The strange concept of eternal hell suffering.

Neither of these “facts” are correct. Perhaps you should consult another website?

Look in the section called " Scholars Corner", the article called Honest Answers and questions about hell, pg.2.

They are correct, I know for a fact that Christians believe they wrote the bible and its for them. Well they did not write the bible and its for everyone; I stand by that as truth.

hmmmm -

is this the article you are reffering to? - it calls it a ‘myth’, but does not back up with any resources or cites as to how they came up with it. - and you don’t even get the title of it correct -

So - they are referring to “Jesus” speaking of it, not the ‘entire bible’ and the don’t source any reference for the myth - nor does the article talk about how many references to heaven or hell.

You have yet to tell us what faith you follow, if not Christianity. If you are neither atheist nor Christian, what are you?

I know of no christian that believes ‘they’ wrote the bible -

You are confusing ‘fact’ with your ‘belief’.

Maybe this wasn’t your intent, but it sounded like a taunt. If not, continue (but bring some cites).

You can reference Bible-truths,com/index.php?topic=5257.0 and see more on it; if that link does not work, just search the site; its a good site.

I attended a Baptist church regularly throughout my youth. Hell was rarely mentioned. The sermons were all about loving your neighbors, biblical readings, the pathway to Heaven being through Jesus, etc. That last one was always a big topic, both in and out of the Church. We talked a lot about how to get into Heaven, but almost never about what would happen if you didn’t.

In fact, one of the more progressive Baptist churches I attended (the one I was married in) was of the general opinion that hell was merely the absence of the presence of God. In other words, being forced to walk in the ‘wilderness’ for eternity, separated from your loved ones and the loving light of God’s presence.

But Hell itself was never a big topic. The church didn’t preach fear - it preached love, kindness, and bringing the word of God to others so they might be saved and bask in his glory for eternity.

I don’t " Have" to tell you I follow any body when I follow nobody. I told you I walk alone.

The same passages which talk about a lake of fire clearly also put at least some humans in it:

So, according to Revelation, there is a "lake of fire " (or “lake of burning sulfur”), which is a place of prolonged if not eternal torment for the “devil”, the “beast”, and the “false prophet”, and into which assorted unbelievers and sinners are also cast. You may argue that for the purely human sinners the lake of fire merely constitutes some sort of annihilation–the “second death”–but I don’t see how you can say that “it was not created for humans”. According to Revelation, some humans clearly wind up in the lake of fire, whatever exactly that means.

There’s also the earlier passage Revelation 14:9-12:

So, while there is no mention in that passage of a “lake”, there is mention of people (those who worship the “beast”) being “tormented with burning sulfur” (interestingly enough, “in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” and not a separation from God–I suppose this is a chief support for the Eastern Orthodox view of hell ), the “smoke” of this torment will rise for “ever and ever” (or perhaps “ages and ages”, and maybe that just means the smoke keeps rising). And there are echoes in the language regarding what will happen to the “devil”, the “beast”, and the “false prophet” in the lake of fire and what will happen to those who worship the “beast” (the “devil”, the “beast”, and the “false prophet” will be “tormented day and night for ever and ever” in a “lake of burning sulfur” and those who worship the beast will be “tormented with burning sulfur”, will have “no rest day or night”, and “the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever”).

Whatever John may have been smoking, I don’t think later Christians who interpreted this stuff to be referring to some kind of painful, fiery, and prolonged if not eternal punishment for the wicked in the afterlife were completely making stuff up that was totally absent from the various texts of the Bible. (Especially not if you throw Luke 16:19-31 into the mix.)

Clearly, your intellect is dizzying.

Sounds good, but In my view that church was rare. But perhaps that is growing and changing; I certainly hope so.

It may be a ‘good’ site - but its just another forum - how about a scholarly cite that will back up your claim?

So whats that supposed to mean? An Administrator just asked me not to make such comments, now a Moderator makes one to me.

Go figure.

How many different Baptist churches have you attended, to make such a claim?

He didn’t make it as a moderator - While he may be a moderator - he is also a member.

If you don’t like a post or you feel you were wronged - REPORT IT.

simster, please stop junior moderating. It just creates another distraction, so it doesn’t help.

How do you know he was talking to you? His post came after MEBuckner’s and I don’t see any reference to anything you said.

No! I will not. I can handle that myself.

And allow me to refer you to this " Scholarly work", " Hell under Fire", by Christopher W. Warren, he gets into what we are discussing for sure.

Fair enough, if I am wrong accept my apoligy.