When did I say they weren't?
I've always said the penalty for sin Jesus paid was death...the "immortal soul" crowd thinks the wages of sin is eternal torment because they think sinners are granted eternal life in flames instead of suffering death, which is the absence of life, not a continuation thereof.
If the wages of sin was eternal torment, the only way Jesus could pay those wages for us is if HE be eternally tormented.
I also
do not believe in 'eternal pain and sufferings' for those who don't love God. I believe they 'perish' or are blotted out of the book of life, or are indeed, like the fat that drops off the animal as they are cooking over an open fire and the liquid fat hits the coals and instantly is consumed and you see the puff of smoke rise and dissipate forever and ever.
Yes, they suffer first and we are recompensed for our part in it, but they perish as we live on.
GOD tells us that even NOW, the evil though necessary, causes Him to suffer. That tells us there would be no reason to have them around.
Romans 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Romans 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Romans 9:22 What if God,
willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Romans 9:23 And that He might make known
the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory,
Romans 9:24 Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only,
but also of the Gentiles?
Eternal life in an immortal body DWELLING with God. Just think of all those who only want to take advantage of you gone. Those around you are kind and loving and helpful and trustworthy and not liars and it is peaceful and joyful and we all eat from a different tree each month so that happy and content we stay. It is heaven.
He for sure tells us here that it is GONE. I thank God because with even the worst that has ever been done to me, more than a few minutes (and that might actually be seconds) is more than I can stand. Gone is good.
Revelation 21
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth
were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
NO DEATH, no more lake of fire. Do you remember what happen when
'How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! Remember the destruction that took place? Do you remember who was there and what happened to them?
Neither do I.
Isaiah 14:1 For the LORD
will have mercy on Jacob,
and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them,
and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place:
and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,
4 That thou shalt take up
this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
5 The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers.
6 He who smote the people in wrath
with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth.
7
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
Has the whole earth ever been at rest? Not yet.
8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us.
9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee
to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 All they shall speak and say unto thee,
Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us?
11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven
, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble,
that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the
seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers;
that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD.
23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts.
24 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
27 For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
29 Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
30 And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.
31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.
32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.