Is Hell Forever?

[Adonaijah]

I was always taught that Hell and the punishment of the wicked will endure forever is that true? I have heard different arguments on this, one says yes they will suffer forever and another says after a time they will cease to be? I hadn't really studied this subject but plan to. What are your thoughts and please give scripture, thanks

[MorningGlory]

Hell is absolutely eternal....see here for Scripture affirming this fact:

http://bible.org/article/what-bible-says-about-hell

[exrockstar]

Q: "Is Hell Forever?"

and ever.....

[MorningGlory]

Q: "Is Hell Forever?"

and ever.....

I forgot about 'ever'.l

[other one]

I was always taught that Hell and the punishment of the wicked will endure forever is that true? I have heard different arguments on this, one says yes they will suffer forever and another says after a time they will cease to be? I hadn't really studied this subject but plan to. What are your thoughts and please give scripture, thanks

I can't tell you for ablolutely for sure that it is. It appeaars that way to me in scripture, but I do know I have no intention of finding out on a personal level.

[Rare Bird]

Mark 9:43-48: If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Greek: asbestos (unquenchable)

1) unquenched, unquenchable

a) of eternal hell fire to punish the damned

Greek: teleutaō (die i.e., "worm does not die")

1) to finish, bring to and end, close

2) to have an end or close, come to an end

Scripture indicates very clearly that it is.

[B3L13v3R]

Yes, for all of eternity...

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Revelation 14:11-12

Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of American English

Eternity

ETER'NITY, n. [L. oeternitas.] Duration or continuance without beginning or end.

By repeating the idea of any length of duration, with the endless addition of number, we come by the idea of eternity.

The high and lofty one who inhabiteth eternity. Isa 57.

We speak of eternal duration preceding the present time. God has existed from eternity. We also speak of endless or everlasting duration in future, and dating from present time or the present state of things. Some men doubt the eternity of future punishment, though they have less difficulty in admitting the eternity of future rewards.

-MorningGlory, had not been to the Bible.org site before, thanks. I took a casual look around, plan on looking it over more thoroughly.

They gave a great definition on "Hell."

Quoting Part from the link you provided:

"What the Bible Says About Hell

Study By: Sid Litke

Key Facts About Eternity

(1) Everyone will exist eternally either in heaven or hell (Daniel 12:2,3; Matthew 25:46; John 5:28; Revelation 20:14,15).

(2) Everyone has only one life in which to determine their destiny (Hebrews 9:27).

(3) Heaven or hell is determined by whether a person believes (puts their trust) in Christ alone to save them (John 3:16, 36, etc.).

Key Passages About Hell

(1) Hell was designed originally for Satan and his demons (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).

(2) Hell will also punish the sin of those who reject Christ (Matthew 13:41,50; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:8).

(3) Hell is conscious torment.

* Matthew 13:50 “furnace of fire…weeping and gnashing of teeth”

* Mark 9:48 “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”

* Revelation 14:10 “he will be tormented with fire and brimstone”

(4) Hell is eternal and irreversible.

* Revelation 14:11 “the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day and night”

* Revelation 20:14 “This is the second death, the lake of fire”

* Revelation 20:15 “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”

Erroneous Views of Hell

(1) The second chance view – After death there is still a way to escape hell.

Answer: “It is appointed unto men once to die and after that the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

(2) Universalism – All are eternally saved.

Answer: It denies the truth of salvation through Christ which means that a person decides to either trust in Christ or else he/she rejects Christ and goes to hell (John 3:16;3:36).

(3) Annihilationism – Hell means a person dies like an animal – ceases to exist.

Answer: It denies the resurrection of the unsaved (John 5:28, etc. – see above). It denies conscious torment (see above)."

[Floatingaxe]

I was always taught that Hell and the punishment of the wicked will endure forever is that true? I have heard different arguments on this, one says yes they will suffer forever and another says after a time they will cease to be? I hadn't really studied this subject but plan to. What are your thoughts and please give scripture, thanks

You have had many good responses concerning the eternal aspect of hellfire. However you can study until the cows come home but never find anything in scripture that teaches that the Lake of Fire is remedial or temporary.

There is a group out there that teaches this, and considers the Lake of Fire as a type of refiner's fire, and that people cast there are there only until such time as they will have lived out a prescribed length of time of punishment, but the word of God teaches otherwise.

[ayin jade]

The answer is yes and no.

Revelation 20

13 And the sea gave up the dead in it. And death and hell delivered up the dead in them. And each one of them was judged according to their works.

14 And death and hell were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.

15 And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire.

There is an eternity of punishment. In Revelation it is called the Lake of Fire. Hell is what we have tended to call it but hell itself is emptied and cast into the Lake of Fire.

[Mark2005]

This bothers me.... a lot!!

Even as a flawed, sometimes angry, individual, I would not throw my dog, my cat or my worst enemy into a lake of fire to cause them to suffer forever and ever. Maybe a little while, if they really do something terrible. But forever and ever? My heart is not so callous as to do that.

So what kind of a God would do something like that to a human being, his highest creation, a being made in his own image? To cast them away into torment without end, forever and ever? I don't even have words for that kind of cruelty.

To me, this is totally incompatible with a God of love. More likely, it is a human concept, developed thousands of years ago, as a way to scare others and keep them in line. "You better do right.... or else." Even the king needs to be afraid of something, if not in this lifetime, than the next.

Thing of the torment Jesus endured while being crucified. Yet even that, as brutal as it was, lasted only for a finite period of time. Can you imagine a person being tormented like that endlessly, forever and ever? Not me.

Edited May 9, 2012 by Mark2005