Hellfire—Is It Part of Divine Justice?[b][/b]
Have you ever seen someone tortured? We hope not. Deliberate torture is sickening and abhorrent. What, though, of torture inflicted by God? Can you imagine such a thing? Yet, this is exactly what is implied by the teaching of hellfire, an official doctrine in many religions.

Imagine, for a moment, the following horrific scene: A person is being roasted on a hot iron plate. In his agony he screams for mercy, but nobody listens. The torture goes on and on, hour after hour, day after day—without pause!
Whatever crime the victim may have committed, would not your heart go out to him? What of the one who ordered the torture? Could he be a loving person? In no way! Love is merciful and shows pity. A loving father may punish his children, but he would never torture them!

Nevertheless, many religions teach that God tortures sinners in an eternal hellfire. This, it is claimed, is divine justice. If that is true, who created that terrible place of eternal torment? And who is responsible for the excruciating agonies inflicted there? The answers would seem obvious. If such a place really exists, then God would have to be the creator of it, and he would be responsible for what happens there.

Can you accept that? The Bible says: “God is love.” (1 John 4: Would a God of love inflict torture that even humans with any measure of decency find revolting? Surely not!
                   An Unreasonable Teaching
Still, many believe that the wicked will go to a fiery hell and be tormented forever. Is this teaching logical? The human life span is limited to 70 or 80 years. Even if someone perpetrated extreme wickedness for his whole lifetime, would everlasting torment be a just punishment? No. It would be grossly unjust to torment a man forever for the limited number of sins that he can commit in a lifetime.
Who knows the truth about what happens after we die? Only God can reveal this information, and he has done so in his written Word, the Bible, referred to above. Here is what the Bible says: “As the [beast] dies, so the [man] dies; and they all have but one spirit . . . All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust.” (Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20) There is no mention here of a fiery hell. Humans return to dust—to nonexistence—when they die.
In order to be tormented, an individual has to be conscious. Are the dead conscious? No. “The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.” (Ecclesiastes 9:5) It is impossible for the dead, “conscious of nothing at all,” to experience the agonies of hellfire.

A Harmful Doctrine
Some maintain that the teaching of hellfire is useful, true or not. Why? They say it serves as a deterrent to wrongdoing. Is that true? Well, is the crime rate in regions where people believe in hellfire lower than in other places? Hardly! In fact, the doctrine of hellfire is very harmful. Will a person who believes that God torments people view torture as something abhorrent? Why should he? Those believing in a cruel god often become cruel like their god.
In whatever way a reasonable person may look at the matter, he cannot accept the existence of a hell of torment. Logic rebels against it. Human nature is repelled by it. More important, God’s Word does not say that such a place exists. When a person dies, “he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.”—Psalm 146:4.

What Punishment for Sin?

Does that mean that we are not punished for our sins? No, that is not the case. Our holy God punishes sinners, but he does not torture them. And when sinners repent, he forgives them. What is the punishment for sin? The Bible gives a forthright answer: “The wages sin pays is death.” (Romans 6:23) Life is a gift from God. When we sin we no longer deserve that gift, and we die.
You may ask: ‘How is that just? Why, everyone dies!’ That is true because we are all sinners. In effect, no one deserves life. “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.”—Romans 5:12.
At this point you may be thinking: ‘If we all sin and so we all die, why should we try to be virtuous? It seems that the wicked man is treated exactly the same as the man who tries to serve God.’ But that is not the case. Although we are all sinners, God forgives those who sincerely repent and try to change their ways. He rewards our efforts to ‘make our minds over’ and to do good. (Romans 12:2) These truths are the basis of a marvelous hope.

