Immortality or Resurrection (Updated), William West [black female authors .txt] 📗

heart...it occurs over 780 times in Old Testament...the
noun refers to the essence of life, the act of breathing, taking breath...in its primary sense the
noun appears in its first occurrence in Gen 1:20; 'the moving creature that has life,' and in
its second occurrence in Gen 2:7; 'living soul... HOWEVER, IN OVER 400 LATER
OCCURRENCES IT IS TRANSLATED 'SOUL.' WHILE THIS SERVES TO MAKE SENSE IN MOST
PASSAGES, IT IS AN UNFORTUNATE MISTRANSLATION OF THE TERM. The real difficulty of
the term is seen in the inability of almost all English translations to find a consistent
equivalent or even a small group of high-frequency equivalents for the term. The KJV alone
uses over 28 different English terms for this one Hebrew word...in narrative or historical
passages of the Old Testament, NEPES CAN BE TRANSLATED AS 'LIFE' OR 'SELF' as in
Leviticus 17:11; 'for the life of the flesh is in the blood... NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE READING
'SOUL' IS MEANINGLESS IN SUCH A TEXT...THE VERSIONS VERY WIDELY IN THE READING OF NEPES,
WITH THE MORE CONTEMPORARY VERSIONS CASTING WIDELY FOR MEANING," Page 237 Old Testament,
"Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary Of Old And New Testament Words." It did not change its meaning in the
second part of the Old Testament, but the translators of the early English Bibles had to put in their beliefs, and later
translators, those that are called "the major translations" have only partly gotten away from this mistakes, but a few
of the latest translations have almost made it.
[10] THAYER: "1. Breath...a. the breath of life...b. life...2. The soul...a. the seat of the feelings, desires, affections,
aversions (our soul, heart, etc.)." "A Greek-English Lexicon Of The New Testament."
[11] ROBERT YOUNG, author of Young's Literal Translation of the Bible says "Animal soul...Nehphesh" Page 917
"It (nehphesh_ does not denote the immortal part of man, but his animal life." "Young's Analytical Concordance To
The Bible."
[12] INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA: "Not, however, to dwell on the fact that many
peoples have no clear conception of an immaterial 'soul' in the modern sense (the Egyptians, e. g. distinguished
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several parts, the Ka, the Ba, etc., which survived death; often the surviving self is simply a ghostly resemblance of
the earthly self, nourished with food, offerings, etc.), there is the more serious consideration that the state into
which the surviving part is supposed to enter as death is anything but a state which can be described as 'life,' or
worthy to be dignified with the name 'immortality.' It is a state peculiar to 'death;' in most cases, shadowy, inert,
feeble, dependent, joyless; a state to be dreaded and shrunk from, not one to be hoped for. If, on the other hand,
as in the hope of immortality among the nobler heathen, it is conceived of, as for some, a state of happiness-the
clog of the body being shaken off-this yields the idea, which has passed into so much of our modern thinking, of an
'immortality of the soul,' of an imperishableness of the spiritual part, sometimes supposed to extend backward as
well as forward; an inherent indestructibility." From the article "Immortal; Immortality." Also from the International
Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "We are influenced always more or less by the Greek, Platonic idea
that the body dies, yet the soul is immortal. Such an idea is utterly contrary to the Israelite
consciousness and is nowhere found in the Old Testament" From the article "Death," Page 812. Also
from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "Soul, like spirit, has various shades of meaning in the O.T.,
which may be summarized as follows: 'Soul,' 'living being,' 'life,' 'self,' 'person,' 'desire,' 'appetite,'
'emotion' and 'passion'...Nehphesh or soul, can only denote the individual life with a
material organization or body." Page 2837. "For the Hebrews a person was a unity, not to be divided into
body, soul, and spirit as the Greeks did," Page 592.
[13] INTERPRETER’S DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE: “No biblical text authorizes the statement that the soul is
separated from the body at the moment of death” Volume one, page 802.
[14] JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA: "The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body
is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly, nowhere
taught in the Holy Scripture...The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from
contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal
exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Dleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian
and Egyptian views were strangely blended," "Immortality of the Soul," 1925. The concept of punishment
after death is not in the Old Testament. The Law given through Moses deals only with punishment in this life and
has no provisions for punishment after death. From their contact with pagan philosophy, the pagan immortal soul
teaching had made some inroads with some Jews by the time of Christ. Paul warned about this Philosophy
[Colossians 2:8].
[15] FUNK AND WAGNALL ENCYCLOPEDIA: “The Christian doctrine of the immortal soul has been strongly
influenced by pagans such as Plato and Aristotle.”
[16] C. R. GRESHAM: "It is generally conceived that there is little about resurrection or after-life in what the Jews
called the Torah...and the Former Prophets...Death is seen as the end, the destruction of human existence." Page
25. "Man's soul is primarily his vitality, his life, not some separate part of a person that has independent existence
and an immortal nature, God's spirit (His breath, His power) creates and sustains all living things (Ps 33:6; 104:29-
30), even the human spirit (Zech 12:1), but never is man's soul or spirit seen as an immortal part of man surviving
death." Page 40. "The widespread misunderstanding that the New Testament teaches the immortality of the soul...If
one recognizes that death and eternal life in the New Testament are always bound up the Christ-event, then it
becomes clear that for the first Christians the soul is not intrinsically immortal, but rather became so only through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Page 275. "What The Bible Says About Resurrection" The College Press, 1983.
