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Hell is not eternal

If Hell were to exist, do you think it would be eternal?

  • yes

    Votes: 5 23.8%
  • no

    Votes: 16 76.2%

  • Total voters
    21

Spiderman

Veteran Member
I could never love a God who would have people tortured for all eternity just for not believing in him. That is just wicked, depressing, epitome of unjust, cruel, ugly, and sickening! It is the worst, most horrifying and depressing thing I've ever heard!

I don't believe Hell is eternal. I know a lot of unbelievers and wicked people and wouldn't want any of them to suffer for eternity, not even if they killed my whole family.

Scripture does mention a lake of fire for those whose names weren't written in the book of life. Fire is often used in Scripture symbolically to symbolize purification. God said he would purify his people as gold is purified in fire. So, I think that the lake of fire is symbolic to mean a painful place of being punished, purified, and perfected.

I wouldn't burn anyone in hell forever. I told that to God, and God said I'm not more merciful than him. if he is more merciful than me, then there is no eternal hell.

1 Corinthians 3:15 "will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." These are fires of purification.

Zechariah 13:9
This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'"
hell-06.jpg
 

Katzpur

Not your average Mormon
I wouldn't burn anyone in hell forever. I told that to God, and God said I'm not more merciful than him. if he is more merciful than me, then there is no eternal hell.
I believe you're right, Pope. I see God as more than just my Creator, God, and Judge. I see Him as my Father in Heaven, and I see myself as His daughter. What kind of father would treat his own child so unjustly? I agree with you wholeheartedly.
 

Enoch07

It's all a sick freaking joke.
Premium Member
I could never love a God who would have people tortured for all eternity just for not believing in him. That is just wicked, depressing, epitome of unjust, cruel, ugly, and sickening! It is the worst, most horrifying and depressing thing I've ever heard!

I don't believe Hell is eternal. I know a lot of unbelievers and wicked people and wouldn't want any of them to suffer for eternity, not even if they killed my whole family.

Scripture does mention a lake of fire for those whose names weren't written in the book of life. Fire is often used in Scripture symbolically to symbolize purification. God said he would purify his people as gold is purified in fire. So, I think that the lake of fire is symbolic to mean a painful place of being punished, purified, and perfected.

I wouldn't burn anyone in hell forever. I told that to God, and God said I'm not more merciful than him. if he is more merciful than me, then there is no eternal hell.

1 Corinthians 3:15 "will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." These are fires of purification.

Zechariah 13:9
This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'"
hell-06.jpg

I cant vote because the answer is yes and no. The depictions of Hell being a place where demons torture people for all of eternity is mostly from works of fiction. Like Dantes Divine comedy for example. This is not scripture.

Its hard to explain without getting into proselytizing, but I shall attempt it and make it short as possible.

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

To be judged you must stand before God and be judged by Him. Sin cannot stand before God and will be burned away by His light. So therefore if your not saved, if your full of sin you will be consumed. So Hell basically means you are completely consumed by Gods fire. You simply cease to exist. This is permament of course so yes it is eternal, but is hell a place where souls eternally are tormented? No
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
I cant vote because the answer is yes and no. The depictions of Hell being a place where demons torture people for all of eternity is mostly from works of fiction. Like Dantes Divine comedy for example. This is not scripture.

Its hard to explain without getting into proselytizing, but I shall attempt it and make it short as possible.

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

To be judged you must stand before God and be judged by Him. Sin cannot stand before God and will be burned away by His light. So therefore if your not saved, if your full of sin you will be consumed. So Hell basically means you are completely consumed by Gods fire. You simply cease to exist. This is permament of course so yes it is eternal, but is hell a place where souls eternally are tormented? No
In the question I meant eternal torment so your answer is no
 

Enoch07

It's all a sick freaking joke.
Premium Member
In the question I meant eternal torment so your answer is no

True, but it could also be yes at the same time. Kinda a Shrödingers Cat type thing. Its complicated to explain so, Ill just stick with the "No" for now.
 

Shiranui117

Pronounced Shee-ra-noo-ee
Premium Member
The way the Orthodox have always expressed Hell is that it is an adverse reaction to the fires of God's love. "Our God is a consuming fire," as it says in Hebrews 12:29. It's like a man who chose to live in a pitch-black cave for all his life, and one day his cave was taken away and he was forced to come out into the sunlight. The light of the sun was so bright it physically hurt him. He couldn't bear the light, and yet he was stuck in it. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it". (John 1:5)

It may be that everyone will adjust to God's light and the fires of His love, and experience Paradise, which is being in a communion of love with Him. I certainly hope that this is the case. Hell is only eternal if one chooses to make it so.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
Hell is not eternal


Isaiah 66:24
And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.


Daniel 12:1-2

At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


Matthew 18:6-9
Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.


Matthew 25:31-46

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” . . . 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 these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”


Mark 9:42-48

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 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 if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”


2 Thessalonians 1:5-10

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.


Jude 7
Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.


Jude 13
[These people are] wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.


Revelation 14:9-11

If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.


Revelation 20:10
And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. . . . Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

.






