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It is because they don't understand the Scriptures. For instance, there isn't any verse in the Bible which states if you don't accept Jesus that you will burn for eternity in the fires of hell/lake of fire.
In the Great White Throne judgment they are judged according to their acts, not as to whether they had faith in Christ or not. Here is the passage:
Revelation 20:11-12 And I perceived a great white throne, and Him Who is sitting upon it, from Whose
face earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them." (12) And I perceived the dead, the
great and the small, standing before the throne. And the scrolls were opened. And another scroll was
opened which is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged by that which is written in the scrolls in accord with their acts."
It is because they don't understand the adjectival form of "aionios" which is derived from the noun "aion." Some translators do understand, some don't. All aionios does is tells us concerning something pertaining to the eon or eons. If Christ wanted to use a term denoting unendingnes, He could easily have used the word "aperantos." When "aionios kolasin" (eonian chastening) is used of the nations who mistreated Christ's brethren in Matthew 25:31-46, it is speaking of chastening pertaining to that eon. That chastening is not the result of unbelief in Christ. It is for what they DID.
So based upon a proper understanding, judgment is remedial and temporal. In the end, all mankind will be saved based upon 1 Timothy 2:4-6; 4:10,11; Romans 5:18,19; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28; Colossians 1:20; Ephesians 1:10 etc.
But if you know all this, then it is your Christian duty to educate the heathen Christians who are promoting this "damnable" doctrine in the first place. Get out there on the street corners and shout from the rooftops that morons like The Banana Man, Ray Comfort and Ted Bovine are promoting a doctrine of unending punishment that is patently false and explain to the people why it is false, what you just explained to me---because frankly it is driving Christians away from Christianity by the millions and Christians like you who know the truth are doing nothing of substance to stop it. If Christianity declines to the point where Muslims are the majority by 2050 as futurists at Pew predict, then you will bear some of the blame for your inaction in addressing this serious matter.
But if you know all this, then it is your Christian duty to educate the heathen Christians who are promoting this "damnable" doctrine in the first place. Get out there on the street corners and shout from the rooftops that morons like The Banana Man, Ray Comfort and Ted Bovine are promoting a doctrine of unending punishment that is patently false and explain to the people why it is false, what you just explained to me---because frankly it is driving Christians away from Christianity by the millions and Christians like you who know the truth are doing nothing of substance to stop it. If Christianity declines to the point where Muslims are the majority by 2050 as futurists at Pew predict, then you will bear some of the blame for your inaction in addressing this serious matter.
Jesus said himself that you could speak against him and be forgiven.
The Bible is a thick book that most people never read twice. Even if you read it a thousand times, if you never learn the actual comings and goings of the temple and the culture then you are defeating yourself. I am always surprised when people tell me how many times they have read the bible. It's always just once, twice, maybe even 3 times. I read through the entire at least 200 times in 5 years, but then I am obsessed. I read the bible maybe 300 400 times before 1998, and since 1998, I have probably read the entire bible 400 times, and I am just now getting the gist of it.
Jesus said himself that you could speak against him and be forgiven.
The Bible is a thick book that most people never read twice. Even if you read it a thousand times, if you never learn the actual comings and goings of the temple and the culture then you are defeating yourself. I am always surprised when people tell me how many times they have read the bible. It's always just once, twice, maybe even 3 times. I read through the entire at least 200 times in 5 years, but then I am obsessed. I read the bible maybe 300 400 times before 1998, and since 1998, I have probably read the entire bible 400 times, and I am just now getting the gist of it.
To have waded through that Gordian Knot in print 400 times you're a braver soul than most of the men who walk the fields of Afghanistan in my "book", which is NOT the Bible, by the way.
To have waded through that Gordian Knot in print 400 times you're a braver soul than most of the men who walk the fields of Afghanistan in my "book", which is NOT the Bible, by the way.
I suffered a great tragedy in my life, severely traumatized. I noticed weird things I started doing. I couldn't go to sleep or work without finishing the Houston post crossword everyday. Bout 5 in the morning after weeks I realized something was wrong because I was completely obsessed. My mind had changed and so I knew I would obsess about something, so I chose the bible. It's not normal what I do. Everyone who knows me is very religious, but they would all say that I have a bad problem, and they beg me to stop, but there is no stopping obsession.
