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Why are so many Christians against annihilation in hell when scripture supports it?

DM25

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Ok can you guys PLEASE read my entire post here to see where I am coming from... I put a lot of effort making this post and sharing my personal revelation.

I can't keep track of this thread anymore because there have been so many new posts. But I think so many people have been completely indoctrinated by the false eternal torment teaching made by the early catholic church when the bible never directly mentioned it. And people have been so indoctrinated that they don't even realize death, being separated from God for eternity and not having life, is punishment. No one wants to die and if someone says they are fine with it they are not being honest with themselves. Being burned to death in the lake of fire is a just punishment by a just God.

So now we got the emotional stuff out of the way, how about we get into scripture and what it says? Give me some scripture where you think it says the wicked will be tormented for eternity and I will take it in delight. I will refute it without twisting anything. The word of God says what it says.


There is ONE verse that talks about being "tormented day and night forever and ever." and it literally says it will be for the devil.

Revelation 20:10
"And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."

Even here according to the Greek translation forever and ever isn't literally translated to eternity, but let's just say it is for the sake of argument... It still doesn't prove wicked people will be tormented for eternity. Only the devil.



Now that we got that verse out of the way, which we can conclude is for the devil, there is not any other verse in the word of God that states the wicked's punishment is eternal torment. Here are a couple verses on the punishment itself (not the torment) being eternal:

Matthew 25:46
"These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." - Matthew 25:46

I think it's pretty obvious death is a form of eternal punishment. If it isn't to you, well I don't know what to say to you... But I would much rather be alive and with God for eternity than punished to death for eternity. Death with no chance of ever coming back is not a good fate to have.

2 Thessalonians 1:9
These will pay the penalty of eternal DESTRUCTION, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

Matthew 10:28
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can DESTROY both soul and body in hell." - good verse to those who think souls can't be destroyed. God made you and he can destroy you as well. This verse proves both the soul and the body can be destroyed.

We of course know the bible states "the wages of sin is death" numerous times too. As well as "The wicked will perish". You can find this all over scripture.




Now the lake of fire is where the wicked will be burned to death. There is a punishment there, that is not a fun way to die. There will also be torment there as the bible says. Nobody is denying hell isn't real and there won't be torment. I am simply stating eternal torment is a lie, not that torment itself before the wicked die. There will be pain and torment in hell as punishment along with death, nobody is denying that. But don't get it twisted, the unsaved will indeed die there in the lake of fire and that is the ultimate punishment. Here is one verse describing the torment:

Matthew 13:50
"and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."




Now let's get into the juicier verses.... The ones you guys have been waiting for. The ones that eternal torment people always use and think they win. However what you don't realize is even in these verses, it does not say the torment is eternal once. People can make an assumption that that's what it means, but that's only an assumption. It's not what scripture says directly. It does not say the punishment is eternal torment. These verses talk about the fire and the smoke. It says these will go on forever... Fire and smoke itself is different from torment. I believe the bible uses this to illustrate the eternal punishment and judgement for those who disobeyed him and that the punishment had eternal consequences, even though the individual torment ended. That's why the fire won't get put out, but the torment itself for the unsaved will end. Let's read it...

Mark 9:44-48
"where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED" - Keep in mind in this verse it talks about "their worms" dying not, meaning the bodies themselves will get completely consumed by the worms. These worms are actually references to the maggots in the dumpsters of Jerusalem. These worms can be eternal creatures, but I think it's simply metaphorical here describing the consumption of the wicked bodies in the lake of fire by the worms.

Jude 1:7
"In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire." - again, just says the fire is eternal but does not specifically say the punishment is eternal torment.

Revelation 14:11 King James Version (KJV)
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." - A lot of people assume day or night means day or night forever. But it doesn't say that. It simply says no rest day or night while they get consumed and tormented in the lake of fire. It doesn't say that will happen eternally.

Mark 9:43
"If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out."

There are probably some more verses mentioning the same thing. But as you can see, it only shows the fire and smoke being eternal. If you look at the old testament, smoke is actually a metaphor for destruction. So just because the fire and smoke is not put out, does not mean the torment of the individual is eternal. The bible never says it is! Eternal fire and smoke in scripture does not mean eternal torment. Which again proves the ultimate punishment is eternal death.



In conclusion, I think this eternal torment teaching is without a doubt in my mind the BIGGEST lie that has been spread in the Christian faith by far. It is quite remarkably sad how big this became and how the truth is labeled as heresy now. It seems as if now only some can see it and are awake. It's difficult convincing people when they have been indoctrinated so long and have people from all corners promoting lies and labeling truth as bad. If you research it you can see the roots of this teaching came from the early catholic church. The motive? I think it's obvious... To prevent people coming to the faith through truth. If someone believes the faith teaches eternal torment by a just God, they will be way less likely to believe it and come to the faith and that's what satan wants, to push people away from God and truth. Remember the first lie satan told? That you shall not surely die? It all makes perfect sense now. But the truth is as we can see from scripture, God is just. Burning to death in the lake of fire and being separated from him for eternity by dying and having eternal death is a just punishment for those who rejected him, the one who gave them life. God is the one who gave people life, he is also the one who offered them to keep their lives through faith in Jesus Christ, so the natural consequence and punishment for rejecting him is to take away their lives, death is the most sensible conclusion. Can you see how it all fits together? God is life, the opposite of God is death. Everything makes sense now. I also did pray about it and God did give me the answer through a verse in scripture immediately after describing how the unrighteous will perish. It is pretty much confirmed to me now.

