Souls Can Be Annihilated

By William Robert West

Passages In Which The Psukee [Soul] Means Life And Can Die, Be Killed, Perish, Be Destroyed.

Matthew 2:20 "Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead that sought the young child's life [life-soul-psukee]." There is no doubt that they wanted to kill the child's body, not some inter part of him. No immortal "soul" in this passage.
Matthew 6:25 "Therefore, I say unto you, be not anxious for your life [life-soul-psukee], what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life [life-soul-psukee] more than the food, and the body than the raiment?" It is the earthly person in the image of Adam that eats and drinks, not an immortal part of a person. A person's life is more than what he or she has to put on the body.
Matthew 10:28 "And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul [life-soul-psukee]: but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul [life-soul-psukee] and body in hell [Gehenna]." See notes on this in chapter four. If psukee is an immortal soul, then God can destroy this immortal soul. THERE IS NO STRONGER WAY IN WHICH TO SAY GOD CAN AND WILL DESTROY IT. He is to be feared by those of the world because He will. There would be no reason to fear Him if He could not, or if He will not destroy the Psukee - soul or life. I FIND IT STRANGE THAT ONE OF THE MOST USED PASSAGES TO PROVE THE SOUL CANNOT BE DESTROYED SAYS GOD CAN DESTROY IT. See "Matthew 10:28, Luke 12:5 God is able to destroy [Apollumi] both soul and body in Gehenna" in chapter four and "PROVES MORE THAN THEY WANT" also in chapter four. Not even God could destroy the soul if it is immortal and can never die for if He could, then it would not be immortal and it could die.
Matthew 10:39 "For whosoever would save his life [life-soul-psukee] shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life [life-soul-psukee] for my sake shall find it. 26 For what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and forfeit his life [life-soul-psukee]? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his life [life-soul-psukee]?" The King James Version has the same word [psukee] translated "life" two times and "soul" two times. What made them think Christ used the same word in the same passage with two different meaning? In today's English, the meaning of "soul" and "life" are worlds apart.

Mark 8:35 "For whosoever would save his life [life-soul-psukee] shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life [life-soul-psukee] for my sake and the gospel's shall save it. 36 For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life [life-soul-psukee]? 37 For what should a man give in exchange for his life?" [life-soul-psukee]. The life that is prolonged for a little while by denying Christ will be lost, but the life that is loss by being faithful to Christ will be saved at the judgment.

Luke 9:24-25 "For whosoever would save his life [life-soul-psukee] shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life [life-soul-psukee] for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose or forfeit his own self?" Psukee is translated "soul" and "life" interchangeably in the Bible, and sometimes in the same verse. In the King James Version the same word is inconsistently translated two times "soul," and two times "life" but corrected in the American Standard Version and most others where all four times the same word is translated "life." "In exchange for his life."

"And lose or forfeit his own self" American Standard Version.

"Yet lose...his very self" New International Version. "Lose...themselves?" New Revised Standard Version.

Human language could not be any clearer that Christ is speaking of the whole person, and not just some internal unseen part of a person. Luke avoids using the word soul in Luke 12:4-5. Why? His Gentile readers might have understood the word the way it was used by the Greeks of that time, therefore, he used a word that means the whole person, not the Greek soul that will be reincarnated.

Matthew 20:28 "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life [life-soul-psukee] a ransom for many." Mark 10:45 "For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life [life-soul-psukee] a ransom for many."
Mark 3:4 "And he said unto them, is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life [life-soul-psukee], or to kill? But they held their peace." Luke 6:9 "And Jesus said unto them, I ask you, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? To save a life [life-soul-psukee], or to destroy it?" "Kill" and "destroy" are used interchangeably. The translators would not translate psukee into "soul" in this passage for it would then say the soul could be killed or destroyed.
Luke 9:56 "For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives [life-soul-psukee], but to save them. And they went to another village" King James Version. This is not in the American Standard Version, and others for it is not in many Greek Manuscripts, but there is nothing about an immortal part of a person in it.
Luke 12:19 "And I will say to my soul [life-soul-psukee], Soul [life-soul-psukee], you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry. 20 But God said unto him, You foolish one, this night is your soul [life-soul-psukee] required of you; and the things which you have prepared, whose shall they be? 21 So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. 22 And he said unto his disciples, therefore, I say unto you, be not anxious for your life [life-soul-psukee], what you shall eat; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. 23 For the life [life-soul-psukee] is more than the food, and the body than the raiment." In this passage they found it necessary to translate psukee into both soul and life, for the soul cannot eat or use a raiment. "You fool! This very night your life [life-soul-psukee] is being demanded of you" New Revised Standard Version. His life [psukee] was demanded. "So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God." It will be their life [psukee] that will be demanded of them. Nothing is said about an immortal part of a person that will be forever tormented. In this passage psukee does the things that only this earthly body can do, things that an immortal no substance soul could not do. "And I will say to my soul [psukee], Soul [psukee], you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink" [Luke 12:19]. An immortal no substance soul could not use the much earthly goods laid up for many years. Can anyone not see how foolish this passage would be if it were speaking of an immortal soul that has no body and no substance but was using the earthly goods it has lain up? Can a soul that has no earthly body eat, drink or use any earthly goods?

"And I'll say to myself [psukee], 'You [psukee] have plenty of good things laid up for many years'" New International Version.

"I will say to myself [psukee], 'You [psukee] have plenty of good things laid by'" The Revised English Bible.

Then I can say to myself [psukee], 'I [psukee] have enough good things stored'" New Century Version.