A Reward for the Good
We cease to exist when we die. But that does not mean that everything is finished. The faithful man Job knew that he would go to the grave (Sheol) when he died. But listen to his prayer to God: “O that in Sheol you would conceal me, that you would keep me secret until your anger turns back, that you would set a time limit for me and remember me! If an able-bodied man dies can he live again? . . . You will call, and I myself shall answer you.”—Job 14:13-15.
Job believed that if he was faithful until death, he would be remembered by God and resurrected. This was the belief of all of God’s servants in ancient times. Jesus himself confirmed this hope when he said: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.”—John 5:28, 29.
When will the resurrection begin? According to the Bible, very soon. Bible prophecy indicates that in 1914 this world entered into its “last days.” (2 Timothy 3:1) In what many call ‘the end of the world,’ God will very shortly remove wickedness and establish a new world under heavenly rulership.—Matthew, chapter 24; Mark, chapter 13; Luke, chapter 21; Revelation 16:14.
The result will be a paradise covering the whole earth and inhabited by those who have sincerely tried to serve God. Wicked people will not burn in hellfire, but they will have no place in the coming Paradise. At Psalm 37:10, 11, we read: “The wicked one will be no more; and you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”

Is all of this just a dream? No, it is God’s promise. In the Bible we read: “I heard a loud voice from the throne say: ‘Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.’”—Revelation 21:3, 4.
Do you believe these words? You should. God’s word always comes true. (Isaiah 55:11) We urge you to learn more about God’s purposes for mankind.

God says in the Qur'an:

Tell my servants that I'm indeed Forgiving and Merciful, but at the same time, My punishment is severe!

God's mercy is for the righteous believers, but if one persists in sinning and disbelief - never repenting - till he is overtaking by death, then God's punishment is certainly severe.

According Islamic teachings, punishment may be eternal or temporary. In some narrations of the Prophet, a time will come, when no one,
with Faith, the weight of even a seed, will be left in the Fire. However, a natural question to ask is: What is Faith?

All of Islam, Christianity and Judaism proclaim the existence of Hell. And of Paradise.

More important, God’s Word does not say that such a place exists

You were just kidding here, weren't you?

Humans return to dust—to nonexistence—when they die

Humanity will be given life once again to face either Reward or Punishment. The human soul, once created lives forever! The body may rot and disintegrate but the soul is alive and ever-conscious! It reminds me of a poem by John Donne:

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Teaching people of Hell fire is right because it enlightens people
more of the place they'll face if they don't repent of their wrong deeds.

Poster

What the fuc.k is all the shit you typed up there

^^I wonder how many years it took him to type all of it.

poster is simply a jehovah witness,

wait till you passed to the beyond then you will know that HELL exists and you wont be able to come back here and give us nairalanders a feedback

What is the controversy all about

The bible said in Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving and the abominable and sorcerers and idolaters and the liars shall have their path in thew lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death.

Whether you believe in the above scripture or not, just have in mind that the unjust should not inherit the kingdom of God, and there is purnishment for sinners. And that is the point every preacher is trying to make.

So the issue of hell fire or no hell fire should not cause misunderstanding.

The fact remains that there is eternal damnation for evil doers because a sinner must not go unpurnished except they repent.

The poster's beleif dont even agree with the fact that there're so many other unseen parts that make up the physical human. they beleive that its only the physical body man has got.

they dont even beleive witches exist

@ poster
i pray dat d eyes of ur understandin may b enlightend.
d witnesses dont hav a bible bt a handout. imagine john 1:1 in their scripture callin THE ALMIGHTY JESUS "a god"!!
that's eratic and erroneous! d HOLY BIBLE says 'AND THE WORD WAS GOD'
2 b sincere,4 ur sake,dump dat bible and dat belief. get a KJV or NIV.

The Poster is very right. We need to go into really dep biblical study before we can understand these things. What he/she has written is a 'shallow' of what the bible has to say about the fact When an unsaved person dies, he/she is Annahilated.

for more information visit www.watchtower.org

The concept of hell and a devil with a pitchfork standing in front of an open furnace are all things put in your minds by religious leaders and the media for their own personal gain. It is something that was fabricated so that they could capitalize off of your fear. The more you believe in their concept of hell, Fire, the more frightened you become and the more you will pay with money for the religious leaders to forgive your sins and redeem your souls. So the teaching of Hell-Fire is about Money.

wasn't Obadare that claimed a MANSION was built for him by angels in heaven and hell for others. all those cheap liess!! none them has seen hell and i thought love not fear would draw one closer to the HIDDEN God.

