Why do some 'Christians' believe that Hell is not eternal?

loNerpt said:

- which isn't true ofcourse , the 2nd paragraph.

Simply because "one , in front of you , hating you , never wanting to love you back" ,
never - ever - not never -
torpedoes the silly idea of "universal salvation".

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Danoded said:

Because someone can't call themselves Christian if they don't believe that He'll is forever.

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JackRT said:

"Hell" is never mentioned in the Bible. Never. Ever. The terms "Sheole", "Ghenna' and "Hades" are used but they do not carry the freight of hell. Hell is actually a pagan Anglo-Saxon term that was chosen by translators it fit their understandings of the three terms above. This was aided an abetted by the lurid medieval poetry of the Italian poet Dante in his "Inferno". Most Christians would do well to rethink their belief in Hell.

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Der Alter said:

Did you just make these up to support your false doctrine? Please show me any of Jesus' unquestioned parables which are untrue, #2, or fictitious, #3? Everything that Jesus used for an example is something which could and often did happen, e.g. a widow losing and finding a coin, a shepherd losing and finding a sheep, a wayward son who squandered his inheritance, tenants who rebel against their landlord, guests not prepared for a wedding etc.

Merriam-Webster is a secular dictionary therefore not a reliable source for interpreting the Bible. While the story of Lazarus and the rich man follows other parables that does not make it a parable. Jesus did not introduce the story as a parable and Jesus never explained it to His disciples.
.....Parables use something known to reveal a truth about something unknown. For example we often use parables, some people will say that turtle meat tastes like chicken. That is a parable. How can Jesus illustrate an unknown or misunderstood truth about the kingdom of heaven by using false stories which His audience know absolutely nothing about?
.....Your objection about the sheep is ridiculous. Jesus clearly explained just as the shepherd rejoiced when he found the one lost sheep, there will be rejoicing in heaven when one lost sinner is found. That is the similarity, not four legs!

Can a person not in heaven have conversations with persons who are? Both Paul and John did. 2 Cor 12 and Rev. If God wants the rich man in hell to be able to speak to Abraham in heaven don't you think He can make that happen?
.....In the OT there are at least 2 stories, God speaking, where men dead mean in sheol speak and move. Isaiah 14:4, Isaiah 14:9-10 Ezekiel 32:20-21, Ezekiel 32:31-32

If a man was being tormented in flames would you expect him to be rational? So his cry for a drop of water is something that a man in agony might say.

First Lazarus and the rich man are not people who died with faith in Christ. They were both Jews under the old covenant. But the angels did gather Lazarus to Abraham's bosom. Luke 16;22
.....Was Jesus literally in the father's bosom John 1:18? "Abraham's bosom" is a position not a place. In that day they did not sit at tables as we do, they reclined on their left elbow, at a low table, with their feet stretched out away from the table. That is how the woman was able to wash Jesus' feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. Women did not crawl around under the table of strange men.
..... "In the bosom" is the position to the right, actually in front, of the host at a banquet. Jews believed that they would be seated in Abraham's bosom, at the heavenly banquet when they died.

First see the scripture I linked to above, about what happens after death. Psalm 6 is a prayer of David, he is not speaking thus saith the Lord, writing what God gave him to write. David is praying stating what he can understand from his own senses.
.....All of the early church fathers who quoted or referred to the story of Lazarus and the rich man, were native Greek speakers and considered it factual.

