[classyT]

At this point I'd like to repeat that Hope12 has given the most correct Biblical answer to the asker's original question. Though I believe that his reference to Acts 24:15 is in need of further clarification.


At this point I'm going to sign off. To be continued....

We are on the edge of our seats... :rolleyes:

[njab1]

The word “hell” is found in many Bible translations. In the same verses other translations read “the grave,” “the world of the dead,” and so forth. Other Bibles simply transliterate the original-language words that are sometimes rendered “hell”; that is, they express them with the letters of our alphabet but leave the words untranslated. What are those words? The Hebrew she’ohl′ and its Greek equivalent hai′des, which refer, not to an individual burial place, but to the common grave of dead mankind; also the Greek ge′en‧na, which is used as a symbol of eternal destruction. However, both in Christendom and in many non-Christian religions it is taught that hell is a place inhabited by demons and where the wicked, after death, are punished (and some believe that this is with torment).
What happens to us when we die? The condition of the dead is made clear at Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10, where we read: “The dead know nothing . . . In the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” (New International Version) Scripturally, death is a state of nonexistence. The dead have no awareness, no feelings, no thoughts
Since the dead have no conscious existence, hell cannot be a fiery place of torment where the wicked suffer after death. What, then, is hell?
Consider also the case of the righteous man Job, who suffered much. Wishing to escape his plight, he pleaded: “Who will grant me this, that thou mayest protect me in hell [Sheol], and hide me till thy wrath pass?” (Job 14:13, Douay Version) How unreasonable to think that Job desired to go to a fiery-hot place for protection! To Job, “hell” was simply the grave, where his suffering would end. The Bible hell, then, is the common grave of mankind where good people as well as bad ones go.

[HeadStrongBoy]

In our time the gospel is really simple. May 21, 2011 will be the Day of Judgment. It is God's word. Believe the warning, and humble yourself under His mighty hand. It MAY BE that God will bestow His grace on us.

[classyT]

Headstrong,

What exactly am I suppose to do? Repent from accepting the Lord Jesus as my savior? Repent for believing that I have been saved by his blood. Repent for believing by Grace through faith in HIM is the way to salvation. Repent for getting baptized after I accepted the free gift. Repent from renewing my mind daily. For having a relationship with Jesus. Repent from experiencing his goodness to be daily. SO THAT I CAN... believe a warning to a day of judgement that we are instructed that NO MAN knows the day or hour. Worry like crazy that the finished work of Jesus is NOT enough. Hope and pray that I was handpicked by God to be saved in the end.

You are goofy and your little gospel of doomsday is goofy and FALSE and completely unbiblical. In the end... I believe GOD.

[HeadStrongBoy]

rr man asked: I know the bible says that if a person is not saved and is burned up in the fires of hell that the smoke of his torment ariseth forever.

The quote is from Revelation 14:11. "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." The word "for" is translated from the Greek word G1519 in Strong's Lexicon. That same Greek word is translated as "to" in Matthew 7:13 "to destruction." Matthew 8:28 "to the other side." Matthew 8:34 "to meet Jesus."

We know from other parts of the Bible that the unsaved dead have no conscious existence anymore at all. See Ecclesiastes 9:5 and Isaiah 26:14. Therefore, since God does not speak out of both sides of His mouth, we know that the rising smoke of their torment CANNOT be FOR ever.

From other parts of the Bible we can learn that eternity (ever) begins Oct. 21, 2011. So we can change the translated preposition "for" to "to." Because we are using it as the original Greek language will allow. (See the references to Matthew above.) And doing so will make the verse in Revelation read "to ever and ever." This rendering makes it harmonious with Ecclesiastes and with Isaiah.

In conclusion the smoke rises only until the Day of Judgment is completed, and eternity in the new heavens and the new earth has begun. In other words until or "to ever and ever." And we have NOT broken any rules of changing the original language of the Bible. Either adding to or subtracting from it. We have only changed the translation looking at how the very same word is used in other parts of the Bible. And thus we have arrived at a much more harmonious understanding of what God originally intended to say.