@ posters.
Thank you for reading my post. this indicates that there are a few out there who are interested in Knowing the truth about Gods word. for those who critizised my post,  I appreciate you also, but ill only urge you to keep an open mind.
Knowing of Gods love should move us to turn to his word to find out just what hell is.

truthway:

for more information visit www.watchtower.org

Now now now, if its Watch Tower (Jehovah Witnesses), I'll not advice anyone to go there for biblical truth. Yes, they have been right about Hell and I think one other thing (can't remember), but aprt from that they still parade alot of flse teachings. I have done an extensive study on Hell, Annahilation, The Church Age, Salavation etc (not from Jehovah Witnesses) and God as he is OPENING UP THE SCRIPTURES TODAY, (Da 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.) has helped me to understand alot that will sound really CRAZY to alot of people these days.

The websters dictionary says that the english word "Hell is equal to the Hebrew word Sheol and the Greek word Hades,  The English Translators of the aouthorized  version of King James version, translated sheol 31 times as hell, 31 times as Grave and 3 times as pit." in the new testament the , the King james version translated Hades as hell each of the 10 times it occurs.

well then the question is , What kind of place is  sheol or Hades?
The fact that king james version translates the one hebrew word , sheol in 3 different ways shows that hell, grave and pit, mean one and the same thing.
now look at the example of Jacob -- when jacob was mourning his son joseph, who he thought had been killed, he said:" i shall go  down mourning to my son into Sheol" Now stop for a moment and think. did jacob beleive that his son joseph went to a place of torment to spend eternity there, and did he want to go there and meet him? or, rather, was it that Jacob merely thought that his beloved son was dead and in the grave and that Jacob himself wanted to die?

Yes, good people go to the bible hell.For example, the good man Job, who was suffering a great deal, prayed to God; " o that in sheol [grave, king james version; hell, duoay version] you would conceal me,, that you would set a time limit for me and remember me!"(job14;13) Now think; If sheol means a place of fire and torment, would job wish to go and spend his time there until God remembers him clearly, job wanted to die and go to the grave that his suffering might end.

In all the places that sheol occured in the bible it is never associated with life , activity or torment. rather , it is often linked with death and inactivity. for example, think about ecclesiastes 9;10, which reads; All that your hands find to do, do with your very power, for there is no work nor devising nor knowledge nor wisdom i sheol[grave king james version; hell duoay version} he place to which yu are going.' so the answer becomes very clear. sheol and Hades refer not to a place of torment, but to the common grave of mankind.

A problem arose in connection with the conclusion that the punishment for sin is to be tormented forevermore in a place called hell. A great many people who ridiculed the Bible raised a very plausible question, “You say the God of the Bible is merciful and just, so, do you really believe that a merciful and just God would torture a person who has lived a decent, moral life by placing that person in a place called hell, where he or she will intensely suffer forevermore? What kind of God is your God of the Bible? And how does that idea agree with the statement in the Bible that God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked?” (Ezekiel 18:23 and 32).

      These kinds of questions have been seriously considered by many churches. As a consequence, they have developed another approach to encourage people to accept their do-it-yourself salvation plan. Instead of emphasizing the negative, that is, an eternity of suffering, they changed their salvation presentation to emphasize the positive and said, “God loves you, and He has a wonderful plan for your life. You can be a part of this plan by accepting Jesus.” In other words, “Join us, and then you no longer have to worry about the fear that, from time to time, comes into your mind and heart because you know that there is a God, and someday, you must answer to Him.” These churches had not abandoned the idea of eternal suffering, but for them, it is simply ignored insofar as being something about which they should be seriously concerned.

      We might further note that the Bible teaches that, “the wages of sin is death . . . “ (Romans 6:23a). The typical, traditional teaching effectively declares, “The ‘wages of sin’ means that on the last day, any who are not God’s elect (those who did not become saved) must come to life so that they can stand before Christ as their Judge. There they will be found guilty, and therefore, sentenced to an eternity of endless pain and agony in a place called hell.” Those who hold the traditional position will not admit this, but to be consistent with their understanding of judgment, it also means that because we are conceived and born in sin (Psalm 51:5), every non-elect baby who is aborted, and every baby who dies, and every non-elect young child who dies, also must be subject to this terrible judgment process.

