Hell is a Christian Hoax 14
TEMPORARY CORRECTION OR EVERLASTING TORTURE?
Bill, and the church, and Christian teachers in general, use a couple of dozen Bible verses to justify their teaching of an eternal hell of torture and punishment on most of humanity. Here is just one such example that says no such thing as they contend.
Matt. 7:13 is a favorite verse used to justify their teaching of hell.
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat" (Matt. 7:13).
It is the words "broad way" and "destruction" that supposedly support their eternity for most of humanity in an eternal hell. Let's examine it...
In I Corinthians 5:5 Paul gives instruction regarding a man in the congregation who was having sexual relations with his father's wife. Paul told them...
"To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh..."
Surely these words must mean that this man will be thrown into hell to be destroyed and tormented by Satan. Oh really? Surely it means no such thing. Seldom are people told the whole story. It matters not what a verse, or a phrase, or a word may appear to mean to the unlearned. We must be sure that what we teach corresponds with and harmonizes with the rest of God's Word. I gave you only the first half of this verse. Next let's read the second part of this same verse:
"... that the spirit may be SAVED in the day of the Lord Jesus" (I Cor. 5:5).
Wow! Do your eyes see what my eyes see? Is the ultimate destiny and result of this man's sin, an eternity of punishment and destruction by Satan in some Christian hell? If that were true, then how, pray tell, could his "spirit BE SAVED in the day of the Lord?" Being "destroyed" does by no means equate with being eternally lost. That is unscriptural nonsense of the Church. Here and in other places as well, Satan is actually used by God in His plan to save humanity.
I am sure every Christian has read Matt. 4:1:
"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of THE DEVIL"
God used Satan in one of the greatest trials in His Son's entire life. The difference between Jesus being tempted of the Devil and we being tempted of the Devil, is that Jesus couldn't be deceived, where as every one of us mortals have been deceived at some time by Satan the Devil:
"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives THE WHOLE world..." (Rev. 12:9).
Yes, believe it or not, God uses Satan in His work of salvation for the whole human race. Have we forgotten how God used Satan to bring about Job's repentance and restoration to God? The whole world has been deceived by Satan, but the whole world will be saved by God, in God's time and in God's way.
That God often uses evil to bring about good, is attested to over and over again in the Scriptures. No, not the Scriptures you hear read in Church, but the Scriptures that are in your Bible, nonetheless. For further proof of this see: Isaiah 45:7; Lam. 3:38; II Sam. 12:11; Rom.9:19-25; Isaiah 54:16; Jer. 4;6; Jer. 6:19; I Kings 22:22; Psalm 105:25; Jer. 18:11; Rom. 11:32; Josh. 23:15 - Amos 3:6; Heb. 12:5; Job 26:14; Rev. 12:9; and many more.
Is it possible for a righteous man to perish, be lost, or destroyed, and yet be saved at a later date? Of course. We are told,
"The righteous perish, and no man lays it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come" (Isa. 57:1).
Surely the "righteous" will not be eternally "perished."
The Greek word "appolumi" has three basic meanings: "lose, perish, or destroy." Context can tell which of these three is most appropriate, however, context seldom defines the meaning or definition of a word. Here are a few examples:
LOSE/LOST from "appolumi" - The salt in Matt. 5:13, "lost" its flavor. The "lost" sheep in the wilderness that wondered from the 99 sheep was "found" (Luke 15:6). The prodigal Son of Luke 16:24, "...was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found." There is nothing "eternal" in the use of this word.
PERISH from "appolumi" - The Apostles were afraid they would "perish" in the sea (Matt. 8:25). Jesus taught in Luke 5:37 that new wine would cause old wine skins to "perish." In Luke 13:33, Jesus spoke of Himself when He said that a prophet cannot "perish" outside of Jerusalem. Jesus was that Prophet, that did "perish" - was crucified and killed IN Jerusalem.
DESTROY/DESTRUCTION from "appolumi" - In Matt. 2:13 Joseph is warned to take Jesus to Egypt, because Herod wanted to "destroy" Him. The Pharisees persuaded the Jews to save Barabbas and "destroy" Jesus (Matt. 27:20). And they later did "destroy" - crucify, kill, Jesus. In Luke 9:56, Jesus said:
"For the Son of man is not come to destroy ( Gk: appolumi - destroy, lose, perish) men's lives, but to save them."
II Thes. 1:9 is a favorite verse used by teachers and theologians to try and prove that God's "destruction" on the wicked is eternal. First from the King James:
"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power."
Sort of sounds like this could mean some kind of punishment in some kind of a hell for all eternity. But not so. Not all translators are honest enough to translate the Greek word "aionion" properly for the simple reason that it contradicts their immortal soul, free will, eternal hell doctrines. Here's a few translations that render this verse correctly:
"Who shall pay a just penalty - aionion - destruction from the Face of the Lord, and from the glory of His strength" (II Thes. 1:9, The Emphatic Diaglott, Notice that they leave 'aionion' untranslated. If it meant "everlasting," they would have translated it thus).
"Who indeed, ( a penalty) shall pay - Age-abiding destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might" (Rotherham's Emphasized Bible).
"Who shall suffer justice - destruction age-during - from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of His strength" (Young's Literal Translation).
"Who shall incur the justice of eonian extermination from the face of the Lord..." (Concordant Literal New Testament).
Not only is everlasting wrongly translated in II Thes. 1:9, but it is wrongly translated wherever it is found in many modern English Bibles. Furthermore, all such words and phrases as "for ever," "for ever and ever," "for evermore," "everlasting," "eternal," and "eternity" are without an equivalent anywhere in the entirety of the Bible. If "forever" means eternity, what is "forever AND ever?"
In fact (get ready for this one...), no etymologist or historian has ever found a single word which stands for "endless time," anywhere on earth, before the second century AD, and by then all the Scriptures were written and completed!
The Scriptures use phrases like "no end," when desiring to show endless time.
To show that God will give us "endless or eternal" life, the Scriptures use words like "incorruption," and "immortality"-death-less-ness, incapable of ever dying. Anyone given incorruption will never die, and anyone given immortality will never die. Only in resurrection are we given a life that will never end:
"But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection" (Luke 20:35-36).
It is in resurrection that we are given "immortality-death-less-ness," not eternal life. Eonian/age-abiding life has nothing to do with immortality. One has to do with endless time, while the other has to do with never dying.
God's Judgments are related to ages, not eternities. His Judgments have a beginning and an ending. The end result of "aionion/eonian/age-abiding" Judgment is righteousness, and salvation (Isaiah 26:9, I Tim. 2:4, etc.) I have a fifty page paper on "Is EVERLASTING Scriptural" which explains this subject in much greater detail. It is located near the top of our home page.