I suffered a great tragedy in my life, severely traumatized. I noticed weird things I started doing. I couldn't go to sleep or work without finishing the Houston post crossword everyday. Bout 5 in the morning I realized something was wrong because I was completely obsessed. My mind had changed and so I knew I would obsess about something, so I chose the bible. It's not normal what I do. Everyone who knows me is very religious, but they would all say that I have a bad problem, and they beg me to stop, but there is no stopping obsession.
Well, okay. Best way I know to break any obsessions is to keep posting on CD and read all the stuff fundamentalists post here. That would break the back of even the most hardened OCD.
Well, okay. Best way I know to break any obsessions is to keep posting on CD and read all the stuff fundamentalists post here. That would break the back of even the most hardened OCD.
I have come a long way, it started with numbers. I would get stuck in places, maybe downtown Houston and I couldn't go home until the numbers and the colors changed, lol.
I notice this same thing in many people. When you begin thinking on the other side of your brain as with temporal lobe epilepsy, You ALWAYS have a religious side. Everyone who gets that sort of thing becomes obsessed with religion even if it's not their main obsession.
. . . If recall correctly the fundamentalists say that Jesus was the Word and the Word was God and "ALL" things were created through the Word. That would include creating the Old Testament, wouldn't it?
"All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight,
for disciplining in righteousness,so that the man of God may be fully competent,
completely equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
"For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will,
but men spoke from God as they were moved by holy spirit." (2 Peter 1:21)
The Holy Scriptures were *inspired* of God . . . not created by him.
Neither were any other books 'created' by God, or Christ ... but with your line of reasoning, they all were.
Fundamentalists take everything literally . . . even when the context indicates otherwise.
The Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures both teach the same about the future of incorrigibly wicked people:
"For evil men will be done away with." (Psalm 37:9a)
"Just a little while longer, and the wicked will be no more." (Psalm 37:10a)
"But the wicked will perish . . . vanish . . . vanish like smoke." (Psalm 37:20)
"These very ones will undergo the judicial punishment of eternal destruction." (2 Thessalonians 1:9a)
"The future of the wicked will be cut off." (Psalm 37:38b)
Fire in the Bible is often used to symbolize purification from something.
The 'lake of fire & sulpher' is explained to be the 'second death' ... as it is a final & total extermination.
There is no chance of anyone having suffered the second death to live, ever again.
Notice . . .
"A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place.
And he sent his angel and presented it in signs through him to his slave John." (Revelation 1:1)
"And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet that performed in front of it the signs
with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who render worship to its image.
While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulphur." (Revelation 19:20)
"And death and the Grave were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:14)
"But as for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth
and murderers and fornicators and those practicing spiritism and idolaters and all the liars,
their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.”(Revelation 21:8)
That death & the Grave are also thrown into the fiery lake further illustrates that the lake of fire stands for utter destruction . . . not the 'eternal torment' that has been taught by man y churches for centuries.
Jesus used it to symbolize eternal destruction of the wicked, because that dump was where the dead bodies of criminal who were deemed unworthy of a resurrection were gotten rid of . . . as well as city refuse.
God prophetically decreed that the Valley of Hinnom would serve as a place for mass disposal of dead bodies
rather than for the torture of live victims. (Jeremiah 7:32, 33; 19:2, 6, 7, 10, 11)
Concerning “Gehinnom,” the Jewish commentator David Kimhi (1160?-1235?), in his comment on Psalm 27:13, gives the following historical information:
“And it is a place in the land adjoining Jerusalem, and it is a loathsome place, and they throw there unclean things and carcasses. Also there was a continual fire there to burn the unclean things and the bones of the carcasses. Hence, the judgment of the wicked ones is called parabolically Gehinnom.”
It is evident that Jesus used Gehenna as representative of utter destruction resulting from adverse judgment by God, hence with no resurrection to life as a soul being possible. (Mt 10:28; Lu 12:4, 5)
The scribes & Pharisees as a wicked class were denounced as ‘subjects for Gehenna.’ (Mt 23:13-15, 33)
Jesus also apparently alluded to Isaiah 66:24 in describing Gehenna as a place “where their maggot does not die and the fire is not put out.” (Mark 9:47, 48)
Where the fire did not reach, worms, or maggots, would breed, consuming anything not destroyed by the fire. On this basis, Jesus’ words would mean that the destructive effect of God’s adverse judgment would not cease until complete destruction was attained.
The Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures both teach the same about the future of incorrigibly wicked people:
"For evil men will be done away with." (Psalm 37:9a)
"Just a little while longer, and the wicked will be no more." (Psalm 37:10a)
"But the wicked will perish . . . vanish . . . vanish like smoke." (Psalm 37:20)
"These very ones will undergo the judicial punishment of eternal destruction." (2 Thessalonians 1:9a)
"The future of the wicked will be cut off." (Psalm 37:38b)
Fire in the Bible is often used to symbolize purification from something.
The 'lake of fire & sulpher' is explained to be the 'second death' ... as it is a final & total extermination.
There is no chance of anyone having suffered the second death to live, ever again.
Notice . . .
"A revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him, to show his slaves the things that must shortly take place.
And he sent his angel and presented it in signs through him to his slave John." (Revelation 1:1)
"And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet that performed in front of it the signs
with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who render worship to its image.
While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulphur." (Revelation 19:20)
"And death and the Grave were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:14)
"But as for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth
and murderers and fornicators and those practicing spiritism and idolaters and all the liars,
their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.”(Revelation 21:8)
That death & the Grave are also thrown into the fiery lake further illustrates that the lake of fire stands for utter destruction . . . not the 'eternal torment' that has been taught by man y churches for centuries.
Jesus used it to symbolize eternal destruction of the wicked, because that dump was where the dead bodies of criminal who were deemed unworthy of a resurrection were gotten rid of . . . as well as city refuse.
God prophetically decreed that the Valley of Hinnom would serve as a place for mass disposal of dead bodies
rather than for the torture of live victims. (Jeremiah 7:32, 33; 19:2, 6, 7, 10, 11)
Concerning “Gehinnom,” the Jewish commentator David Kimhi (1160?-1235?), in his comment on Psalm 27:13, gives the following historical information:
“And it is a place in the land adjoining Jerusalem, and it is a loathsome place, and they throw there unclean things and carcasses. Also there was a continual fire there to burn the unclean things and the bones of the carcasses. Hence, the judgment of the wicked ones is called parabolically Gehinnom.”
It is evident that Jesus used Gehenna as representative of utter destruction resulting from adverse judgment by God, hence with no resurrection to life as a soul being possible. (Mt 10:28; Lu 12:4, 5)
The scribes & Pharisees as a wicked class were denounced as ‘subjects for Gehenna.’ (Mt 23:13-15, 33)
Jesus also apparently alluded to Isaiah 66:24 in describing Gehenna as a place “where their maggot does not die and the fire is not put out.” (Mark 9:47, 48)
Where the fire did not reach, worms, or maggots, would breed, consuming anything not destroyed by the fire. On this basis, Jesus’ words would mean that the destructive effect of God’s adverse judgment would not cease until complete destruction was attained.
So you are an annihilationist, which is okay---there are three common views in the Bible: eternal torment, annihilation and universal redemption---all fully and equally supported by scripture, so as I said elsewhere in another thread a Christian chooses the one that best fits their definition of what a holy and just God would do to deal with man's sin. It destroys uniformity, but as God has chosen to be silent on the matter of which is the true eternal destiny I believe God cannot nor will He impose any serious penalty on sinful men. He'll find a way to save everybody because it is the only righteous thing a righteous God could do.
As a thinking deist, this is one of several questions that pop into my mind that I cannot think of a logical answer to:
Jesus in his pre-incarnate form dictated the Old Testament to its writers. What Jesus inspired writers to write about hell was encapsulated in the doctrine on Sheol: Job wanted to be hid there; David made his bed there; Jonah prayed to God from there and was delivered; many others that indicated "hell" was a gloomy misty, nondescript place without fire or pain that both the good and the bad went to for not more than 12 years, I believe it was, and then they were released to heaven.
Jesus then incarnates and changes everything he said about hell in the Old Testament: that hell is a place of excruciating pain; that it is eternal; that only the wicked go there; that they keep company with the wicked angels who it was made for.
Why would Jesus say it is one thing in the Old Testament and then say it is something entirely different in the New Testament? Wouldn't Jesus have to keep some consistency in what he is saying from age to age? Or was it just a grave in the Old Testament and then it morphed into this horrible punishment for nonbelievers after his crucifixion?
My understanding is that Sheol was a sort of holding area for those who have departed from the earth. This area has two partitions - one reserved for those who are with the Lord and the other for those not with the Lord.
Luke 16:22-26
22 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 "And he cried out and said, `Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.' 25 "But Abraham said, `Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 `And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'
When the Lord died, those who were with the Lord were released from Sheol and are now with Him.
Matthew 27:50-53
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; 53 and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
Those not with the Lord are still in the holding area awaiting the final judgment.
That's what I understand it to be.
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