The Fire That Consumes - Does Hell Burn Forever?

[BarneyFife]

It should be clear that when the wicked are cast into the furnace of fire, their torment will be conscious torment; for there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:41-42, Matthew 13:49-50).

Absolutely agreed

That this punishment will be everlasting is evident in Matthew 25:46

If it weren't for so much other evidence to the contrary, I would agree.

Rev 20:14, And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15, And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

If the lake of fire is the 2nd death, why don't those who are cast into it die?

 

[BarneyFife]

A child would not judge the Lord as being any kind of monster over the fact that He punishes sins.

I have reconciled every accusation of God as being unjust except for this one. How could it take zillions of years to pay for the sin of one lifetime? It's impossible. God is love.

Here is how one writer put it:

Satan is seeking to overcome men today, as he overcame our first parents, by shaking their confidence in their Creator and leading them to doubt the wisdom of His government and the justice of His laws. Satan and his emissaries represent God as even worse than themselves, in order to justify their own malignity and rebellion. The great deceiver endeavors to shift his own horrible cruelty of character upon our heavenly Father, that he may cause himself to appear as one greatly wronged by his expulsion from heaven because he would not submit to so unjust a governor. He presents before the world the liberty which they may enjoy under his mild sway, in contrast with the bondage imposed by the stern decrees of Jehovah. Thus he succeeds in luring souls away from their allegiance to God.

How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell; that for the sins of a brief earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this doctrine has been widely taught and is still embodied in many of the creeds of Christendom. Said a learned doctor of divinity: “The sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. When they see others who are of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, it will make them sensible of how happy they are.” Another used these words: “While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy, who, instead of taking the part of these miserable objects, will say, Amen, Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!”

Where, in the pages of God's word, is such teaching to be found? Will the redeemed in heaven be lost to all emotions of pity and compassion, and even to feelings of common humanity? Are these to be exchanged for the indifference of the stoic or the cruelty of the savage? No, no; such is not the teaching of the Book of God. Those who present the views expressed in the quotations given above may be learned and even honest men, but they are deluded by the sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong expressions of Scripture, giving to the language the coloring of bitterness and malignity which pertains to himself, but not to our Creator. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Ezekiel 33:11.

What would be gained to God should we admit that He delights in witnessing unceasing tortures; that He is regaled with the groans and shrieks and imprecations of the suffering creatures whom He holds in the flames of hell? Can these horrid sounds be music in the ear of Infinite Love? It is urged that the infliction of endless misery upon the wicked would show God's hatred of sin as an evil which is ruinous to the peace and order of the universe. Oh, dreadful blasphemy! As if God's hatred of sin is the reason why it is perpetuated. For, according to the teachings of these theologians, continued torture without hope of mercy maddens its wretched victims, and as they pour out their rage in curses and blasphemy, they are forever augmenting their load of guilt. God's glory is not enhanced by thus perpetuating continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages.

It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal torment. The religion of the Bible, full of love and goodness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by superstition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated? The appalling views of God which have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels.

The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon, of which she makes all nations drink. Revelation 14:8; 17:2. That ministers of Christ should have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it from the sacred desk is indeed a mystery. True, it has been taught by great and good men; but the light on this subject had not come to them as it has come to us. They were responsible only for the light which shone in their time; we are accountable for that which shines in our day. If we turn from the testimony of God's word, and accept false doctrines because our fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon; we are drinking of the wine of her abomination.

 

[Michiah-Imla]

Matthew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

John 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation

2 Peter 2:17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.

Jude 1:13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Honestly, I don’t know why you care about this issue. If you aren’t going to go to hell and the lake of fire, why all the fuss about what’s going to happen there?

And if damned souls end up in eternal torments, that’s their problem for not believing the truth.

God will render them their just reward according to the scriptures.

 

[Ronald Nolette]

The first important fact about hell is this: The unsaved do not go to any place of punishment as soon as they die, but are reserved in the grave until the day of judgment to be punished. Christ explicitly taught this truth in the well-known parable of the wheat and the tares. After the householder had sown the wheat in the field, his servant came to report that tares were growing among the grain. His question was whether he should pull up the weeds while they were still very small. The householder's answer was, "Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." Matthew 13:29, 30.

Follow the words of Christ as He explains the meaning of the parable: "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 13:37-42.

