Home Christian Writings Is Hell eternal? Page 16

Is Hell eternal?

Hell Fire

Part 01 – Is Hell eternal?
Part 02 – Scriptures used to support an eternal Hell
Part 03 – New Testament scriptures that dispel an eternal Hell
Part 04 – Old Testament scriptures that dispel an eternal Hell
Part 05 – Other resources about Hell

This page will let scripture answer the most common questions on this topic. Following that, we will look at scriptures that are used to support the idea of an eternal Hell to get a balanced view. The last two pages will take a more substantial look at scriptures that talk about the wicked and their fate.

Will the wicked perish?

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

2 Peter 2:12
But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.

Luke 13:3
I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

In order to understand the word ‘perish’, how is this word used in other biblical topics?

Hebrews 1:10-12
10 He also says, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
11 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.
12 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.

Colossians 2:21-22 21
21 Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?
22 These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.

Will the wicked be destroyed?

Matthew 7:13
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

Philippians 3:19
Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9
8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 
9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power

How is the word ‘destruction’ used in other biblical topics?

1 Corinthians 5:5
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

2 Peter 2:1
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

How will the wicked be destroyed?

2 Peter 3:7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

Luke 17:28-30
28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

The wicked are cast into hell, but isn’t Hell eternal?

Revelation 20:14
Then death and Hell were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.

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.“

So there will be no eternal suffering in hell?

Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”

Revelation 21:4
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

So the wicked will cease to exist?

Psalms 104:35
“Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.”

Psalms 37:10
“For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.”

Adam came to life when he became a living soul, but can a man lose his soul?

Mark 8:36
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?

1 Peter 1:9
for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

But isn’t the human soul immortal?

Matthew 10:28
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in Hell.

Genesis 3:21-24
22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Are you sure that the wicked will be completely consumed or burned up though?

Psalms 37:20
“But the wicked will perish: Though the Lord’s enemies are like the flowers of the field, they will be consumed, they will go up in smoke.”

Malachi 4:1
“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”

Does God want to destroy the wicked?

Ezekiel 33:11
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn from your evil ways!

2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Will sin ever happen again once all the wicked are destroyed?

1 John 3:9
No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

2 Peter 1:4
Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Luke 20:35-36
But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. In fact, they can no longer die, because they are like the angels. And since they are sons of the resurrection, they are sons of God.

We know that sin causes death and we will no longer die because sin has been dealt with.

1 Corinthians 15:54-55
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

When will the wicked be completely destroyed?

Matthew 13:40
“As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world/age.“

2 Peter 3:10.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

Okay so wicked men will be destroyed along with the old creation, but what about Satan?

Hebrews 2:14
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;“

Ezekiel 28:18
“Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.”

The last verse may be referring to a man instead of Satan, however we know that the Devil will be destroyed from the previous verse above.

After reading this page you may argue that I have given scripture, but not all of it. There are of course other verses that seem to teach an eternal hell or eternal suffering for the wicked. The next page will cover these scriptures to provide a balanced view. The last two pages in this study will list the most prominent verses in the Bible that teach that the wicked will be destroyed, perish, and die. There will be many more verses than quoted on this page and they are divided into Old and New Testament verses. These pages will be useful if you wish to study in more depth what scripture says about the fate of the wicked.

Discussion

Viewing 20 posts - 301 through 320 (of 732 total)
123…151617…353637
  • Author
    Posts
  • March 7, 2015 at 7:12 pm#790243
    NickHassan
    Participant

    Hi t8,

    Where does scripture say that the heavens and the earth are burned up in the same fire, the lake of fire?

    March 7, 2015 at 8:05 pm#790252
    Proclaimer
    Participant

    2 Peter 3:5-7
    For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.…

    Revelation 20:14-15
    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.

    March 7, 2015 at 10:25 pm#790265
    NickHassan
    Participant

    Hi t8,

    Yes they are reserved for fire but it does not say the lake of fire

    March 7, 2015 at 10:57 pm#790268
    Proclaimer
    Participant

    Good. So let’s go through the events.

