In this third and last part, we will continue to discuss Bible passages that supposedly describe a fiery hell where the wicked are tortured forever. Do these verses contain any substance to the existence of a place of torture for the wicked? You will have to decide for yourself.
Try to put God’s personality and his loving qualities in perspective. Do you have children? Would you ever have the heart to torture them and to do so for eternity? If you would not have the heart to do that, how could God?
Mark 9:42-48 (KJV) is the same account as Mathew 18:6-9
and is discussed in part two.2 Thessalonians: 1:5-10 mentions eternal destruction but eternal destruction is not eternal torture. The wicked are destroyed, not tortured.
Jude 7 mentions the punishment of eternal fire. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Genesis 19:24 says that God made it rain fire and brimstone upon those wicked cities. What happened to the cities and its inhabitants? They were destroyed by fire and they do not exist anymore. The wicked will be destroyed and will not exist anymore.
Jude 13 speaks about the “blackness of darkness for ever.” This has nothing to do with “hellfire.” This is a spiritual darkness of corrupted individuals in the Christian congregation that are doing all kinds of evil things as the
light of truth is no longer influencing them. Paul describes the same mentally dark condition in Ephesians 4:18-19.Revelation 14:9-11 and Revelation 20:10, 14-15 is full of symbolic language and nothing can be taken literally. The wild beast is not literal and the lake of fire is explained as the second death. The second death is a final death with no hope of ever returning to life again.
If you wanted to give a vital gift to someone you love who did not want it, what would you do? Would you not try to explain to them the importance of accepting the gift? However if they still did not want it, would you then torture this person that you love forever because they did not want your gift? Life is a precious gift that needs to be used right. It comes with joys and responsibilities, privileges and obligations. Those that don’t appreciate the precious gift of life and do not want to use it the right way, will lose it and if they do not want everlasting life, then God will not give it to them but He will not torture them for refusing his love.
