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From: usenet@christrose.news
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Thu, 20 Nov 2025 15:11:52 -0500
<3f6uhk55ta73bonnm4lh7muvuvronsuru1@4ax.com>
"Sincerely", "soley from the Bible" and
"Honestly is my middle name"
James wrote:
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>> • Jesus said that men can kill the body but cannot kill the soul
>> (Matthew 10:28, ESV).
> So the next logical thought is men can't kill the soul, but God can.
> Thus your soul is not immortal.
Jesus’ point in Matthew 10:28 is not that the soul is *mortal*.
His point is that the soul is **beyond human reach** but **not beyond
God’s judgment**.
Here is what the text actually says:
“Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul:
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in
*hell* [Gehenna]” (Matthew 10:28, KJV).
To understand Jesus’ meaning, two facts must be held together:
1. **Men cannot kill the soul.**
That means the soul continues when the body dies.
2. **God can bring soul and body into ruin in Gehenna.**
But the word “destroy” (*apollymi*) never means “cause to cease to
exist.”
Not once.
The same word *apollymi* is used for:
• a lost sheep (still exists)
• a lost coin (still exists)
• the prodigal son being “lost” (Luke 15:24, still exists)
• wineskins being “ruined” (Luke 5:37, still exist)
*Apollumi* means **ruin**, **loss**, **utter undoing**, not annihilation.
If Jesus had meant “God can make your soul cease to exist,” He would not
have chosen a word used repeatedly for things that remain in existence
after being “destroyed.”
Now look at what Jesus *immediately connects* to this warning:
“where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48,
ESV; *hell* [Gehenna]).
A worm that does not die continues its work.
A fire that cannot be quenched continues its work.
Neither image fits extinction.
And Jesus taught degrees of judgment:
“more tolerable” for some than others (Matthew 11:22–24).
Degrees require consciousness.
He said Judas’ fate was worse than never existing:
“It would have been better for that man if he had not been born”
(Matthew 26:24).
Non-existence cannot be worse than non-existence.
Jesus’ statement only makes sense if Judas faces conscious judgment so
severe that non-being would have been preferable.
Paul agrees:
Those who do not obey the gospel “will suffer the punishment of eternal
destruction away from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:9, ESV).
You cannot be “away from” someone if you no longer exist.
Revelation seals it:
“They have no rest, day or night” (Revelation 14:11, ESV).
Rest and unrest require consciousness.
The lake of fire receives the devil, the beast, and the false prophet,
and “they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation
20:10, ESV).
The same lake receives all not in the book of life (Revelation 20:15, ESV).
Jesus did not teach that the soul is extinguished.
He taught that the soul survives death and faces either eternal life
with God or eternal ruin in *Gehenna*.
--
Have you heard the good news Christ died for our sins (†), and God
raised Him from the dead?
That Christ died for our sins shows we're sinners who deserve the death
penalty. That God raised Him from the dead shows Christ's death
satisfied God's righteous demands against our sin (Romans 3:25; 1 John
2:1-2). This means God can now remain just, while forgiving you of your
sins, and saving you from eternal damnation.
On the basis of Christ's death and resurrection for our sins, call on
the name of the Lord to save you: "For 'everyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved'" (Romans 10:13, ESV).
https://christrose.news/salvation
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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