For a person to have an immortal soul two kinds of life and two kinds of death must be read into Genesis 2 with one of the deaths not being a death at all, but eternal life with torment. Look in your concordance and you will see that both "Spiritual life" and "spiritual death" are read into this and are not in the Bible. It is argued that Adam did not die physically that day; therefore, "spiritual death" was Adam's penalty for eating. If this were true, why did he ever die a physical death, and how did physical death come into the world? In the Hebrew the penalty was "dying YOU shall die." It was the "living being" (Genesis 2:7) that begin dying that day, not an immortal soul that cannot die, but that soul was told that it would die anyway. Death came into the world through Adam and all die (1 Corinthians 15:22; Romans 5:12-21). Adam could not have understood that YOU was only his body, and that only a part of the YOU would die, but the rest of the YOU would not die, but a part of YOU would live forever in torment unless he had a revelation from God to tell him a part of him was deathless. There is no such revelation recorded in Genesis, although it is repeatedly read into it today. Adam's undying soul theory is based on the silence recorded in Genesis two and three.
Edward White: "No word is said either before the fall, or on the approach of the Judge, or afterwards, of Adam's possession of a deathless soul, when his mortal integer was broken up;—not a word is uttered in the divine comment on the curse, of an eternity of misery to be endured by the soul after dissolution of the Man. Indeed, that notion seems to deserve little else than the scorn, which Locke bestows upon it. It is the gratuitous invention of theologians who have forfeited the claim to be listened to in that matter by their perverse departure from the record.” Life In Christ, page 212, 1878.
A definition of death from the Bible, "Till YOU return to the ground, because from it YOU were taken; for YOU are dust, and to dust YOU shall return." Without the resurrection, all of “you” would forever remain dust. But, God's definition of death cannot be believed by any that believe the soul is immortal; they tell us that by, “You shall die,” God really means “spiritually death,” which is life separation from God, not death. Spiritual death is not to really die and return to the ground; according to the belief of many, spiritual death is not death. The tradition of many makes changing the Bible a must; how many times have we been told that “You shall surely die” means “your soul, not you shall surely die spiritually?”
Another use of "you shall surely die" (the same words in the Hebrew). Solomon told Shimei to "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither. For on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know you for certain that you shall surely die" (1 Kings 2:37). He did go out of Jerusalem, and he did die just as Adam did, but not on the very day he went out; their death was sealed and made certain on that day.
If Hell were Adam's sentence: "Die" must be changed into an eternal life for a part of Adam, but not his body. If Hell was Adam's sentence then God was unclear in His warning and unclear in the sentence. What was the penalty God give in Genesis 3:9-24?
How can anyone get Hell out of this sentence? There is not one word about an immortal, immaterial part of a person in it, and not one word about Hell or torment after death in it. There is nothing about anything after death in it. The penalty for eating of the forbidden tree ended when they returned to the ground.
John Locke: "It seems a strange way of understanding a law which requires the plainest and direct words, that by death should be meant eternal life in misery...I must confess that by death, here, I can understand nothing but a ceasing to be, the losing of all actions of life and sense. Such a death came upon Adam and all his posterity, by his first disobedience in paradise, under which death they should have lain forever had it not been for the redemption by Jesus Christ," "Reasonableness of Christianity," Volume 6, page 3, 1695.
Adam and Eve passed from a state in the garden where they had access to the tree of life, where it was possible for them to live forever, to a state where it was impossible for them not to die. The day they did eat was the beginning of the dying process ("Dying you shall die"). There is nothing in this about a person being a dual being with an immortal soul, but most read it into this. It was the whole person as he was then, which would have lived forever if he had eaten of the tree of life. It was the whole person, not just some inter part of a person, which God said would die. How could an "immaterial invisible" part of a person eat of a visible material tree? Satan's lie was that they, not some inter part of them, would not die. The presence of the "tree of life" in Eden indicates that immortality was conditional on eating of that tree. To prevent the possibility of being able to "live forever" (Genesis 3:22) God put a barrier to the garden when Adam was put out of Eden, and the dying process began. It would have been nonsense for God to prevent access to the tree of life if the real Adam was an inter-person that was immortal, and the real Adam would live forever with or without the tree of life.