    1) His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

    2) Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire which is the Second Death.

    If the first fire Hades? If so, Hades results in the destruction of heavens and earth and ungodly men.

    If the first fire is the Lake of Fire, then that results in the destruction of heavens and earth and ungodly men.

    Do you believe that there will be a fire that will result in the destruction of heavens and earth and ungodly men?

    March 8, 2015 at 8:27 pm#790338
    NickHassan
    Participant

    Hi t8,

    Why do you think there is a direct connection between the fire that destroys earth and the lake of fire?

    Scripture makes no such connection

    Just because both involve fire does not mean we should assume they relate to the same thing surely .

    March 8, 2015 at 8:29 pm#790339
    NickHassan
    Participant

    Hi t8,

    HELL includes hades, the waiting place, and Geena, the lake of fire.

    March 8, 2015 at 8:34 pm#790340
    NickHassan
    Participant

    Hi t8,

    The KJV says HELL in lk 16.23

    But the NASB, YLT and NIV specify it as Hades

    March 8, 2015 at 8:40 pm#790342
    NickHassan
    Participant

    Hi t8,

    The KJV translates Mt 10.28 as HELL-the place of eternal punishment and destruction- and so does the NIV and the NASB[with gehenna in brackets]

    The YLT specifies it as Gehenna  [geena]

    March 8, 2015 at 8:50 pm#790345
    NickHassan
    Participant

    Hi t8,

    The YLT uses both terms

    Hades

    mt 5.22. mt 5.29-30,Mt 18.9, Mt 23.15, Mt 23.33

    Mk 9.43-47,

    Lk 12.5

    Jas 3.6

    Gehenna

    Mt 16.18,

    Lk 10.15, Lk 16.23,

    Acts 2.27-31

    1cor.15.55

    Rev 1.18

    Rev6.8

    Rev 20.13-14

     

    There appears to be a difference that is not made clear in some translations

    March 8, 2015 at 9:11 pm#790349
    NickHassan
    Participant

    Hi t8,

    If you look at the use of these terms by Jesus whenever he was warning men about the risk of their bad behaviours it was GEHENNA he seriously warned them about to the extend of plucking out of eyes and cutting off limbs[Where the fire is not quenched and the worm never dies-Mk9]

     

    But with exception of the warning to Capernaum HADES appears in a different light.

    It is the place that could not hold Jesus[acts 2.27-31], the place Peter was given the keys to in Mt 16, that also the place Jesus has the keys to[Rev 1 ]. Of course it is also the place the rich man found himself in after death in Lk 16

    This is the place thrown in the lake of fire[rev 20]

    Worth more study

    • This reply was modified 9 years, 9 months ago by Admin.
    March 15, 2015 at 12:37 am#790615
    Proclaimer
    Participant

    Why do you think there is a direct connection between the fire that destroys earth and the lake of fire?

    I would have thought it obvious. The wicked are destroyed in the same fire that destroys the heavens and earth. We also read that Death and Hades is thrown into the Lake of Fire.

    Are you implying that there are two fires. If so, let me try to reason the events with these two fires.

    The Wicked are destroyed in the fire that burns the heavens and earth. Then brought back to life and then live forever in the second fire where they are not destroyed? Obviously this cannot be the case.

    If there are two fires, then they are contradictory because one fire destroys, so what does the Lake of Fire do? Yes worth more study as you say.

    March 15, 2015 at 3:27 am#790616
    GeneBalthrop
    Participant

    T8……There is a literal fire, and there is a symbolic fire used in scriptures, THE SYMBOLIC meaning is intense judgment , and as fire purifies metal through intense heat causing the impurities (dross) to be seperated and rise to the top where it can be removed leaving pure metal, so does intense judgement cause evil to surface where it can also be removed.
    Jesus told us we would all besalted with fire. Paul also related to fire as a type of intense judgement, saying every mans work shall be trird by fire, if it endures the trial, he shall recieve a reward if not he will suffer a loss, but he himself shall be saved , yet as by fire (intense judgement). We have to determine if fire in a paticular scripture is given in a literal sense or a symbolic sense of intense judgements. IMO

    peace and love to you and yours. …………..gene

    March 15, 2015 at 6:10 am#790618
    DavidL
    Participant

    If annihilation existed it would offer hope to those in hell – but tragically, hell is a place without hope.

