Yes or No?
Matthew 5:37 Let your Yea, be Yea, and your Nay be Nay, everything else is evil.
Should Psalm 136 add verse 27? -
"Give thanks to the Lord, who torments billions for eternity, whose mercy endures forever" ????
Psalm 136
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
2 O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.
3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
4 To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.
5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.
6 To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.
7 To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever:
8 The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:
9 The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.
10 To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever:
11 And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever:
12 With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever.
13 To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever:
14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever:
15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever.
16 To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever.
17 To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:
18 And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:
19 Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever:
20 And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever:
21 And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever:
22 Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever.
23 Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever:
24 And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever.
25 Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.
26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.
I personally believe that all former things will pass away as it says at the end of the Bible. This means the physical universe is temporal. God will create a New Heaven and New Earth.
It also states that Death and Hades will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Hell) and destroyed.
It is essential at this point to do a word study. The Word "
aionios" has variable meanings. When it is applied to the temporal realm, it should be translated as ages, lifetimes, generations, epochs, periods of time that will pass away.
When
aionios is applied to God, His spiritual domain and our salvation, then it should be translated as eternity, eternal. Even the word
ever should be translated as age and therefore, everlasting should be age-lasting or age-during.
So now go back and read any passages and you will see it differently.
Matthew 25:46 should be treated no differently. Insert "age-lasting or age-during punishment/destruction and eternal life.
Now let's look at another word, kolasis, punishment which in this case refers to "cutting-off", "perishish", "destruction". These words have been used throughout the Bible. You can't have an indestructible destruction or imperishable perishing, or a cutting-off while it is still connected - those are contradictions! Destruction means to put an end to. If you throw a piece of paper in the fire, it burns up completely and that's it. It can't burn forever. Likewise, a physical body, whether alive or not is incinerated in minutes - like Gollum who fell into the Lava Lake.
Now there are different views of Hell. We get an idea If it from the Gahanna, a perpetual burning dump outside of Jerusalem. "The worm never dies there" because it survives on the perimeter, eating at the dead corpses that arent directly in the fire but you get the picture, a smoldering dump. I think of it as a physical lake of fire, much more intense and not perpetual, a final event at judgment day, the earth being burned up as described in 2 Peter 3:10. Some think of it as a spiritual place. So what exactly is a spiritual fire ... a fire that doesn't actually destroy ... just short of destroying but enough to sustain pain forever? How would that glorify or please God in any way? How could that be considered justice? Some people live a short life of sin and then what - get eternal punishment? Even 80 years of sinning does not warrant eternal punishment. God has given us examples of His justice throughout the Bible. It was always fair, just, for a period of time and proportionate to the sins committed. Certainly Hitler would be judged more severely, but it would come to an end.
God is merciful ... Even in His punishment.
Besides all that, what is death? Physical death, we all know. Spiritual death is separation from God.
"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." 1 Cor. 15:26
So both physical and spiritual death will come to an end. If there will be no more separation from God, those souls will not exist.
Of course this will bump up against the traditional view of Hell - so be it.