Re: hell
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here is my personal understanding of hell:
1. eternal? well although the bible references eternal suffering and seperation from God (2 Thes. 1:8-10, Jude 1:7, Luke 16:24, Matt. 25:30,46), i don't think ENTERNAL is to be taken literally. The reason is because one day God will destroy Satan, and then what happens to the people in hell? Maybe they are destroyed too, or maybe something else, i don't know.
2. suffering? well, it will be suffering, but a large part of that is because the absence of God (insert joke here). The gnashing of teeth, and the cries, etc, are because they are apart from God.
3. punishment? yes, there will be punishment, but the key here is that it will be BASED on their deeds as well as propotional to their deeds. See Acts 17:30-31,Rom. 2:1-11, Rev. 20:11-15 and Luke 12:47-49, Matt. 10:15, Matt. 11:24, Rev. 20:12-13. So whats my point ... basically that hell will be different for everyone. It could just be isolation, and time for you to reflect by yourself, dont really know.
so there you have it, lots of i dont knows, but mostly because there is not A LOT of scripture about hell. also, i should point out that i am in the belief that God will rightly judge everyone, and that exceptions are often made for those who have failed to accept Jesus Christ but have extenuating circumstances (youth, not having heard the Gospel, mental illness, etc.).
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Its really pretty irrelevant whether there is actual fire and torture or whether the gnashing of teeth and cries are because of seperation from God. The point remains the same: Infinite punishment.
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Perhaps the correct outlook on such a thing is a place where punishment can be administered indefinitely or the place exists eternally.
But, an individual's stay in such a place isn't necessarily eternal?
I fail to see how such an interpretation couldn't be improved given that we have a better knowledge of timespans with increased sophistication of the mathematics behind the infinite and a better appreciation for long spans of time.
Rare, brushed with olive oil and cayenne, if you please.
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