Featured Ashes & What Happens in Hell

The problem with annihilationism, is that it is not really any "punishment" for the lost. if a person ceases to exist after they die, then how can this be "suffering", which is what the Bible, especially Jesus, says that will be for those who are lost. Further, why would Jesus tell Judas, that it is better that he was not even born (Matthew 26:41), if he was only going to be "annihilated" after he died? Why would Jesus says that we are to "fear" God, who could "destroy both body and soul in Gehenna"? (Matthew 10:28). Where ἀπόλλῡμι can hardly be used for annihilation, or anything that does not include "suffering", because Jesus says that this fate is to be "feared". In the context, anything less than "suffering" is not an option. Jesus also uses phrases like, "weeping and gnashing of teeth", in Matthew 13:42, "and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth". In Jude 7 we read, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire". Which was written thousands of years after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, and yet Jude says, "υπεχουσαι", which is the Greek verb in the present tense, "continue to suffer". These were clealy not "annihilated". Then we have in Revelation 19:20, "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone". This is before the 1000 Year Reign. And, in chapter 20 we read, "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (verse 10). Where the use of βασανισθησονται, which is in the plural number, shows that 1000 years later, when the Devil was cast into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, both the beast and false prophet were still there! Again, "annihilation", cannot be used for this.

 

What is the function of a fire that is never quenched for a finite process?
Why do the worms never die if the people are gone (either annihilated or universally reconciled)?

Mark 9:42-48 [NKJV]

“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where

‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’​

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where

‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’​

And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— where

‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’
​

Don't get me wrong, E.C.T. doesn't fill me with feelings of butteries and warm puppies.
I just don't see how one can bulldoze past certain verses to avoid it.

 

How can there be degrees of punishment as Jesus stated will be, if all lost get smoked?

 

A couple of points on this passage. Firstly, I noticed that it says "their worm", where Jesus uses the masculine personal pronoun, αυτων, which is a reference to the "body" of those who are in Gehenna. This term is used for humans in the Old Testament. Second, it is interesting that these warnings are addressed to "the Disciples" (verse 31), "the Twelve" (verse 35), and in verse 38, John speaks to Jesus. It is clear from the passage and context, that these warnings are also addressed to The 12 Disciples!

 

It is not commonly understood because of the common false teaching for the immortality of the soul. The soul is mortal for the lost who will suffer for all eternity. The evidence is Jesus had His mortal soul die on the cross, Isaiah 53:10 and Isaiah 53:12. And He was fully conscious while His soul was dead. After He finished the atonement, John 19:28, then His soul being again alive He physically dies for His resurrection, John 19:30.

 

what does Jesus mean in Luke 12:47-48?

And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

 

The soul of ALL humans is immortal, whether lost or saved.

 

The biggest problem with your argument is that the lost really don't give a hoot about spending eternity with the Lord. They don't believe in a literal hell either. It is no punishment to be wiped out completely because it is exactly what they believe that they will get after they die

 

Are you Seventh Day Adventist or JW?

 

Exactly what is Jesus saving sinners from, if not sin and its consequences of eternal suffering? Are all of the warnings in the Bible not real?

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, that the lost, eat, drink and are merry, for tomorrow they die. They have no concern about this

 

You have ignored Jude 7 and Revelation 19 and 20, which shows that the lost are not extinct after they die

 

Any denial of conscious eternal torment is a first step of doctrinal apostasy.