Please read my entire post. It took me an hour to write. If you have any questions or anything, feel free to ask. My eyes were opened a lot by this revelation.
 
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Solomon Smith

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The Greek word for eternal (aidios) is NEVER used with the Judgments of God, so NO it is NOT mentioned many times.

Then you clearly haven’t read the Bible or this thread. Here is one mention of eternal punishment: Matthew 25:31-46
 
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Pneuma3

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The passage says “eternal punishment”


In PM a brother asked me how these two scriptures (below) can be reconciled.

Here is my reply.



However these scripture can be reconciled but only via the salvation of all, any other doctrine will leave the contradiction in place as they cannot reconcile them. This alone should tell you something.







So lets look at them.







Mt.25:46



And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.







Jn.3:17



For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.











Now these seemingly contradicting scriptures only appear that way because of translation, which we know are not all equal.







Young's literal translation reads







And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during.'







Rotherham Emphasised bible







And, these, shall go away, into, age-abiding, correction, but, the righteous, into, age-abiding, life.







Emphatic Diaglott







And shall go away these into a cutting-off age-lasting; the and just ones into life age-lasting.







Concordant



And these shall be coming away into chastening eonian, yet the just into life eonian."







As you can see the more literal translations translate the Greek adjective aionios as that which pertains to an age.











Now we can go back and forth on the meaning of aionios as there is a lot of information and misinformation on the subject. However scriptures tell us that the aions END. 1Co.10:11 so that settles it for me.











However, for arguments sake lets say that aion and its adjective can mean either age or eternal why would you not pick that which is the more nobler of the two?







Ask yourself this; would God use a word that can be taken both ways, so could be easily misunderstood, on so important an issue as ones eternal destiny?







After all the Greek does have a word (aidios) that means eternal; yet it is NEVER used in conjunction with the judgments of God. Why did God not see fit to use this word so no one could misunderstand His meaning?







So with that said if one can accept that aionios is speaking of that which pertains to an age of unknown duration Mt25:46 takes on a whole new meaning.







And, these, shall go away, into, age-abiding, correction.....











If you look up the Greek of the English translation of punishment you will see that Kolasis is a word used for disciplinary purposes.; thus if aionios was in reference to eternal that scripture would be saying God is eternally correcting, yet has no chance of His correction ever coming to fruition.







What's that old saying about insanity?











The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”.
 
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Pneuma3

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The Greek word used is aionion and means eternal.

Try reading this again

In PM a brother asked me how these two scriptures (below) can be reconciled.

Here is my reply.



However these scripture can be reconciled but only via the salvation of all, any other doctrine will leave the contradiction in place as they cannot reconcile them. This alone should tell you something.







So lets look at them.







Mt.25:46



And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.







Jn.3:17



For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.











Now these seemingly contradicting scriptures only appear that way because of translation, which we know are not all equal.







Young's literal translation reads







And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during.'







Rotherham Emphasised bible







And, these, shall go away, into, age-abiding, correction, but, the righteous, into, age-abiding, life.







Emphatic Diaglott







And shall go away these into a cutting-off age-lasting; the and just ones into life age-lasting.







Concordant



And these shall be coming away into chastening eonian, yet the just into life eonian."







As you can see the more literal translations translate the Greek adjective aionios as that which pertains to an age.











Now we can go back and forth on the meaning of aionios as there is a lot of information and misinformation on the subject. However scriptures tell us that the aions END. 1Co.10:11 so that settles it for me.











However, for arguments sake lets say that aion and its adjective can mean either age or eternal why would you not pick that which is the more nobler of the two?







Ask yourself this; would God use a word that can be taken both ways, so could be easily misunderstood, on so important an issue as ones eternal destiny?







After all the Greek does have a word (aidios) that means eternal; yet it is NEVER used in conjunction with the judgments of God. Why did God not see fit to use this word so no one could misunderstand His meaning?







So with that said if one can accept that aionios is speaking of that which pertains to an age of unknown duration Mt25:46 takes on a whole new meaning.







And, these, shall go away, into, age-abiding, correction.....











If you look up the Greek of the English translation of punishment you will see that Kolasis is a word used for disciplinary purposes.; thus if aionios was in reference to eternal that scripture would be saying God is eternally correcting, yet has no chance of His correction ever coming to fruition.







What's that old saying about insanity?











The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”.
 
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Pneuma3

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Mt.25:46



And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.







Jn.3:17



For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.


These scriptures cannot be reconciled by any doctrine except the one we are commanded to teach which is Jesus Christ IS the saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

Don't believe me, go ahead and try.
 
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Solomon Smith

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These scriptures cannot be reconciled by any doctrine except the one we are commanded to teach which is Jesus Christ IS the saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

Don't believe me, go ahead and try.

I think you need to see a Pastor and/or a mental health counselor.
 
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