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I have two questions about the biblical concept of Hell.

Is Hell a place where there will be eternal punishment?

If so, who will be eternally punished there? Is it humans or is it the Devil and his angels or is it both?


The reason I ask is because I've come across views that say that Hell is not forever. If that's the case, then that would take the sting out of arguments that say that God is cruel for punishing humans for an eternity just for not believing.

What does the Bible say on this subject?
 
Is Hell a place where there will be eternal punishment?
Is some relevant info.

Mark 9:43 says that the fire in Hell never goes out. Why would it last forever if there was no eternal punishment?

Matthew 10:28 seems to say that the soul can be "destroyed" in Hell. Something that can be destroyed doesn't last forever.

Both passages quoted below....

Mark 9:43
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.

Mattew 10:28
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.
 
Yes, Hell is forever. Those who teach Hell is temporary have developed this false doctrine, IMHO, to soothe a guilty conscience. If Hell was only a temporary place, there would be no need to evangelize the world. Revelation 14:11 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.
 
@Scooter

That Revelation passage you think includes all humans? Or just the ones that received the mark?

Later on I will check out my go-to site as well to see if they give any alternative explanation.
 
That Revelation passage you think includes all humans? Or just the ones that received the mark?
I believe it includes all who reject Christ. Later on we read about the final judgment of all nonbelievers and they are cast into the lake for fire: Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
 
Thanks for the good replies, Scooter.

I also found this interesting passage -
Matthew 25:31-33, 41-43, 47
31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

41“Then he will say to those on his left,
‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

The one passage that casts doubt in me still is Matthew 10:28. It seems to say that the soul can be "destroyed" in Hell.
28 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.
 
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The word destroy does not mean the soul ceases to exist. When the twin towers were hit by the planes they were destroyed, but they did not vanish. The mass of rubble remained. When a soul is destroyed in Hell it does not cease to exist or disappear. It is in a state of ruin, just like the towers were ruined.
 
The word destroy does not mean the soul ceases to exist.
After I read your post the first time around, I wasn't really sold on that view. I have since looked up the word "destroy" in the Greek for Matthew 10:28. The Greek word for "destroy" is "apollumi", defined as to destroy or destroy utterly according to Strong's Concordance. Thayer's Greek Lexicon elaborates more by explaining it as "to put an end to". BUT Thayer's also gives a metaphorical meaning, "
metaphorically, to devote or give over to eternal misery: Matthew 10:28; James 4:12; contextually, by one's conduct to cause another to lose eternal salvation:"

So now I'm sold on your view. Just wanted to show the extra stuff that convinced me just in case it helps others.
 
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I have two questions about the biblical concept of Hell.

Is Hell a place where there will be eternal punishment?
Srsly? All go to the same place (the grave)
and if you check the relevant instances of “eternal,” youll see that they do not derive from the Greek aidios (forever)

If so, who will be eternally punished there? Is it humans or is it the Devil and his angels or is it both?

The reason I ask is because I've come across views that say that Hell is not forever. If that's the case, then that would take the sting out of arguments that say that God is cruel for punishing humans for an eternity just for not believing.

What does the Bible say on this subject?
Furthermore, the Father judges no one, No one has ever gone up to heaven, All go to the same place

Hel as we know it was an import of England’s Norse/Angle scribes, who likely just had no better term to translate into; guess they didnt burn their trash? lol
 
Hel as we know it was an import of England’s Norse/Angle scribes, who likely just had no better term to translate into; guess they didnt burn their trash? lol
Ha!(y)(y)

Here's an interesting article I found on that:
The mindset of applying hell to all the bad people who don’t make it to a nice place in the afterlife is universal and deeply rooted, even in the minds of Bible translators. After the Reformation and the Roman Catholic Council of Trent, two of the earliest and most important English versions of the Bible were published—the Catholic Douay Reims Version and the Protestant King James Version.
In these Bibles, both Sheol and Hades, together with Gehenna, appear as the English word “hell.”
And it’s theorized that these translations were both influenced by Saint Augustine’s theology.

As a result, most English Bible translations uses “hell” for the words Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus. For a long time the only version that did not was Young’s Literal Translation, published in 1862. As with everything else in his translation, Young keeps intact all the Greek words referring to the afterlife. But with all the modern versions dumping several different terms into one hell basket, it’s no surprise that we have hundreds of millions of English speakers who view hell simplistically and unbiblically. Thankfully, more modern translations are now properly distinguishing Hades from hell, or at least adding notations. Gehenna is almost always rendered “hell.”
cont'd
What is Gehenna?
Every city needs a garbage dump. And before recycling, places like Jerusalem burned their garbage—day and night for millennia. In this same place, Kings Ahaz and Manasseh sacrificed their own sons (2 Chronicles 28:3 and 33:6). The dump was the valley on the south side of Jerusalem, the Valley of Ben Hinnom (son of Hinnom), or the Valley of Hinnom, in Hebrew Ge Hinnom. Jesus takes this imagery of refuse, perpetual fire, and human sacrifice, along with the name, to describe for us the eternal destiny of the damned, rendered in Greek as “Gehenna.”

Gehenna, then, is what most people really mean when they say hell: judgment, punishment, fire, eternal misery. But we do not see anything about the devil or demons poking people with pitchforks or anything close to that. According to Scripture, these fallen angels will suffer in Gehenna too—but only at the end of time (Revelation 20:7–15). Now they’re in Tartarus (more on that in another article).
Source: https://www.peterlundell.com/online-library/entries/to-hades-with-hell/hell-gehenna/
 
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