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

that did not remember God. It has
nothing to do with an immortal immaterial part of a person after death being tormented
by God. Because dead nations (not dead souls) are speaking in verse 9, the King James
Version translated it Hell but verse 11 has worms and they feed on dead bodies not an
immaterial immortal part of a man, therefore, they translated it "grave." This parable
where dead nations speak is not to be taken literally any more then the parable before it
where the trees speak [Isaiah 14:8]. If it were taken literally, it would be a completely
different Hell than any Hell that is taught today, a Hell where God “visited and destroyed
them, and made all remembrance of them to perish." God destroyed nations but in the
Hell that is taught today no one can ever be destroyed. How did the translators think they
could get the Hell they believed in out of this passage?
(5) Isaiah 14:15 "Yet you shall be brought down to HELL [grave-sheol]." See Isaiah
14:9 above. The picture of maggots and worms covering the king of Babylon [Isaiah
14:15] and warriors lying with their swords under their heads [Ezekiel 32:27] is a picture
of the grave, and is far from what the Hell is that is taught today.
(6) (7) Isaiah 28:15 and Isaiah 28:18 "Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, you
scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because you have said, we have
made a covenant with death, and with HELL [grave-sheol] [HELL CHANGED TO
SHEOL IN NEW KING JAMES VERSION] are we at agreement; when the overflowing
scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us." Isaiah 28:18 "And your covenant
with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with HELL [grave-sheol] [HELL
CHANGED TO SHEOL IN NEW KING JAMES VERSION] not stand; when the
overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it." When the
"overflowing scourge" passed through, many would die, but they thought they could
escape death and the grave. This is the nation of Israel that had made a covenant with
some and thought they were safe but were not; it is not about individuals going to Hell.
(8) Isaiah 57:9 "And you went to the king with ointment, and did increase your
perfumes, and did send your messengers far off, and did debase yourself even unto HELL
[grave-sheol] [HELL CHANGED TO SHEOL IN NEW KING JAMES VERSION]." See
Isaiah 57:8 and notes on Proverbs 15:24 above. Israel is spoken of as a woman who is
unfaithful to her husband (God). Ultimately this leads to the death of any nation. Does
anyone believe nations will be forever tormented in Hell; does anyone believe the nation
of Israel is or has ever been in eternal torment in an eternal Hell? Nothing is said about an
individual going to Hell.
(9) Ezekiel 31:16 In this chapter God is saying to Egypt about Assyria, “I made the
nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to HELL [grave-sheol]
with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of
Lebanon.” This chapter of Ezekiel is about a nation, Assyria, which God had cast down
and it was no more, not people being tormented in Hell, see notes on Isaiah 14:9-20
above.
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(10) Ezekiel 31:17 "They also went down into HELL [grave-sheol] with him unto them
that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelled under his shadow
in the midst of the heathen." The nations around Assyria also perished.
In the same context, the King James Version translated the same Hebrew word both
Hell and grave [GRAVE in 31:15 and HELL in both 31:16 and 31:17]. In the same
passage they put the same nations in both the grave and in Hell at the same time.
Ezekiel 31:15 "Thus says the Lord God; in the day when he went down to the
GRAVE [sheol-Hell] I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I
restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused
Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. 16. I made
the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to HELL
[grave-sheol] with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the
choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the earth
beneath. 17. They also went down into HELL [grave-sheol] with him unto them
that be slain with sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow
in the midst of the heathen (Hebrew - nations).”
(11) Ezekiel 32:21 "The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst
of HELL [grave-sheol]." Egypt will join the other mighty nations in SHEOL [the grave].
Ezekiel is talking about nations, not individual people. In this metaphor dead nations
have the power to speak. “They have come down and they lie with the uncircumcised,
with those killed by the sword. Assyria is there with her whole army; she is surrounded
by the graves of all her slain, all who have fallen by the sword. Their graves are in the
depths of the pit and her army lies around her grave. All who had spread terror in the
land of the living are slain, fallen by the sword” [Ezekiel 32:21-23 New International
Version].
