forgivenWretch
New Member
Is Your Soul Eternal?Was all of that really the message of Scripture that God wants mankind to know about the wicked dead? Let's look into the eternal record for ourselves as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11). The first passage we need to notice is Rev. 20:10: The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (NKJV).The pronoun they in that verse refers back to the devil, the beast (or antichrist) and the false prophet. In other words, the devil and some humans will suffer this eternal fate. So, according to Scripture, their eternal destiny will be torment day and night forever and ever. From this we can also conclude that the souls of the antichrist and false prophet are eternal, since they won't be annihilated out of existence. This same truth is repeatedly substantiated throughout Scripture.Moreover, the Greek word translated tormented in Rev. 20:10, with its meaning, is: basanizo, bas-an-id'-zo; from G931; to torture:--pain, toil, torment, toss, vex.Basanizo(6) is found elsewhere: And suddenly they [demons] cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" (Mt. 8:29, NKJV).That verse reveals that the demons already know what their future destiny will be, that is, torment not annihilation. Consequently, this verse and Rev. 20:10 together give us in-depth insights into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: Then He will also say to those on the left hand, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt. 25:41, NKJV).Such everlasting fire that the Lord spoke of in Mt. 25:41 was specially prepared for spirit beings to be tormented in forever (Rev. 20:10; Mt. 8:29). According to that verse, Rev. 20:10 and Mt. 25:46 people will also go into this special fire. And these ["goats"] shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal (KJV).The Greek word for "punishment" in this verse also means torment: kolasis, kol'-as-is; from G2849; penal infliction:—punishment, torment.Again, the evidence shows that the wicked dead go to "everlasting torment," according to Jesus' teaching and can't possibly be construed to mean annihilation.(7) (If they were annihilated, they couldn't experience everlasting torment.) All people likened unto goats will be thrown into the same fire prepared for the devil and his angels, which collaborates with the clear teaching of Rev. 20:10. Geenna or GehennaLike the SDA, the aggressive JW also oppose the doctrine of eternal, conscious torment of the wicked dead as shown. Two of the Scriptures that have been misused by them for this are Mt. 10:28 and Lk. 12:4, 5: 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 [geenna] (NIV).And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell [geenna]; yes, I say to you, fear Him! (NKJV).Annihilationist, Clark Pinnock, also cites Mt. 10:28 in a similar way: Our Lord spoke plainly of God's judgment as the annihilation of the wicked when he warned about God's ability to destroy body and soul in hell (Mt. 10:28).(8)(The Greek word translated Hell in Mt. 10:28 and Lk. 12:5 is geenna. Other verses in which this word is found are: Mt. 5:22, 29, 30; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mk. 9:43, 45, 47; Jam. 3:6. Jesus was the only one to use geenna, except James in that one verse.)The JW mistakenly understand geenna (or gehenna) to mean: We have also learned that Gehenna does not mean a place of torment, but is used in the Bible as a symbol of everlasting destruction.(9)Destroy Not AnnihilateFrom Mt. 10:28 and Lk. 12:4, 5, we must conclude that those who get cast into hell (geenna) have both their soul and body destroyed there. However, the word translated destroy (apollumi), as used in Mt. 10:28, doesn't mean annihilate. Beside Rev. 20:10 as proof for this, we also can easily deduce this by examining two other verses where this same Greek word is used but rendered perish and lost respectively: Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish [apollumi]: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved (Mt. 9:17, KJV)."For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost [apollumi] and is found." And they began to be merry (Lk. 15:24, NKJV).Again, this Greek word can't be equated with annihilate. We know this because the wine bottles that perished would still be in existence, but ruined for the purpose for which they were intended. Moreover, the prodigal was not annihilated when he was lost, but was fully conscious in that spiritual state.Furthermore, if one was annihilated in geenna he could not experience "torment" forever and ever, as clearly expressed in Rev. 20:10. Furthermore, that same passage is even more clear when one considers Rev. 19:20 with it. Here they are together: Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Rev. 19:20, NKJV).And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Rev. 20:10, NIV).Clearly then, the devil, the false prophet and the antichrist will all experience everlasting punishment, that is, torment without end forever, but not utter destruction, as some teach. This is even more clear when we notice that "the beast and false prophet" were thrown into the lake of burning sulfur 1,000 years before the devil gets there, that is, at the beginning of the Millennium (Rev. 19:20), yet these same humans were not annihilated in the lake of fire at the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:10)!Remember also that this fire was prepared for spirit beings, and is something we have never seen or know anything about, except what is revealed in the Bible. To, therefore, argue that this same fire can't be literal because fire emanates light and the opposite, that is, blackest darkness has been reserved for the unsaved (2 Pet. 2:17; Jude 13, NIV) doesn't follow, since such an argument is based on what we know about a fire that cannot torment spirit beings. Isn't it possible that the fire that will torment forever can emanate darkness? http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/eternaltorment.htm
