Featured Is Hell a place for eternal punishment?

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AgnosticBoy said:
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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i gotta admit that that one i cant really make sense of; soul and breath are the same Greek word, so?

iow how might you kill a body without killing the breath? or how might this be understood metaphorically, if it isnt meant literally?
 
bbyrd009 said:
iow how might you kill a body without killing the breath? or how might this be understood metaphorically, if it isnt meant literally?
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It is Scooter's view that Matthew 10:28 is not literal. Scooter could say that neither the body nor soul are "destroyed" in a literal sense so both are still existing in Hell.
 
AgnosticBoy said:
bbyrd009 said:
iow how might you kill a body without killing the breath? or how might this be understood metaphorically, if it isnt meant literally?
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It is Scooter's view that Matthew 10:28 is not literal. Scooter could say that neither the body nor soul are "destroyed" in a literal sense so both are still existing in Hell.
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well, that makes a lot of other Bible wrong tho? But fwiw i would have agreed with him for a long time…most of my life even. At a certain point it just becomes apparent that in order for me to get rewarded (for something i should have been doing anyway), others must be punished, yes? Or iow basically the gist of Apollos waters
 
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Also, i think things get clearer using the terms in the (original language) Bible, rather than a translation; why are we even discussing Hel, a Norse goddess? Bc Norse/Angle scribes xlated it that way, right?
 
bbyrd009 said:
is there any way to insert images from my “photos?”
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From your computer? I have that option disabled because it's a security risk and also because it takes up memory on the server.

The work around is to upload your image to a hosting site and post it here. Here's one site I use a lot:
ImgbbDOTcom. (for some reason I can't post the link.. maybe they blocked me because I've hosted so many pics on their site for free, lol)... There are other sites, including Google, where you can upload images and get an image link to post here.
 
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bbyrd009 said:
At a certain point it just becomes apparent that in order for me to get rewarded (for something i should have been doing anyway), others must be punished, yes?
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No. Every person is held accountable for how they deal with their own sins.
 
Just a sum up of my view after reading both sides, i.e. Hell is eternal punishment vs. Hell is temporary punishment.

For now, I lean towards Hell being a place for eternal punishment for those that are not believers. I'm not 100% sold on that view only because of passages, like Matthew 25:28 that talk about the soul being destroyed. The evidence for the word "destroy" not being literal wasn't convincing after having a second look at it so that's my only lingering doubt about the eternal punishment view. Matthew 25:46 specifically referring to believers going away to eternal punishment sealed the deal for me. Because it doesn't just say non-believers will be thrown in Hell. Had it said that alone, then there might be room to say that they can be "destroyed" in the fire. But the Matt. 25:46 passage clearly says "eternal punishment". That would also be consistent with its parallel of "eternal life", unless someone wants to argue why "eternal life" literally means living in Paradise forever, while "eternal punishment" in the same context doesn't mean forever.

Finally, there's the view that the word Hell in the Bible really refers to Gehenna. It is a compelling argument. I do agree that at times the word "Hell" in the Bible refers to Gehenna. But, there are times when the Bible gives a description of "eternal punishment" , and in that case you don't even need the label Hell. In that case, it's a matter of matching the description with a label, and "eternal punishment" does not equal Gehenna.

Therefore, eternal punishment is the most likely valid view.

Thanks for all the input!
 
Scooter said:
bbyrd009 said:
At a certain point it just becomes apparent that in order for me to get rewarded (for something i should have been doing anyway), others must be punished, yes?
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No. Every person is held accountable for how they deal with their own sins.
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i dont disagree, but i think that happens in Gehenna, or iow right here on earth, when they are confronted, just like we experience
 
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