I don't think Hell is eternal

[spiderman1917]

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

To be judged you must stand before God and be judged by Him. Sin cannot stand before God and will be burned away by His light. So therefore if your not saved, if your full of sin you will be consumed. So Hell basically means you are completely consumed by Gods fire. You simply cease to exist. This is permanent of course so yes it is eternal, but is hell a place where souls eternally are tormented? No

The other theory is that the fire is punishment but also purifying so that sin is burned away and all that remains eventually is a pure soul

[enoob57]

The Scriptures are very clear about eternal suffering for those who reject God 'AS GOD'.... those who manipulate the hermeneutic to fit their own desires changes nothing and what God has said will be done without end! https://carm.org/hell-eternal

[Guest shiloh357]

7 hours ago, spiderman1917 said:

I could never love a God who would have people tortured for all eternity just for not believing in him. That is just wicked, depressing, epitome of unjust, cruel, ugly, and sickening! It is the worst, most horrifying and depressing thing I've ever heard! 
 

That might be true if God had not provided a way of eternal life.   But everyone makes their choice.  They choose to reject him knowing the consequences, so they bear a lot of the blame for that eternal decision.  God gave them a choice and free will to reject Him.

 

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Scripture does mention a lake of fire for those whose names weren't written in the book of life. Fire is often used in Scripture symbolically to symbolize purification. God said he would purify his people as gold is purified in fire. So, I think that the lake of fire is symbolic to mean a painful place of being punished, purified, and perfected.

No, in the Bible fire is more often used to depict judgment, not purification.   Hell is not a place of purification.  We are perfected by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:14).   Jesus died so we would not have to go to Hell.  The Bible never presents Hell as a place of purification.
 

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1 Corinthians 3:15 "will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." 

That verse is part of a context about Christians who works are put through the fire.  They are not being judged; their works are being judged.  Those who were saved, but didn't live for Jesus are the ones who were saved, but as through fire.  The fire didn't save them.
 

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Zechariah 13:9 ►
This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The LORD is our God.'" Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

These are fires of purification.

 

No, you are just trying to put verses together that have nothing to do with each other.  Zechariah 13:9 is talking about the nation of Israel.  It has to do with the restoration of the nation of Israel, not perfecting them for salvation.

Hebrews 12:29 is warning about God's judgment against those who reject His offer of salvation.   That is the fire of judgment.

[Guest shiloh357]

7 hours ago, spiderman1917 said:

Scripture says God is the father of all men.  What kind of Father would damn his children to misery forever just cuz they didn't believe in him?

No, it does not.   It says that God is the creator of all men.   Jesus told the religious leaders in Israel that they were of their father, the devil.   You only become a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus, in Matthew 7 tells those who did great things in His Name, "Depart from workers of iniquity, for I never knew you."  

[Guest]

Rev. 20: 10-15 seems to sum this up pretty well. Not a nice picture maybe, but it demonstrates how God feels about sin. It is hard for us humans to wrap out heads around this concept of a "loving God", but the Word is THE WORD, no matter how our human emotions play into it.

 

Rev. 20: 10-15 - 

¹⁰ And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

¹³ And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

¹⁴ And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

¹⁵ And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

[Guest shiloh357]

6 hours ago, spiderman1917 said:

"Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." John 17:2 This plainly evinces, that it was God's design, in giving Christ dominion over all flesh, that they should not be tortured forever.

No, it doesn't.   You are trying to assign values to Scripture that are not there.   It states that Jesus has power to give salvation to only as many has been given to him, not to all flesh.   Not everyone will be saved.

[spiderman1917]

4 hours ago, Sojourner414 said:

1) If people burst into flame before God, they would not be able to be judged. As soon as they stepped before Him, they would combust.

2) If "the fire is punishment but also purifying so that sin is burned away and all that remains eventually is a pure soul", then what was the point of Salvation? Why would Jesus have to come die for us? "Purifying" sounds a lot like "Purgatory".

But what really gets me is this one:

People choose to either go to heaven or hell by either accepting or rejecting Jesus. God warns them through the Bible of this terrible place (which man wasn't supposed to go to to begin with), dies for mankind in shame on a rough cross on Calvary so man won't have to go, but man rejects this and insists on his own way.

And that makes God "unjust, cruel, ugly, and sickening"?

A God who has no opinions or standing on sin, wickedness and evil is at best amoral,  and that is NOT the God of the Bible.

I'm sorry: I don't know where you got your ideas from, but they aren't Scriptural.

 

Nothing in the Bible says every belief must come from Scripture.

God told me he is more merciful than I am.

Jesus died for everyone.  His sacrifice had infinite merit.  It atoned for all sin.

I just can't be happy or have any peace knowing that people are tortured forever.  The belief in hell is bad for my mental health.

I know that sin causes grievious consequences and there is a terrible punishment for sin, but that doesn't mean it is eternal.

Jesus paid the debt.  Scripture says nothing unclean shall enter heaven.  Would you consider yourself unclean?

[spiderman1917]

A Father will sometimes scare a child into believing a consequence will be worse than it is to discourage bad behavior.

[Hawkins]

33 minutes ago, spiderman1917 said:

A Father will sometimes scare a child into believing a consequence will be worse than it is to discourage bad behavior.

The Bible never says that God is the father of everyone. A father will kill a wolf with no mercy if the wolf trying desperately to kill his son.

 

In the Bible, God is a good Shepherd of His sheep. He's not a father of the wolves.

[missmuffet]

Hell is eternal and if you read the Bible literally for which it was intended you can't miss it. Of course people want to think that it is not. But they will not get off that easy.

Question: "Is hell real? Is hell eternal?"

Answer: It is interesting that a much higher percentage of people believe in the existence of heaven than believe in the existence of hell. According to the Bible, though, hell is just as real as heaven. The Bible clearly and explicitly teaches that hell is a real place to which the wicked/unbelieving are sent after death. We have all sinned against God (Romans 3:23). The just punishment for that sin is death (Romans 6:23). Since all of our sin is ultimately against God (Psalm 51:4), and since God is an infinite and eternal Being, the punishment for sin, death, must also be infinite and eternal. Hell is this infinite and eternal death which we have earned because of our sin.

The punishment of the wicked dead in hell is described throughout Scripture as “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12), “shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2), a place where “the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44-49), a place of “torment” and “fire” (Luke 16:23-24), “everlasting destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9), a place where “the smoke of torment rises forever and ever” (Revelation 14:10-11), and a “lake of burning sulfur” where the wicked are “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

The punishment of the wicked in hell is as never ending as the bliss of the righteous in heaven. Jesus Himself indicates that punishment in hell is just as everlasting as life in heaven (Matthew 25:46). The wicked are forever subject to the fury and the wrath of God. Those in hell will acknowledge the perfect justice of God (Psalm 76:10). Those who are in hell will know that their punishment is just and that they alone are to blame (Deuteronomy 32:3-5). Yes, hell is real. Yes, hell is a place of torment and punishment that lasts forever and ever, with no end. Praise God that, through Jesus, we can escape this eternal fate (John 3:16, 18, 36).

https://www.gotquestions.org/hell-real-eternal.html