The New JOHN GILL Exposition of the Entire Bible: "For in the day thou eat thereof thou shalt surely die; or in dying, die; which denotes the certainty of it...man became at once a mortal creature, who otherwise continuing in a state of innocence, and by eating of the tree of life, if he was allowed to do, would have lived an immortal life; of the eating of which tree, by sinning he was debarred, his natural life not now to be continued long, at least not forever; he was immediately arraigned, tried, and condemned to death, was found guilty of it, and became obnoxious to it, and death at once began to work in him; sin sowed the seeds of it in his body, and a train of miseries, afflictions, and diseases, began to appear, which at length issued in death."
YOUNG'S Literal Translation Genesis 2:17: "For in the day of thine eating of it - dying thou dost die."
GEORGE V. WIGRAM: “Dying shalt die.” The Englishman’s Hebrew And Chaldee Concordance Of The Old Testament, Page 675.
ADAM CLARKE: "Thou shall surely die. Literally, a death thou shall die; or, dying thou shall die-from that moment thou shall become mortal, and shall continue in a dying state till thou die. This we find literally accomplished; every moment of man's life may be considered as an act of dying." On Genesis 2:7: “From that moment thou shall become mortal, and shall continue in a dying state till thou die.”
JOHN WESLEY: "Thou shall die—That is, thou shalt lose all the happiness thou hast either in possession or prospect; and thou shalt become liable to death, and all the miseries that preface and attend it. This was threatened as the immediate consequence of sin."
ALEXANDER CAMPBELL: “Adam died at the end of nine hundred and thirty years after his creation, and that this was threatened in the words, ‘In the day thou eatest thereof dying thou shall die.’” Campbell Skinner Debate On Everlasting Punishment, page 118, College Press, 1840.
A DOUBLE CHANCE:
· First change: Adam's death must be changed to be a "separation," not death.
· Second change: Then the first change much be changed again, Adam’s "separation" from God must be changed to be an eternal life being tormented by God.
"For as in Adam all die" (1 Corinthians 15:22). If death = separation, and separation = being tormented by God, then all will be tormented for "in Adam all die."
(5). "IN MY FLESH SHALL I SEE GOD" Job 19:25-27
See chapter seven, "IN MY FLESH SHALL I SEE GOD"
(6). "SHAME AND EVERLASTING CONTEMPT" Daniel 12:2
"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Who has this "contempt" and “shame”? It is the shame and contempt that others have for them that is everlasting, Hell and eternal torment by God is added when there is nothing about them in this passage.
"And many of them that sleep" is not the same "All that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth" (John 5:28). When Daniel 12:2 is kept in the context of Daniel 11 and 12, Daniel is not speaking of the resurrection at the coming of Christ, but is speaking of a time of restoration of Israel when many would return to God just as Ezekiel pictured the dead bones as a resurrection of the dead (37:11-14) was speaking of a restoration of Israel as a nation when many did return to God. See Isaiah 52:1-2; 26:5.
"Ezekiel's prophecy referred to a spiritual resurrection of the Jews in Babylon and their return to Judea; for Jehovah added, 'Son of man these bones are the whole house of Israel'" Homer Hailey, A Commentary on Daniel, page 243, 2001, Nevada Publications.
"The belief in the resurrection was nationalistic rather than individualistic" "Afterlife and Eschatology" at MyJewishLearning.com. Israel believed God would restore (resurrect) the nation when it sinned and turned back to God, but not in the resurrection of the dead individuals.
Daniel chapter 11 and 12 are about Israel coming out of the captivity and being restored as a nation. If Daniel 12:2 were speaking of the resurrection and judgment at the second coming of Christ, there could not be a bigger conflict with the orthodoxy teaching that all go to Heaven or Hell at the moment of death. How could those in Heaven be asleep "in the dust of the ground"? How could those in Heaven "awake"? How could an immortal soul that now has everlasting life and cannot die (which some tell us is the only part of a person that will live in Heaven or Hell), which soul cannot sleep the sleep of death, how could it awake from the dust of the ground if that immortal soul was alive and awake in Heaven or Hell, and it was not asleep in the dust of the ground? Orthodox teaches that long before the resurrection and Judgment Day the saved are in Heaven and have everlasting life. The Abraham's bosom version would also in conflict with it.
