Why an eternal hell?

[tankerG]

Since you're only giving your opinion I will also. You're totally wrong.

I've already given several that you couldn't refute.

Destruction can be a continuing process forever:

Destruction | Define Destruction at Dictionary.com

de·struc·tion
   [dih-struhk-shuhn] Show IPA
noun
1.
the act of destroying: wanton destruction of a town.
2.
the condition of being destroyed; demolition; annihilation.
3.
a cause or means of destroying.

He died but was still alive in the fire. Eternal punishment is indeed possible.

The World Trade Center was destroyed on 9/11. It wasn't "made non-existent", or "annihilated". How do we know that? Because there was a mountain of debris left that took ten months to clear away, that's how!
And almost 3000 people perished on that day. They died, but they didn't "cease to exist". We know that because the Bible says that all men are appointed to die once, and then judgement. There is existence after death, both the first and the second.

 

[tankerG]

There are quite a few of God's features we don't have even though we're made in his image. We're not omnipotent, for example, or all-knowing. And not eternal either, as far as I can tell from the bible.

What, why, how? Because God is infinite, a finite trespass must result in an infinite punishment? Who made that rule?....

#1 I didn't say we had ALL of God's attributes. He gave us those attributes from Himself that would permit us to interact with Him.

#2 Uh, hello? The act of sinning against an infinite being makes it an infinite crime! Try punching your roommate, then your boss, then the President of the U.S. See how the response to those acts gets greater the higher you move up the "ladder". Now, picture punching the Omnipotent God. And you don't think that's not going to be dealt with in an omnipotent manner?

 

[holo]

I don't appreciate your implication of not caring. I think you have it backwards. Warning others of the eternal fire is caring. Like Jesus did.

I'm sorry.

 

[Armistead14]

I find it still strange that most have no answer for the majority of mankind that never heard of Christ or the gospel. Oh, they come up when unbiblical themes that deny Christ is the only way to promote some fairness.
Do you really think Christ would die for the world, when most of the world never heard the gospel? Do you think it's just that if you're born into a culture that ingrains another religion in you from birth that you're doomed to hell? Do you think children that follow their parents belief should be doomed to eternal torture? If all of us here were born in Iran, 95% of us would be following Islam, is salvation now based on geography?

The majortiy of the early church never believed in eternal torture, but that God would eventually save all man, if not through fire. Paul never preached on hell. This torture pit christianity accepted is paganism mixed with scripture to create a doctrine of fear to control people, created by Rome.

Col 1:15- Every being was made for Christ and for his purpose.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

All things made for Christ are the same all things reconciled by the cross. All of these things, not some are reconciled to himself "Christ".

Why would God want to force love. Heck, I could hold a gun to anyones head and say "tell me you love me" or I shoot, of course they would say it out of fear, but it would be fake. Most accept Christ out of nothing but pure fear to escape torture...is that how you build your relationships on earth? My loving passed mother, a hell believer, agonized over her lost loved ones, she had no real peace, but who could have real peace if you know those you love will be tortured by the God you serve. My mother said she would gladly trade places with her lost loved ones, but God doesn't have the ability to love like my mother?

Would heaven be a place of real equal joy if you saw others with their mothers, fathers, family, etc...and your's wasn't there? Would you wonder where your family was? Would you have that same joy?

The pagan belief of eternal hell is nothing but spiritual rape, it has brought great evil on the earth from a church that for 100's of year had no problem torturing their fellow man in God's name.


What evil creature could creat a plan where ONE mans failure caused the mass of humanity to eternal torture, even though God wills that all men be saved. Is that really a plan of love?

 

[tankerG]

Well, that's one GOOD reason to evangelize the world! To go out and make disciples of every nation, because people need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What about all the people killed in WW2? I don't know. I wasn't alive then - I wasn't there. Most of us are too young to have been around then. But I know God is just. He has a plan, and His plan includes giving everyone a chance to accept Christ.
And all the people alive today in "outer Mongolia"? Or Papua New Guinea? Or India? Or wherever? I don't have complete biographies for every individual on the planet. But God does! I do all I can to share the Good News and support Bible translation and distribution. But it is up to God to work it all out.
Anyone who gets to heaven got there through Christ. Everybody who goes to hell gets there because they died in their sins.The Lamb sits on the throne and divides the sheep from the goats - I don't.

