Do you believe hell is an eternal punishment?

Question

Non Christians being tortured and tormented forever?

If you do believe this tell me why God is justified in burning and torturing a person like Ghandi who led a very virtuos life.

sorry I didnt see the other question

Answer 1

Nope. I don't believe there is a hell to start with--the bible doesn't actually have such a place. It talks about gehenna which was a trash dump outside Jerusalem. Hell and damnation were introduced after the Bible was written. Moreover, would a God who loves you condemn you to a place of suffering for eternity? And, by the way, there are parts of the bible that suggest that only a small number of all humanity--under 200,000 will ever be saved. Do you think a god would condemn most of humanity to eternal damnation? Does a sane person who creates anything create it just for the pleasure of destroying it? Does a father have children only to take pleasure in torturing them? Further, does a God who allows for a multitude of religions, spread over a globe, with three races and a number of countries and languages, want to save only a select few from one religion (and which religion is another good question) in one part of the world, predominant amongst only certain countries and langauge speakers--seems irrational for a perfect being to do that, seems wasteful for a being that has created a universe that in many ways is thrifty, orderly and logical.

I maintain that not only is hell not eternal, but more fundamentally that hell does not exist.

Answer 2

I don't believe that heaven is just for Christians. So this is already untrue, to me.

I do believe that a soul can be in such need of reform that it will experience many "incarnations" of the same mistakes in order to learn that it needs to change that mistake. This could be defined as hell. So, once a soul makes the change, there is no more hell. Thus, no eternal hell.

I also believe that the only way to "make" someone behave is to point out the absolute, most horrible consequence to deter them from going that direction. I also believe that the Bible was designed to do that.

God does not torture anyone. Please do not believe that. God is all that is good and loving and nurturing. I can't go there -- with the torture.

Does this sound good to you?

Answer 3

Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me"(John 14:6). Did Ghandi seek God through Christ, no, therefore, he did not make it. Being moral has nothing to do with salvation. If that were the case, you would have to live a perfect moral life without failing once. Let me make this simple for you, unbelievers throughout their lives say they don't need God, don't want God, etc.. Well, when they die, God gives them what they want, He is out of their lives for eternity, along with love, mercy, kindness, forgiveness, grace, peace, hope, rest, and all the other attributes that flow from God. And, by the way, we all deserve Hell, it is only by God's grace that anyone is saved and has a home in Heaven.

Answer 4

Hell is not a burning pit that consists of souls screaming for help and forgiveness, but a place of gulit, anger, anxiety. My father once told to think of it this way: Heaven and Hell are close but very distance. There is a dinner table that stretches from one place to another. One the Heaven side are people who are happy and feel absolute joy and pleasure. Then on the other side is the Hell side; there are the people who are miserable inside and feel not physical but mental and emotional pain. Yes, the two can look at each other but cannot communicate or feel anything for one another. The "lucky" people in Heaven realize why the people in Hell are there and except the fact that they are there. And the people in Hell know the same, but they do not want to except that they are condemned to misery for the rest of their lives. Everyone there knows what is going on and why they are where they are. The whole vision of Hell is only to scare people into being "good" and following the faith fully, but if you are truly a Christian or Catholic then you know that as long as God is your Lord and Savior then you don't ever have to be scared of Hell or the Devil.

Answer 5

Like you, I have a hard time understanding how people can accept a teaching that says that really good people can go to hell eternally, if they haven't "accepted" Jesus into their hearts. Very strange. According to ancient Eastern philosophies, there is no such thing as "eternal" damnation...God loves us too much to do that to us. It's up to us to get to the point of being able to make the right choices that will take us back where we've come from. Which is way beyond heaven and hell. Which are both temporary situations for us.

Answer 6

Hell is not an eternal punishment...the lake of fire is an eternal punishment...

Revelation 20:10 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.

Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

As you can see...death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

God is quite clear...if you do not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God...you are condemned.

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags to a holy God.

Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Answer 7

Why in the hell would you think Ghandi would be in hell??? If you were to end up in hell it would be because of your own bad morals, Ghandi was a very moral being, I'm sure he's not in hell. Boy, you must really, really be a confused soul, I'll pray for you.

Answer 8

According to the bible, nope. "for the wage of sin is death" whoever inherits christ will have eternal life. people who don't accept christ physically and spiritually die when their time on earth expires. To that extreme then, according to the bible, only true followers of Christ will realize if what they chose is true and will experience "afterlife". Revelation assumes that "being thrown into the pit of fire" will be the worst punishment for sinners and literally their spirits die when this happens.

God doesn't work on a time frame, or his time is so radically different that we wouldn't be affected. so the fourth dimension (time) will not exist upon physical death. This being said, as soon as you die you will rise and experience the things mentioned in Revelation.

I'm sorry I'm too hurried to check my sources but this is what I read from the Bible.

Answer 9

Death is likened to sleeping in the Bible. Jesus's friend Lazarus had died and this is the account at Luke 11:11-14: "These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. The Bible tells us that the dead do not feel anything
Eccl.9:10: " For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing--"
So the dead are not suffering--only in a deep sleep until God through his Son resurrects them back to life and there will be a resurrection of both good & bad people. Acts 24:15: "And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.
Hell is the common grave of mankind--Jesus has the keys of death and hell. He will resurrect all who are in hell and then they will be judged--some to everlasting life and the rest will be put out of existance. God is love and would never torture imperfect humans-
Satan tries to paint God as sadistic and cruel. This he has accomplished through the false teachings of Christendom.

Answer 10

HELL IN KJV
One Hebrew word “sheol” is rendered hell. Definition; hades or the world of the dead (as if a subterranian retreat), grave, hell, pit. Three Greek words are rendered hell; geenna, hades, and tartaroo. Definition of geenna; a valley of Jerusalem, used (figuratively) as a name for the place (or state) of everlasting punishment: - hell. Definition of hades; properly unseen, that is, “Hades” or the place (state) of departed souls: - grave, hell. Definition of tartaroo; (the deepest abyss of Hades); to incarcerate in eternal torment: - cast down to hell. Tartaroo is used only one place II Pet.2:4.
Christ teaching the Pharisees in Luke 16:19-31 shows us a separation from God is truly what hell is. The “water” is symbolic for God’s Spirit and love. The word “tormented” means distressed in the Greek, not torture. The “fire” is symbolic for the shame and desire not to be separated from God.
So all who die the first death of the flesh return to God Ecc.12:6-7, but on which side of the gulf do they end up?
Hell is not eternal but is done away with in Rev.20:14-15, called both the second death and lake of fire. This second death is non-existence, for death and hell and those not written in the book of life. This second death or lake of fire is like fat drippings that fall into the fire. Just a poof of smoke into non-existence.
Psa.37:20 But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
In my mind what’s worse yet is no memory of you, no tears will be shed for you like you never existed.
Rev.21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
So hell is a separation from God and is not eternal torture or burning. Eventually hell will be done away with or passed away and also some souls. Like fat drippings in the fire, a poof of smoke into non-existence, the second death.