Kenny Boles in “The Life to Come,” page 276 says this prophecy of Daniel is the first and only clear declaration of the resurrection in all of the Old Testament. Only by taking verse 12 out of context can it be made to be speaking of the Resurrection, and then it makes the problem:
· Of only some of the dead being resurrected
· Therefore, some of the dead would not be resurrected
Which would be an undeniable contradiction to what is said of the Resurrection in the New Testament, that all the dead, not “many” of the dead will be resurrected (John 5:28).
· “Contempt” (from Hebrew - derawone) Daniel 12:2.
· “Abhorrence” (from Hebrew - derawone) Isaiah 66:24
"Then they shall go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me for their (the corpses) worm shall not die, and their (the corpses) fire shall not be quenched: and they (the corpses) shall be an abhorrence to all mankind" (Isaiah 66:24). The antecedent of these three pronouns is “corpses,” dead bodies. Strong says both contempt and abhorrence are from the same Hebrew word. Strong's word #1860, "To repulse, an object of aversion, abhorring, contempt." Contempt and abhorrence are the way others think about, “The corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me.” It does not say the, corpses will forever be conscious or in torment, is says nothing about torment, but that others will forever have shame and contempt for them. It is the contempt that is said to be everlasting, not that the corpses of dead persons, or everlasting or torment in Hell by God. God tormenting the corpses is read into this in an attempt to put Hell in it. How does those seeing the corpses of those that were killed by the Lord, those seeing the corpses having "everlasting contempt" for them become "everlasting torment" by God? Where is there anything about God forever tormenting those in "Hell" in this passage? It was the living people that saw the corpses, not God, that had “everlasting contempt.”
(7). PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW THE SPIRIT THAT RETURNED TO GOD
IS CHANGED TO BOTH A SOUL IN HELL
AND A SOUL IN “ABRAHAM’S BOSOM”
Ecclesiastes 12:7
Some of my brothers in Christ, who believe in "Abraham's bosom," and that the soul of no one will be in Heaven or Hell unto after the judgment, use this and other scriptures to prove the soul or spirit, the only part of a person they think will ever be in Heaven, goes to Heaven at death. In there own words:
"And I wondered why my dear brother did not see the verse just preceding it, which says, 'And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Where was Jesus? Stephen saw him alive at the right hand of God. Where could Jesus receive his spirit? He could receive his spirit only where he was. Where does the spirit go? Eccl. 12:7, 'Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who give it.' That immortal principle of the human family that never dies. So they killed the body of Stephen, but Stephen prayed for the Lord to receive his spirit where he was." L. S. White, Russell-White Debate, page 51, 1912, F. L. Rowe Publisher.
When he answered his own question of where is Stephen now before the resurrection,
(1) He changed spirit of all (Ecclesiastes 12:7), both saved and lost that returns to God who is in Heaven, to only the spirits of the saved return to God, he believes that the spirits of the lost are forever separated from God.
(2) Then he said Stephen is now in Heaven; therefore, he is saying Stephen is not now in "Abraham's bosom," that Stephen will be in Heaven unto the resurrection.
