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Only People who are the children of Truth will seek Jesus and His Words , so If scoundrels are people who believe Jesus , then that is the belief for Me .. Hell is real .
"For God so loved the world, that He will be sending most of it to hell forever!" This is what the majority of Christians have been told, have read in scripture, and believe. Unfortunately for their ignorance, the words "everlasting punishment" don't mean what they do in English, and the idea of using these words began hundreds of years after Jesus died.
It's not hard to look these words up. If you look at Thayer's or Strong's concordances, you are going to find that they give a definition for 'everlasting' that means 'eternal. The problem here, is, that these two concordances are based on the ideas that have prevailed for more than 1500 years on the subject. If you go to Lexilogos Ancient Greek Dictionary Online, you can enter this word and your result will be 'age abiding'. Lexilogos uses the definitions from ancient Greek writings, yet sometimes there is less of the bias from the middle age understanding of the churches.
The other word, 'punishment' means 'correction', 'punishment', or 'penalty'. The problem with these definitions are that they need to be looked at in their correct context. At the Final Judgment, there will definitely be a judgment. That is quite plain from scripture. The question is, what kind of punishment? Going back to my opening sentence; Are we REALLY to believe that God would send people to hell forever, often for a crime that they didn't commit? And what of God's sovereignty? Doesn't He have everything under control? Do we, as humans, think that we can commit some crime that is worthy of eternal torture? Think about it! The Jewish Laws from the Old Testament were an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and so on. God always provided a punishment that fit the crime. There ARE NO CRIMES worth eternal torture! Period!
Jesus said things like, "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched." Is it possible that Jesus was saying that you can cut off your corrupt hands to avoid eternal hell? I'm sure that He didn't mean that! He was talking about ridding yourself of the things that are bad in your life. Jesus was giving advice that was synonymous with His other teachings. Jesus said to give up your life for Him, if you want to follow Him. This idea of this life that you would be giving up is the same idea that Jesus was talking about giving up. Give up your hands that give you trouble, is the same idea as giving up the life that gives you trouble. And in doing this, you are following Jesus, and then you are "in Christ".
One more thing about eternal hell. Jesus said in Matthew, "Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." This verse is synonymous with the verse I quoted in the last paragraph. In that quote, He says that it is "the fire that never shall be quenched." When a person visits the eternal flame of JFK in Washington, and slip and falls into it, do we think that we have fallen into a flame that will burn us forever? Or are we sensible enough to realize that it is the FLAME that burns forever. As I mentioned before, God has a sentence that fits the crime. No punishment is forever. God also has the ability to burn away the wood, hay, and stubble, and yet preserve the silver, gold, and precious stones. At the Great White Throne judgment, everyone that is being judged will go through the flame, and the flame will burn away the evil. Do you know any human that is totally evil? Everyone that is there will be judged, but God can separate evil from us, yet, as Jesus said, we will suffer loss. He said, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." We are made up of spirit, soul, and body, as Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." He correctly defines the whole of the human here, and the soul and body are the two parts of our makeup that can be burned by God's flame of judgment. And it will be a fearful thing, and a person will suffer loss, but it won't last forever, nor will it be a total destruction.
While many seem offended by the Bible or seem to want to create the illusion that 'modern scholars have somehow disproven or discounted it, nothing is further from the truth. This type of claim is typically made by those who are more familiar with what they imagine the Bible says, than what it actually says.
I don't know if you're like me, but when I'm around like minded believers all the time it's easy to forget other views are out there.
I wonder too, what motivates people to disparage, discredit and disregard parts of the Bible that are clearly stated.
What did Jesus mean when he said the following, "while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
"The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."'
"And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire."
"And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
Love does not acknowledge itself, rather it seeks out what it can do for that of others, "even in the midst of pain and suffering."
The Spirit conciliates or reconciles the prodigals, those who wield the sword to their own destruction:
"Never plowing the fields of their own mind."
Any belief system can become religious in fervor, creating division, hatred and bigotry.
However, if humanity lived their lives from a position of love; there would be no separation.
Last edited by june 7th; 02-14-2014 at 09:54 AM..
Reason: Omitted red.
Love does not acknowledge itself, rather it seeks out what it can do for that of others, "even in the midst of pain and suffering." Any belief system can become religious in fervor, creating division, hatred and bigotry. However, if humanity lived their lives from a position of love; there would be no separation.
Thanks for the suggestion but I spent my first and worst 22 years on earth over the horizon.
Would never want to go back for that wasHell.
Although, I am not talking about being overseas?
Did someone hurt you, when you were a child?
Last edited by june 7th; 02-14-2014 at 09:56 AM..
Reason: Omitted red.
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Still can't rep you.
