Eternal Punishment - Bible Study

[MatthewG]

Continued from post number #36

The first believers of an area would be followed by more, and the church of the redeemed will be followed by more, James 1:18 says it well:

"Of his own will (of His own good pleasure) begat us with the word of truth (according to His election based on His foreknowledge), that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures".

Just as the Nation of Israel thought the sun rose and set on them, and could not accept subsequent nations as being His too, we, in the church, have made an error in believing that the sun rises and sets only on us.

More are coming. I would say, even all are coming, perfectly supporting the fact that God is all knowing, is in control, is Love, and being love He completely supports the free will of every man, yet in the end, God will always have His way. And that way is total victory over all things - Satan, Hell, the Lake of Fire, and even the free will of Man.


God has had this total victory in and through the work of His only human son. Like a good shepherd, none are lost but all are reconciled to the Father by and through His life, HIs love, His long-suffering, patience and ultimately His total and complete victory over all things.

Since we know that GOd is love, and since we know that He is all knowing (From before the moment He created all things), and since He always has His will and desires accomplished (by and through His foreknowledge NOT by force) the only way to merge all of these biblically supported facts is to suggest that He will use the "Lake of Fire" (which was not created for the consumption of human beings but for Satan and his Angels) to purge the dross from the many who will go there . . . and once purged, the loving God, the long-suffering God, the God who "forgives" all things, would at the confession of His Son, bring all of His Creations from "purposeful purging as Jesus has paid for all their sin (except the sin of unbelief).

In this way, I suggested, God would through a number of different means, and peoples (including his first-fruits) would ultimately accomplish all of HIs good will and desires.

So, after all of this preface material and biblical ideas, lets summarize it all down to a workable understandable whole:

 

[MatthewG]

SUMMARY ETERNAL PUNISHMENT

Jesus has had the total victory over all things, sin, death, Satan, hell. In 70 AD at the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, the genealogies, a million plus Jews, and the Law, all things have been fulfilled. This was the commencement of the New Heaven and a New Earth, and a New Jerusalem and Kingdom that thrives spiritually in the Hearst and lives of those who are truly God's through Christ.

All people since that time are called to come to Christ by the Spirit. Those who love this world and the things of it spend their lives sowing to their flesh, they are building houses on sand, and they have their rewards - here and now. When they die, they will clearly that Jesus is Lord, that they have been forgiven of sin, and because they will believe they will confess by the Spirit.


They will be rewarded (by and through the resurrected boy God choose to give them) according to what they sowed to the spirit, to the heavenly kingdom, to the things of God. All that was of their flesh, al that was of this world, all that was built on foundations of temporal sand, will be forever lost, consumed in the fire that is God.

Those who sowed little to the Spirit will receive little, - one that which was sown in the eternal soil will bear eternal fruit. In this way, the first (on earth) will be last and the last (on earth because they cared not for the things of that world) will be first.

This who seek, hear, and follow the Spirit of Truth in this life are reborn and begin to "Sow unto the spirit", to eternal things, to the invisible and eternal Kingdom. The more they lived to the Spirit and not the flesh the greater they will retain and be rewarded in and through the resurrected bod that God choose to give them in the hereafter.

Is there afterlife punishment? In and through loss, yes. Is it eternal? In and through the fact that the rewards found in and through their resurrected body are eternal, yes. Is there any reality to eternal suffering in the hell or lakes of literal fire applied to the souls of the rebellious and Godless?

Not anymore.

Religious Crooks

Preaching and treating people with eternal afterlife punishment in hell or the Lake of Fire is central to the evangelical faith. For some reason, many believers relish in the idea of hellfire as the future reality of all non-believers. Pastors and preachers also seem to enjoy preaching this position as irrefutable. It fills the pews as fear is often a primary motivator for people. Unfortunately, the idea is anachronistic relative to the biblical test nor does it meet the demands of thoughtful scriptural scrutiny. That afterlife loss is a reality can not be disputed. It is a certain for the existences of those who have chosen to live a life to their flesh, but the notion of eternal, relentless punishment in literal flames of fire is a godless fiction and should be challenged gently but relentless whenever it is presented up.