Sometimes Stephen is said to be in “Abraham’s bosom,” and sometimes the same preachers will say Stephen is now in Heaven. I think where they put Stephen depends on what they are trying to prove at that time. Ecclesiastes 12:7 says the bodies of all returned to the earth and the spirit (ruach) of all returned to God. Can my brother not see that if the something he believes to be in a person is the only part of a person he believe is now immortal, if it is what goes back to God who gives it, He has this immortal something that is in all, both the saved and the unsaved, going back to God in Heaven at the time of death? What happened to his "Hell?" He is saying no one goes to Hell at death, and that no one goes to Abraham’s bosom at death, for the spirit of all, both the saved and the lost, return to God. What happened to "Abraham's bosom," the second coming of Christ, the resurrection, the judgment, and the second death? If no one goes to Heaven at death, which is what those who believe in "Abraham's bosom" believe, how is it that this immortal something in a person, which will not go to Heaven unto after the judgment, but it will go back to God at death? "Do not all go to one place?" (Ecclesiastes 6:6). The whole chapter of Ecclesiastes 12 is speaking to all mankind, not just to the saved. All are admonished to remember God in their youth before the evil days of old age, then all shall return to dust and the spirit of all (the same all that returned to dust) shall return to God. No reference is made to the all being good or evil at the time of their death. If the spirit of all goes back to God at death is a conscious soul, then the immortal soul of no one will not go to Hell. There is nothing in the spirit returning to God that makes those who are saved any different from those who are not saved; the spirit of all returns to God, yet, those who use this to prove a person has an immortal soul say, "No, Solomon was wrong. The spirit/soul of the lost does not return to God at death, some says it goes to Hell at death, and others says it goes the bad side of hades at death."
The three places where the “soul” is sent at death by those that believe we now have an immortal deathless soul.
1. At death does the spirit or the soul of the lost go to Hell?
2. At death does the spirit or the soul of the lost go to the bad side of hades (Abraham’s bosom)?
3. At death does the spirit or the soul of all, both the lost and the saved return to God?
Has the zeal to prove Plato's immortal soul, which needs no resurrection, blinded him so he does not see that he is going both ways at the same time? He believes that after the soul is freed from the body by death (as Plato put it, freed from its earthly prison) that it is just as alive as it will ever be, and when a person dies, he believes that person has everything that is ever going to be dead, already dead, and everything that he believes will be alive after the resurrection is already alive and immortal from birth, the soul, the only part of a person that he believes will ever be immortal he believes is just as alive and is now just as immortal before death as it will be both (1) after death (2) and after the resurrection.
The Hebrew word translated “spirit” in Ecclesiastes 12:7 is from Ruach, not from nehphesh, which is the word that some of the times it is used it is translated “soul.” Ruach is translated breath, wind, spirit, etc., but never translated “soul.” That which returns to God is the breath of life (Genesis 2:7), that came from God and made both man and beast “living beings.” In Ecclesiastes 11:4 it is, “He who watches the wind (ruach).” If Ecclesiastes 12:7 did prove that a person has an immortal soul in them and it is this soul that returns to God in Heaven is a rational, intelligent, thinking being, then it proves that the same immortal soul preexisted with God in Heaven as a rational, intelligent, thinking being before the birth of the body. By misusing this verse to prove a person now has something in them that is now immortal and it is this immortal something in a person goes back to God at death, then it would prove more than they want to prove. If the spirit that returns to God is an inward part of a person that is immortal, and it came from God, this immortal thinking being had to preexist in Heaven with God before the person was born; if it did not preexist then it could not “return to God.” Most do not want preexistence before birth of ALL, neither do they believe that ALL, both the saved and the lost going back to Heaven unto second coming of Christ, they believe that the soul of most will go to Hell at death, but if their view were right, that the spirit is an immortal inter part of a person that came from God at birth and them returns to God at death, there would be no way around both the saved and the lost going to Heaven at death. The incorrect use of this passage to prove a person is born with an immortal soul in them undeniably implies the preexistence of that soul, that it existed in Heaven a living being before the birth of the person, and that at death all souls of both the saved and the unsaved, and also the souls of animals, leave the person or animal it was put in and returns to God who is in Heaven, back to where the soul was before the person or animal was born. Whatever came from God, whether it was life, or a living intelligent being that was in Heaven before birth is what returns to God. It does not say that what came from God was a created intelligent living being (as are the angels) that was in Heaven, but that is what is inferred when this passage is used to prove the doctrine that person has an immortal soul or an immortal spirit in him or her that returns to God at death.
It would prove:
If the spirits that came from God is man’s immortal souls then: