To my knowledge, according to the bible, those who go to hell will be conscious of eternal suffering?

Question

(i.e., burning, weeping, gnashing of teeth, etc.). Does that awareness of suffering not require a soul? Or at least a consciousness? If the unsaved lose their souls, then what exactly is left of our person that will suffer in hell?

Does that awareness of suffering not require a soul? Or at least a consciousness? If the unsaved lose their souls, then what exactly is left of our person that will suffer in hell?

Answer 1

No, there is not a place called hell. If God is a supreme being, then a hell is not needed. A deity and a hell are two totally non-compatible notions. If God is truely a God, then hell would not have to exist.

Answer 2

I`m not positive but I think the tribulation period will be the time when people will scream and gnash teeth because of what they are seeing while they are still alive.
I think some will suffer at the conscience awareness that they are going to be separated from God forever, in other words,
lights out!
When the light goes out no more conscience which I believe is the soul part of our being- the light*
From what I understand we are not going to be suffering eternally if we go to hell I think hell is a place of awareness to stay away from, a place dark.
We will be cut off eternally from the light
not suffer eternally.

Not positive tho*

Answer 3

The Bible says they'll be burnt in a lake of fire. Yes, they'll weep and gnash their teeth while they burn.

But they're not going to burn eternally. They burn until they burn up, and then their names are blotted out and nobody remembers them. If they were going to suffer eternal torment, somebody would have to remember their names to continue the torment. There's no mention of anyone who would run eternal torment--the demons and the Devil are bound and cast into outer darkness. So that would leave angels and humans, who wouldn't be running hell because that would be a punishment.

Now, in Ancient Greek times, there was a common understanding that having an afterlife meant you had to be remembered (hence, the whole "Book of Life" bit. You also find this idea in Ancient Egypt, where dead people had to be fed and tended after death.) So if it was like you never existed--how could you be tormented? You'd have to exist to suffer.

Also, if God meant that people burned and burned without being consumed...there was an excellent metaphor for that. The Burning Bush in Exodus, one of the most magnificent stories in the Old Testament. If God wanted a good metaphor for an eternal flame, he'd just say, "y'know, like the Burning Bush that talked to Moses." Jesus mentioned stuff from the Old Testament, so I'm sure Christians would either be Jews (who would know their Torah) or they'd go to church with Jews, so they could ask about Biblical stuff.

You make an excellent point, one that dovetails neatly with my own ideas of the afterlife. The good, who choose God, live forever. The bad, who are given a chance to repent but refuse it, are destroyed and nobody remembers their evil. I think it would be a real buzzkill to know that while I'm happy, evil people are suffering somewhere. The thrill of retaliation is for people who are insecure in their own goodness. Secure, happy people just forget about those who do them harm--it gets in the way of a true relationship with the good in the universe.

Answer 4

Exactly. They will only feel the suffering as long as the fire is burning, yes there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth, the fire is not warm or cool, but it will do its purpose very well. But once it has done its work of cleansing the earth, and everything and everybody in that fire is burned into ashes, there is no more suffering. They have returned to their origin which is dust, or earth, or soil. That means total destruction, complete death, not half death or half life in hell forever.
Malachi 4:1-3
1 “For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the LORD of hosts,

“ That will leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;
And you shall go out
And grow fat like stall-fed calves.
3 You shall trample the wicked,
For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet
On the day that I do this,”
Says the LORD of hosts.

Does that sound "to your knowledge" that it is a burning hell forever, or a burning hell that has accomplished it purpose in eradicating sins, sickness, sufferings and sinners plus Satan, forever? Don't you understand what is the meaning of stubble means? It means straw! Ever seen straw burned to ashes?

It is the tactic of the devil to make God looks like a cruel heartless monster, roasting people forever without end, when He is a just and merciful God who gave people a freedom of choice whether to live forever in heaven doing or obeying His commandments, or be returned into dust, their origin.

Answer 5

Consider how the first man, Adam, came to have life. The Bible states: "Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life." (Genesis 2:7) Though breathing sustained his life, putting "the breath of life" into his nostrils involved much more than simply blowing air into his lungs. It meant that God put into Adam's lifeless body the spark of life—"the force of life," which is active in all earthly creatures. (Genesis 6:17; 7:22) The Bible refers to this animating force as "spirit." (James 2:26) That spirit can be compared to the electric current that activates a machine or an appliance and enables it to perform its function. Just as the current never takes on the features of the equipment it activates, the life-force does not take on any of the characteristics of the creatures it animates. It has no personality and no thinking ability

What happens to the spirit when a person dies? Psalm 146:4 says: "His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish." When a person dies, his impersonal spirit does not go on existing in another realm as a spirit creature. It "returns to the true God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes 12:7) This means that any hope of future life for that person now rests entirely with God.

Answer 6

When you say soul I assume you mean the spirit of the person. In keeping with this thought my view is based on my personal knowledge not doctrine per say....but I believe it applies and conforms to doctrine.

Once for a fraction of a second and I mean only a small fraction I was allowed by God to see evil in its purest form without restraint of God holding back his wholeness. In that mere fraction I felt anymore would bring instant insanity. In its purest form man could not remained in his natural state of mind. With this in mind I would say that although you would still be you that it would bring transformation into insanity and behavior of what you described above.

Answer 7

It is the soul that will suffer in hell and will have all awareness of it, the physical body will return to the dirt. (where adam came from)

Answer 8

You'll be in a bathtub of lava, but your physical body will regenerate per sec, so you feel the agonizing pain of the physical sense of your flesh burning alive continuously without turning into a skeleton. You see when you die the devil will give you a new body in the center of the earth. Blood soaked nightmares in hells half acre.

Answer 9

I assume you are referring to Matthew 16:26: "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (NIV). In the context of this passage, Jesus is talking about living a life of sacrifice on earth in order to gain eternal life. In the reverse, one who lives all for this life on earth, forfeits his "soul" or eternal life with God. Since God designed us to live with him, giving up one's eternity with God is like losing your soul.

Answer 10

Nope.
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.