No one can simplify the parable by enlarging on what Jesus said. It is so clear that a child can understand it. He said the tares represented the wicked people, and that they would be cast into the fire "at the end of the world." It was in the harvest that the separation would take place, and He plainly stated, "The harvest is the end of the world." How can anyone misconstrue these words of Christ? The whole idea of the wicked going into the fire at the time of death contradicts our Lord's specific teaching that they would be cast into the fire at the end of the world.

Since the judgment also takes place after Christ comes we can see how impossible it would be for anyone to be punished before that time. Justice demands that a person be brought into judgment before being punished. Peter declared, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 Peter 2:9.

If we let the Bible mean what it says, there can be no doubt on this point. The wicked are "reserved" until when? Until the "day of judgment." To be what? "To be punished"! This means they cannot be punished before that judgment day. Does the Bible tell where they are reserved until then? Christ Himself said, "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29.

How plain! Jesus said that both good and bad will come forth from their graves to receive either life or damnation. This proves that from the time of death until they come forth in the resurrection they are not receiving any recompense or punishment. It all happens after they come forth. They are reserved until that day just as Peter indicated, but Christ spelled out where they will be reserved-"in the graves."

Sorry Barney but this is inaccurate.

Yes the dead are reserved unto the day of judgment, but that does not mean they are non-existent or asleep in the grave until that day.

The angels that fell in Genesis 6 are reserved in darkness for eternity!

Every human has an immortal soul. the body dies, but the immaterial part of man lives forever! Jesus showed this in teh account of Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus died and went to Paradise/Abrahams bosom. The rich man died and also went to hell (which means the grave/netherworld).
Where he is in torment! Souls that cease to exist or are asleep cannot be intorment!

Where it appears your confusion lies is that the passages you use refer to our bodies, and not our souls.

Paul said in Corinthians that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That is in the present not future tense., . So when the righteous die, though their body lis in the ground, their soul and spirit go home to be with teh Lord!

As for teh unsaved dead until te great white throne? There is only one passage and that is the account of Lazarus and the rich man. It was easy to understand for it was well known in Israel that the righteous went to paradise and the unrighteous went to the place of torment (2nd part of hell).

 

[Ronald Nolette]

I have reconciled every accusation of God as being unjust except for this one. How could it take zillions of years to pay for the sin of one lifetime? It's impossible. God is love.

Here is how one writer put it:

Satan is seeking to overcome men today, as he overcame our first parents, by shaking their confidence in their Creator and leading them to doubt the wisdom of His government and the justice of His laws. Satan and his emissaries represent God as even worse than themselves, in order to justify their own malignity and rebellion. The great deceiver endeavors to shift his own horrible cruelty of character upon our heavenly Father, that he may cause himself to appear as one greatly wronged by his expulsion from heaven because he would not submit to so unjust a governor. He presents before the world the liberty which they may enjoy under his mild sway, in contrast with the bondage imposed by the stern decrees of Jehovah. Thus he succeeds in luring souls away from their allegiance to God.

How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell; that for the sins of a brief earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this doctrine has been widely taught and is still embodied in many of the creeds of Christendom. Said a learned doctor of divinity: “The sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. When they see others who are of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, it will make them sensible of how happy they are.” Another used these words: “While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy, who, instead of taking the part of these miserable objects, will say, Amen, Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!”

Where, in the pages of God's word, is such teaching to be found? Will the redeemed in heaven be lost to all emotions of pity and compassion, and even to feelings of common humanity? Are these to be exchanged for the indifference of the stoic or the cruelty of the savage? No, no; such is not the teaching of the Book of God. Those who present the views expressed in the quotations given above may be learned and even honest men, but they are deluded by the sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong expressions of Scripture, giving to the language the coloring of bitterness and malignity which pertains to himself, but not to our Creator. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Ezekiel 33:11.

What would be gained to God should we admit that He delights in witnessing unceasing tortures; that He is regaled with the groans and shrieks and imprecations of the suffering creatures whom He holds in the flames of hell? Can these horrid sounds be music in the ear of Infinite Love? It is urged that the infliction of endless misery upon the wicked would show God's hatred of sin as an evil which is ruinous to the peace and order of the universe. Oh, dreadful blasphemy! As if God's hatred of sin is the reason why it is perpetuated. For, according to the teachings of these theologians, continued torture without hope of mercy maddens its wretched victims, and as they pour out their rage in curses and blasphemy, they are forever augmenting their load of guilt. God's glory is not enhanced by thus perpetuating continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages.