• Irenaeus [120-202 AD] Against Heresies Book II Chapter XXXIV.-Souls Can Be Recognised in the Separate State, and are Immortal Although They Once Had a Beginning. [was a student of Polycarp, who was a student of John.]
1. The Lord has taught with very great fulness, that souls not only continue to exist, not by passing from body to body, but that they preserve the same form [in their separate state] as the body had to which they were adapted, and that they remember the deeds which they did in this state of existence, and from which they have now ceased,-in that narrative which is recorded respecting the rich man and that Lazarus who found repose in the bosom of Abraham. In this account He states that Dives [=Latin for rich] knew Lazarus after death, and Abraham in like manner, and that each one of these persons continued in his own proper position, and that [Dives] requested Lazarus to be sent to relieve him-[Lazarus], on whom he did not [formerly] bestow even the crumbs [which fell] from his table. [He tells us] also of the answer given by Abraham, who was acquainted not only with what respected himself, but Dives also, and who enjoined those who did not wish to come into that place of torment to believe Moses and the prophets, and to receive the preaching of Him who was to rise again from the dead. By these things, then, it is plainly declared that souls continue to exist that they do not pass from body to body, that they possess the form of a man, so that they may be recognised, and retain the memory of things in this world; moreover, that the gift of prophecy was possessed by Abraham, and that each class of souls] receives a habitation such as it has deserved, even before the judgment.
Link: ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus | Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• Clement of Alexandria [A.D. 153-193-217] The Instructor [Paedagogus] Book 1 Chaper 11
On the Resurrection.“There was a certain man,” said the Lord, narrating, “very rich, who was clothed in purple and scarlet, enjoying himself splendidly every day.” This was the day. “And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at the rich man’s gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table.” This is the grass. Well, the rich man was punished in Hades, being made partaker of the fire; while the other flourished again in the Father’s bosom.
• Tertullian A Treatise On The Soul [A.D. 145-220.] Part First
In hell the soul of a certain man is in torment, punished in flames, suffering excruciating thirst, and imploring from the finger of a happier soul, for his tongue, the solace of a drop of water. Do you suppose that this end of the blessed poor man and the miserable rich man is only imaginary? Then why the name of Lazarus in this narrative, if the circumstance is not in (the category of) a real occurrence? But even if it is to be regarded as imaginary, it will still be a testimony to truth and reality. For unless the soul possessed corporeality, the image of a soul could not possibly contain a finger of a bodily substance; nor would the Scripture feign a statement about the limbs of a body, if these had no existence.
• The Epistles Of Cyprian (A.D. 200-258) Epistle 54 To Cornelius, Concerning Fortunatus And Felicissimus, Or Against The Heretics
A good man out of the good treasure bringeth forth good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” Whence also that rich sinner who implores help from Lazarus, then laid in Abraham’s bosom, and established in a place of comfort, while he, writhing in torments, is consumed by the heats of burning flame, suffers most punishment of all parts of his body in his mouth and his tongue, because doubtless in his mouth and his tongue he had most sinned.
• Methodius Fragments On The History Of Jonah (A.D. 260-312)
But souls, being rational bodies, are arranged by the Maker and Father of all things into members which are visible to reason, having received this impression. Whence, also, in Hades, as in the case of Lazarus and the rich man, they are spoken of as having a tongue, and a finger, and the other members; not as though they had with them another invisible body, but that the souls themselves, naturally, when entirely stripped of their covering, are such according to their essence.​

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MyGivenNameIsKeith said:

Revelation 20:10 - And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Revelation 21:8 - But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Revelation 20:15 - And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:14 - And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

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Danoded said:

Do you believe demons exist? Wondering because I believe I saw another one of your comments which said such.

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Danoded said:

It doesn't make sense to me at all, what do they think Hell* is for in that case?

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JackRT said:

With regard to John of Patmos I find my self with that large body of early Christians that rejected Revelation as canonical.

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Danoded said:

Is being destroyed not also eternal suffering? When do you believe they are destroyed?

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2Timothy2:15 said:

Because they are sitting in compromised lukewarm churches ran by hirelings.

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Danoded said:

That's a very demonic thing to say, God Forbid such ever occurs.

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Hieronymus said:

Why do some 'Christians' believe that He'll is not eternal?
'Christians'? or Christians?
He'll or hell?
Anyway, they studied the subject.
Perhaps after struggling with the idea that God might torture their loved ones for ever and ever and ever with no purpose other than damping God's unquenchable anger.

It will be like before you were born.
No life. It's the 2nd death.
John 3:16.

But eternal conscious torment is the traditional teaching, that's true.
But has it always been the traditional teaching?
No.
But it was handy to keep people submitted to organised religion.

I'm late in this topic, so i guess others have suggested to learn about Conditional Immortality by visiting Rethinking Hell site.
They have a Fakebook page too.

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Danoded said:

Ok I have mistaken you for another user, apologies.

How can you think that Hell does not exist, where do you think the evil doers in this world end up then?

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