Luke 14:26 "If any man comes unto me, and hate not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life [life-soul-psukee] also, he cannot be my disciple."
Luke 17:33 "Whosoever shall seek to gain his life [life-soul-psukee] shall lose it: but whosoever shall lose his life [soul - psukee] shall preserve it."
John 10:11 "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd lays down his life [life-soul-psukee] for the sheep. 12 He that is a hireling, and not a shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, beholds the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees, and the wolf snatches them, and scatters [them]: 13 [he flees] because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know me, 15 even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father; and I lay down my life [life-soul-psukee] for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice: and they shall become one flock, one shepherd. 17 Therefore, the Father loves me, because I lay down my life [life-soul-psukee], that I may take it again." An immortal soul, as taught today, cannot die, therefore, the translators could not say Christ gave up His immortal soul. He gives His life, not an immortal soul.
John 12:25 "He that loves his life [life-soul-psukee] shall lose it; and he that hates his life [life-soul-psukee] in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." Who ever puts this life first shall lose his life, but who ever put God first shall live after the judgment. Those who do not put God first will lose their psukee (life). If psukee is an immortal soul that can never die, it could not be lost.
John 15:13 "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life [life-soul-psukee] for his friends." Not even those who believe a person has an immortal soul believe Christ lay down his immoral soul, they do not believe an immoral soul can be dead. He did lay down His life for us.
John 13:37 "Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow you even now? I will lay down my life [life-soul-psukee] for you. 38 Jesus answered, will you lay down your life [life-soul-psukee] for me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, the cock shall not crow, till you have denied me thrice." "Lay down" means "to give up," "to die." It was Peter that was to give up his life [psukee] for Christ. If psukee is an immortal soul that can never die, Peter could not have given it up.
Acts 3:23 "And it shall be, that every soul [life-soul-psukee] that shall not hearken to that prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people."

AN IMMORTAL SOUL UTTERLY DESTROYED! HOW COULD GOD SAY ANY STRONGER THAT WHATEVER THE PEUKEE IS [life-soul-person] CAN AND WILL BE UTTERLY DESTROYED?

"And it will be that everyone [life-soul-psukee]" New Revised Standard Version.

"Anyone [life-soul-psukee] who does not listen to him" New International Version. "For anyone [psukee] who refuses to listen to that prophet" The Revised English Bible.

16. Acts 15:24 "Forasmuch as we have heard that certain who went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls [life-soul-psukee]."

"Your minds" New Revised Standard Version.
"Troubling your minds" New International Version.
"Unsettled your minds" The Revised English Bible.

Acts 15:26 "Men that have hazarded their lives [life-soul-psukee] for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." An immortal part of a person that could not die could not be hazarded.
Acts 20:9-10 "And there sat in the window a certain young man named Eutychus, borne down with deep sleep; and as Paul discoursed yet longer, being borne down by his sleep he fell down from the third story, and was taken up DEAD. 10 And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Make you no ado; for his LIFE [life-soul-psukee] is in him." He was dead, but Paul restored his earthly life that was dead from the fall, not an immortal soul that the fall could not have killed.
Acts 20:24 "But I hold not my life [life-soul-psukee] of any account as dear unto myself." The translators would not say he held his immortal soul to be of no account. To use soul in this passage would not teach what they believed, therefore, they did not use it.
Acts 27:10 "And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the lading and the ship, but also of our lives [life-soul-psukee]." No one will lose an immortal soul in a shipwreck. It can be seen how the translators picked when they wanted psukee to be a soul and when they wanted it to be life.
Acts 27:22 "And now I exhort you to be of good cheer; for there shall be no loss of life [life-soul-psukee] among you, but (only) of the ship." This could not be translated souls for then souls would have been lost just as the ship was lost by a storm, and we are told by those who believe we have an immortal soul that souls are lost by sin and they cannot be lost by a storm.
Romans 16:4 "Who for my life [life-soul-psukee] laid down their own necks."
Romans 11:3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have dug down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life [life-soul-psukee]." They were seeking his earthly life to kill, just as they had the prophets, not a no substance something that they could not see or kill.
Philippians 1:27 "With one mind [life-soul-psukee] striving together for the faith."
Philippians 2:30 "Because for the work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding his life [life-soul-psukee] to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me." Did he hazard his immortal soul; and his soul, which cannot die came nigh unto death even if it could not die?

1 Thessalonians 2:8 "We were well pleased to impart unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls [life-soul-psukee]." They were pleased to impart the gospel to them even at the cost of their own lives, not impart the gospel to them even at the cost of their immortal souls.

"But also our own selves [psukee]" New Revised Standard Version.

"But our lives [psukee] as well" New International Version.

"Our very lives [psukee]" The New American Bible.

"Our very selves [psukee]" The Revised English Bible.

"Our own lives [psukee]" New Century Version.

27. 1 Peter 2:11 "Beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul [life-soul-psukee]."

28. Hebrews 10:39 "But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul [life-soul-psukee]."

"But among those who have faith and so are saved" New Revised Standard Version.

"But of those who believe and are saved" New International Version.

"We have the faith to preserve our life [psukee]" The Revised English Bible.

29. James 5:19-20 "My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one converts him; 20 let him know, that he who converts a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul [life-soul-psukee] from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins." If the sinner is not converted, his soul [psukee] will not be saved from death. Many read "Hell" ["shall save a soul from Hell"] into this in the place of "death." Reading Hell in where it is not is the only way to get "save a soul from Hell" into the Bible.

"Will save him [psukee] from death" New International Version. The whole person will be saved from death, not just a part of the person that could not be dead.

30. 1 John 3:16 "Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life [life-soul-psukee] for us: and we should lay down our lives [life-souls-psukee] for the brethren." Can we lay down our immortal souls for the brethren? Christ lay down His life for us, and we should be willing to lay down our life for our brethren. If this were an immortal part of a person, we would be told to do something that it would not be possible for us to do.