I said I don't believe in hell because I don't believe in the traditional notion of hell as a place where the dead are alive and tortured forever until judgment day when they are finally judged for what they did and then sent back to torture-land for more torture.
If by "Hell" you were referring to "Sheol", Then I would have to change my answer. Everyone eventually dies and goes to Sheol (the grave). But Jesus said that there is a day when eveyone who is in the grave will hear his voice and come out. The resurrection day. Some come out to eternal life, and some do not receive eternal life.
I take exception to the last sentence above... "
Some come out to eternal life, and some do not receive eternal life. "
To begin with no FINITE can validly use the word "
ETERNAL", as NO ONE can explain how GOD (nor anything else), can
BE "
WITHOUT BEGINNING"... which is as much a part of HIS
PERPETUAL EXISTENCE as is, "
WITHOUT END"!
If you percieve you may have "
ETERNAL" life, it is not a (as viewed from the
FINITE) "
from now-on" proposal...

...it is (as viewed from the
ETERNAL) an "
ALWAYS IS" ("I AM") proposal.
That men CENTER upon themselves as "accomplishing" the final seal of SALVATION (by THEIR "acceptance" of
CHRIST), ...is the SELF-ORIENTED FALLACY upon which the Christian religion stands...
To repeat an earlier portion that I shared earlier:
The BOTTOM LINE:
The MISSION of
CHRIST was to
SAVE the
WORLD --
John 3:16-17 -- John 1:29 -- Luke 19:10 -- 1 John 4:14 -- Either He
SUCCEEDED or He
FAILED... and if
CHRIST FAILED, ...to
SAVE the
WORLD, ...then the SENDER of Him (
YHVH God) also
FAILED. Sorry but that makes
NO SENSE (
REASON) whatsoever --
Isaiah 1:18
MODERN Christianity has PERVERTED the message AND the result of the MISSION.
The
WORD says that
LOVE (the SENDER of
CHRIST)
NEVER FAILS --
1 Cor 13:8
Argue if you must, ...but the
TRUTH is that
LOVE would not embark upon a mission that COULD NOT be accomplished... nor,
IN
FOREKNOWN FUTILITY, ...send His SON on a mission that would result in a MAJORITY
FAILURE.
(end of THE "
BOTTOM LINE")
JESUS came to
TAKE AWAY the SIN of the WORLD (not just those who center upon themselves as having become "SAVED" by their "decision for
CHRIST") --
John 1:29 -- If indeed
HE DID accomplish this WORK (taking AWAY the SIN of the WORLD), as was CLEARLY prophesied by John the Baptist, then in the final result, ...there is NOT even ONE SIN available, to
CONDEMN anyone...
"
ETERNAL" LIFE, is LIFE that is NOT JUST "
WITHOUT END"... but is "
WITHOUT BEGINNING" as well...
ALL life which we observe, is a REVELATION of LIFE which exists WITHOUT BEGINNING (for in the KNOWLEDGE of GOD, all things are EXISTENT in that KNOWLEDGE), ...and the SIN which has introduces
DEATH, is an INTREGAL part of the KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and EVIL... which GOD KNOWS (and has ALWAYS known), His WORD KNOWS (and has ALWAYS known), and now ALL of His LIVING SONS have come to "KNOW"...
The Parable of the
LOST (=
#G622 - APOLLUMI = DESTROYED) Son (which pertains to ALL MEN) --
Luke 15:11-32 -- notes that this SON was WITH the Father, ...then he LEFT, ...and then he RETURNED to where He was...
His LIFE did not BEGIN" in the "FAR COUNTRY"... it had NO BEGINNING, for He was, is and always will be
WITH the FATHER (which IS "
ETERNAL LIFE"), except during his journey in the "FAR COUNTRY"... in his part of the DIVINE display of the KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and EVIL... without this display which requires EXPERIENCE, then the "knowledge" is nothing but UNEXPERIENCED information.
Even so, even during our JOURNEY apart from the Father, He via His
LOVE has, is and always will be WITH US! It is the RECALL of LOVE, which the Son KNEW prior to the Journey into the Far Country... that DREW Him back!
Therefore, that which is
LOST (destroyed), is in conclusion,
FOUND (restored)... this "restoring" is not privy to, nor is in ANY PART due to the DOINGS of any Human being... but is exampled in ALL Human beings (first LOST in the flesh, then FOUND in the Spirit), ...which prior to their experience AS "Human beings", were (in the SPIRIT) DIVINE SONS ...and which ALL were
WITH the Father --
Job 38:7
ALL "restoration" OF ALL of THEM, is due not IN ANY PART to the individually LOST/DESTROYED Sons, but ENTIRELY due to the DOINGS of
YHVH God (
LOVE)...WITHOUT respect of persons (Sons) --
Acts 10:34 -- Prov 28:21 (and 8 others)
peace...
...willieH
