Hi sm, you wrote
"How then, could a God of Perfect love, Perfect Forgiveness, Perfect Judgement, Perfect Mercy, Perfect Anger, condemn ANY child of his to eternal torchure (sic) with his enemy?"and ...
"the word *Hell* was never in the original greek and hebrew scriptures"sm - please, don't listen to people tell you there is no hell because a) God is too kind and b) the word isn't in the bible.
Jesus made it quite clear there is a hell, not just with words, but in pictures. And, Jesus made it clear what God was capable of doing to those who hated him. I think God killed 2,000,000 of the Jews during the time of the Acts, and cast the rest into slavery, bondage and persecution for 2,000 years.
sm, those of the Old Testament were left in no doubt about hell, hades, lost eternity or whatever word you want to dissect. They didn't want to lose God's spirit, they didn't want to be blotted out of His book of life, and they wanted to be a part of God's reward.
Hiya Bert;
First, just as you ask me not to believe those who say there is no hell, you want me to believe you, in saying there is a hell.
I believe what I believe because I researched it for myself.
Not because any religion,or person told me to believe something.
You see, I've been there, done that, with the two by two's,
And vowed that would never be the case again.
Second of all, those *words* are important, in understanding the meaning of any and all scripture, without a correct translation, how can you hope to gain an accurate understanding of Gods word?
There is a BIG difference between what today's average church
teaches Hell is, and what the original greek/hebrew scriptures taught Hades and Sheol to be.
Hell as taught by most churches is a place of everlasting torment.
Sheol and Hades as the original scriptures used, is simply a grave, a place where the dead rest.
The difference between them, is going to have a BIG impact on how you see the scriptures.
Just by replacing the word hell with it's original word and it's meaning does that, you should try it
Third of all, Yes, God Destroyed Soddom and Gomorrah, The flood took the lives of all humans,save one family, etc...etc..
I am not denying that God can get angry, BUT...... BUT.......
When he handed down his sentence so to speak, it was DEATH.
It was that those people would cease to exist.
It was not sending them to an eternal place of torment.
He sent them to Sheol/hades, not Hell(as depicted by Christians today)
Yes, God sent his people into bondage, Again, it was NOT eternal.
There would come a time when those people would be delivered
from that bondage.
Hell is supposed to be, according to popular belief, the second death.
That's it, that's all, there's NO coming back, you had your chance, buh bye, so to speak.
It's permanent, it's eternal. then to top that off, it's a place of torchure/torment/brimstone/fire, WITH..Gods enemy.
God may have punished his people, that punishment may have lasted a long time, God did indeed hand down the sentence of death on more than one occassion, but it was just that, Death, ceasing to exist. He may have brought his wrath down on some of those in bible times, but it was Never a permanent wrath, it was to be the *cause* of their deaths. Once they died, that was it, it was over.
If we are made in the Image of God, and WE can get angry, and hand down discipline on our children, then of Course God can get angry. A parent goes through many emotions, and in turn, so does God.
We don't ground our children to their room forever because they've done something wrong. in time, our anger subsides, and mercy is shown.
How much more perfect then..is Gods anger? Gods Mercy?
lol, now please... I do not wish to continue in this thread, if someone wants to start a hellfire topic elsewhere, by all means...
But I do not wish to continue it, in this thread
SM