The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-06-14
PEOPLES FORUM
Penalty For Sin.

Editor virsinian:
sir-Please be kind enough TO allow me space
in your paper to reply to an article pabilshed On
May = by Mr.. q. ". Reed.
Brother Reed states that the death referFed
70 in Rom 6:23 is physical death He says this
death applies the body Of man only 3'e
says the soul Of Is immortal He thinks
Inc soul must be immortal because Webster
says il is Immortal Webster defines the Eafll
AS being immortal. because he Ike the balance
OF humanity. in darkness as to the SER
lures, not having recovered from the creeda oi
ghe dark ages. Isaiah coz. Darkness SHAH
cover the EARTH and gross darkness the peo-
pie"
There Is only one place, book, that we
should get our information from concerr-nS
the teachings of God. and that book is she
Bible, we should believe what the Bible sa7-3
even If it contradicts every other book. fz@k
l1&:4: THE soul that sinneth 1t shall de
How could an Immortal soul die? Does death
mean everlasting life in eternal torment James
/ 5.20 "He which convcrteth the sinner from
/ the error Of his way shall save soul from
death" IF the soul Is already immortal. SIS
Brother Reed states, how could It he In dan
ger Of deathq Ps 49:15. God will redeem
/ my soul from the power q the grave. HoW
/ could an immortal soul ret into the graz
/ Job 33:22 .Yea. his soul draweth near 0Hto
! the grave, and his life To the destroyers" Job
speaks Of his soul going into the grave EFi-
IDENTITY he did think he possessed an 1n'-
mortal soul. Psa. COS, 20 Lord. thou hast
brought NJ my soul from the grave Now Il
| she soal 10 immortal and cannot die, as Brother
Reed believes, why Is there much in the
! Scriptures about the soul going into tho gray
| What do the Scriptures mean by saying tina
sf7tfi IL In danger Faflll4@all sl-l
die etc? Brother Reed seems to ignore tha2e
| Scriptures Jesus poured out his soul unto
Death" Isa 53:f2 His soul was in he'll hades,
the grave. fer three days. but was, not left
there he arose on the third day. Psa 1910.
The great trouble with people Is that they
will not believe the Bible They believe the
IN, to he saws
the penalty for SIN is death: tho soul that sim
meth 1t shall die The creeds say the soul that
sinneth shall not die. hut have everlasting life
! tn eternal torment The Bible SAYS. All the
wicked will God destroy" Every soul that
win not hear that prophet shall be destroyed
from among the people" Acts 3;23 Pisa 20,
Che creeds Gays this could not be so, all souls
are immortal. and destruction would be I'M
possfhle Now which shall we believe the Bible
or the creeds?
The Bible saws. the living know they shall
die hut the dead know not anything. that
very day their THOUGHTS perish. there IS no
knowledge nor work ncr device, nor wisdom in
the grave" Feel, -. Psa. 1864 the creeds
cay this could not possibly be so, for when q
man dies he IS alive than he was bofore,
death being the gateway To another world.
Which shall we believe, the Bible the creeds?
we see from the above Scriptures that che soul
of Jesus died, that his soul was in The grave
three days; that every mans soul goes 20 the
grave and they are going to he redeemed from
tho grave not from eternal torment. that every
soul that will not learn rtghteopsness after
coming back from the grave, will he de-
Stroyed. die the second death In view az these
Scriptures how could the soul be immortal?
The word immortal means "deathproo7," in
destructfhle." and these Scriptures certainly do
not apply 10 an immortal soul
] The Greek word 'kolasin" translated punish
ment In Matt 25 40 means cutting eff The
1 wicked win be forever cut off from llfe in
death everlasting destruction. We told by
the Apostle John that the lake Of ire' mem
toned several tines IN Revelation, Is the sec
end death" Rev 20;14. We all know that the
book Of Revelation is hook Of symbols. lake
Of fire" is used TO symbolic destruction;
beast false system; sea meanine people;
/ pure river" the trath, Gods word, otc. No
place in the Scriptures ia the doctrine ot eternal
torment Taught and the Scriptures do uot teach
! that the souY Is naturally immortal. hut that
we must geek for immortality Tho APOSTLE
/ Paul wrote more of, the New Testament than
any Of the apostles, and he did not say word
about eternal torment IN any OF his writings.
ana tlid not say anywhere that the soul Is Inn
mortal. and stll he did say that he rad de-
clared the whole counsel of God, Acts 20:27
Now il there is place Of torment l'Hnl made
| a mistake for ne should have had s6methng
to SAY ahnnt The penaliY for sin is 4 part
! OF the counsel of God, and if the penalty were
eternal torment Paul would surely haTe had
something To say about It. How does brother
Reed explain this?
The only part of the Bible which seems TO
teach eternal tormen mt il the book Of Ravcatton,
(which Is n book or symbols, and u rev OF our
! Lords parahles We told in the Scrip
lures that Jesus did not speak to the multi
/ tudes except he used parallels Matt 1919.
therefore, speak unto them in PARALLELS be-
tause they seeing, see not and hearing, hear
not, neither do they understand And he
| says to his disciples blessed are your eyes
1 for they see, and your ears. for they hear"
| Matt. 1915. No understand parable
/ If they take il literally, In a parable the thing
said is never the thing meant Prov. 26.T-a,
| THE legs of the lame are not equal Is
PARABLE in the mouth of fools, AS thorn
eoeth up into the hand OF q drunkard. so is
b. parable in the month OF fools In Matt.
1880 we find mentioned in parable wheat
''tares' barn. FIRE and what is said is
meant the wheat represents the children of
the kingdom, the tares, the children of the
wicked one, barn. the kingdom and FIRE tnot
eternal torment. but destruction. Tn Matt
2b.s3-41 find mentioned sheep. goats
| and "hre." IL this means literally everlasting
fire. then 1t also means literal sheep and gpatx
: x