How can hell be eternal torment? Please read all this before you answer, and explain why I'm wrong.?

Question

All through the Bible the punishment for sin is death, not eternal life in torment. a passage in Matthew and Revelation that sound like hell is eternal torment, but a study of them shows them to mean something else. Besides I don't think we should base an entire doctrine of hell on a couple obscure verses when so many more say something else. We are told the punishment was death from the beginning. God told Adam that eating of that tree would bring death. All these are in the Bible: The wages of sin is death. Don't fear him who can kill the body only, but he who can kill the body AND SOUL in hell. The SOUL that sinneth, IT SHALL DIE. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and cursings.....choose life (Deut. 30)
The parable of the rich man and Laz. is not a pic of hell or an actual occurrance. Abraham could not have spoken to the rich man. It's a demo of the law and grace. Could hell be where body and soul die???

Answer 1

Perhaps your next study should be on the Bible's definition of Death.

Answer 2

Rev 20:10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Matt 9:47-49 47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48where
" 'their worm does not die,
and the fire is not quenched.'[a] 49Everyone will be salted with fire.

I wouldnt say these are "obscure" at all. and pretty clear that it is eternal. In Rev 20, it is satan, the beast and the false prophet who are cast into the lake of fire and tormented day and night forever and ever... one COULD argue that eternal torment is solely for them however, reading ahead we see that death and the grave are destroyed BEFORE those who are not written in the Lambs Book of Life are cast into the lake of fire. So does this mean they get thrown in and die instantly? No, death is destroyed, they cannot die. Remember that God is Just... the only Just oposite of eternal peace is eternal torment. A temporary burning is not just at all considering how many believers through out time have died in fires and even more painful ways. The fact is, we don't like the idea that we may suffer for eternity so what does man do? He figures if he stops believing it, it wont happen. But we know changing the way we believe something doesnt change what it really is.

Answer 3

Hell (or Gehenna) is a place of condemnation. I have heard the term "eternal death", as if a person was in a constant state of dying, but never passing away. Just some thoughts - I don't have proof that this is truth. However, here's a portion of an article you might look into to help in your search:

Gehenna is a word tracing to Greek, ultimately from Gêhinnôm (also Gei ben-Hinnom) meaning the Valley of Hinnom. The valley, which forms the southern border of ancient Jerusalem, is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8. Originally it referred to a garbage dump in a deep narrow valley right outside the walls of Jerusalem (in modern-day Israel) where fires were kept burning to consume the refuse and keep down the stench. It is also the location where bodies of executed criminals, or individuals denied a proper burial, would be dumped. Today, "Gehenna" is often used as a synonym for Hell.

Answer 4

You seem to have forgotten the Scripture that says, "And the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and the murderers and sorcerers and idolaters and all those who loveth and maketh a lie shall have their part in the LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE which is the SECOND death". Those who are born but once, die TWICE. Those who are BORN twice, die once. If the body and soul both die (if they die in sin that is), then what's the purpose of Hell? It's to separate and eternally punish those unrepentant souls and separate them from God forever. It's not some mystical graveyard! It's going to be sad, hot, and physically/spiritually painful! If body and soul BOTH sin, that's where and why they end up in Hell.

Answer 5

Sin, mortal sin destroyes the life of grace in the soul a moral death not physical although that lifestyle will surely bring about death sooner.
To those who have done well shall be assigned righteously eternal bliss, and to the lovers of iniquity shall be given eternal punishment.

Answer 6

God told Adam that he would die the very day that he ate of the fruit and he did. In this case death does not mean to cease to exist but rather to be separated from God. We are created as both physical and spiritual beings - after sin entered the world so did death. Physically - in the body's death; Spiritual - separated from God.

Answer 7

You are correct the Bible doesn't specifically state there is a "hell". I believe that when the scriptures are talking about death as a consequence of sin they are referring to a spiritual death, which death is a separation from God. I believe no sinful thing could be in God's presence.

As to the torment, I believe that man will be tormenting themselves. In this life we obtain habits and addictions. When we die we will be unable to satisfy those things, and will therefore be tormented; our desires will be our brimstone.

This is simple, but what I believe.

Answer 8

If you believe in an all loving, forgiving God then Hell as a place where God puts you to punish you makes no sense at all. Hell was invented by religion(s) to control people. The only real Hell is separation from God, but the separation itself is only an illusion.

It all works out in the end...;-)

Answer 9

Yes God told Adam that eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge would bring death. But not instant death. We beleive that Adam and Eve were imortal in the garden and by partaking of the fruit they were commanded not to they then became mortals and cast out of the garden. Read the whole chapter of the link i posted. It should help you understand what i mean.

Answer 10

Sure, we are all going to die and the last time I checked, we all sin. Makes perfect sense to me. Where we are going after we die is a completely different subject and no one, yes NO ONE can answer that but God the Almighty.