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From: boswell@hogpc.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Paradise vs. Resurrection
Message-ID: <178@hogpc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Jun-83 13:40:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: hogpc.178
Posted: Wed Jun 15 13:40:13 1983
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Jun-83 20:58:13 EDT
Lines: 97


	I do not want to sound as if I'am attacking anybody but I would
like to give a reply to the Dr. Ely situation.

	Lew Mammel (I hope the spelling is correct) made a statement where
he thought the dead didn't rise until the second coming. He's correct!!
I hear alot of what happens to people at death for, example the tunnel
with a bright light at the end, and this is all interesting, but ths Bible
is clear on the state of the dead. 
	First let's see what makes a living soul. Genesis 2:7 says God took
the dust and breathed into it the Breath of Life; and man became a living
soul. Notice you need both to make a living being. Now go to Ecclesiastes
12:7 and we see the dust returns and the spirit (our breath) goes back to
God. Remember it took both to make a living soul. therefore when they seperate
you no longer have a living soul but instead dust and air. In Genesis 3:19
the Lord also stated that man would return to the dust.
	Now turn to Job 14:10-12,21. We see in these verses that man does not
rise till the heavens (atmosphere in this case) are no more. Now we ask when
is the heavens going to pass away? II Peter 3:10 tells us at the Lord's coming
the heavens will pass away with a great noise. You may ask why is the atmos-
phere destroyed? I ask why shouldn't He destroy it to remove all the polution
so His redeemed can have some nice fresh air for a change?
	Now what are the dead thinking about? NOTHING!! Psalms 146:3,4 says
in the King James version that your thoughts perish at death. The New Inter-
national version says don't put your trust in MORTAL man, when his spirit
(breath) departs he returns to dust and his plans come to nothing. Now what
happened to David who wrote this Psalms. Let's turn to Acts 2:29-34. Verse
34 says David has not ascended to Heaven. If you read Acts 13:36 it says
David fell asleep (died) and saw corruption (decay). Verse 37 talks of
Christ who saw no decay or corruption. If you have problems seeing where
being asleep = death then turn to Psalms 13:3, John 11:11-14, I Corin.15:6
Daniel 12:2, Acts 7:60.
	Along with Mr. Mammel's verse in I Corinthians we have another 
verse in I Thessalonians 4:13-18 which talks of the dead rising up at
the second coming also.
	 These next two verses Isaiah 38:18,19 and Psalms 115:17 state that the
dead do not praise the Lord. Also Psalms 6:5 says "In death ther is no remem-
brance of thee" or in the New International version "No one remembers you 
when he is dead"!! In Ecclesiastes 9:5,6 " the dead know not any thing, neither
have they any more a reward;for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their
love, and their hatred and their envy, is now perished;". Notice it says
the dead know not any thing which says simply there is no knowledge or
intelligence in the grave. It also says the memory of them is forgotten which
says they didn't remember anything either, which goes along with the verses
which say the thoughts perish. In light of ALL these texts how can we say
that we go to the grave and then get a second chance or receive more in
the way of teachings when all these verses say we have no intelligence in
the grave, our thoughts perish, we have no memory. Because Peter speaks of
spirits in prison (I PeTer 3:18-20) and Christ visiting them I don't know
if this should be taken literally or not, but I will study some literature
I'am waiting on about this verse and get back with what I find. We must
remember we serve an Intelligent God and where one verse seems to contradict
the others then our interpretation is at fault. If I never understand this
verse I'll still say nothing happens during death except decay because of all
these many other verses which state otherwise. We can find many verses in the
Bible which seem to contradict the rest of what it has to say of a subject,
but like I said before if that's the way we read the verse then we need to
re-read the verse to find it's true meaning. The Bible is inspired from an
Intelligent God therefore we should believe there should be no contradictions.
	We can take a verse for example that says we will burn with eternal
fire. I ask is our God of Love going to let people burn forever screeming
and yelling for the righteous to hear for eternity? Let's find out!
	Ezekiel 18:4,20,24 says that the soul that sins it shall die. Now
go to Psalms 92:7 and we see that the wicked will be destroyed forever.
In John 3:16 says whoever believes will NOT PERISH but have ETERNAL LIFE.
Romans 2:7 says those seeking Glory, Honor, Immortality - God GIVES ETERNAL
LIFE. In Romans 6:23 we see the wages of sn is DEATH, but the gift of God
is ETERNAL LIFE. Now all die so we can see plainly that this refers to another
death - the second death, when god destroys the wicked. In II Thessalonians
1:9 we see that the wicked will receive EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION. In James 1:5
we see where evil desires lead to sin which leads to death. In I John 5:12
it says those who have Jesus have ETERNAL LIFE , those without Him Do NOT
HAVE eternal life. Well now what does the Bible mean when it says we will
burn with an everlasting fire? Let's look at some things that already
experienced ETERNAL FIRE. Jude verse 7 says SODOM and GOMORRAH serve as an
example to those who suffer ETERNAL FIRE. Is Sodom and Gomorrah still burning
today? II Peter 2:6 says they are burned to ashes. As a matter of fact, most 
scholars will tell you they are under the DEAD SEA. Looks like they're cooled
off pretty good. Malachi 4:1-3 tells us the wicked will be burned up root and
branch and they will be ashes under our feet!!! If I may side track, notice
it says root and branch. Jesus is our root and we our the branches. Correct?
Let's go to the otherside of the fence and say of the wicked that Satan is 
the root and the wicked our his branches. In this case Satan will die and
be burned up also. The source of all our problems will be gone!!!! If
you need another proof verse look at Revelation 20:14 and you will see
it says that the lake of fire is the second death!!! I serve a God of LOVE
that wants all to be with Him. Ezekiel 18:23 will show you He takes no 
pleasure in the death of the wicked. He doesn't want people burning forever
just like we don't want it. God hates sin for it cost Him the life of Jesus
His Son. Every time we sin God remembers back to Calvary and sees Christ
crucified again. Read Hebrews 6:6. Sin is not a pretty sight in His eyes.
He wants it to end just like us.
	I hope no one is offended by what I wrote. I try to put in a lot of
texts so you can check for yourself and remove any doubt.

Peace To All
Stephen R. Boswell