Thanks ever so much for your lengthy letter.  As a result of it, I will put a new web page up as DEATH TO LIFE.  Please see answers to your questions below in bold print.  I hope this helps you on your quest for the truth. 

 

 

Hey, my name is ....  I am currently studying in Prague, CZ.  I am 19.  I love your web page.  I am currently taking some classes in Judaism although I am  Christian.  I have a paper due in that class soon, and so I was thinking about doing my paper on redemption because of the star of redemption.  So I was trying to get some information on what Jews believe concerning a Messiah if they don't believe in Jesus.  Jews believe that Jesus was a great person and prophet, but they don't believe that He was God in the flesh.  We don't usually have people or the rabbi tell us to read the prophetic books in the bible, so we don't understand or know about the Messiah.  That's why I put my site up. They believe that there is going to be a Messiah, but after asking lots and lots of Jews what they thought the Messiah would be like, where he would come from, where He would be born and how He would get here, they just say, "I don't know."  And they don't!  The Jews are still looking for the Messiah to come.  He is supposed to be great and strong and conquering.  This is the second coming as we know it.  Isaiah 30:9 tells why Jews don't know.  They don't want to know.  They have been trying to avoid their sin for thousands of years.  They didn't want to look at their sin, so they killed and beheaded the prophets that God sent to save them and to tell them of His plan.  They did that to Jesus, too, even though it says in Isaiah 7:14 the Messiah will be called Immanuel.  In Hebrew it reads Immonu Ale.  This means GOD WITH US.   And how they believe they will be redeemed.  I asked a rabbi about this.  He said that all the Jews have to do is to be the best that they can.  This is nonsense.  God said that the only way to forgive sin is through blood sacrifice.  Jeremiah 31:31 says that there is going to be a new covenant and that there would be no more sacrifice.  The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. and there couldn't be any more blood sacrifice.  Would God leave His chosen people without a means of salvation?  Of course not!  That's why Jesus came.  Roughly 37 years after Jesus died (enough time for the Jews to get the message of Jesus' dying for their sins) the temple was allowed to be destroyed, even to this day, so they couldn't go back to the old way, but they just didn't get the message.  Jesus' blood on the cross was the blood sacrifice once and for all people so all ours sins could be forgiven as long as we believe in Him.   So I stumbled across your page.  It is so good to hear people praising God.  There is so much to praise Him for.  I feel so unbelievably blessed and at peace since I decided to get my Master's Degree in Divinity, starting this summer.  He is so good, I just can't do enough for Him.   My mission is to reach everyone, Jews and then to all peoples of all nations.  (...not very ambitious, huh?).   I am so glad that he has blessed you.  I like how on the miracles section you consider your sons and wife miracles. They really are miracles!  After all, what is a miracle but God working in our lives.  Some people overlook the obvious.  I really was fed by your enthusiasm for Christ.  So thank you.  I adore God and Jesus.  I am so grateful for His giving Jesus to die for us, for forgiving our sins, and for allowing us to be in Heaven with Him some day.  It's not by the things that we do, but what He did for us.  (Ephesians 2:8).