It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal torment. The religion of the Bible, full of love and goodness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by superstition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated? The appalling views of God which have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels.

The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon, of which she makes all nations drink. Revelation 14:8; 17:2. That ministers of Christ should have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it from the sacred desk is indeed a mystery. True, it has been taught by great and good men; but the light on this subject had not come to them as it has come to us. They were responsible only for the light which shone in their time; we are accountable for that which shines in our day. If we turn from the testimony of God's word, and accept false doctrines because our fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon; we are drinking of the wine of her abomination.

God is love! But do not define His love merely on a human level!

God is also just and holy sand sovereign! If He says somewthing- then He will accomplish it. If His word says the unrighteous will suffr forever, then they will.

 

[justbyfaith]

Sng 8:6, Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
Sng 8:7, Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.

 

[BarneyFife]

But do not define His love merely on a human level!

But I am human. How can a lifetime of sin cost an eternity of torture?

 

[quietthinker]

Honestly, I don’t know why you care about this issue. If you aren’t going to go to hell and the lake of fire, why all the fuss about what’s going to happen there?

And if damned souls end up in eternal torments, that’s their problem for not believing the truth.

If the qualification of Gods children is loving your enemy and thankfulness the qualification of those that care not for God is indifference for the lost and perishing.
Have you thought about which category your above words fit?

 

[quietthinker]

Every human has an immortal soul. the body dies, but the immaterial part of man lives forever!

This is the lie the serpent told Eve in the garden. It is the lie upon which every pagan religion is based on.

 

[justbyfaith]

This is the lie the serpent told Eve in the garden. It is the lie upon which every pagan religion is based on.

What were the serpent's exact words and what is the reference for your statement?

Is not everlasting life also promised by Christ (i.e. you shall not surely die)?

The reality is that you shall surely die if you commit sin and it becomes fully-grown in you.

But Christ also promises that you shall surely not die if you hear His words and believe on Him who sent Him (John 5:24, John 11:25-27).

This is in conjunction with the fact that you would be sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 5:5) so that you will continue in His goodness (Romans 11:20-22) and not sin.

While in the hypothetical situation that you would sin, and sin should be fully-grown in you, you would surely die in such a situation.

However, because the one who does the will of the Lord abideth (sinneth not, 1 John 3:6) for ever (1 john 2:17), sin will never become fully grown in the one who is truly born again.

 

[Michiah-Imla]

If the qualification of Gods children is loving your enemy and thankfulness the qualification of those that care not for God is indifference for the lost and perishing.
Have you thought about which category your above words fit?

They fit into the category these scriptures fit into:

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

 

[quietthinker]

What were the serpent's exact words and what is the reference for your statement?

Is not everlasting life also promised by Christ (i.e. you shall not surely die)?

The reality is that you shall surely die if you commit sin and it becomes fully-grown in you.

But Christ also promises that you shall surely not die if you hear His words and believe on Him who sent Him (John 5:24, John 11:25-27).

This is in conjunction with the fact that you would be sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 5:5) so that you will continue in His goodness (Romans 11:20-22) and not sin.

While in the hypothetical situation that you would sin, and sin should be fully-grown in you, you would surely die in such a situation.

However, because the one who does the will of the Lord abideth (sinneth not, 1 John 3:6) for ever (1 john 2:17), sin will never become fully grown in the one who is truly born again.

Make the effort and read the account in Genesis 1....and hear the lie.

Know also how you mix the Serpents lie and Jesus's words. In your attempt to rationalise you are doing the same as the Serpent did when he engaged Eve.....mixing God's words with his own lie.....misrepresenting God's words.

 

[quietthinker]

They fit into the category these scriptures fit into:

2 Thessalonians 2:11-12
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

be careful you don't use the scripture to your own harm!

 

[Enoch111]

...but are reserved in the grave until the day of judgment to be punished.

No one is reserved "in the grave". The grave is not Sheol/Hades, and Hades is not the grave. As to the title of your thread, the Bible is crystal clear. Hell (the Lake of Fire) is everlasting fire. The SDA and a few other groups misrepresent the afterlife on an ongoing basis. BTW kindly limit your misleading theology to one post as the OP. Reams and reams of words do not make anything more valid.

 

[Brakelite]

I have reconciled every accusation of God as being unjust except for this one. How could it take zillions of years to pay for the sin of one lifetime? It's impossible. God is love.

