- Oct 13, 2014
- 27
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12 Reasons why Hell is not eternal conscious torment
When an unsaved sinner dies he will at some later date be raised from the dead by God and face the Judgment. He will then be condemned and cast into Gehenna Hell. He will be punished with either many stripes or few depending on the life he lived. After he has been punished for all his sins he will experience a second death in which his entire self, body and soul, will be totally destroyed and done away with without any possibility of future resurrection. That is eternal death. Eternal death in hell is an eternal punishment because if you die the second death you will never be resurrected.
Many people believe that instead of being destroyed the sinner will be tortured forever by God. Here are twelve reasons why Hell is not eternal conscious torment… We will just look at the first two to begin with..
1. Hell is not eternal conscious torment because the Bible consistently states that the punishment for sin is to perish or to be destroyed or to experience death. John 3:16 says that whoever believes in Christ “shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Matthew 10:28 says to fear God “who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.” Romans 3:23 says “for the wages of sin is death.” If my soul perishes and if my soul is destroyed and if my soul experiences death then I am not going to continue forever in misery in hell. Jesus never says that a sinner will live forever in hell. He says that the fire is unquenchable and that the worms never die so that you will understand that you cannot survive hell by putting out the fire and stomping out the worms.
2. Hell in not eternal conscious torment because the Apostle Paul told the people in the 1st century that the wages of sin is death and in the 1st century the word death did not mean eternal torment… it simply meant death. In the literature of the day death just meant death. The greek word for death is Thanatos and it was used to mean death plain and simple. Also to perish and to be destroyed simply meant to perish and to be destroyed.
When Paul told the Romans that the wages of sin is death was he trying to confuse them? Paul knew that the Roman people had always used the word Thanatos to simply mean death. Knowing that Paul told them that the wages of sin is Thanatos (death). Why would he do that if he wanted them to understand that the wages of sin is eternal conscious torture? As serious as this issue is, why would Paul not choose a word that they would understand? He did. He chose death because the Romans knew what the word death meant.
Again, the word death did not mean only to be separated from God as some say. It is certainly true that if my soul is destroyed in hell that I will be separated from God. It is also true that sinners on earth are already experiencing the early stages of eternal death in that they are separated from God. However the word Thanatos does not mean to be separated and nothing more. That is a later invention of some church teachers. To perish doesn’t mean to be separated either. Neither does destroyed. If our soul is destroyed, and if we perish, and if we experience death... then we will not experience eternal conscious torment. I know about the passage in Revelation but the book of Revelation is a symbolic apocalyptic book using metaphors and figurative language so the verse about the Devil and the Beast and the second Beast (the false Prophet) is not to be taken in the most literal sense. If we do take that literally then it forces us to take the words death and perish and destroy in a figurative sense.... but those words aren't taken from symbolic and figurative sections of scripture.
I will give the other 10 reasons as we go along...
When an unsaved sinner dies he will at some later date be raised from the dead by God and face the Judgment. He will then be condemned and cast into Gehenna Hell. He will be punished with either many stripes or few depending on the life he lived. After he has been punished for all his sins he will experience a second death in which his entire self, body and soul, will be totally destroyed and done away with without any possibility of future resurrection. That is eternal death. Eternal death in hell is an eternal punishment because if you die the second death you will never be resurrected.
Many people believe that instead of being destroyed the sinner will be tortured forever by God. Here are twelve reasons why Hell is not eternal conscious torment… We will just look at the first two to begin with..
1. Hell is not eternal conscious torment because the Bible consistently states that the punishment for sin is to perish or to be destroyed or to experience death. John 3:16 says that whoever believes in Christ “shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Matthew 10:28 says to fear God “who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.” Romans 3:23 says “for the wages of sin is death.” If my soul perishes and if my soul is destroyed and if my soul experiences death then I am not going to continue forever in misery in hell. Jesus never says that a sinner will live forever in hell. He says that the fire is unquenchable and that the worms never die so that you will understand that you cannot survive hell by putting out the fire and stomping out the worms.
2. Hell in not eternal conscious torment because the Apostle Paul told the people in the 1st century that the wages of sin is death and in the 1st century the word death did not mean eternal torment… it simply meant death. In the literature of the day death just meant death. The greek word for death is Thanatos and it was used to mean death plain and simple. Also to perish and to be destroyed simply meant to perish and to be destroyed.
When Paul told the Romans that the wages of sin is death was he trying to confuse them? Paul knew that the Roman people had always used the word Thanatos to simply mean death. Knowing that Paul told them that the wages of sin is Thanatos (death). Why would he do that if he wanted them to understand that the wages of sin is eternal conscious torture? As serious as this issue is, why would Paul not choose a word that they would understand? He did. He chose death because the Romans knew what the word death meant.
Again, the word death did not mean only to be separated from God as some say. It is certainly true that if my soul is destroyed in hell that I will be separated from God. It is also true that sinners on earth are already experiencing the early stages of eternal death in that they are separated from God. However the word Thanatos does not mean to be separated and nothing more. That is a later invention of some church teachers. To perish doesn’t mean to be separated either. Neither does destroyed. If our soul is destroyed, and if we perish, and if we experience death... then we will not experience eternal conscious torment. I know about the passage in Revelation but the book of Revelation is a symbolic apocalyptic book using metaphors and figurative language so the verse about the Devil and the Beast and the second Beast (the false Prophet) is not to be taken in the most literal sense. If we do take that literally then it forces us to take the words death and perish and destroy in a figurative sense.... but those words aren't taken from symbolic and figurative sections of scripture.
I will give the other 10 reasons as we go along...