One thing I wanted to mention though, is that my attention was caught on the autobiography page.  You said "the soul is immortal."  The soul lives forever.  It either goes to Heaven or Hell.  Christ said the reason we should not fear suffering and only fear God is because man can destroy the body but God can destroy the body and soul in hell. We will have a new body.  You are right on that (later).  God would never, ever send us to hell!  He created us and He loves us far beyond what we could ever imagine.  We call Him Heavenly Father for good reason.  He created us.  Would we send our children to hell.  Of course not!  So do you think our Heavenly Father would either?  Of course not!  The only way we can get to hell is if we don't accept the means of forgiveness, belief in Jesus our Savior.  This places the responsibility squarely on our shoulders!  The only unforgivable sin is SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT.  That means that we don't accept the Holy Spirit, the power that leads us to Christ.  If we ignore the Holy Spirit and Jesus, then we are ignoring the only thing that can save us.  All other sins are forgivable.  Does that make any sense?! .  .  For this reason, among a lot of other texts, many many many, and the idea that God is loving and merciful,  If you ever read the O.T., you can see that God never, ever stops forgiving and giving us another chance.  All we have to do is to believe, repent of our old and bad ways, stop ignoring God and start doing what He wants us to., I would like to suggest that the soul is mortal. I love that statement that Jesus made when He was dying on the cross with the thief and the murderer.  The thief believed in Him right then and there and He said, "Today you will be with Me in paradise."  That means that Jesus had eternal life for Him that day.  He also says that there are many mansions for us.  We all have a place in Heaven.  All we have to do is put our faith in Him, the means of forgiveness of sins.     I believe that those who go to hell will suffer and burn but burn up. If you believe that they will go to hell, then you have to believe that there is a life after death.  If you didn't then they couldn't go to hell.  You can only get there when you die.  That their soul is destructible because the bible says so. Where does it say that?  This is very contradictory, especially to John 3:16 which says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life."     Also in Timothy, Paul says that God is the ONLY one that is immortal.  If we look at the teaching of immortality of the soul and its history, it is not from the Jewish faith (although hell fire is certainly mentioned in the Old Testament),  If hell fire is mentioned in the O.T. then you are admitting that there is a life after or at least a place called hell.  If there is a place called hell, and people go there, then there must be a life after death.     but sprang from the oppression of Catholicism. What do you mean by that?  I say these things only in love.  So many people never come to Christ because they can not reconcile the idea of a loving merciful God torturing souls eternally (which is unfathomable), in hell. Again, God would never send us to hell!  One of the commandments is THOU SHALT NOT KILL.  How could God kill us or send us to hell.?  He would be breaking one of the BIG 10.  God loves us and has a mansion for all of us who believe.  In the O.T. the Jews needed to do blood sacrifice to forgive sin and follow God's commandments.  In the N.T. we have to believe in Jesus who died and shed His blood so we might live.  Again, we are given a choice.  God's children are always given a choice.  Jesus said, "I stand at the door and knock."  We can either open the door to eternal life with Him, or we can leave Him outside.  God and Jesus would never, ever force us to believe.  I wish we didn't have a free will, but we do.  The rest is up to us.  The plan is so simple.  Ephesians 2:8 (one of my favorite verses) says that we are saved by grace (Jesus paid the price on the cross for us) through faith (in Jesus) and that this was a gift from God.  We can't save ourselves.  We aren't good enough.  The bible says that no one is perfect, only God/Jesus is without sin.  That's why Jesus can be our redemption.     Revelation also talks about the last thing that God will destroy (after the second death), is death itself. If you believe this, then you believe that we will live forever. How awesome.  I can't wait!  You don't have to wait.  All you have to do is believe, with all your heart and soul and might that Jesus is your Lord and that He came to die for YOU, YES YOU!  However, I just felt compelled to bring this to your attention.  That the soul is mortal.  The soul has not always been.  Scripture says that God knew us from before the beginning of time.  He was just waiting for the right time and place to put us here.  That's His plan.  See 2 Thessalonians 2:13     Do you remember anything before your birth?  God created us, but He never said that there was reincarnation!    It will not always be, for those who God does not cleanse of sin.  God will cleanse us from sin if we believe in the power and the person of Jesus Christ who God sent for us.  In Ecclesiastes he says, "from dust you came and to dust you will return."   Like you said yourself life is in the blood.  We are made of two things:  the breath of life, and the dust of the Earth.  Therefore when we die is it not logical to think that the breath returns to God and the dust to the earth? Scripture says that we will have a new body but the same spirit. 

"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself" (Phil. 3:20-21).