(church of Christ)
[17] ADAM CLARKE: "The doctrine of the resurrection appears to have been thought of much more
consequence among the primitive Christians than it is now! How is this? The apostles were continually insisting on
it, and exciting the followers of God to diligence, obedience, and cheerfulness through it. And their successors in
the present day seldom mention it! So apostles preached, and so primitive Christians believed; so we preach, and
so our hearers believe. There is not a doctrine in the gospel on which more stress is laid; and there is not a doctrine
in the present system of preaching which is treated with more neglect" Commentary on I Corinthians 15.
[18] WILLIAM ENFIELD: "Very soon after the rise of Christianity, many persons, who had been educated in the
schools of the philosophers, becoming converts to the Christian faith, the doctrines of the Grecian sects, and
especially Platonism, were interwoven with the simple truths of pure religion. As the Eclectic philosophy spread,
Heathen and Christian doctrines were still more intimately blended, till, at last, both were almost entirely lost in the
thick clouds of ignorance and barbarism which covered the earth" History of Philosophy.
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[19] HOMER HAILEY: "Time passed and innovations came into the Church. When untaught individuals became
nominal Christians, changes were made. Attitudes were no longer as they were in former years, and the pattern was
altered. The pristine simplicity was gradually marred and covered, until little of the original simple plan of God
could be recognized. Ambitions began to manifest themselves when pagan philosophies became a substitute for the
word of God. Over time, darkness descended upon the face of the earth and the light of truth was covered by
ignorance and superstition" From my class note in 1957 at Florida College. (church of Christ)
[20] JERRY CROSS: "When Jesus was on earth he didn't speak of immortality, but rather of eternal life. The
Greeks taught that the soul had a natural and innate quality to enable it to pass through death and resist
corruption. But, Jesus taught that our 'immortality' is anchored in a life-relationship with God. Jesus was a teacher
of 'eternal life,' but Plato of the 'immortality of the soul.' Today these expressions are often confusingly used as
synonyms. Yet, they spring from two different sources, one from Greek philosophy, the other from New Testament
Christianity... It is very easy to read the term 'soul' or 'spirit' in the English Bible and impart modern western
philosophical beliefs into the terms. With Plato and (much later) Descartes, Western thinking became very much
dualistic in its view of man. A person is composed, according to this view, of material, extended, substance (body)
and immaterial, non-extended, substance (mind). The soul is the imperishable element that is housed in a bodily
prison. Therefore, when western man hears the term 'soul,' he thinks of that element of himself that is confined
within his body that is destined to live forever. The presentation of 'soul' in the Hebrew Old Testament is quite
different however...the Old Testament presents man as an 'animated body' which is a 'complex of parts, drawing life
and activity from a breath-soul, which has no existence apart from the body'" Magnolia Bible College 1984 Lectures,
Page 48 and 49. (church of Christ)
[21] SAMUEL DAWSON: "You may be surprised to learn that most, if not all, of our popular concepts of Hell can
be found in the writings of Roman Catholic writers...None of our concepts of Hell can be found in the teaching of
Jesus Christ! You know how indignant we get at the mention of purgatory-we know that's not in the Bible. You may
also find out that our popular concepts of Hell came from the same place that purgatory did-Roman Catholicism"
"Jesus' Teaching On Hell," Page 13. A free copy of this book at: www.gospelthemes.com. (church of Christ)
[22] CURTIS DICKINSON: "There is not one scripture to support the idea that man is an immortal soul living for
the moment in a temple of clay, and that when the body dies the man goes on living...It might come as a surprise to
some to know that the term immortal is never used in scripture in connection with soul or man's spirit" "What The
Bible Teaches About Immortality And Future Punishment," Page 8 and 9. (church of Christ)
[23] JOHN SCOTT: "Genesis 2:7 is the classic statement of the uniting of flesh and spirit. Here, we have the
creature of flesh and bone created from the dust and then brought into a living existence by the Lord blowing into
man's nostrils the breath of life. The phrase 'became a living soul' is the same Hebrew phrase used in verse 19
referring to 'every living creature,' that is, to the beasts and birds as other forms of life. In this sense of the word
then, man is not distinguished from the animal world as far as life is concerned by the use of these special terms
...The nehphesh may even be said to die [Judges 16:30], but nehphesh is never used of the spirit of the
dead; in fact, nowhere is the suggestion made that the soul survives the man whose life it
was in the Old Testament" Harding Graduate School Lectures, 1971, Pages 130-131, Gospel Advocate
Company. (church of Christ)
[24] ROGER DICKSON: "A general meaning would be that the soul has reference to any animate being of life
that has sense perception ... thus, the soul would be the life principle of an individual" "Life, Death and Beyond,"
Biblical Research Library, Page 45. (church of Christ)
[25] ELIAS SMITH: Often referred to as "Elder" Elias Smith. "This year, in June, my attention was called to think
of the real state of the wicked after the last judgment. Before this time, I had taken for truth the old pagan