 

[ameriswede]

What purpose does it truly serve? Is there anything one person can do that is so horrible that they deserve an eternity of indefinite torture? No bible quotes please just opinions. The bible can be interpreted every which way and there are verses supporting both sides of either arguments. What purpose does an eternal hell serve? Or an afterlife for that matter. What do we accomplish by being alive after death, or more importantly what does god? Supposedly only humans are allowed this divine privilege. Perhaps other creations are considered inferior? Just curious what anyone thinks on the matter.

We have the Bible. We have the teachings of the Church. And we have one's own personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The God that I have come to know personally, has no plan to torment anyone eternally. Where the Church may understand the Bible to teach that, the Church must have it wrong. I certainly hope so.
I believe in an afterlife. Some will enjoy Him forever. Others will come to understand what they will be missing, and miss that for eternity, and cease to exist.

 

[ameriswede]

We have the Bible. We have the teachings of the Church. And we have one's own personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The God that I have come to know personally, has no plan to torment anyone eternally. Where the Church may understand the Bible to teach that, the Church must have it wrong. I certainly hope so.
I believe in an afterlife. Some will enjoy Him forever. Others will come to understand what they will be missing, and miss that for eternity, and cease to exist.

PS
Regarding inferior creations...not sure my cat is going to have a place at the banquet table. Would be nice, but I don't think so.
Man was created in God's image...the crown of his creation...is capable of a spirit to spirit relationship. No other creation has received a calling to be Christlike in love.

 

[ameriswede]

Not exactly. The wages of sin is death as in separation from God - which is eternal torment. You either spend eternity with God or eternity separated from God. Those are the two choices.
Jesus' death was an infinite sacrifice, because He is the infinite God. The punishment He endured was of infinite value. So, His substitutionary death satisfies infinite justice and provides for our eternal glory. He tasted death for every man. That doesn't mean He experienced 30 billion individual deaths over and over. His one death provided the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.

So, the God of love and a few of us "lucky" ones will live "happily ever after"? We will all do this, despite knowing that as we celebrate, BILLIONS of the "crown of his creation", will experience a NEVER ENDING TORMENT?
The God I know, is no such God. Admittedly, there are places in the Bible that are hard to handle. But the way I figure it, in the same way that a University Professor will not be able to use an instruction manual to explain the inner workings of a super computer, too a two year old...
What I mean is that there is no way God can explain to us infants, all that He is and all of what He has planned, through the texts of the Bible. I trust that we will see things more clearly then, but for now, it is enough for me to feel assured that the God I know, is not a God that would torment anyone eternally, for any reason. So, you are welcome to keep your God. But I choose to believe that a correct interpretation of the Bible...would never lead to a tortuous God.

 

[createdtoworship]

The World Trade Center was destroyed on 9/11. It wasn't "made non-existent", or "annihilated". How do we know that? Because there was a mountain of debris left that took ten months to clear away, that's how!
And almost 3000 people perished on that day. They died, but they didn't "cease to exist". We know that because the Bible says that all men are appointed to die once, and then judgement. There is existence after death, both the first and the second.

very good illustration

 

[createdtoworship]

If it requires eternal punishment in hell fire to appease the wrath of God for your sins, that would mean that Jesus would have to have burned forever in order for any of us to be saved.
I'm not saying that hell isn't a real place. I just believe that we have inherited a Greek mindset as to the definition of hell. The OT calls this place Sheol. It's a place where the righteous are at rest until the resurrection and the wicked are no more.

the fact that it was God's son ought to mean something! Also God can do anything He wan'ts. Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins! That obviously doesn't mean a sheep goes to hell forever! It means a sheep dies. So obviously God accepts to death of a unspotted lamb!

 

[createdtoworship]

Exactly, it mentions punishment in the eternal fire. What happens to temporal things placed in an eternal fire; they are destroyed. Once again, your own arguments point to annihilation, not eternal torment.

the word trade center was destroyed, but a mountain of debris was left over. (as has been pointed out by tanker G)

 

[dollarsbill]

I'm sorry.

No problem. Lord bless you!

 

[dollarsbill]

The God that I have come to know personally, has no plan to torment anyone eternally.

Matthew 25:41-46 (NASB)
41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 

[dollarsbill]

So, the God of love ...

Are you referring the God of Genesis who drowned all but 8 and burned Sodom alive, making them examples?

 

[dies-l]

Are you referring the God of Genesis who drowned all but 8 and burned Sodom alive, making them examples?

So, do you disagree with 1 John 4:8?

 

[dies-l]

the word trade center was destroyed, but a mountain of debris was left over. (as has been pointed out by tanker G)

WTC =/= pile of debris.

