What is eternal punishment?

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resurrection33

resurrection33

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Dec 19, 2009
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I’ve got a question. Read this, please:

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Matt 25:46 RSV

So what is “eternal punishment”? Is it a place where people will be sent forever, or is it simply a place that will always exist?

When I was a boy and misbehaved, I was sent to my room as a punishment. The room was always there to be sent to. However, I wasn’t sent there forever; I was only sent there until my parents determined I’d been there long enough. Is that what eternal punishment is like, or do people get sent there forever?
 
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Jalisa

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I'm going to answer that question to the best of my knowledge. Eternal punishment is Hell. I never read in the Bible that people will go to Hell than after a while they will go to Heaven. If you are an unbeliever, you will go to Hell, and be there forever. If you are save you will go to Heaven. Also are you Catholic? because I know that Catholics believe in Purgatory, and maybe that is what you are thinking of, But I don't think the Bible mentions a Purgatory. It just mentions Heaven and Hell.
 
Moviefan2k4

Moviefan2k4

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Mar 18, 2009
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resurrection33 said:
I’ve got a question. Read this, please:

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Matt 25:46 RSV

So what is “eternal punishment”? Is it a place where people will be sent forever, or is it simply a place that will always exist?

When I was a boy and misbehaved, I was sent to my room as a punishment. The room was always there to be sent to. However, I wasn’t sent there forever; I was only sent there until my parents determined I’d been there long enough. Is that what eternal punishment is like, or do people get sent there forever?
Click to expand...
Well, simply out, eternal punishment is exactly that...eternal. The reason why is that God's standard for living is absolute perfection, and so even the smallest rebellion (by our judgment) is worthy of everlasting separation from God.

Think of it this way: if God Himself is eternal, and He never changes, and He's also incapable of lying...then that means His standards never change, either. We are fallible and finite; God is perfect and infinite. Therefore, the only way for a temporal being to pay the penalty to an eternal being is to pay that price forever.

Jesus died and rose again to set us free from that, and so for anyone who recieves Him, they are spared - God accepts Jesus' sacrifice in their place. But for those who reject God in this life, they will recieve what their sins rightfully deserve...not by God's choice, but by their own. God takes no pleasure in condemning anyone - but because He's incapable of lying, He can't compromise His standard, either.
 
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greatkraw

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it does not need to be fires pitch forks and so on

imagine spending forever thinking
I should have listened
I should have listened
I should have listened
I should have listened
I should have listened
I should have listened
I should have listened
I should have listened
I should have listened
I should have listened
 
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ClimbingUpward

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#5
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Eternal punishment is hell for eternity. People who are sent there, stay there, they can not get out. Hence why it is called eternal. Hope that helps.
 
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Zilla64007

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Jan 14, 2010
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eternal punishment is best described in Revelation 20:14-15, and Revelation 21:7...

it is the Lake of Fire... not being able to spend eternity in the presence of God, and spend eternity in a place that is completely devoid of God's Love... that is eternal punishment
 
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Pete_Martinez

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Oct 1, 2009
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The best way to understand hell is two fold, number one, why is it so long, and two, how come those in there cannot get out?
To understand number one, we must understand the concept of justice. If someone murders a person, and it only took ten seconds, therefore that person should only be in jail for ten seconds right? And then, how long would a person who murders be sentenced to jail, if you compare the murder of a bum to the murder of a high elected official? So obviously a person gets a longer sentence for murdering someone well loved or important right? So what happens when you sin against the mighty and sinless one?
Point number two, can't a person ask for forgiveness in hell?
Well, the thing is, people in hell know they deserve to be there, the rich man did not complain when he was in hell, but he was concerned for his brothers. On the other hand, what if you could "repent" in hell? Well Revelation gives us some of that insight...
Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Even Satan, when he is released, does not desire forgiveness or repentance. If Heaven is a place where we grow mighty in love, joy, and holiness, hell is the opposite. Over eternity those who will suffer will have such an incredible and growing hatred that if pulled out of hell and set loose on the world they would make hitler look like a baby.
Rev 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
What you are on Earth will only be intensified in eternity, the holy and righteous to more holiness and righteousness, the unjust and filthy will be even more so.
 
MahogonySnail

MahogonySnail

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Jan 8, 2009
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Of course you don't have to worry about those verses, because a christian is always saved.
 
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songster

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A common misconception exists even among unbelievers. Those who acknowledge that a literal hell exists, also somehow believe that individuals are sent there because of their sin, as punishment. This is what causes some unbelievers to labor to be 'good', believing that if they are basically good, or morally upright people, they will enter Heaven.

The reason some will find themselves in hell is because they rejected the Son of God and His righteousness, and they are also guilty of tormenting God's Son, even though they may not have necessarily participated in His torture.

One example is written in Luke 20

Luke 20:13 ...

... Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’“But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”

Another is written in Hebrews 10:29

How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
 
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