Here is how one writer put it:

Satan is seeking to overcome men today, as he overcame our first parents, by shaking their confidence in their Creator and leading them to doubt the wisdom of His government and the justice of His laws. Satan and his emissaries represent God as even worse than themselves, in order to justify their own malignity and rebellion. The great deceiver endeavors to shift his own horrible cruelty of character upon our heavenly Father, that he may cause himself to appear as one greatly wronged by his expulsion from heaven because he would not submit to so unjust a governor. He presents before the world the liberty which they may enjoy under his mild sway, in contrast with the bondage imposed by the stern decrees of Jehovah. Thus he succeeds in luring souls away from their allegiance to God.

How repugnant to every emotion of love and mercy, and even to our sense of justice, is the doctrine that the wicked dead are tormented with fire and brimstone in an eternally burning hell; that for the sins of a brief earthly life they are to suffer torture as long as God shall live. Yet this doctrine has been widely taught and is still embodied in many of the creeds of Christendom. Said a learned doctor of divinity: “The sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever. When they see others who are of the same nature and born under the same circumstances, plunged in such misery, and they so distinguished, it will make them sensible of how happy they are.” Another used these words: “While the decree of reprobation is eternally executing on the vessels of wrath, the smoke of their torment will be eternally ascending in view of the vessels of mercy, who, instead of taking the part of these miserable objects, will say, Amen, Alleluia! praise ye the Lord!”

Where, in the pages of God's word, is such teaching to be found? Will the redeemed in heaven be lost to all emotions of pity and compassion, and even to feelings of common humanity? Are these to be exchanged for the indifference of the stoic or the cruelty of the savage? No, no; such is not the teaching of the Book of God. Those who present the views expressed in the quotations given above may be learned and even honest men, but they are deluded by the sophistry of Satan. He leads them to misconstrue strong expressions of Scripture, giving to the language the coloring of bitterness and malignity which pertains to himself, but not to our Creator. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?” Ezekiel 33:11.

What would be gained to God should we admit that He delights in witnessing unceasing tortures; that He is regaled with the groans and shrieks and imprecations of the suffering creatures whom He holds in the flames of hell? Can these horrid sounds be music in the ear of Infinite Love? It is urged that the infliction of endless misery upon the wicked would show God's hatred of sin as an evil which is ruinous to the peace and order of the universe. Oh, dreadful blasphemy! As if God's hatred of sin is the reason why it is perpetuated. For, according to the teachings of these theologians, continued torture without hope of mercy maddens its wretched victims, and as they pour out their rage in curses and blasphemy, they are forever augmenting their load of guilt. God's glory is not enhanced by thus perpetuating continually increasing sin through ceaseless ages.

It is beyond the power of the human mind to estimate the evil which has been wrought by the heresy of eternal torment. The religion of the Bible, full of love and goodness, and abounding in compassion, is darkened by superstition and clothed with terror. When we consider in what false colors Satan has painted the character of God, can we wonder that our merciful Creator is feared, dreaded, and even hated? The appalling views of God which have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made thousands, yes, millions, of skeptics and infidels.

The theory of eternal torment is one of the false doctrines that constitute the wine of the abomination of Babylon, of which she makes all nations drink. Revelation 14:8; 17:2. That ministers of Christ should have accepted this heresy and proclaimed it from the sacred desk is indeed a mystery. True, it has been taught by great and good men; but the light on this subject had not come to them as it has come to us. They were responsible only for the light which shone in their time; we are accountable for that which shines in our day. If we turn from the testimony of God's word, and accept false doctrines because our fathers taught them, we fall under the condemnation pronounced upon Babylon; we are drinking of the wine of her abomination.

This post expresses perfectly my mind on this. Of all doctrines that bring calumny upon the character of God, this is it. I once believed in eternal torment. But when explained in context and compared with what we know God is like, continuing to accept eternal torment became untenable. In fact, to do so would be an insult to God. Of recent years this topic has had a lot of attention. That otherwise well meaning bible believing Christians still teach it is disquieting.

 

[Brakelite]

Every human has an immortal soul.

Except that scripture says only God is immortal. Only God. No one else. And God is Spirit. So He's the only immortal Spirit. That's a biblical fact and knowing that means you need to place every other scripture that may be understood in different ways in context with what you know... That only God is immortal. Immortality comes as a gift. To the righteous. Not to sinners. In fact the Lord booted Adam and Eve out of Eden so they couldn't eat of the tree of life so there could be no immortal sinner.
Note you have to revise all other assumptions you've made based on this truth.

