Posted on 11/20/2017 7:50:50 AM PST by Salvation
Monsignor Pope Ping!
There is an argument—a very convincing one—that Hell is not eternal for only God is eternal. Dualism like that of the Manichees was considered heresy in the day.
Yep. it’s all covered here:
Jewishnotgreek.com
Quibbling.
“Eternal” includes more than our awarenes of time time, but from in time it includes all of the past as well as the present and future. The Lake of Fire is still in the future. When it will be occupied even the “past” while it has been occupied will not include eternal past.
Hell can be both forever and still not be eternal.
If hell can be both forever and still not be eternal there’s more than a snowball’s chance in hell!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_XV
Ice 15 also absolutely lacking in magnetism ... so it would be the most unattractive snowball possible.
But look, if that lake is eternal, certainly your damnation doesn’t have to be—unless you’re the devil incarnate.
But look on the bright side: if that lake is eternal, certainly your damnation doesn’t have to be—unless you’re the devil incarnate.
Are you thinking as man does or are you thinking as God does?
Personally, I wonder if the soul requires a body to have free will and thus be able to make choices.
But, once the body dies, it loses its free will and the soul is then fixed, set in its ways, so to speak, as it can no longer change itself.
Because, without the body, there is no free will, and thus no choice and no ability to repent, and thus, no forgiveness for the disembodied soul.
But does that mean eternal damnation? Well...maybe, maybe not. Perhaps the eternal fire of hell is itself a natural purification process that burns away sins.
The sins of a soul are what give it mass and weigh it down, so to speak.
When a sin-free soul is released from its physical body in death, it blasts off to heaven like a rocket being launched into space.
However, the more sin the soul has, the greater the souls density or mass or weight, and down, down in hell it sinks to the level of its sin.
However, as the fire burns the sins away, the soul naturally becomes lighter, less dense, and naturally the soul rises higher.
This is not unlike what happens when a soul in a body repents and sins are forgiven, but without a body and a free will to make the choice to repent and seek forgiveness, the sinful soul in hell simply must endure the natural process of being literally being purified by fire for however long that process takes.
Because of the laws of thermal dynamics and how nothing is wasted, I sometimes think that hell is like the furnace/power station that runs the heat and lights for Heaven.
Ive heard of the great power that is, or that is contained within, a soul and that it is somewhat analogous to the power contained within the atom.
Perhaps hell is naturally hot kinda like a nuclear reactor is hot, due to the great energy of that YUGE concentrated mass of disembodied souls burning away their sins.
Therefore, if there are levels to hell and a soul rises (becomes closer to God) as it becomes less dense, due to its sins burning away, then damnation doesnt have to be eternal. It just feels that way.
Jesus didnt teach anything on hell. He taught about Gehenna, the proper name of a valley on the S and E of Jerusalem. That proper noun didnt need translating anymore than Jerusalem or Bethlehem did, and the Roman Catholic church didnt translate it. In the 16th century, they substituted the word hell for Gehenna. Hell came from a word meaning cover, from which our word helmet comes. Farmers used a hell to cover their produce so it wouldnt freeze. The word had no connotation of eternal conscious torment in the spiritual realm.
Comparison of Jesus Teaching on Gehenna
vs. Roman Catholicism on Hell
1. Jesus taught that Gehenna was escapable, while Roman Catholicism teaches that Hell is inescapable.
2. Jesus taught only one occurrence of the punishment of Gehenna, while Roman Catholicism teaches Hell is eternal and unending.
3. Jesus taught that the punishment of Gehenna was in only in his generation, while Roman Catholicism teaches its for all generations.
4. Jesus taught that the punishment of Gehenna was a physical judgment, while Roman Catholicism teaches Hell is a spiritual judgment.
5. Jesus warned that the punishment of Gehenna was a regional judgment involving people in Judea, while Roman Catholicism teaches Hell is global and universal.
6. Jesus taught that mortal souls, living humans would go to Gehenna, while Roman Catholicism teaches that immortal spirits will go to Hell.
7. Jesus taught that Gehenna would be physical punishment, while Roman Catholicism teaches that spiritual punishing would be carried out on immortal spirits.
8. Jesus taught that the punishment in Gehenna was to avenge martyrs, while Roman Catholicism makes no connection to avenging martyrs in Hell.
9. Jesus taught that Gehenna was to be the end of Old Covenant Israel, while Roman Catholicism teaches nothing about Hell in relation to Old Covenant Israel.
10. Gehenna was known to Moses and the Prophets, the Roman Catholic concept of Hell is unknown to Moses and the Prophets.
11. Gehenna didnt need translating, Roman Catholicism didnt translate Gehenna, but substituted Hell for it.
12. There was no eternal conscious torment in Gehenna, like there is in the Roman Catholic concept of Hell.
13. The warnings of punishment in Gehenna originated with Jesus, eternal conscious torment originated in Egypt.
14. The location of Gehenna is well known, the location of Hell in the spiritual realm is unknown.
15. Photographs of Gehenna are readily available, while there are no photographs of Roman Catholicisms concept of Hell.
16. All of these characteristics of Gehenna are in the Bible, while none of Roman Catholicisms concept of Hell is in the Bible.
17. Gehenna and Hell are not the same in any way.
How could you know? Go with Calvin, begin as a man.
One of Msgr Pope’s best ever.
I've read something like this...
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Daniel 12:2 niv
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Somehow; I am not convinced.
I've read something like that...
Oh?
What chapter and verse; if you please.
Off COURSE it is.
As long as you never, ever go there!
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