     

    People who commit suicide usually do so with the false belief that in taking their own life they will end the unbearable situation they are in – only to find that they take it with them into the afterlife…

     

    They had a false hope – and it is this same false hope of annihilation that you hold up to people with your teaching.

     

     

    March 15, 2015 at 10:29 am#790620
    GeneBalthrop
    Participant

    Carnel…….here is no “specific” scriptures that say souls are eradicated, just as the is no “specific” scripture that a soul keep living after a person dies. Those are suppositions deduced by human reasoning. God may well save every human being he has created, THERE ARE SCRIPTURES THAT IMPLY THAT.

    Eze 37:23 , ROM 5: 18….show this

    All have sinned, and come short of the glory of GOD.

    Mat12:31….All manner of sin shall be forgiven man except blasphemy Against the spirit, and that because it can’t be forgiven because the person is speaking against what is truth, so there is no possible way he can be forgiven as long as he does that ,he must cease from it. Why because truth is truth it mever changes

    Christ died not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world’s, it says.

    I do believe it is “POSSIBLE” everyone will be saved, not because who they are, but because who GOD THE FATHER IS. I am not saying that is going to happen , but it is possible. Scripture does say GOD IS LOVE, AND IT ALSO SAY GOD IS NOT WILLING THAT ANY “PARISH”, SO IT’S “POSSIBLE”. IMO

    peace and love to you and yours. …………..gene

    March 15, 2015 at 11:37 am#790622
    bodhitharta
    Participant

    This is what T8 wrote:

    Jesus dealt with sin once and for all. Not just each individual sin that was temporarily covered through the shedding of the blood of animals, but sin fullstop.

    First I will talk about what you just wrote and then I will address the hell issue:

    You say sin has been dealt with once and for all and yet you are told to pray and also to ask for forgiveness when you sin but more importantly some of those who have accepted Christ will be seen in a different light:

    “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matt 7:21-23)

    So these are people that believe sin still seems to affect them for they can be barred from entering the Kingdom.

    secondly:

    HEBREWS 6:4) It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, (5) who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, (6) if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

    So it appears from these scriptures sin still holds the same weight is already had in-fact Paul is saying if you fall away it you can’t even repent.

    Jesus declares that you must run the entire race and endure to the very end so Sin is still sin, look about do you see sin defeated in any way? Defeat is only in the act of repentance.

    March 15, 2015 at 12:41 pm#790623
    bodhitharta
    Participant

    regarding hell being eternal let’s just honestly look at that:

    Jesus says regarding people in the afterlife:

    Matthew 22:30
    For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

    Now Jesus says:

    Matthew 23:15
    Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

    Now saying a child of Hell places hell as a personal aspect or condition so lets proceed:

    Matthew 23:33
    You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

    Now I guess the entire argument here is the question, is being sentenced to Hell simply anihilation or lasting torment?
    Well one thing for sure is when you die there would be no need to resurrect and judge you if the judgement is simply causing you to be dead in the same state you were already in i.e. not conscious of life if that is the case it certainly would work out very well for people that don’t particularly want to live in the first place so it doesn’t seem to fit into the Torment aspect of what Jesus says:

    Luke 16:23
    and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

    Matthew 8:12English Standard Version (ESV)

    12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

    So now we see Jesus saying that there is an actual place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth so at this point we have a PLACE and we have TORMENT

    Matthew 13:50
    and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

    so now we have FIERY, PLACE and TORMENT

    so at this point who is it that denies what I have examined up to this point? Those who say that God is all loving and would not put people in a Fiery place of torment or maybe some are saying that “God would put you in a place of fiery torment but just only until you burn up”, but the fiery place doesn’t seem to be BURNING up anything, it only seems to be hot enough to torment. A fire that annihilates doesn’t really torment as torment is a function of consciousness. If you fall in a volcano you will not be conscious the length of time it would take to even notice where you are, you would be annihilated without any torment at all so Jesus is saying Torment is in this place called Hell.

