Hell #1
"My vision of hell is to be alone, without God.
It does not demand fire, brimstone, the devil or anything so terrible as all that. I believe that being without God for eternity would make a fiery hell seem like a good thing."
Hell #2
"The problem is that God is not personally present in Hell to restrain evil (because it is the place where people go to get away from Him), yet He has promised punishment and/or suffering there will be related to the sinfulness of its residents. How can He restrain evil without doing so personally?
"One way would be to surround each person with just enough fire to keep them from attacking others. Periodically, they would lunge at each other, the frequency of their attacks being determined by their unrestrained level of evil. They would experience the flames in direct proportion to their own sinfulness, yet they would be protected from others' evil."
Hell #3
I too have problems with people suffering forever in hell. Infinite punishment seems out of proportion to finite sin.
Fortunately, the Bible no where reveals people will suffer forever in hell. I have studied it carefully and it seems quite clear that the wicked will be destroyed to nothing.
Ed Fudge, a Christian apologist, has a fine book expounding on this, "The Fire That Consumes".
http://www.edwardfudge.com/home.html
Perhaps you'll explain, then, Jesus' quote from Mark 9:44, 47-8:
"into hell, where the fire never goes out...into hell, where "their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched."
”I too have problems with people suffering forever in hell. Infinite punishment seems out of proportion to finite sin.”
”Fortunately, the Bible no where reveals people will suffer forever in hell. I have studied it carefully and it seems quite clear that the wicked will be destroyed to nothing.”
Fascinating! I must confess to having similar thoughts: eternal damnation, sans eternal punishment. Appropriate it would be . . . that those who deny the existence of God and believe they are destined to live their allotted three score and ten (or perhaps even just the least little bit more) and are then to be consigned to eternal oblivion, should indeed suffer that precise fate. Merciful, too . . . that they should be granted their exact expectation . . . no mental anguish at separation, no physical suffering . . . just the total cessation of all sentience. Nothing but nothing, as it were.
Have you a citation of passages you would care to pass on? I would be most grateful.