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Are Souls "Immortal"?
This is a very good question, and it can only be answered if we understand what is being asked. Most churches teach that all people were born with souls that can never die (immortal). The biblical definition of this kind of "death" must be understood from God's point of view, as this pamphlet will explain. The proper theological foundation that must be laid in regards to the doctrine of the "immortal soul", is to understand that the Bible was written to the "generations of Adam". See Gen. 5:1.
Genesis 5:1 This [is] the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; (KJV)
The word "generations" is no. 08435 in Strong's Lexicon, and essentially means Adam's descendants.
08435 towl@dah {to-led-aw'} or tol@dah {to-led-aw'} from 03205; TWOT - 867g; n f pl AV - generations 38, birth 1; 39
1) descendants, results, proceedings, generations, genealogies 1a) account of men and their descendants 1a1) genealogical list of one's descendants 1a2) one's contemporaries 1a3) course of history (of creation etc) 1b) begetting or account of heaven (metaph)Therefore the doctrine of the "immortal soul" biblically applies to the people that genetically descended from Adam. Our "learned" theologians generally cannot explain the correct implications and the true meaning of Adam being created "in the image and after the likeness of God". This phrase is loaded with meaning! My booklet entitled, "What is Man?" addresses this very important phrase. It is my understanding, and it is indeed awesome to realize that Adam was created to appear as God himself would appear in visible form! Since Adam came from God, the true origin of Adam was of a spiritual nature; and therefore outside the realm of the physical and visible creation. I believe God's family "spiritually" existed with God in eternity, and were destined to rule as God. This understanding will explain why a certain high-ranking ruling angel called "Lucifer" rebelled against the government of God in the pre-Adamic world. This truth is explained in my booklet, "The World Before Adam". God's intention was to bring forth his children in his own image, and give them dominion over his creation. This truth caused this ruling angel to be filled with envy, pride and rebellion. God's family were originally destined to come on the earth in visible bodily form by the "conception and birth" method (male and female), as it explains in Gen. 5:2.
Genesis 5:2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (KJV)
All the members of God's family were genetically created and put into Adam's body, and were therefore destined to be born in time on the earth by a divinely designed genetic code. God's family were all members of Adam's body as all believers in Christ are now members of the resurrected flesh and bone body of the "second" Adam, which is Christ. This truth is addressed and explained in my booklet; "What Is the Church?" . The "breath of God" caused Adam to become a "living soul" to live forever with feelings, emotions, appetite and passion. This is what the word "soul" means, and could be called the "seat" of awareness and consciousness. Adam became a "living soul" after God breathed into Adam's nostrils, as it explains in Gen. 2:7.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (KJV)
Therefore I do not want to say that Adam had a soul that existed before God breathed the "breath of life". Adam was made conscious by the "breath of God", and was designed to live forever in a conscious state of mind. This understanding is the key that unlocks the meaning of what is meant by an "immortal soul". Man (Adam) was made an "immortal soul"! Therefore by implication, all of God's family were genetically and spiritually destined to be born also as "immortal souls". God never altered Adam's genetic and spiritual code when Adam sinned and fell from God's image and likeness. This is because God is a God of order and design, and his Majesty as Creator and the laws of biology were to be upheld!
This is the very reason that all of the "generations of Adam" were also destined to be born as "souls" to live forever in a conscious state of mind. By implication, all of Adam's descendants were given the "breath of God" before Adam sinned. Please understand this truth! The "generations of Adam" were created biologically within the body of Adam before Adam sinned and "fell" from his ability to live forever in bodily form reflecting the image of God. After Adam sinned, all of God's family therefore also lost this ability to live forever in bodily glory, and were now no longer in the image and likeness of God. The "generations of Adam" however did not lose their ability to spiritually again receive the "breath of God". Read John 20:22.
John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: (KJV)
Adam's sin was genetically passed on to the members of Adam's body, which were the members of God's family (Rom. 5:12).
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (KJV)
Please understand that God's family was never designed to experience spiritual or physical "death". Before Adam sinned, the Father had a body prepared as a perfect sacrifice (Heb. 10:5) to cover his children that were later to inherit sin and death.
Hebrews 10:5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: (KJV)
This sacrifice and divine plan allowed the Father to restore his family back to his image and likeness to reflect his glory, as they were originally designed to do. This is why the Bible had to be written so as to reveal this divine plan to the Father's fallen children. This is the "salvation" that is talked about throughout the Bible. This "salvation" has to do with the doctrine of the resurrection, which is restoring God's children to manifest God's glory in bodily form as Adam once did. When Adam sinned, the glorified body was lost. The "resurrection" has to do with the restoring of the glorified body that the Father's children were originally designed to have. The "salvation" has to do with the saving of the Adamite souls, as it explains in Heb. 10:39.
Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. (KJV)
If Adamite souls are not "saved" for their resurrected bodies, these souls then experience what is called "death"; as it clearly shows in James 5:20.
James 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. (KJV)
Adamite souls that remain in rebellion from birth will disregard the Bible in unbelief, therefore will not accept the truth and the divine instructions for their souls to be saved. Adamite souls must accept and believe the complete written text of the Bible. It is not that they must understand all the details and the deep things of God. Adamite souls must be "converted" into a child-like humility of obedience to the commandments of God in order to be saved for the resurrection of glory. This truth is explained in detail in my booklet entitled; "Repentance and Obedience". It is very important to understand that the kind of "death" spoken of in James 5:20 (and also in many other scriptures) as not the kind of "death" that Adamite bodies have genetically inherited from Adam's sin. The Father does not want this kind of "death" (James 5:20) for his children. Therefore with the old and new covenants the Father gave his children careful instructions for them to live by so that they would not have to "die".
If the Father's children chose to obey the commandments then they would "live", and if they chose to disobey then they would "die". We can, with common sense, realize that these kinds of "life and death" choices could not be referring to the "life and death" of our physical bodies. This truth can be seen in many scriptures, and is also explained in my booklet, "Life and Death". All of the Father's children "live and die" according to the flesh anyhow, regardless of the covenants! The Father out of love toward his children gave very important biblical "life and death" instructions directly to the Israelite souls, and not to their fleshly bodies! Please understand this very important and also very simple truth!
Under the old covenant the righteous souls of Adamites at the death of the body went to "Abraham's bosom" in hell. Christ delivered these souls out of hell when he went in the "heart of the earth" before his resurrection. My booklet;"Life and Death" also explains this very important truth. Adamite souls that take the Bible very seriously and repent of sin in response to Christ's sacrifice, and are active in building Christ's Church; go on to be with Christ waiting for the resurrection at the last trumpet. Adamite souls that do not heed to the truths and instructions of the Bible in this life will be forever in hell with conscious torment, because they will not able to manifest themselves in the image and glory of God. They will have failed in this life to prepare and train their souls to bodily shine in the image, likeness and glory of their Heavenly Father. The booklets mentioned in this pamphlet explain the doctrine of the "immortal soul" in much more detail, and should therefore be carefully read.Questions or comments?... Email: wickey777@verizon.net