 

[createdtoworship]

WTC =/= pile of debris.

but it wasn't nothing, there was a cross built out of the debris and surely you can't say that the cross is nothing! Or useless?

 

[dies-l]

but it wasn't nothing, there was a cross built out of the debris and surely you can't say that the cross is nothing! Or useless?

No, I am just saying that it is an error to say that the existence of a pile debris is evidence that the WTC continued to remain in existence after it was destroyed. It's a peculiar argument that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The fact that individual parts of something may continue to exist in a different after that thing's destruction doesn't mean that that thing continues to exist -- that doesn't change the meaning of the word "destroy".

 

[createdtoworship]

No, I am just saying that it is an error to say that the existence of a pile debris is evidence that the WTC continued to remain in existence after it was destroyed. It's a peculiar argument that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The fact that individual parts of something may continue to exist in a different after that thing's destruction doesn't mean that that thing continues to exist -- that doesn't change the meaning of the word "destroy".

of course it does, you are saying that something ceases to exist, this.....simply .....is not true.

 

[createdtoworship]

165. αἰών aió̄n; gen. aió̄nos, masc. noun. Age, referring to an age or time in contrast to kósmos (2889), referring to people or space. Denotes duration or continuance of time, but with great variety.
(I) Age, an indefinitely long period or lapse of time, perpetuity, ever, forever, eternity.
(A) Spoken of time future in the following phrases: (1) Eis tón aió̄na (eis [1519] into, unto; tón [3588], the; aió̄n [165], age), forever, without end, to the remotest time (Mark 11:14; Luke 1:55; John 6:51, 58; 8:35; 12:34; 13:8; 14:16; 1[bless and do not curse]Cor. 8:13; Heb. 5:6, 21; 1[bless and do not curse]Pet. 1:25; 2[bless and do not curse]John 1:2); spoken of Christ (Heb. 6:20; 7:17; 7:24, 28); spoken of the blessedness of the righteous (Jn 6:51, 58; 2[bless and do not curse]Cor. 9:9; 1[bless and do not curse]John 2:17; 2[bless and do not curse]Pet. 2:17); of the punishment of the wicked (Jude 1:13). With a neg., meaning never (Matt. 21:19; Mark 3:29; John 4:14; 8:51, 52; 10:28; 11:26; Sept.: Deut. 29:29; Is. 28:28; 40:8; 51:6, 8; Jer. 50:39). Eis hēméran aió̄nos (eis [1519], unto; hēméran [2250], day), of the age, meaning forever. See also Sept.: Ex. 14:13; Is. 13:20. (2) The phrase eis toús aió̄nas, unto the ages, meaning ever, forever, to all eternity (Matt. 6:13; Luke 1:33; Rom. 16:27; Heb. 13:8), spoken of God (Rom. 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; 2[bless and do not curse]Cor. 11:31); of Christ (Luke 1:33 as explained by the statement “of His kingdom there shall be no end”; Heb. 13:8; Sept.: Ps. 77:8). (3) The phrase eis toús aió̄nas tó̄n aió̄nōn, unto the ages of the ages, being an intens. form meaning forever and ever (2[bless and do not curse]Tim. 4:18; Heb. 13:21; 1[bless and do not curse]Pet. 4:11; Rev. 1:6, 18; 4:9, 10; 5:13; 7:12; 10:6; 11:15; 15:7; 19:3; 20:10; 22:5). Spoken of God (Gal. 1:5; Phil. 4:20; 1[bless and do not curse]Tim. 1:17; 1[bless and do not curse]Pet. 5:11). Without the art. eis aió̄nas aió̄nōn, unto the ages of the ages (Rev. 14:11). Also in the expression eis pásas tás geneás toú aió̄nos tó̄n aió̄nōn (pása, the fem. pl. of pás [3956], every, all; geneás [the acc. pl. of geneá {1074}, generation]) as in Eph. 3:21 meaning throughout all ages and literally unto all generations of the age of the ages. Spoken of Christ (2[bless and do not curse]Pet. 3:18; Rev. 1:18; 5:13; 11:15); of the blessedness of the saints (Rev. 22:5); of the punishment of the wicked (Rev. 14:11; 19:3; 20:10). In the Sept. the phrase eis aió̄na aió̄nos, literally means unto the age of the age (Ps. 19:9; 110:3, 10).

Zodhiates, S. (2000, c1992, c1993). The complete word study dictionary : New Testament (electronic ed.) (G165). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.