Hell is NOT a Lake of Fire. There is NO Endless Punishment

[simoncpu]

---

again here's my point: if i ask you where is evil? inside or outside of God? if you say outside, then that wud be saying that there is something greater than God containing God and whatever is outside of Him.

Evil is an abstract concept, not an object that has a physical location. It's like asking, where is beauty? Where is love? You can cite the physical location of beautiful and loving things, but not beauty and love itself.

[ simon.cpu ]

[junn]

Evil is an abstract concept, not an object that has a physical location. It's like asking, where is beauty? Where is love? You can cite the physical location of beautiful and loving things, but not beauty and love itself.

[ simon.cpu ]

tnx for the answer. but i'm not asking about the physical location of evil. im trying to show that nothing is outside of God. not even evil itself. the hard truth is that we have been trying to ascribe to God all that is good. we overlooked the real purpose of evil. far apart what man's sinfulness have manifest out of it...

then again, remember that knowledge of good and evil sprung from the same tree in the garden of eden...

[brown_dog]

Some say Hell is lake of fire where people are burned without ceasing forever. (Catholic's old preaching)
Some say it is a bad situation. As opposed to a Good situation described as Heaven. This is what catholic's new description of Hell.

Here is What I believe on what hell is. In short it is the end of sin. A New eden or a New Beggining of Earth. Which may sound awkward for some but it is Biblically consistent.

Take not there are lots of word in the bible talking about hell burning forever. In the Bible it does not necessarily mean forever.

Hath hell no fury? Or are sinners suffering right now in eternal torment? A third view on hellfire is currently gaining greater acceptance in modern theological thought. Asserting that the belief of eternal torment is based on pagan philosophy, scholars such as Eng-land's Dr. John Stott argue that such a view of God is inconsistent with the biblical portrait of His character and with Scripture itself. Stott and other prominent Bible teachers propose that the fires will ultimately put the unsaved out of existence.

The Bible is not ambiguous on the subject. While Jesus did make it very clear that there is a real hell (see Matthew 10:2, He explained something vitally significant in the parable of the wheat and the tares.

"As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire," Jesus said, "so shall it be in the end of this world" (Matthew 13:40). The point is repeated just nine verses later in the parable of the net. The implications of such a position are obvious. First, in sharp contrast to the claims of Vatican City, hell is a real place where the "children of the wicked one" (Matthew 13:3 will be "burned" (verse 40). We also learn that, contrary to the other commonly held view on the subject, nobody has gone there yet.

It is worth noting that for the majority of times the word translated "hell" is used in Scripture, it literally means "the grave." In only 12 of the 54 times we read the word "hell" does the original word mean "a place of burning."

I believe hell will be onHath hell no fury? Or are sinners suffering right now in eternal torment? A third view on hellfire is currently gaining greater acceptance in modern theological thought. Asserting that the belief of eternal torment is based on pagan philosophy, scholars such as Eng-land's Dr. John Stott argue that such a view of God is inconsistent with the biblical portrait of His character and with Scripture itself. Stott and other prominent Bible teachers propose that the fires will ultimately put the unsaved out of existence.

The Bible is not ambiguous on the subject. While Jesus did make it very clear that there is a real hell (see Matthew 10:2, He explained something vitally significant in the parable of the wheat and the tares.

"As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire," Jesus said, "so shall it be in the end of this world" (Matthew 13:40). The point is repeated just nine verses later in the parable of the net. The implications of such a position are obvious. First, in sharp contrast to the claims of Vatican City, hell is a real place where the "children of the wicked one" (Matthew 13:3 will be "burned" (verse 40). We also learn that, contrary to the other commonly held view on the subject, nobody has gone there yet.

It is worth noting that for the majority of times the word translated "hell" is used in Scripture, it literally means "the grave." In only 12 of the 54 times we read the word "hell" does the original word mean "a place of burning."

Mary Ellen's Misconception
A few years ago, a young lady named Mary Ellen told me that although she was raised in a Christian home, she had given up on God and was instead practicing witchcraft.

"I was raised in a hellfire-and-brimstone spitting church," she told me. "They would talk about this God who would take sinners and burn them for all eternity, and that God would be happy to inflict torture upon them for as long as time would last.

"I thought to myself, 'If that's what God is really like, I'd be better off without Him.' " Because of the portrait of God painted by the church, this intelligent young woman had turned her back on the Bible and embraced paganism and devil worship.

Mary Ellen was appalled by the idea of a God of love behaving as one would expect the devil to behave. Not even history's most reviled despots-Hitler, Stalin, or Idi Amim-were as cruel to their victims as Christians accuse God of being. Mary Ellen reacted to the idea as thousands have done: by giving up on God, because to misunderstand hell is to misunderstand the character of God, the awfulness of sin, and the love of God for all of His children.