 

[BarneyFife]

BTW kindly limit your misleading theology to one post as the OP.

So if it were material that was agreeable to you, you wouldn't have a problem with my expanding it to multiple posts as the OP? Is that what you're intimating? Is someone forcing you to read all of my posts?

No one is reserved "in the grave".The grave is not Sheol/Hades, and Hades is not the grave.

From your remarks, it would appear you couldn't even be bothered to read through the first post.

As to the title of your thread, the Bible is crystal clear.

It certainly is.

Hell (the Lake of Fire) is everlasting fire.

You mean like the one that still engulfs Sodom and Gomorrah today?

The SDA and a few other groups misrepresent the afterlife on an ongoing basis.

Which is what one should do if they believe their understanding of a topic.

Reams and reams of words do not make anything more valid.

Yeah, they kinda do. Especially to someone who is new to an unfamiliar teaching.

 

[Michiah-Imla]

@Enoch111 said:
Reams and reams of words do not make anything more valid.

@BarnyFife said:
Yeah, they kinda do. Especially to someone who is new to an unfamiliar teaching.

This is the root of false doctrine.

Anyone thoroughly familiar with the holy scriptures need not to waste any time in reading a lengthy explanation of an unfamiliar doctrine, especially when scripture can be found that plainly contradicts it.

Isaiah 2:22
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

Proverbs 19:21
There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

Proverbs 19:27
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

Ecclesiastes 5:3
...a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.

Ecclesiastes 10:14
A fool also is full of words

 

[VictoryinJesus]

The first important fact about hell is this: The unsaved do not go to any place of punishment as soon as they die, but are reserved in the grave until the day of judgment to be punished. Christ explicitly taught this truth in the well-known parable of the wheat and the tares. After the householder had sown the wheat in the field, his servant came to report that tares were growing among the grain. His question was whether he should pull up the weeds while they were still very small. The householder's answer was, "Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." Matthew 13:29, 30.

Follow the words of Christ as He explains the meaning of the parable: "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 13:37-42.

No one can simplify the parable by enlarging on what Jesus said. It is so clear that a child can understand it. He said the tares represented the wicked people, and that they would be cast into the fire "at the end of the world." It was in the harvest that the separation would take place, and He plainly stated, "The harvest is the end of the world." How can anyone misconstrue these words of Christ? The whole idea of the wicked going into the fire at the time of death contradicts our Lord's specific teaching that they would be cast into the fire at the end of the world.

Since the judgment also takes place after Christ comes we can see how impossible it would be for anyone to be punished before that time. Justice demands that a person be brought into judgment before being punished. Peter declared, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 Peter 2:9.

If we let the Bible mean what it says, there can be no doubt on this point. The wicked are "reserved" until when? Until the "day of judgment." To be what? "To be punished"! This means they cannot be punished before that judgment day. Does the Bible tell where they are reserved until then? Christ Himself said, "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28, 29.

How plain! Jesus said that both good and bad will come forth from their graves to receive either life or damnation. This proves that from the time of death until they come forth in the resurrection they are not receiving any recompense or punishment. It all happens after they come forth. They are reserved until that day just as Peter indicated, but Christ spelled out where they will be reserved-"in the graves."

The Fire That Consumes - Does Hell Burn Forever?

Hebrews 12:27-29 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. [28] Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: [29] For our God is a consuming fire.
?

 

[BarneyFife]

@Enoch111 said:
Reams and reams of words do not make anything more valid.

@BarnyFife said:
Yeah, they kinda do. Especially to someone who is new to an unfamiliar teaching.

This is the root of false doctrine.

Anyone thoroughly familiar with the holy scriptures need not to waste any time in reading a lengthy explanation of an unfamiliar doctrine, especially when scripture can be found that plainly contradicts it.

Isaiah 2:22
Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?

Proverbs 19:21
There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

Proverbs 19:27
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

Ecclesiastes 5:3
...a fool's voice is known by multitude of words.

Ecclesiastes 10:14
A fool also is full of words

Is this surface-reading, over-simplification supposed to invalidate the spiritual gift of teaching?

This subject is being re-examined by many, and many more, who hate anything which runs across their established (mis)understanding will be at the ready to oppose it with the most bitter and insulting denunciations. But the truth will advance. God's true character will be presented, despite every effort of the adversary of souls to extinguish it.