See . . . the Bible speaks of "death" differently than people do. God says the unsaved are dead. That when Adam ate from the tree he died. That Eternal Life is knowing God, and Jesus Christ. The body is dead because of sin.
Yes, two kinds of death: physical and spiritual. Do you know that "spiritual death" is in the present tense, while physical death is always future? That's why the soul is not immortal - because "the soul that sinneth
shall die", not live forever in immortal torment.
There are so many places that tell us that death is separation, physical death, when the soul separates from the body.
Genesis 2:7 KJV says the Soul exists only as a consequence of the union of the body and the breath of life. Sure, Rachel's "soul" was departing, but the word translated "soul" here refers not to "whole being", but to "life" as in "the life is in the blood". No where does the Bible say the soul is immortal...it says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die".
That's what people see, and it looks like a cessation, but the thing that ceases is activity in the flesh.
So, when Solomon, Job, David, etc., all said the dead know nothing, hear nothing, see nothing, feel nothing, remember nothing, praise nothing, plan nothing, have nothing to do with this life or return back to this life...they just figured we were too stupid to look down at a dude with a cannonball stuck in his chest and conclude, "Yep, that dude's not thinking about anything or planning anything or praising God or can feel that cannonball" so they wrote all that, right?
Or...
maybe they wrote that stuff because the first lie in Scripture is "thou shalt not
surely die...oh, you'll be dead alright, but not
surely dead...you'll still be alive
but you'll be like GOD" and every heathen religion has taught since time immemorial the very same "immortal soul" doctrine you're trying to justify as "Biblical" here, friend?
The person will still stand before God to be judged. What we call "life" hasn't ceased, only the appearance of life in this realm has ceased. We have passed from death into life in Jesus Christ, not as some "flowery jargon" to show how wonderful it is, but as a point of fact. An actual truth. I think we need a proper understanding of what life and death really are to go on to properly understand more. Much love!
There isn't a single verse in Scripture that says the soul has innate immortality, that the dead are conscious, that the wicked will be tormented forever. There are only a handful of verses that are twisted out of their context or isolated from other verses which clearly teach the soul is subject to death unless God grants it immortality.
"The Rich Man and Lazarus"?
It's a parable which interpretation has nothing to do with what happens when we die.
"Absent from the body and present with the Lord"?
Yes, Paul wanted -
but knew this would not be the case - to be absent from his mortal body, skip the "naked" and "unclothed" state of lying without a body in the grave dead awaiting the resurrection, and go straight to heaven with Jesus.
"Verily, I say unto thee....... today you will be with Me in paradise"?
Wrong, it's "Verily, I say unto thee today......you will be with me in paradise."
"tormented day and night...smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever"?
"Forever" - Gr. "Aionios" - "
duration", either undefined
but not endless or undefined because endless.
"fire is not quenched"?
Jeremiah said Jerusalem will be burned with fire "that shall not be quenched" but is the fire still burning? It means "no one will be able to put the fire out" but such fires are well able to burn themselves out.
"worm dieth not"?
Jesus and Isaiah were referring to the Valley of Gehenna, the city dump, where the fire was kept burning and the maggots fed continually on the unburned carcasses. Worms are not immortal.
The Immoral Soul crowd literally has five or six "proof" texts shown here, but prefers them over the many many other texts which flatly teach man is not mortal, the dead are not conscious, and the wicked will pass out of existence.
