I thought the topic of enough importance to start a new thread.
In Matthew 25:46, the correct rendering of the verse is this: "And these shall go away into age-abiding correction, but the righteous into age-abiding life." Young's Literal translation has it thus: "And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during." See this reference: Matthew 25:46 And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Of all the translations listed there, Young's is the only honest and correct one. Also, at the bottom of the page in the footnotes there is this: "On the one hand, then, it is urged that as we hold the "eternal life" to have no end, so we must hold also the endlessness of the "eternal fire." On the other hand, it must be admitted (1) that the Greek word which is rendered "eternal," does not in itself involve endlessness, but rather duration, whether through an age or a succession of ages; and that it is therefore applied in the New Testament to periods of time that have had both beginning and ending (Romans 16:25, where the Greek is "from aeonian times," our version giving "since the world began"--comp. 2Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2), and in the Greek version of the Old Testament to institutions and ordinances that were confessedly to wax old and vanish away (Genesis 17:8; Leviticus 3:17); and (2) that in the language of a Greek Father (Gregory of Nyssa, who held the doctrine of the restitution of all things) it is even connected with the word "interval," as expressing the duration of the penal discipline which was, he believed, to come to an end after an aeonian intervening period. Strictly speaking, therefore, the word, as such, and apart from its association with any qualifying substantive, implies a vast undefined duration, rather than one in the full sense of the word "infinite."
Also, it would do one well to read al of the above referenced footnote.
John 3:16 is correctly translated as follows: "For God so loved the world that His only begotten Son He gave That whosoever believes on Him might not perish but have life age-abiding. Young's Literal translation has it this way: "for God did so love the world, that His Son -- the only begotten -- He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during."
The bottom line: An age is a long, indefinite period of time; it is not an eternity. The length of such an age is determined by God's choice, and by ours.
Another truth to be learned here: God, even more so than the most loving parent, punishes for correction and restoration, not for vengeance or retribution.
I don't know about you, but I believe in an infinitely loving and merciful God who is also just.; this is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. I do not believe in a god who is a fiend like the doctrines of eternal hell and penal substitutionary atonement make him out to be.
In Matthew 25:46, the correct rendering of the verse is this: "And these shall go away into age-abiding correction, but the righteous into age-abiding life." Young's Literal translation has it thus: "And these shall go away to punishment age-during, but the righteous to life age-during." See this reference: Matthew 25:46 And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Of all the translations listed there, Young's is the only honest and correct one. Also, at the bottom of the page in the footnotes there is this: "On the one hand, then, it is urged that as we hold the "eternal life" to have no end, so we must hold also the endlessness of the "eternal fire." On the other hand, it must be admitted (1) that the Greek word which is rendered "eternal," does not in itself involve endlessness, but rather duration, whether through an age or a succession of ages; and that it is therefore applied in the New Testament to periods of time that have had both beginning and ending (Romans 16:25, where the Greek is "from aeonian times," our version giving "since the world began"--comp. 2Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2), and in the Greek version of the Old Testament to institutions and ordinances that were confessedly to wax old and vanish away (Genesis 17:8; Leviticus 3:17); and (2) that in the language of a Greek Father (Gregory of Nyssa, who held the doctrine of the restitution of all things) it is even connected with the word "interval," as expressing the duration of the penal discipline which was, he believed, to come to an end after an aeonian intervening period. Strictly speaking, therefore, the word, as such, and apart from its association with any qualifying substantive, implies a vast undefined duration, rather than one in the full sense of the word "infinite."
Also, it would do one well to read al of the above referenced footnote.
John 3:16 is correctly translated as follows: "For God so loved the world that His only begotten Son He gave That whosoever believes on Him might not perish but have life age-abiding. Young's Literal translation has it this way: "for God did so love the world, that His Son -- the only begotten -- He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during."
The bottom line: An age is a long, indefinite period of time; it is not an eternity. The length of such an age is determined by God's choice, and by ours.
Another truth to be learned here: God, even more so than the most loving parent, punishes for correction and restoration, not for vengeance or retribution.
I don't know about you, but I believe in an infinitely loving and merciful God who is also just.; this is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. I do not believe in a god who is a fiend like the doctrines of eternal hell and penal substitutionary atonement make him out to be.
send him to "hell" with the others who think I was too loving and kind.