Elizabeth said:
I believe that after the General Judgment the damned will suffer eternal torments in both body and soul. I believe the "worm that dieth not" is the tormented conscience of the condemned soul owing to a fruitless repentance.
Concerning the rich man, since you deny the eternal punishment of the damned, where do you believe the rich man was when he exclaimed, "I am tormented in this flame"? Do you believe that he was lying when he said he is tormented? And, if not Hell, where is his place of torment?
I will give you some advice. It would be profitable for you if you allow yourself to listen to what the scripture says regardless of what your religious affiliation is telling you to believe.
You make a good point about the rich man. Yes, his soul was alive and in Hades, and he was tormented (not tortured, as some call it). But our language is weak, in that our translators used "hell" for more than one original language word.
So then, In Math 10:28, "hell" comes from Gehenna. This was actually the name of a local garbage dump in their day. As was the custom then, and even until recent history, refuse was taken to places such as this to be burned and destroyed. It is agreed upon by bible scholars that Jesus used this word to describe the Lake of Fire, and not Hades.
So in Math.10:28, we have two scenarios of death described by jesus. In the first one, the body dies but not the soul. This is how we find men like the rich man alive in torment. However, after the 1000 year reign of Christ, there will be another death called the second death, which will come after the Great White Throne judgment. It is said that death and Hades will be thrown into this lake of fire. This is what Jesus meant by "Gehenna". This is where BOTH body and soul will be destroyed.
Now, you can quote any of your mentors all you want. They are not infallable. The bible is our final authority. And in
Isaiah 66:24 is where we find the first mention of a worm not dying. Here is the full verse:
" And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh"
Note the word "for".
For their worm does not die. Have you ever seen a corpse? It is a lifeless, dead, body. However, come back in 20 years or so and see if it looks the same. They decay and rot, and are eaten by maggots, etc., and if they are in fire, they will be burned to ashes. However, this would make it impossible for anyone to gaze upon the corpse as a remembrance, so God has decreed that the corpse will
not decay, rot, or be consumed by the fire. These coprses will remain in a perpetual state of death
without decay. For how long? Forever. The punishment of death is everlasting, with no chance of ever being reversed, no chance of any resurrection. Therefore it is an everlasting punishment. The permanency of this is indicated by the worm not dying, nor the fire being quenched.
Now, you might well concede that this is what happens to the body, while the soul remains alive. However, in Math.10:28, Jesus says different. He claims that BOTH body and soul will suffer the same fate. Don't forget, this passage is about death, and whether or not the soul can be killed. Jesus said don't fear the one who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
But in this nasty stronghold of a doctrine, men have concocted an excuse that while a soul can indeed die, it is not really dead. They say that this is not a real death, but rather just a figure of speech.
So let's put this interpretaion into Math.10:28 and see how it looks. Don't fear the one who can literally kill the body but cannot literally kill the soul, but rather fear Him who can literally kill the body and can "figuratively" but not literally, kill the soul. Your going to tell me that Jesus changed the meaning of death in mid sentence? So neither man nor God can 'literally' kill the soul? Then as Jesus suggested, don't fear either. This "immortal soul" business is a huge, huge issue that needs to be corrected.
But rather than focus on vague and hard to prove passages, why don't we revert back to what Jesus said in John 6:50,51? He said that not everyone will live forever, and not die. That should be as plain as our noses. But apparently, some people have no nose, to smell out the truth.