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Immortality
Immortality is the quality of never ceasing to live or exist; exemption from death and annihilation; life destined to endure without end; as the immortality of the human soul. Immortality is exemption from oblivion.
–Webster’s American Dictionary
To be immortal is having no principle of alteration or corruption; exempt from death; having life or being that shall never end; as an immortal soul; never ending; everlasting; continual; perpetual; having unlimited existence; destined to live in all the ages of this world; imperishable
.–Webster’s American Dictionary
“God made you of His Light—immortal and eternal.”–Edna Lister
To be immortal is to be undying, no longer subject to death. Immortality is an absolute and abstract principle; God is immortal, as are souls. Immortality is a law of being; soul is immortal. Immortality is part of the soul’s true inherent nature, a gift from God. We are formed of immortal substance and named with the immortal Word of God. Immortality is the keynote of the ninth lesser Via Christa trinity, which includes Space, Time and Eternity.
We recommend Christian Platonism: "Plato’s 19 Proofs of the Immortality of the Human Soul" by John Uebersax. We also recommend his essay : "The Purpose of Plato’s Arguments for the Immortality of the Human Soul".
The path to immortality requires two steps: Awakening to who you are and where you are going and sacrifice, giving up all mortality, which has resulted from the doctrine of sin.–Edna Lister, The Divine Challenge, February 6, 1935
As with all mysteries unveiled throughout the ages, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul finally degenerated into worship and preservation of the body. The idea of physical immortality, which is that the bodies that are buried will "rise up at the last trump" to be used again, stems directly from the doctrine of the soul’s immortality.
Perfect independence, perfect adjustment to life, perfect determination, perfect relaxation, perfect balance, and a perfect sense of direction and control constitute the nine aspects of universal immortality.–Edna Lister, The Nine Lives of a Cat, September 11, 1955
Life is immortal; it will change its form millions of times, yet man has not touched the fringes of healing in the body because we do not believe that life is immortal, that the body is life itself.–Edna Lister, Life Immortal Now, March 30, 1958
Standing in the pure Light of God, you are immortal, invulnerable, invincible and immovable because the love of God is immortal, deathless, ageless and abiding.–Edna Lister, Come Ye Apart, April 20, 1958
God made you of His Light—immortal and eternal. I accept. I am immortal now. I am eternal now.
You will never have greater access to immortality and eternity than you do right now.–Edna Lister, Idealization, May 10, 1959
Truth is no substitute for anything, but a principle to live by, an entirely new life. It is a reconditioning, a reconversion into the image and likeness of God as in the beginning. You are as immortal now as you will ever be, for you are formed by principle of this one substance of the Word, which is God.–Edna Lister, Healing by Principle, July 12, 1959
When you accept that you are immortal now, you draw upon immortality with every breath. Life is continuous and continues when you leave your physical body. Hindus know this and teach it as reincarnation.–Edna Lister, Feed My Sheep, November 22, 1959
God takes charge in your life when you accept His authority, and the authority He has given you over your body and affairs. Inflate your atomic body a deep breath and you will feel immortal. The Holy Breath makes you immortal and you can draw a limitless amount from God-substance. My body is Light behind this outer sheath.
Your body shows the results of your works as a witness to them. You are an individualized expression of God and can be as great and expanded as you choose.–Edna Lister, Know That God Takes Charge, June 11, 1961
You must fully open the glands in the physical body, the vital centers in the desire body and the mental body before you attain sure knowledge of your immortality.
How could you know you are good if you do not know what good is? Eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil makes you conscious of how good God can be. This fruit makes you aware that you must give up your selfish desires. You must take from the Tree of Life to become immortal. We are now earning the right to eat of the Tree of Life and live forever.–Edna Lister, The Tree of Life, October 15, 1961
Mortality operates under the laws of emergence, maturity and decline. Immortality works under the laws of transmutation, transfiguration and ascension. Under emergence, you come forth. Under maturity, you develop. In decline, you fade away. To transmute or transform means that you change from one state or form into another. When you transfigure, you become shining and ascend.–Edna Lister, You Are Immortal Now, September 19, 1965
You are as immortal now in soul as you will ever be. When you declare, Let there be Light!
you stand in the Light, Light condenses, and you can walk in your "stardust" atomic body. You slough off the heavy crystallization of earth gradually and refine your atomic body. You walk now in molecular-atomic bodies. When you ascend, your inner atomic and electronic bodies will make you immortal in form.–Edna Lister, Decree and Establish, June 26, 1966
Eternal life is everywhere evenly present and available, and has been from the beginning.–Edna Lister, Choice, Your Glorious Foundation, October 16, 1966
You are immortal because God made you of Light and His atomic power possesses you with one deep breath.–Edna Lister, Faith and Strength, May 7, 1967
We are all immortal in Linght, the substance of which we are formed. Jesus was immortal, acted immortally and gave us laws to express immortality. Your body cells are immortal substance but have no immunity to low worldly vibrations. Each degree of the 33 Degrees and the 144 steps has a substance initiation.
