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The Flood did not purify its Victims.
A.--It appears that I have been misled in believing the flood had a purifying effect.
B.--Yes, and your other idea of the purifying effect of the second death vanishes with it.
A.--Perhaps the meaning was that the flood did not purify its victims, but the earth on
which they lived.
B.--In that case the analogy does not serve your purpose. I would readily agree that the
burning up of the elements was a purifying of the earth, but what you have been trying to
prove is that it purified or preserved its victims. I believe with you that the flood
foreshadows the lake of fire, and the inspired words are "destroy" and "curse", not
"purify" and "vivify". Our chief purpose at the moment is the question, Does Scripture
warrant a resurrection from the lake of fire? I believe you must agree that it does not.
A.--I am afraid I must. I am reluctant to give up the idea, for it is the last position left.
Who enter the Second Death?
B.--We have not time to go into details as to other phases of the subject, but I should like
to ask you who they are which die the second death.
A.--I believe that everyone that appears before the awful light of the great white throne
dies the second death.
B.--Will you read the literal translation of Rev. 20: 15?
A.--(Reads), "And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into
the lake of fire."
B.--Do you not see how intensely individual the words "if any one" are?
A.--Now that you point it out, I confess they do appear so.
The Book and the Books.
B.--The judgment here is twofold; one out of the books, the other out of the book;
the books being a judgment of works, the book being a question of life and death. You
have made two assumptions. First you have supposed that all who stand before the great
white throne die the second death, and secondly, having plunged this vast multitude into
the lake of fire, you have then entertained the unscriptural idea of a resurrection from it.
The book is called the book of life. According to your theory this would be a
misnomer. If such eventually live, the book would be called by some more fitting title.