What is hell?

[Annie]

John81,

re: “‘And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.’ Matthew 25:46"


Why do you want to believe that the “punishment” is to be given eternal life to be spent in a conscious condition of general unpleasantness?

What does the word everlasting mean, rstrats? Punishment which has an end is not "everlasting," is it? The wages of sin is death. Death = separation, not cessation of existence. When we as humans "die," we do not cease to exist, do we? Our spirits are merely separated from our bodies. We survive death and pass into the next state: the afterlife. Those who have been saved by God's grace pass into everlasting life: coexistence with God, in His presence. Those who have rejected Christ pass into everlasting death: separation from God.

As John said (and as I said earlier), one's beliefs about this shouldn't have anything to do with what one "wants"...What we "want" is irrelevant. Speaking from a finite human perspective, I think annihilation is too merciful for mass murderers like Adolf Hitler, sadistic serial killers, pedophiles, and other wicked people who died unrepentant. On the other hand, I'd love to think that my poor, misguided homosexual uncle could be annihilated and not have to spend an eternity suffering. But these "feelings" don't affect what I believe about this issue...Scripture says what it says, regardless of what we want. Our goal as followers of God should be to train and shape our "wants," our "desires," and our "loves" to be in accord with what God wants, desires, and loves. Edited June 20, 2011 by Annie

[rstrats]

Annie,

re: "What does the word everlasting mean, rstrats?"

It generally means without end.
　
　
re: "Punishment which has an end is not ‘everlasting’, is it?"


That would certainly seem to be the case.
　
　
re: "The wages of sin is death. Death = separation..."

Correct - death means separation from life.
　
　
re: " When we as humans ‘die’, we do not cease to exist, do we?"

Our thoughts/memories/feelings do. Our physical components in one form or another don’t.

　
re: "...one's beliefs about this shouldn't have anything to do with what one ‘wants’... I'd love to think that my poor, misguided homosexual uncle could be annihilated and not have to spend an eternity suffering."
　
Then why interpret the word "punishment" to mean "torment" when it could just as easily mean something else?