NoCalories said:
Well then read Jesus's words yourself -- especailly the parts where he talks about sentences of hell, destruciton, burning, etc. I'm sure there are websites that will give you a fair bit of this info. Piper just honestly reads the bible and reports the ruminations that are presented there: including this rumination: Sometimes, the operation of divine judgment is calculated to destroy rather than correct. Jesus said it. Whethr you believe it i nother matter.
Jesus' words as recording in The New Testament... ok:
any one who says of his brother fool, shall be subject to hell fire (Gehenna)
it is better for one of your members to perish than the whole body be cast into hell (Gehenna again)
Mr 9:43
And if thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off: it is good for thee to enter into life maimed, rather than having thy two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. (Gehenna)
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers , how can ye
escape the damnation of hell ? (Gehenna again... check out the Greek for damnation ... JUSTICE?)
let's try Luke:
Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power
to cast into hell (Gehenna again but contrasting death with ... what death?)
And in hell he lift up his eyes,
being in torments (here Luke uses Hades... I wonder why?)
And in James:Jas 3:6
And the tongue is a fire , a world of iniquity
so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and
setteth on fire the course of nature ; and it
is set on fire by hell ....(Here it Gehenna)
2Pe 2:4
For if God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment (here it is Tartarus... what's the deal? Why not Hades or Gehenna... are there different places of torture? DId Sheol get so full God had to make more?)
BAck to JESUS: Mt 3:2
Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mt 4:17
From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mt 10:7
And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Lu 21:31
Even so ye also, when ye see these things coming to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh.
Mt 16:28
Verily I say unto you, there are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.
Lu 23:42,43
And he said, Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom. And he said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.
Joh 18:36
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Okay...does it sound like The Kingdom is a long way off... 2000 years... does it sound like The Kingdom is anything other than heaven? Does it sound like one has to go anywhere to find the Kingdom? No it is at hand... right here. Right now. What does it mean to have anything at hand?