      The horrible man-made traditional idea of God’s judgment process is in terrible denial of the law of God. The idea was designed with little or no understanding that the entire Bible, which is the Word of God, is therefore, the law of God. Effectively, statements like “the wages of sin is death,” and “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” are looked upon as instructions from the mouth of God, rather than as the very law of God.

      It is absolutely imperative that we understand that the Word of God is completely identified with Christ Himself. God says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14a). The Word of God is absolutely as authoritative as Christ Himself. Hebrews 4:12-13 declares:
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are unclothed and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
Thus, when God told Adam that in the day he ate of the forbidden tree he would die, God was declaring His law to Adam. That law had the full authority of Christ Himself over Adam, so that when Adam disobeyed that law, Adam instantly was condemned by that law to death.
      When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the world of Noah’s day, those people did not need to first stand before Christ as the Judge so that they could be sentenced to death. They had broken the law of God, and each time they sinned, the law of God again condemned them to death.
      In fact, the moment any unsaved person dies, regardless of how he dies, it is actually the moment that he is being executed as payment for his sins. Because the traditional teaching of God’s judgment plan did not take into account that the entire Bible is the law of God, and that each word is as authoritative as Christ Himself, it is a judgment plan designed in the mind of man. Because God’s plan was to hide many truths about time and judgment so that they would not be revealed to mankind until very near the end of time, the Bible was written in very complex and confusing language. It was God’s intention that no one could understand all that the Bible teaches about time and judgment until our day. It was God’s plan that these important truths would not be understood until the world was near the end of time. Thus, God allowed the incorrect traditional understanding of God’s judgment process to be taught in the churches, even as He allowed churches to teach a do-it-yourself salvation plan.
      So, even today, there are earnest, well-meaning Bible students who continue to try to justify the traditional understanding of God’s judgment plan by carefully examining phrase after phrase found in the Bible. However, they filter these phrases through their preconceived traditional and incorrect understanding of God’s judgment program that they believe to be correct. It is an impossible and hopeless task because the traditional judgment plan does not recognize the complete authority of each word in the Bible as being the law of God.
      In summary, we can certainly say that throughout the church age, there were unresolved issues in connection with a true understanding of the punishment for sin. This is entirely understandable when we remember that a great amount of information concerning the details and character of the end of time had been sealed in the Bible so that it could not be understood. God made the language of the Bible very complex and difficult to understand so that these truths would remain hidden until very near the end of time.
      However, as we approach the end of time, it is God’s intention that a great amount of information of this nature would become known. Sadly, the truths that are now being revealed will be resisted by the churches, which are trusting altogether in their confessions, dogmas, and theological conclusions. This is especially so because we will find that the idea of suffering eternally in hell as a consequence of sin is not
true. Thus, a major means or cudgel that was used to encourage people to become saved has been removed.

Will type more when my fingers stop paining me.


Grace

Getting out of Hell.---------
Can  people get out of hell? consider the case of jonah. when God had a big fish swallow Jonah to save him from drowning. jonah prayed from the Fish's belly: "out of the belly of Sheol{hell, king James version and duoay version} I cried for help. you heard my voice."-- Jonah 2;2.

  what did jonah mean by 'out of the belly of Hell'? well, that fish's belly was surely not aplace of fiery torment. but it could have become jonahs grave. infact, jesus christ said regarding himself;"just as jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the son of man will be in the heart of the earththree days and three nights.' mathew 12;40.

Jesus was dead and in his grave for three days. but the bible reports; 'his soul was not left in hell,  this jesus hath God raised up."(acts 2;31,32 king james version) similarly, by God's direction Jonah was raised from hell, that is, from what would have been his grave. This happened when the fish vomitted him out unto dry land. yes people can get out of hell!! in fact, the heartwarming promise is that hell(hades) is to be emptied of all its dead.This can be seen by reading  Revelation 20:13, which  says; 'the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell(hades) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.'- king james version.

