Christians: If you believe in a fiery burning hell, what does this scripture mean to you:?

Question

Acts 24:15 - "and I have hope toward God, which hope these [men] themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous."

And this other scripture - John 5:29 - "and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment."

If the dead people have already been sent to hell, haven't they already been judged and found guilty? Why would they have to be judged again? And if they are found lacking again do they have to go back to hell? And where are they reserrected to - Earth? Heaven?

Answer 1

Eccl. 9:5, 10: “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all . . . All that your hand finds to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom in Sheol,* the place to which you are going.” (If they are conscious of nothing, they obviously feel no pain.) (*“Sheol,” AS, RS, NE, JB; “the grave,” KJ, Kx; “hell,” Dy; “the world of the dead,” TEV.)

Ps. 146:4: “His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts* do perish.” (*“Thoughts,” KJ, 145:4 in Dy; “schemes,” JB; “plans,” RS, TEV.)

Ezek. 18:4: “The soul* that is sinning—it itself will die.” (*“Soul,” KJ, Dy, RS, NE, Kx; “the man,” JB; “the person,” TEV.)

“The concept of ‘soul,’ meaning a purely spiritual, immaterial reality, separate from the ‘body,’ . . . does not exist in the Bible.”—La Parole de Dieu (Paris, 1960), Georges Auzou, professor of Sacred Scripture, Rouen Seminary, France, p. 128.

“Although the Hebrew word nefesh [in the Hebrew Scriptures] is frequently translated as ‘soul,’ it would be inaccurate to read into it a Greek meaning. Nefesh . . . is never conceived of as operating separately from the body. In the New Testament the Greek word psyche is often translated as ‘soul’ but again should not be readily understood to have the meaning the word had for the Greek philosophers. It usually means ‘life,’ or ‘vitality,’ or, at times, ‘the self.’”—The Encyclopedia Americana (1977), Vol. 25, p. 236.

Answer 2

Revelation 20:4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 20:5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 20:6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them,but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from His presence, and there was no place for them. 20:12 And I saw the dead,great and small,standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judge according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 20:13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and the Hades(Hell)gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 20:14 Then death and Hades(Hell)were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If you read carefully the first resurrection take place on earth, but the second one don't, if you read the verse 20:11, the other resurrection take place in front of the great white throne,the bible doesn't said where exactly the great throne is at, but if you read in the same verse 20:11, the earth and sky fled from His(God)presence,and there were no place for them(if there were no place for them,that means they disappear, if you want to know more about it read 2 Peter 3:10,11,12 y 13, and if you want to know about the new earth and new heaven,read Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.).

Answer 3

Hi! Well, at the end of the world bodyes will revive too . The bodies will be changed , some will be looking ugly and some will be bright but they will still be bodies(changed materia) so the unright ones will burn. Not everybody will have the same punishment. God is amazingly fair. Burning is for some of the people. There are punishments that are harder or easier to take. No body , almost no body is the same so we can t deserve the same punishment. That is why the end of the world exists : for judgement and for the bodies to come to life. It is written that even from the mouth of the lion God will bring us back to life. The worse punishment will be that : that everybody will become aware of the reality and see it and feel it and will not be a turning back or forgiveness once the sentince will be given. Not feeling God s love will be the worse punishment. Now we can not suffer from that because we still have freedom to choose but than every man will miss God , siner or not and the sinners will suffer a lot from that. The SORROW it is the worm that eats the people from hell. We are made to love and to be loved by God . As a car can t go with out gas so we can t exist with out the love of God. We can exist of course but in a big suffering. It is against us not to have the love of God. . It is logic to suffer with out it. Here it is not so but there after we die it is. Everybody will see this reality painfull or not , after death. even the sensew are sharper after we die. The spirit is not sick so the spiriut hears , sees , feels much better than the body. The body makes us feel heavy in the heart , in many ways especially when we do a lot of sins, not caring. Take care! Bye!

Answer 4

cant be burning for Rev 20:13 says that those in hell will come out. hell is not forever. that lake of fire is. theres a difference between hell and the lake of fire. one is eternal one is not. As some one else said its figurative. To get people to understand that one cannot come out of the lake that burns with fire ( which means the 2nd death) nothing more nothing less . Rev 20:14.

Answer 5

Good reasoning. If hell is a place of punishing torment, why bring them out just to send them back? And how can that comport with Romans which specifically states that the punishment for sin is death - not endless fiendish torture.

And if hell is eternal separation from God, how come Jesus went there when he died? He's not eternally separated from God.


Hannah J Paul

Answer 6

I believe that when a person dies they go to a waiting place until when the Lord comes back, then when the Lord comes back then everyone will be judged, those who are alive and dead, and sent to the appropriate place which is heaven or hell. That is just my opinion....

Answer 7

when people go to hell its mainly because they didn't ask for forgiveness. the ultimate sin is unbelieving. they are ressurected again because when judgment comes the well- behaved, saved, sanctified, and holy people will join God in the New Jeruselem on the new earth. the the unbelivers will enjoy their second death and die again with the whole entire world.

Answer 8

When the unrighteous die, they are held in a place of torment until the judgment. Once judged, they then go to hell.
All resurrections take place on earth.

Answer 9

Yes very confusing,isn't it. So all these people get new bodies when they get resurrected? Then the ones who aren't saved or whatever have to go to hell,right?

Answer 10

criminals go to jail. those slated for the death penalty live in the jail until their sentence comes up. some have a stay of execution.. some dont.
.