Father's house in Heaven before He comes again. “Unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” [1 Peter 1:4-5].
THE INCONSISTENCY OF MAKING DEATH A FRIEND
According to the belief of many the dead are instantaneous translated to Heaven at death and are with God. Yet they do all they can, pray to God to keep the sick alive and out of Heaven, spend a great sum of money to keep them on earth, and grieve when they think a loved one goes to be with Jesus. It is obvious there is an inconsistency in what they claim to believe and what they really believe, it is obvious that they believe death to be an enemy, not a friend.
Christ was the first fruits [first one raised from the dead] afterward those who are Christ's shall be made alive [raised from the dead] at His coming [1 Corinthians 15:22-23]. The doctrine of an immortal soul that grow out of Plato's teaching makes Christ being the first fruits or firstborn from the dead not possible for it makes those who lived and died before His resurrection be alive before Him.
NEW BIBLE DICTIONARY: "The most startling characteristic of the first Christian preaching is its emphasis on the resurrection. The first preachers were sure that Christ had risen, and sure,