Is Man Mortal or Immortal?

No I did not. The only recorded time Jesus used the word "worm" was in Mark 9, which is the passage we were already discussing. In my short survey of other passages I did not mention any other references from the gospels because there are no other references in the gospels.

You ignore what He tells you in your assessment. I believe we need to go further than to make our best “guess” in this matter. Our knowledge is not His knowledge.

Mark 9:43-46, ”And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: 44. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. 45. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
46. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Yes, there are literal worms, there are worms as a symbol for destruction and decay, and there are worms as a metaphor for how low a person, nation or humanity is. However, nowhere do we find the word worm used to describe a part of a person that is undying. If Mark 9:48 stood alone it could be read that way, but when one goes back to Isaiah 66:24 which Jesus is quoting, it is clear that the worm is devouring the corpse the same way the fire is; neither the worm nor the flame is a part of the person.

Yes agree, we need more than verse 48. We need to absorb what Jesus tells us in verse 43. This applied to Isaiah 66:24 reveals the desired information we are looking for concerning the “worm”. God made us to live forever – Revelation 14:10-11.

We know we are made, not for annihilation, but for eternity. We know this for death is the last enemy, and it (“death”) will be destroyed, not man. How can man die if there is no “death” - I Corinthians 15:26.

The unquenchable fire in Isaiah 66:24 is smoldering in a pile of dead bodies that are also being eaten by worms. The victorious do not go through this fire nor are they eaten by these worms. </font>[/QUOTE]We all go through “the fire”, even Satan, and that is where evil was found. But back to us we find in I Corinthians 3:13:16, ”Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved;
yet so as by fire. 16. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

Those that are looked upon didn’t make it through the fire. All their works were burned and so where they, for we stand and look at them, so in that day we will know what we believed was true. We made it to life, and know we shall be as He (Christ Jesus), and they won’t. This is their second death. Do the dead today know what is going on in their underground world? Yes they do for scripture affirms they have not been annihilated. It is hot down there, but its going to get hotter where they are going. Neither will they be annihilated in the second death. Their worm remains. Christian faith, ituttut