Here's how Tim Keller expresses the matter:
What is Hell?
Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by TCGreek, Aug 19, 2011.
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Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Question : What is Hell?
Answer : Newark NJ:smilewinkgrin: -
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Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
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Hell is a place for the living dead. A place where those who spend their eternity suffering for their sins.
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Earth Wind and Fire Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
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Hell is the literal place where those who refuse Gods gift of eternal life will exist.
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righteousdude2 Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
Hell:
The theological place of eternal punishment. :tonofbricks: -
Hell is any seperation from God. According to scripture death and hell delivered up the dead and were cast into the lake of fire so doesn't that mean that there is a place worse than hell?
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Hell is an unincorporated community in Putnam Township of Livingston County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It's about 15 miles northwest of Ann Arbor, MI. The community is served by the Pinckney, MI post office with ZIP Code 48169. It lies within the telephone area code of 734. (Source: Wikipedia)
I recall hearing a story about a Baptist preacher who resided in the small Lancaster County (PA) community of Paradise (It's located along US Rt 30 [The "Lincoln Highway'] about 10 miles east of the city of Lancaster.). Seems as though he received a call to pastor a small church in that Michigan community. Thus the headlines in his associational newsletter boldy proclaimed:
BELOVED BROTHER GOES FROM PARADISE TO HELL! :smilewinkgrin:
Hmmm. -
I always defined hell and heaven as that space just beyond your fleshly fingertip. Since we are not far from either, wisdom says we should choose wisely.
Cheers,
Jim -
What is hell?
Living in Texas right now. -
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righteousdude2 Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
A Place....
... None of you want to see, or be a part of when it comes to the end of your life on earth! -
I'm only on this board right now because I can't sleep, so I'm not going to write a treatise. But "hell" is a Germanic-based word and it seems to be used to cover anything identified with those who have died in their sins... the grave, the holding place, the prison, underworld torment. I know people are going to continue to use it generically like this, but all these scriptural identifications cannot be the same thing, and thus one word can mislead.
But even what little has already been discussed seriously in this thread can overlap in ways not possible. For example, if hell is separation from God, that eliminates the Old Testament word anglicised as "sheol" because passages (Psalm 139 and others) say God is there. As for the New Testament "hades," as in Luke 16, it's interesting to note that, while Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus, there is conversation between the 'dead' rich man and Abraham [that Abe was a true patriarch is the reason I cannot accept that this is just a parable]. God does not enter the exchange, and the poor man, Lazarus, seems to be comforted by being in the presence of Abraham (not God; though we don't presume that's the case, it's just not in bounds of the story). So God, in the story, doesn't talk to the rich man, but he doesn't talk to Abe and Laz either. We must assume he does have pesence that place, and it doesn't seem reasonable that people on the 'good side' can intersect the 'bad side' but God himself can not or would not. Or, maybe, that's why He doesn't appear at all this story, except in Jesus who tells it.
The the "lake of fire," into which hell [hades] is thrown would then seem to be the only place of complete separation from God, if such exists. An extrabiblical assumption I've heard is that the l.o.f. is "hell's hell;" of what "hell" already is, in terms of a place of torment, the l.o.f. torments hell in the same way... comparable to how the destructive force of an atomic [fission] bomb is only a 'trigger' to a hydrogen [fussion] bomb, which is then thousands of times more force.
So, I don't really know, and perhaps scripture is not so definitive as we may wish because we are not meant to. But it's plain enough "hell"-- sheol, gehenna, hades, the lake of fire, or any other place for the unrepentant, is to be avoided at all costs. And since we can't pay "all costs" we should be thankful and repentant each day that Someone who could did. -
People today and especially in America tend to look at this issue by referring to the final destination. But often in scripture it does not intend to go that far. The word Hell can simply be used in the sense of death. That is the fact that one is separated from all others that are alive. To equate "Sheol" with "Gehenna" and claim we cannot know the details is in error. These are two different words.
Hell or "Gehenna" is real (Matthew 10:28). It is eternal (Mark 9:43). It is a place of torment (Luke 13:28). It is a place of judgment (Matthew 10:28).
Now we can either believe scripture or we can deny it. But this is an issue that is clear. -
Alcott says:
re: "And since we can't pay 'all costs' we should be thankful and repentant each day that Someone who could did."
What are the specific costs that Someone paid that would otherwise have to be paid by us? -
It is the ultimate and final reality of the lost.
It is both a place and a state of being.
It is eternal separation from God with the attendant misery.
Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
HankD