Hell - Punishment by Pastor Dan Maines

Perhaps no one knows what happens to us when we pass but I feel God has that under control and that we shouldn't worry about it unless we have been taught the fear of a hell.  Then we are living in a self destructive fear of God rather than living in accord with God as a loving Spirit.

Matthew 25:46 (NKJV)
And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
This is saying that the unrighteous will die forever and never be awaken. You're done with, Your dead!  People claim that the righteous get eternal life then the wicked get eternal punishment. Let me ask you this, what does "eternal punishment" mean? We just learned from Scriptures that punishment is death. So, it means the wicked get eternal death. It is talking about the result of the action and not the action itself. The punishment is death and that is eternal. The destruction of the wicked in the lake of fire is permanent. It is a punishment that cannot be reversed. The act of punishing will come to an end, but the consequences will last for eternity.

The reward for the faithful is everlasting life, the punishment of the wicked is death, which is the opposite of life. There is no escaping death for the wicked, it is eternal punishment.

---

Hell Fate of the wicked

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REALLY SAY ABOUT THE FATE OF THE WICKED?
Of course those who KNOW that the doctrine of "eternal torment" is not supported elsewhere in the Scriptures, will want to look a bit more carefully at the meaning of Rev 20:10.
How can it be read in harmony with the rest of the Bible, which clearly teaches that the dead are unconscious; and that the punishment of the wicked is everlasting DESTRUCTION?
Many times in the Bible it is clearly stated that the penalty of sin is death; and that death is the cessation of conscious existence. (Eccl 9:5)
When applied as a penalty, it is the culmination of a judicial process which cuts short the life of the convicted sinner.
Once the sinner is dead, the law is satisfied and punishment is complete.
Paul says that they are "destroyed from the presence of God". (1 Thess 2:9)
They are in a place where God does not go. And that can only mean non-existence in the most absolute sense!
Daniel 12:2, tells us that the result will be "shame and everlasting contempt." [Note that Daniel's "everlasting" has the same meaning as John's "for ever and ever"]
Isaiah 1:28, says that the wicked will be "consumed."
Isaiah 66:24 (RSV) says that the bodies in the fire are dead.
Malachi 4:1-3 says that they will be burnt up like stubble, until they are ashes under the feet of the righteous.
John the Baptist tells us that after the wicked are separated from the righteous at the judgment, they are going to be burnt up like chaff, in unquenchable fire. (Matt 3:12)
Paul says that the final end of the wicked is total destruction. (2 Thess 2:8)
And Obadiah 16 says that the end of the wicked is to become "as though they had not been!"

 


 

Comment Form is loading comments...