Fires Of Hell

[BobTriez]

Maybe we need a new thread all about heaven. 

No, y'all can talk about hell if ya want to Cats...I wasn't being snotty....just giving my thoughts on it is all.....carry on; I'll be quiet.

[Guest Called]

It's literal.

[Orr v'emet]

It's literal.

Yup. I don't think there would be weeping and nashing of teeth if it were just a place of separation from God.

[Catsmeow]

I agree but I can tell you (as a believer) that separation from God would be torture for me...

I can't imagine living in a world devoid of love, compassion and mercy. Can you?

[Orr v'emet]

I agree but I can tell you (as a believer) that separation from God would be torture for me...

I can't imagine living in a world devoid of love, compassion and mercy. Can you?

I agree cats, it would be absolute torture but many don't love Jesus like we do.

[Khristeeanos]

I have always wondered about this. Are the fires of Hell literal flames, or is the description just figurative?

I don't know, and neither does anybody else.

[Budman]

I believe hell is a place of torment, not torture.

To be separated from God for all eternity, with no hope of reconciliation, would seem punishment enough without burning forever in flames thrown in to boot.

Think about it. Could you hold someone's hand to a fire for even a moment? How could a loving God torture people forever - not allowing them to die, but to continue in that pain for forever?

I don't think God runs a "torture chamber."

I mean, the essence of hell is rational. Hell is separation or banishment from the most beautiful being in the universe - God himself. It is exclusion from anything that matters, from all value, not only from God but also from those who have come to know and love Him.

That separation brings shame, anguish, and regret. And because we will have both body and soul in the resurrected state, the misery experienced will be both mental and physical. But the pain that's suffered will be due to the sorrow from that final, ultimate, unending banishment from God, His kingdom, and the good life for which we were created in the first place.

People in hell will forever deeply grieve all they've lost. So it is a punishing, not just a punishment.

I mean, people go to hell because they deny their maker and want to be at the center of the universe. Those who want to make it their way. Not the way God has prescribed, which is through Christ.

But I believe God is still merciful enough not to set these people on fire for an eternity.

warm regards

-bud

[Budman]

I just wanted to add that I am not so prideful that I can't admit that I may be wrong.

I don't think that I am. I hope that I'm not.

I mean, why would God torture people like that?

Wouldn't being separated from His love, His presence, forever and ever, with no hope at all to become reconnected with Him, be torture enough?

warm regards

-bud

[BobTriez]

How could a loving God torture people forever - not allowing them to die, but to continue in that pain for forever?

Common misconception here...God's NOT doing it - WE are. And yes, God is loving....but don't overlook His other attributes....like His Justice...that alone demands our eternal torment AND torture.

God bless,

Bob

[Budman]

Should we portray hell as a literal furnace of fire where all the lost will scream in pain throughout all eternity?

God will lightly punish those who did not know much about His expectations (Luke 12:48). A hell in which all burn in a literal fire does not allow for significant degrees of punishment.

Do you, in fact, believe that there are degrees of punishment in hell? Will a person who lived a good, decent life, but rejected Christ, suffer as much as Hitler?

Then too, it's important to remember that the Bible often uses fire as a symbol. In 1 Corinthians 3:12-15, our works (or doctrines) are portrayed as "wood, hay, straw" that will be consumed by the fire of judgment or as "gold, silver, precious stones" that will endure the fire. In James 3:5,6 the tongue is a "fire," causes "fire," and is itself "set on fire by hell." Hebrews 12:29 declares that "our God is a consuming fire." Jude 23 speaks of people who have been doctrinally misled and are in need of being snatched "from the fire." In all of these references, the fire is symbolic.

I believe God will indeed punish those who have turned their backs on Him. But I don't believe God is a torturer.

warm regards

-bud