We cannot deny that some passages in the Bible plainly state that hellfire will burn "for ever" (Revelation 14:11; 20:10). But logic alone tells us that if hell burns forever "on the breadth of the earth," it would be impossible for God to create a new earth. And if God kept sinners alive to endure an eternal burning, He would fail in His mission to rid the world of sin. Instead, He would perpetuate it.

Can you imagine a new earth where throughout eternity you could hear the howls and screams of the wicked suffering in hell? Or what if you knew that in some corner of the universe those you had loved on the earth were writhing forever in agony because of misdeeds during their relatively short lives on earth?

I have never met anyone who could enjoy heaven knowing that loved ones or family were being tortured throughout all eternity. Thankfully, the Bible states that the new earth will be a place without sorrow or pain (Revelation 21:4).

For more info please visit www.helltruth.com

May God Bless all who seek the truth.

[geoseph]

One of my ideas of hell is a thread filled with debate that is going nowhere, instead of being one that accumulates good points.

[rcruman]

HELL/HADES is a presentation of FALSE CHURCH.

Peace!

[brown_dog]

We cannot deny that some passages in the Bible plainly state that hellfire will burn "for ever" (Revelation 14:11; 20:10). But logic alone tells us that if hell burns forever "on the breadth of the earth," it would be impossible for God to create a new earth. And if God kept sinners alive to endure an eternal burning, He would fail in His mission to rid the world of sin. Instead, He would perpetuate it.

Can you imagine a new earth where throughout eternity you could hear the howls and screams of the wicked suffering in hell? Or what if you knew that in some corner of the universe those you had loved on the earth were writhing forever in agony because of misdeeds during their relatively short lives on earth?

What about "for ever?"

What About "For Ever"?
In Scripture, "for ever" is often used in conjunction with an event that has already taken place.

For instance, Hannah pledged to God that she would take her infant son Samuel to serve in the temple at Shiloh, where he would abide "for ever" (1 Samuel 1:22). No student of the Bible would take this to mean that he would remain in that temple for as long as time should last. Hannah herself interpreted the statement as meaning that Samuel would serve in the temple for "as long as he liveth" (verse 2.

Jonah stated that he was in the belly of the fish "for ever" (Jonah 2:6), but we know that he endured his eerie journey beneath the sea for "three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:17).

More than 50 times the Bible uses "for ever" to mean "for as long as time lasts in that specific case." The term is used colloquially today to describe a downpour or a hot summer's afternoon (or a sermon!) that "went on forever."

It also means the results are forever.

Death, Not Eternal Torment
The Bible tells us that "the wages of sin is" not eternal life in hellfire, but "death" (Romans 6:23), the same penalty God assured Adam and Eve would be theirs if they ate the forbidden fruit.

Ezekiel states clearly that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4), and a plethora of other Bible verses and passages endorse this position. The prophet Malachi wrote that sinners would burn up as "stubble" and would become "ashes under the soles" of the feet of the redeemed (Malachi 4:1, 3). Even the final fate of Satan is explicitly pronounced in Ezekiel 28:18, where the Bible says that the enemy of souls will be reduced to ashes upon the "earth." Compare that with Psalm 37:10 ("For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be"), Psalm 68:2 ("as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God"), and other similar verses. Soon you get a clear picture that the purpose of the fires of hell is to eradicate sin and to expunge the universe of its awful presence.

Interestingly, it was the devil who was first to suggest that sinners would not die (Genesis 3:4). A hell where sinners never perish would prove the devil right and would make God, who told Eve she would "surely die" as a result of transgression (Genesis 2:17), a liar.

[junn]

someone once told me that endless punishment was necessary... without which people would be undeterred to do what is wrong...

i really don't agree...

[Mr.Ho_chia]

Logic, logic, logic. sometimes we people wish to limit a limitless GOD and the GOD of impossibilities to our own box.

we at times say that "this is impossible", "that is not probable", "it defies logic", "it can't be", "it shouldn't be" for a reason and for all reasons, we fail to understand HIM and the greatness of what HE can do, our human minds can never comprehend.

I will never test the LORD my GOD in what HE say with my reasons and logic, because I am bound to fail imperfect as I am. and HE is Perfect, never lie and His word always come to pass.

so between me and my LORD, i chose to believe HIM over my reasons and my logic.

[SPIKE_CSA]

Logic, logic, logic. sometimes we people wish to limit a limitless GOD and the GOD of impossibilities to our own box.

we at times say that "this is impossible", "that is not probable", "it defies logic", "it can't be", "it shouldn't be" for a reason and for all reasons, we fail to understand HIM and the greatness of what HE can do, our human minds can never comprehend.

I will never test the LORD my GOD in what HE say with my reasons and logic, because I am bound to fail imperfect as I am. and HE is Perfect, never lie and His word always come to pass.

so between me and my LORD, i chose to believe HIM over my reasons and my logic.

Amen!

[simoncpu]

If God is unable to stand the test of logic, then God doesn't deserve to be believed in.

The thing is, God does stand the test of logic that's why I have faith in him.