    Now here is the most astonishing fact:

    Luke 13:28
    In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

    If you are annihilated how would you be able to see this? In-fact the torment must be just above bearable to be able to witness this:

    John 19:28-2921st Century King James Version (KJ21)

    28 After this Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.”

    29 Now there was set there a vessel full of vinegar; and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth.

    John 19-1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

    John 18:12 So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him.

    During these terrible and tormenting moments Jesus was conscious enough to communicate and it is the same with Job, Job even wished to be annihilated rather than keep suffering.

    Job 10:8 Your hands fashioned and made me,
    and now you have destroyed me altogether.

    here we see Job saying in fact he has been destroyed and yet he is still in torment.

    Job 18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,
    and he has no name in the street.
    18 He is thrust from light into darkness,
    and driven out of the world.
    19 He has no posterity or progeny among his people,
    and no survivor where he used to live.
    20 They of the west are appalled at his day,
    and horror seizes them of the east.
    21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
    such is the place of him who knows not God.”

    Job 25:6 how much less man, who is a maggot,
    and the son of man, who is a worm!”

    Now pay Attention:

    Mark 9:44 Where the worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.

    March 15, 2015 at 8:19 pm#790638
    Proclaimer
    Participant

    Okay, so there is a literal fire and a symbolic fire. Which one is this. Read it carefully before answering.

    “His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”

    So the heavens, earth, and ungodly will be destroyed. Explain how this is symbolic if that is how you handle this verse.

    March 15, 2015 at 8:28 pm#790640
    Proclaimer
    Participant

    Will the wicked perish? Yes.

    Will the wicked be destroyed? Yes.

    Will the wicked be thrown into the Second Death? Yes.

    Can God destroy both body and soul in Hell? Yes..

    Does the spirit of man go back to God who gave it? Yes.

    Is it true that only the righteous will inherit life eternal? Yes.

    Is it true that only the righteos will partake of God’s living spirit for eternity? Yes.

    So the wicked will not have eternal life in Hell fire? No because Hell itself is thrown into the Second Death and because man does not possess by right an eternal soul. God can destroy it and he will do that very thing because God is in the business of saving souls, but not all souls, only the souls of the righteous.

    What I have noticed about DavidL is that he likes to use words against us that are associated with cults. Unfortunately for him, I myself and others only use scripture. So he is attacking scripture and he persecutes us for doing so. By what spirit spurs a man to do that? Is that not the behaviour of the Pharisees.

    March 15, 2015 at 8:30 pm#790642
    NickHassan
    Participant

    Hi t8,

    ”

    I would have thought it obvious. The wicked are destroyed in the same fire that destroys the heavens and earth. We also read that Death and Hades is thrown into the Lake of Fire.

    Are you implying that there are two fires. If so, let me try to reason the events with these two fires.

    The Wicked are destroyed in the fire that burns the heavens and earth. Then brought back to life and then live forever in the second fire where they are not destroyed? Obviously this cannot be the case.”

    Logic is not helping you as you are making presumptions and expect us to find them obvious?

     

    March 15, 2015 at 8:39 pm#790646
    Proclaimer
    Participant

    If the wicked are thrown into the Lake of Fire and fire is reserved for the wicked as well as the Heavens and Earth, then you are free to believe they are not talking about the same thing, even if the timing is coincidental.

    However, it is written the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire and kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. We choose to believe this or not. I believe it, but I am not sure you do.

    Even if there are multiple fires, there is still one that will result in the destruction of ungodly men according to Peter. Do you believe this to be the case or not? If not, then why do you not believe our brother Peter who taught this?

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