After Christ was resurrected he said he had not yet seen his father.  At the end of Daniel, God tells him that he will die and then be resurrected with the second coming.  So that means that when we die we know nothing.  We can not think without a soul.  We never lose our soul. It never dies.  But we can not think without a brain.  And our brain doesn't work unless our body lives. We will have our new heavenly bodies because scripture says that there will be no more suffering or pain.  Revelation 21:4
⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."   If our soul lives forever, and we will be transformed and God will give us new bodies, then what is the point in the resurrection? The resurrection was when Jesus rose from the dead.  The purpose of that was to show us that Jesus did, in fact, have power over death and that the bible's promises would come true, that Jesus gives us eternal life with Him in Heaven for all eternity.  Praise God.  What a wonderful promise.  God always keeps His promises.  You can count on that!  What is the point of the second coming?  The second coming is when Jesus comes to conquer Satan, who has been walking on and ruling the earth.  He will come for His believers.  The dead in Christ will rise first and then the living to meet Him in the air and bring us to Heaven for ever.  If it weren't for the second coming, then the dead wouldn't rise to be with Him.  He is coming for you and for me, as long as we believe.  For those who don't believe, there will be the great WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT.  The non-believers will then be cast down into hell because that is where they chose to be.  They weren't forced to believe in God or Jesus.  As a matter of fact, they chose not to believe, so they don't believe in the power that could save them, the only power that can save you and me and the world.  (Thessalonians)  When we are all all of those who believe in the saving blood of Jesus resurrected when Christ returns, why should Christ return to take us home if we go to heaven when we die? We only go to Heaven when we die if we accept Jesus as our own personal Lord and Savior.  It is not a given when we die.  We have to make a personal commitment to Him.  This is what Jesus calls being BORN AGAIN, IN JOHN 3:3.  Jesus said that we have to be!.  Paul says when we die we are asleep.  The bible says "the dead know nothing."  Therefore, it makes sense to believe that when we die, we know nothing, when Christ returns he will re-give us the breath of life.  We will go and live with him forever.That sounds mighty good to me.  All who did not choose life, then, chose death. We don't have a choice.  The only way that you can not choose life is to commit suicide.  Even that must be a pardonable sin, because the only sin that is unforgivable that sends us to hell, of our own free will, is to say that we don't believe and that we will have no part of God or Jesus who came to save us.  Suicide isn't what God wants, because we are breaking the commandment of THOU SHALT NOT KILL.  It's like having a child and they kill themselves.  Do you hate them and condemn them for it or do you feel tremendous sorrow for them and wish you could have prevented it from happening?   You still love them and so does God.     And their souls and bodies will be destroyed with hell fire when God destroys everything in the present heavens and earth (see 2 Peter).  Revelation talks about God destroying Satan. When Christ comes back the second time, He will cast Satan into hell (Satan, by the way means ADVERSARY in Hebrew...Gahm-ha-Sotton).  Jesus will rule.  The old world will pass away.  There will be a new Heaven and a new earth.  See Revelation 21:1-7.   Why would God destroy Satan but make someone who simply didn't believe in him but led a pretty good life burn forever? God will destroy Satan once and for all because He said that there will be no other Gods before Me.  God doesn't like any competition!  He promises to put Satan in His place.  Satan chose to defy God.  If we choose to defy Him and not accept His way, then we too will chose the same end as Satan did.  Satan has a free will and so do we.  It's Satan's choice and it is also ours.  We can choose Jesus and God's way and go to Heaven, or we can choose to defy God and by so  doing choose to be without God., It doesn't add up.  So then, the soul is mortal.  Only God is immortal and that is what makes God God.  If the soul was mortal and not immortal then how could Jesus have told the thief on the cross beside Him that He would be with Him in paradise that very day?  If the soul was immortal, then why did John 3:16 say, "For God so loved the world that whosoever believes in Him (Jesus) would not perish but have everlasting life." 

Anyway, sorry didn't mean to get carried away there. I love people who get carried away.  Can you tell?!  I just see that as a stumbling block in the ministry of trying to show people how God is love. That is THE MESSAGE in the Old and New Testaments.  God is love.  He always gives us another chance.  He always loves us.  He is always waiting for us to decide to accept His plan and Jesus, until the day we die.  Then it's too late if we didn't yet.  Saying that the soul is mortal makes sense because it makes life possible only through our creator and makes life that much more special and important.   Wisdom to man is folly to God.  It doesn't make any difference if it makes sense to you or not.  God's Word is TRUTH.  If you don't believe it then you are making the choice not to believe in God's plan of salvation for you.  And as you can see, Satan made that choice, and you know where he's heading.  I hope and pray that you haven't made that same choice.  Choose Jesus.  Choose Christ.  Choose Salvation and redemption in Him.  Choose life eternal!!!!!!!!     It makes God that much more merciful and loving.  Okay, well have a great weekend.  Once again, I wanted to thank you for your enthusiasm about Christ.  It is inspiring.  I really admire your passion for the word!  Keep up the good work!  I love hearing about how God is using people to further His kingdom.  I hope He will use you to further His Kingdom as well!  Please, please write back and let me know if this helped.  I hope it did.  I am still learning by leaps and bounds.  God has so much to reveal, and His truth takes a long time to understand.  We will never fully understand.  Just believe in Jesus....PLLLLLLLLLLLEASE!   Lots and lots of love in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.  God bless you forever.  Dave

 

God Bless!