What is the purpose of Hell?

[*AQuietPlace*]

Originally Posted by Aquila

What purpose does the unending torment serve?

I've never heard anyone (who believes that hell will be unending torment) say that it serves any purpose. It's simply punishment.

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by easter

Revelation 20:14 And death and HELL were cast into the LAKE OF FIRE.This is the second death.

Hell in Matt. 10:28 is Gehenna. Hell in Rev. 20:14 is Hades. Two different things.

[Shawn]

Why would all the following-Gehenna, Hades, Sheol, and Tartarus all be translated as hell?....

[easter]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

Hell in Matt. 10:28 is Gehenna. Hell in Rev. 20:14 is Hades. Two different things.

Well either way I wouldn't want to end up in Hell and then cast into the lake of fire.
I have a hard time thinking of a loving Father sending someone to a place as horrible as burning for eternity.Our minds can't comprehend the fairness but God's word says for eternity and so we can't argue this.Even if it don't seem right to us.
There are mystery's in God's word that there is no way of understanding until we are able to ask him face to face.We don't know the whole picture and he does.We have to take his words by faith.To trust in our Father and his judgements.

[NotforSale]

Hell is Religions revenge upon those who disagree. It is, and has been used to strike fear into the hearts of the rebellious, or those who backslide or reject our Doctrine.

If Hell, or Eternal torment in flame for the wicked, is in fact real, the Old Testament would have warned man about this place since the beginning.

Why does Hell suddenly appear in the New Testament?? Because MAN got his little sticky fingers upon the PEN, knowing the ignorance of the common people and their slant towards superstition.

Hell gives Religions Hierarchy power. It keeps people in fear. It causes Mankind to perceive the Creator as ruthless, heartless, and unable to stop treachery.

Remember, Hell is in other Faiths besides Christianity. This place where none of us has ever been (we talk like we've been there), contradicts a God who has mercy and compassion upon people who don't stand a chance or struggle to understand.

My question to others about this place is; If 99+% of people on Planet Earth (Apostolics believe, only those Born Again will make it) are going to burn for Eternity, don't you think God would have put a stop to this mess?? Why would God allow us to populate millineum after millineum, so He can then hurl almost every human being ever born into this unfothamable torture??

This makes no sense....

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Shawn

Why would all the following-Gehenna, Hades, Sheol, and Tartarus all be translated as hell?....

I think it's because all are states of being separated from being in fellowship with God.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by easter

Well either way I wouldn't want to end up in Hell and then cast into the lake of fire.
I have a hard time thinking of a loving Father sending someone to a place as horrible as burning for eternity.Our minds can't comprehend the fairness but God's word says for eternity and so we can't argue this.Even if it don't seem right to us.
There are mystery's in God's word that there is no way of understanding until we are able to ask him face to face.We don't know the whole picture and he does.We have to take his words by faith.To trust in our Father and his judgements.

I think we take this for granted like many Trinitarians take the doctrine of the Trinity. The Greek texts, as they are understood in Greek, don't necessarily require that a punishment be eternal in duration. Sometimes it can mean that it is eternal in it's effect. For example, when I was a young boy my father beat me with a belt for cursing him. It was an eternal punishment in that I will never forget it and it has set me straight... I'll not curse my father again.

Also, the terms "eternal" and "everlasting" are based on the same Greek word, "aionios". This word can also be used for periods of unknown or troublesome duration the way we use the term "forever" in the English language. For example, one might say, "We stood in line forever..." The word "forever" doesn't literally mean forever in this sense, it simply means a period of unknown duration or of specific trial.

Also put into consideration that the word Jesus used in Matthew 25:46 for "punishment" is the Greek word "kolasis", meaning to "punish" in the sense of setting straight. It's root is "kolas" meaning to "prune". It's used in extra biblical Greek writings to denote pruning a bush or tree in order to cause it to be more fruitful.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by NotforSale

Hell is Religions revenge upon those who disagree. It is, and has been used to strike fear into the hearts of the rebellious, or those who backslide or reject our Doctrine.

If Hell, or Eternal torment in flame for the wicked, is in fact real, the Old Testament would have warned man about this place since the beginning.

Why does Hell suddenly appear in the New Testament?? Because MAN got his little sticky fingers upon the PEN, knowing the ignorance of the common people and their slant towards superstition.

Hell gives Religions Hierarchy power. It keeps people in fear. It causes Mankind to perceive the Creator as ruthless, heartless, and unable to stop treachery.

Remember, Hell is in other Faiths besides Christianity. This place where none of us has ever been (we talk like we've been there), contradicts a God who has mercy and compassion upon people who don't stand a chance or struggle to understand.

My question to others about this place is; If 99+% of people on Planet Earth (Apostolics believe, only those Born Again will make it) are going to burn for Eternity, don't you think God would have put a stop to this mess?? Why would God allow us to populate millineum after millineum, so He can then hurl almost every human being ever born into this unfothamable torture??

This makes no sense....

Judaism teaches a Hell of refinement and eternal correction (punishment) for the wicked. They don't burn or suffer forever, it is believed that they will be purified.

I find it interesting that when Jesus died he decended into Hell and preached to the spirits in prison who were sometimes disobedient from the time of Noah. Here he took captivity captive and set them free. This would indicate that at least for these souls there was a second chance after death. If God is no respector of persons... could a soul conceivably repent and be set free after being sufficiently punished?

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by easter

Well either way I wouldn't want to end up in Hell and then cast into the lake of fire.
I have a hard time thinking of a loving Father sending someone to a place as horrible as burning for eternity.Our minds can't comprehend the fairness but God's word says for eternity and so we can't argue this.Even if it don't seem right to us.
There are mystery's in God's word that there is no way of understanding until we are able to ask him face to face.We don't know the whole picture and he does.We have to take his words by faith.To trust in our Father and his judgements.

He wont send them for eternity. They will be cast into the lake of fire. They will suffer for a long time. Then their soul will die just like Yeshua said. Matt. 10:28

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

He wont send them for eternity. They will be cast into the lake of fire. They will suffer for a long time. Then their soul will die just like Yeshua said. Matt. 10:28

What would be God's purpose in destroying them forever?

Will Heaven be Heaven when every redeemed soul will have lost the majority of everyone that they ever knew to being vaporized by God?