2007-07-07 09:24:20 · 4 answers · asked by zorrro857 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Let me just quote what the bible says is the punishment for sin...
(Romans 6:23) “. . .For the wages sin pays is death,. . .”
Also, to confirm this, look at this Scripture which nearly all professed Christians know...
(John 3:16) “. . .“For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.”
It says they will be "destroyed", but it does NOT say that they will suffer eternal punishment in some fiery pit and be tortured forever!
The following Scripture shows that the "lake of fire" means the second death from which there is no return, and even death and Hades (the grave) are abolished forever.
(Revelation 20:14-15) “14 And death and Ha′des were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire. 15 Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire.”
~wannaknow~
2007-07-07 12:09:22 · answer #1 · answered by wannaknow 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
WHATEVER image the word "hell" brings to your mind, hell is generally thought of as a place of punishment for sin. Concerning sin and its effect, the Bible says: "Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned." (Romans 5:12) The Scriptures also state: "The wages sin pays is death." (Romans 6:23) Since the punishment for sin is death, the fundamental question in determining the true nature of hell is: What happens to us when we die?
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.
Since the dead have no conscious existence, hell cannot be a fiery place of torment where the wicked suffer after death. What, then, is hell? Examining what happened to Jesus after he died helps to answer that question. The Bible writer Luke recounts: "Neither was [Jesus] forsaken in Hades [hell, King James Version] nor did his flesh see corruption."* (Acts 2:31) Where was the hell to which even Jesus went? The apostle Paul wrote: "I handed on to you . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried, yes, that he has been raised up the third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4) So Jesus was in hell, the grave, but he was not abandoned there, for he was raised up, or resurrected.
Revelation 20:13 states: "The sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Hades gave up those dead in them." Yes, the Bible hell will be emptied. As Jesus promised, "the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear [Jesus'] voice and come out." (John 5:28, 29) Although no longer presently existing in any form, millions of dead ones who are in Jehovah God's memory will be resurrected, or brought back to life, in a restored earthly paradise.—Luke 23:43; Acts 24:15.
2007-07-08 18:01:09 · answer #2 · answered by imtori 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It doesn't have anything to do with the level of the sin, if it is the worst sin or perhaps not so bad in society's eyes.
Instead it is about turning your back on G-d. You have chosen not accept G-d, nor his gift of salvation Jesus. You have chosen to walk away and not be with G-d. So he is granting you what you want - an existence without G-d.
2007-07-07 16:34:51 · answer #3 · answered by noncrazed 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Because he offended an infinite God. Therefore, any offense demands an infinite payment. Jesus Christ was an infinite person because He was God in human flesh. Therefore, His death was an infinite payment. This is why simply accepting His sacrifice as payment for your sins will justify you in God's sight so you can go to heaven. Of course, if you really believed that Jesus paid for your sins, then repentance would naturally flow from that because you would be grateful to Him and so you would do what He asked you to. And nobody goes to hell for just one sin, by the way. Consider this. If you sinned just three times a day (lied, stole, lusted, held a grudge, overate, etc.) every day for a year, then you would have about a thousand sins that God would have to bring to justice. Multiply that by twenty years and now you have around 20,000 sins for God to bring to justice. No one goes to hell for just one sin.
2007-07-07 16:34:09 · answer #4 · answered by fuzz 4 · 1⤊ 4⤋