A JW on nairaland? Calling himself truthway? You get time o, most of your mates no dey tey for hia. Anyway, keep the dream alive. No hell, no hell. We'll probably sing away the gloom. Talk about positive confession.

truthway:

Getting out of Hell.---------
Can people get out of hell? consider the case of jonah. when God had a big fish swallow Jonah to save him from drowning. jonah prayed from the Fish's belly: "out of the belly of Sheol{hell, king James version and duoay version} I cried for help. you heard my voice."-- Jonah 2;2.

what did jonah mean by 'out of the belly of Hell'? well, that fish's belly was surely not aplace of fiery torment. but it could have become jonahs grave. infact, jesus christ said regarding himself;"just as jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the son of man will be in the heart of the earththree days and three nights.' mathew 12;40.

Jesus was dead and in his grave for three days. but the bible reports; 'his soul was not left in hell, this jesus hath God raised up."(acts 2;31,32 king james version) similarly, by God's direction Jonah was raised from hell, that is, from what would have been his grave. This happened when the fish vomitted him out unto dry land. yes people can get out of hell!! in fact, the heartwarming promise is that hell(hades) is to be emptied of all its dead.This can be seen by reading Revelation 20:13, which says; 'the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell(hades) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.'- king james version.

Now this is totally biblically unfounded. This is my problem with the Jehovah Witness teachings. I have said it earlier that the generality of their teachings are false (like many other churches too sha), even though they are a little correct (a little correct) on the Hell thing. Its Half truth now if this is what they beleive.

Many of the verses you quoted here refers to something entirely different. Rev 20: 13 for example does it in any way refer to people coming out of hell. as a matter of fact you're contradicting the fact that God's eternal purnishment for sin is Annahilation. The event there refers to what will happen on the Judgement day (after all the beleivers that are still alive have been raptured.). Moreover, you'll be contracting Heb. 9:27

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

why all these blind argument? none of has seen hell, the supposedly perfect Bible is a source of confusion! besides Zeus exists!

Kay 17:

why all these blind argument? none of has seen hell, the supposedly perfect Bible is a source of confusion! besides Zeus exists!

You have made an interesting point which i have always wondered about. The Greeks believed in many gods and predates christianity by at least a thousand years and here is where i find connections that are hard to ignore.

Christianity's Samson has a similar tale to the Greek's Hercules, they both killed a lion with bare hands and both were betrayed by a woman (Delilah for Samson and Deianeira for Hercules

Christianity talks of Paradise and a place of suffering each in proximity such that you could see its inhabitants. the Greeks have the Underworld and Elysian fields where virtuous and sinful dead wait for final judgment.

Christianity says God was displeased with man and the sin in the world so he caused a flood in which a few chosen from both male/female species were saved to reproduce and fill the earth once more. Zeus (king of greek gods) came to earth and was displeased with the greeks because he found them eating human flesh. so displeased he was, he caused a flood and saved a man and woman in an Ark to propagate the earth once the flood had dried up.

Christianity associates a woman EVE with the fall of man and subsequent evils of this world. before EVE the world was without sin until she ate the Apple. to the Greeks, until pandora opened the infamous "pandora's box" and let out unspeakable evil into the world, teh world was without sin.

Greek Hercules has his 12 labours and Christ his 12 stations of the cross (why 12)
Greek Hercules made himself as a sacrifice and rose to become a god in the heavens, Christ was sacrificed for mankind and rose 3rd day and ascended into heaven.

Hercules on one of his labours (out of 12) went to three wise but blind witches who shared one eye to see the future, could there exist a connection between that and the three wisemen and the star that led them to Bethlehem.

Christians believe that Christ in his second coming will go down and break the powers of hell and lock hades (greek god) for a thousand years.

One other connection i find that cuts across several cultures of the world is the "Thread of Life" a cord that connects mortal man to his soul of which when cut, the mortal man dies. The three fates attempted to cut Hercules thread of life but failed when the realized he had started transforming into a god. Ecclesiastes in the Bible also speaks of a Silver Cord that when severed means the end of man.

@lagerwhenindoubt, thats so familiar with the unique story of Christianity! its like all religions, copy and paste!

teaching hell fire? wrong wrong wrong