(wingnut;15774)
Revelation 14:10 "The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. "A superficial reading of the above would lead one to believe that those who accept the mark of the Beast will be tormented in hell forever.But that is not what the above says. Those who worship the Beast are on earth, and when Christ pours out the 7 last vial plagues, which he does from Rev 14 onwards, "they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." This is describing their punishment on earth, which lasts a matter of days. Examine those plagues, nobody could rest with waters turned to blood, and sun super hot etc.Note that it is the "smoke of their torment" which rises forever, not that they are tormented forever.One also has to understand the distinction between "eternal punishment" and "eternal punishing". Capital punishment or death is eternal punishment in that its effect lasts forever, even when the person is dead. God is not into "eternal punishing" but eternal punishment.
Very good, if only everyone could understand this. One of the problem is that so many have had the wicked being tortured forever in an never ending burning Hell, drilled into there minds (many serve God because of a fear of Hell), by there denomination that its very very difficult for them to honestly study these scripture apart from what they have been thought and see what the scriptures is really saying.