(12) Ezekiel 32:26-27 "There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are
round about him: all to the uncircumcised slain by the sword, through they caused their
terror in the land of the living. And do they not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the
uncircumcised, which are gone down to HELL [grave-sheol] with their weapons of war:
and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their
bones." Swords under their heads refer to ancient practice of burying the weapons of
warriors with them. Their weapons of war could be under their heads in the grave but not
taken with them after death to Hell or to a subterranean chamber for souls someplace
under ground, neither would there be graves in an under ground chamber or in graves in
Hell. Those who believe in Hell do not believe any belongings from this life can be taken
to Hell; those who believe souls of the dead are storied in a chamber do not believe they
have their weapons. It was those that were killed by the sword that were in the grave with
their weapons under their head; they have gone down to the grave with their swords
under their heads, not down under the earth to Hell.
(13) Amos 9:2 "I saw the Lord standing upon the altar; and he said, Smite the lintel of
the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay
the last of them with the sword: he that flees of them shall not flee away, and he that
escapes of them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into HELL [grave-sheol], thence
shall mine hand take them." Amos 8 and 9 is speaking of God punishing the nation of
Israel, not tormenting individuals in Hell after their death. "Have I not brought up Israel
from the land of Egypt...And I will destroy it from the face of the earth" [Amos 9:7-10].
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There was no place where Israel could flee from God. Even if they dug into the grave
[sheol] God would find them. Many of the graves were caves or a room dug out of rock
and sealed up. Does anyone think that a living person or a nation can dig into the place
where they say the "immaterial invisible" souls of the lost are being tormented after their
death? DOES ANYONE SERIOUSLY BELIEVE ANY LIVING PERSON CAN DIG
INTO HELL? Can "souls" in Hell run away, and can souls in Hell be slain with the
sword? Will there be a sword in Hell? Anyone can see that this is the living that are the
enemies of God that cannot find a place to hide from His wrath, not even by hiding in a
grave or pit. The very idea of the nation of Israel or individuals digging down into the
earth into the Hell that is taught today is absurd, just as ridiculous or unreasonable as
Israel digging into a chamber under the earth where God has souls stored, but it would, if
possible, be even more absurd if the souls were being tormented on one side and in
Abraham’s bosom on the other side.
(14) Habakkuk 2:5 "Yea also, because he transgress by wine, he is a proud man,
neither keeps at home, who enlarges his desire as HELL [grave-sheol], and is as death,
and cannot be satisfied." Habakkuk is a book of prophecy about Chaldea. Chapter 2:4-17
Chaldea conquered many nations. "He enlarges his appetite like Sheol...He also gathers
to himself all nations" Habakkuk 2:5 New American Standard Bible. They were like a
man intoxicated with power and their desire was as the grave [sheol] that can never be
satisfied. See Proverbs 27:20.
[3] INDIVIDUAL IN SHEOL (In 17 passages)
The good in the grave in 10 passages
(1) Genesis 37:35, 42:38, 44:29, and 44:31 "You shall bring down my gray hairs with
sorrow to the GRAVE [sheol-Hell]." The only word translated Hell in the Old Testament
is sheol; the first three times sheol is used, if it means Hell is Jacob saying his son is
being tormented in Hell and he will go down to "Hell to be with him?" No, he is saying
he will go down to the grave mourning the death of his son; he was not saying he
expected to go to eternal torment in Hell. The King James translators know that Hell
would not teach what they wanted to teach. They did not want Jacob in HELL. This and
many others times they know they could not translate sheol into Hell.
• (2) Genesis 42:38 "Then will you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the
GRAVE [sheol-Hell]."
• (3) Genesis 44:29 "You will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the GRAVE
[sheol-Hell]."
• (4) Genesis 44:31 "Shall bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father
with sorrow to the GRAVE [sheol-Hell]."
Some say that the "grave" is the abode of departed spirits. My question to them is
where did they learn this? There is not one passage in the Bible that speaks of "a place"
where all departed spirits go, and not one passage that speaks of "departed spirits." Do
they out of thin air come up with both a place and departed spirits to put in that place?
They manufacture terms and use them as if they were Biblical and expect all others to
accept their manufactured terms without question.
If Jacob were going to Heaven at death, why did he say he was going DOWN to his
son IN SORROW? If he were going to Heaven, he should have said he was going UP to
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his son REJOICING. Those today who speak of going to Heaven always speak of going
UP, never DOWN, and never speak of there being SORROW in Heaven.
(5) Job 14:13 "O that you would hide ME in the GRAVE [sheol-Hell], that you would
keep ME secret, until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and
remember ME!" Job was in so much pain that he was asking God let him die, he wanted
to go to the grave-sheol [Hell] for relief from his sufferings, but today's Hell is
incomparably worse than the suffering he wanted relief from. The translators did not dare
to make