You take exams repeatedly for each. Initiators may tempt you with the suggestion This is a good place to rest. There’s no hurry about obeying laws. Stay on this level.
When you become complacent, you may succumb to the temptation rather than climbing higher into the Light.–Edna Lister, Practical Methods for Creating Beauty, May 23, 1967
I accept. I am immortal now. I am eternal now.
You will never have greater access to immortality and eternity than you do right now.–Edna Lister, Idealization, May 10, 1959
God takes charge in your life when you accept His authority, and the authority He has given you over your body and affairs. Inflate your atomic body a deep breath and you will feel immortal. The Holy Breath makes you immortal and you can draw a limitless amount from God-substance. My body is Light behind this outer sheath.
Your body shows the results of your works as a witness to them. You are an individualized expression of God and can be as great and expanded as you choose.–Edna Lister, June 11, 1961
You are as immortal now in soul as you will ever be. When you declare, Let there be Light,
you stand in the Light, Light condenses, and you can walk in your "stardust" atomic body. You slough off the heavy crystallization of earth gradually and refine your atomic body. You walk now in molecular-atomic bodies. When you ascend, your inner atomic and electronic bodies will make you immortal in form.–Edna Lister, June 26, 1966
Let the Flame of Fire from above, which consumes all else unlike itself, possess you. I am now possessed by the fire of the Flame of Immortal Life and all that I do is touched by its glory. I am dwelling in the River of Life.
–Edna Lister, June 30, 1969
New Testament Laws on Immortality
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.–John 10:27-28
These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.–John 17:1-3
God will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life–Romans 2:6-7
The the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.–Romans 6:23
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.–1 Corinthians 15:36-56
God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.–1 John 5:11-12
To the King eternal, immortal invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever.–1 Timothy 1:17
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.–2 Timothy 1:10
Top ↑Laws on Immortality in Other Sacred Writings
God created all things, that they might have their being: The generations of the world were healthful; there is no poison of destruction in them, nor was the kingdom of death upon the earth: for righteousness is immortal.–Wisdom of Solomon 1:14-15
God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of His own eternity.–Wisdom of Solomon 2:23
The knowledge of the commandments of the Lord is the doctrine of life: and they who do things that please Him shall receive the fruit of the tree of immortality.–Wisdom of Ben Sirach 19:19
The Savior swallowed up death, for he put aside the world which is perishing. He transformed himself into an imperishability and raised himself up, having swallowed the visible by the invisible, and he gave us the way of our immortality.–Treatise on the Resurrection, Codex I, 4
God is immortal and eternal, having no birth; for everyone who has birth will perish.–Eugnostos the Blessed, Codices III, 3 and V, 1
All natures from the Immortal One, from Unbegotten to the revelation of chaos, are in the Light that shines without shadow and in ineffable joy and unutterable jubilation.–Eugnostos the Blessed, Codices III, 3 and V, 1
Whatever is born of truth does not die [immortal-eternal]. Whatever is born of woman dies [mortal-temporal].–The Dialogue of the Savior, Codex III, 5
Concerning these things (learning and knowledge) which we have mentioned from the beginning, he (God) perfected them in order that by means of these things he might restrain passions and evils, according to his will. He brought his (man’s) mortal existence into immortality; he (man) became good (and) immortal, just as I have said. For he (God) created (a) two-fold nature for him: the immortal and the mortal.–Asclepius 21-29, Codex VI,8
He that is joined to Him that is immortal, will also himself become immortal; and he who has pleasure in the Living One, will become living.–Odes of Solomon 3:10-11
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Edna Miriam Lister1884–1971
The original Pioneering Mystic,
Christian Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.
Etymology of immortal: Latin immortalis, from in- "not" + mortalis "mortal."
Etymology of mortal: Latin mortalis "subject to death," from mors (gen. mortis) "death."
Immortality is an absolute principle.
Immortality is an abstract principle.
Immortality is a law of being.
Immortality is a Via Christa Degree.
References
Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, 2024.
The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV).
The Nag Hammadi Library. James M. Robinson, ed. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988.
Webster, Noah. Immortality,
Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language. New York: S. Converse, 1828.
The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV).
Related Topics
For philosophical arguments regarding immortality, pro and con, see Gabriel Andrade.