 
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Epic Beard Man

Bearded Philosopher
Or maybe, just maybe you suffer your own hell. I cannot imagine Hitler getting away with killing 6 million Jews. Where is the justice in that?
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
Or maybe, just maybe you suffer your own hell. I cannot imagine Hitler getting away with killing 6 million Jews. Where is the justice in that?
Christianity is about mercy, not justice (or mercy more so than justice, especially human ideas of justice). If God were purely just and only just, we'd all be in hell and He wouldn't have bothered with the Incarnation.
 

Epic Beard Man

Bearded Philosopher
Christianity is about mercy, not justice (or mercy more so than justice, especially human ideas of justice). If God were purely just and only just, we'd all be in hell and He wouldn't have bothered with the Incarnation.

Well everyone isn't Christian so the concept of Hell would have to be expanded beyond the Christian idea of hell. God can be merciful and just. In Islam, God will give you recompensation of what you've done in this life. So if you lived a wicked life then that will be your spiritual compensation in the next.
 

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
Well everyone isn't Christian so the concept of Hell would have to be expanded beyond the Christian idea of hell. God can be merciful and just. In Islam, God will give you recompensation of what you've done in this life. So if you lived a wicked life then that will be your spiritual compensation in the next.
Well, I'm not a Muslim. I believe in a God of mercy and love, not a cosmic judge holding scales. People can go to hell due to their rejection of God's mercy but I hope all may be saved, as God wills all to Him in love. I hope all souls may be saved from doom.
 
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Epic Beard Man

Bearded Philosopher
Well, I'm not a Muslim. I believe in a God of mercy and love, not a cosmic judge holding scales. People can go to hell due to their rejection of God's mercy but I hope all may be saved, as God wills all to Him in love. I hope all souls may be saved from doom.

Your faith in God is the same as Muslims:

"In the name of Allah (God) the most gracious, the most merciful."
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Personally I don't care what various passages in the Bible says because I can find others that contradict them. To me, if God is loving then hell can't be eternal. And there are many passages about God's love and compassion. For example

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Psalm 145:9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
Personally I don't care what various passages in the Bible says because I can find others that contradict them. To me, if God is loving then hell can't be eternal.



524768_429712507095258_1125291847_n.jpg


And there are many passages about God's love and compassion. For example

1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Psalm 145:9 The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

And there are many passages about god's jealousy, vengeance, wrath, and injustice. For example

Nahum 1:2
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful;​

Exodus 12:29
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.

.



.
 
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Aiviu

Active Member
I could never love a God who would have people tortured for all eternity just for not believing in him. That is just wicked, depressing, epitome of unjust, cruel, ugly, and sickening! It is the worst, most horrifying and depressing thing I've ever heard!

I don't believe Hell is eternal. I know a lot of unbelievers and wicked people and wouldn't want any of them to suffer for eternity, not even if they killed my whole family.

Scripture does mention a lake of fire for those whose names weren't written in the book of life. Fire is often used in Scripture symbolically to symbolize purification. God said he would purify his people as gold is purified in fire. So, I think that the lake of fire is symbolic to mean a painful place of being punished, purified, and perfected.

I wouldn't burn anyone in hell forever. I told that to God, and God said I'm not more merciful than him. if he is more merciful than me, then there is no eternal hell.

1 Corinthians 3:15 "will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." These are fires of purification.

Zechariah 13:9
This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'"
hell-06.jpg

To be in eternity needs a perception of that something endures eternally. Hell is like waiting for death because it feels like an eternity. Then death means that time in this eternity has ended. When life cant be lived anymore, and one believes that its possible to finally live when it ends, eternity is from now until ones end.

Who lives after life is in heaven. Life is there and isnt hell. Hell has been forgotten and everyone within who can't be seen from God in the living will be forgotten and waiting "probably" unconsciously between raise and decay.
 
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Muslim-UK

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
My understanding is certain people will be utterly destroyed, including their souls; possible candidates might include Hitler, Saddam, Stalin etc The rest are judged according to their deeds and whether or not the message of Monotheism had reached them and adequately explained.

Though no one is perfect, we all aim to spend as little time in Hell as possible. Those that do dwell therein for some time are purified by the fire:

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6574; Muslim, 172.

It was narrated that Abu Sa’eed said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “As for the people of Hell who belong there, they will neither die nor live therein, but people who entered Hell because of their sins, they will die once, then when they have become like coals, permission will be given for intercession, so they will be brought forth group after group and scattered on the rivers of Paradise, then it will be said, ‘O people of Paradise be generous to them, then they will grow like seeds growing after a flood recedes.

The fire is a means of purification for most people and not eternal. Allah swt knows best.
 

syo

Well-Known Member
the christian concept of Hell is not eternal. every sinner gets a second chance if they wished to.
 
Weakening or denial of hell is problem within Christianity in general. In some ways though, it's a long-standing problem. In City Of God, Augustine notes,

Then what a fond fancy is it to suppose that eternal punishment means long continued punishment, while eternal life means life without end, since Christ in the very same passage spoke of both in similar terms in one and the same sentence, "These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal!" (Matthew 25:46). If both destinies are "eternal," then we must either understand both as long-continued but at last terminating, or both as endless. For they are correlative—on the one hand, punishment eternal, on the other hand, life eternal. And to say in one and the same sense, life eternal shall be endless, punishment eternal shall come to an end, is the height of absurdity. Wherefore, as the eternal life of the saints shall be endless, so too the eternal punishment of those who are doomed to it shall have no end.
 
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