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I will only say that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to escape the fires of hell.
I stand as a testimony that hell has been created as a deterrent for those who are inclined to sin against the Lord and for those who live in utter rejection of the Lord's provision for forgiveness.
I would accept a Universalism that does not deny that a person cannot be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ.
If you accept this faithful doctrine, then it seems to me that there are those who end their lives and do not have faith in Jesus.
Since it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment, I believe that those who die without faith in Christ will be judged as condemned (John 3:18).
Those who utterly reject Christ and who have done so permanently, will be cast into everlasting (eternal) fire (Matthew 25:41), where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:41-42, 13:49-50); and this is eternal punishment for their sins (Matthew 25:46).
See also Luke 16:19-31; which is not a parable but a story of the reality of the afterlife for those who are redeemed and those who are not.
Those who count it as a parable do so because they themselves know that they are headed for the fire spoken of therein and they count it as a parable because it comforts them to think of it as a parable. But it is a false comfort at best.
Certain people make a decision to deny the realities of hell because they know that if the doctrine of hell is true that that is their fate and they do not want to think the unthinkable as concerning their eternal state of being.
How much better to repent of your sins and thus escape the fires of hell by receiving Jesus as your Lord and Saviour?
Then there is no doubt as to where you are going....you will know that you know that you know that you are going to heaven...
And there will be no need in your heart to deny the existence of hell because you know that that is not your fate personally.
I do admit that the understanding that others could go there does bother me to a certain degree...
But I also consider that it is justice and that therefore even those who are cast therein will even praise the Lord over the fact that people who are hated by them for that they wronged them in life are also cast therein as a form of justice.
I would love to believe that even Hitler will be in heaven some day, after he has been refined by the fire of the lake of fire...I just know that he will be there, if not eternally, then for a very long time, and that while he is there he is going to wail and gnash his teeth and that I'm not certain the the Lord is going to give him an understanding that his suffering will be only temporary. So, while he is suffering, it will be the same thing as if he were suffering eternally; and if he ever escapes, it will be a pleasant surprise. But while he is there it will be eternal suffering since he will see no end to his suffering from the perspective of his current existence which has no hope of ever being released from the fire.
But I believe that if the suffering that will be experienced by those in hell is in fact going to be everlasting (as we define that word in the English language), that Christ will in no uncertain terms say to those who are cast therein the nature of their suffering that it will be everlasting.
And there is a distinct possibility that it will be everlasting fire. People have to change the words as they are found in the kjv in order to come up with a different conclusion. And they have to reject the kjv utterly as a translation.
Since there is a controversy over whether the kjv is the only translation that has the unadulterated message of the whole counsel of God, I believe that that kind of thinking is unwise.
I go by the understanding that the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).
Because of this, it is nothing other than a selfish motive (self-preservation) that may lead anyone to truly repent and give their heart to Christ.
I can talk all day about the love of the Lord; but this knowledge is very likely never going to bring anyone to real repentance because understanding that the Lord loves me may actually have the opposite effect: I may begin to rest on my laurels and think that because God loves me I can do anything I want and there will be no consequences.
In order to get us where we need to be, the Lord has to give us a kick in the butt...he has to set a fire under your britches so that you will get out of your complacency and actually live for the Lord.
I find that Jesus Himself gave the following words because there is no other motivation that will help a man to genuinely repent concerning a particular type of sin.
Mat 5:28, But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Mat 5:29, And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30, And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Here, it is better to lose an eye or hand than to be cast into hell.
But if hell is not eternal, it is worth it to keep my eye or hand because losing an eye or hand is permanent and being cast into hell is only temporary. I think that I would choose temporal suffering over losing an eye or hand any day of the week.
justbyfaith, let me ask you a question. If YOU were God and had the power to send people to hell forever or send them there but just for awhile, until they learned their lesson (they all do, God can break anybody), which punishment would you choose. Remember, some are people very dear to you like friends and family as well. I await your answer. In the meantime, a verse for you...
Matthew 7:11
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”
Yes, if I were God, I would probably opt towards putting people in the lake of fire only temporarily.
However, I am not God.
And He has His reasons for doing what He does.
If I were God, I think that I would set forth the prospect of everlasting punishment and then let people out of that punishment as soon as they learn their lesson.
I believe that God opted to set forth the prospect of everlasting punishment because it is the most powerful deterrent; and is wise as a method of dealing with sin in the lives of those who are aware of it.
But because it is impossible for God to lie, He cannot let people out of that punishment just because He wants to have mercy on them.
Also, the people who will enter into everlasting punishment, do so because they reject being born again of the Holy Spirit; and therefore their sin nature cannot ever be dealt with until or unless they become born again.
It is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). So, once a person passes on into the next life, there is no more opportunity to be born again.
And I think that some, even if given the opportunity to be born again while standing before God in judgment, might still reject that opportunity.
Because they reject being born again and having their sin nature be dealt with, wherever they go in eternity, they will sin for all of eternity; because that is their nature (see Revelation 16:10-11, for example).
And because God is just, He is going to justly punish them for their sins throughout eternity.
I think that the Lord would prefer that they repent and receive regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost so that He might not have to punish them.
Some people are just absolutely adamant about their rejection of Jesus Christ and if they were allowed into heaven, there would be war in heaven.
There are those who simply cannot sing. The good news of the everlasting Gospel of reconciliation cannot be learned; it must be born within with the accompanied song that nobody can learn to sing.
We who believe in eternal torments can sing to the Lord just fine.
We are even more thankful to Him than the Universalist; since we know what we have been redeemed from.
Whereas, since the Universalist denies an eternal hell, he is not saved from anything substantial since no one in his view will experience an eternal hell.
I cannot imagine the Universalist saying to God, "thank you for saving me" because he has not been saved from anything...there is no eternal hell in his theology to be saved from.
We who believe in eternal torments can sing to the Lord just fine.
We are even more thankful to Him than the Universalist; since we know what we have been redeemed from.
Whereas, since the Universalist denies an eternal hell, he is not saved from anything substantial since no one in his view will experience an eternal hell.
I cannot imagine the Universalist saying to God, "thank you for saving me" because he has not been saved from anything...there is no eternal hell in his theology to be saved from.
We are saved from power of sin to live in newness of life.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
We are saved from power of sin to live in newness of life.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23); that is, eternal separation from God and all that is good.
No interest then in helping them to be otherwise ? Then the ways and thoughts of the god you have faith in, bears all the hallmarks of a man.
Nope, none whatsoever. According to brightf, God hates them. They should be lucky God doesn't smite them this very instant. Imagine someone professing to know God and then stating...God actually hates the majority of mankind...and say it seriously?
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