God’s punishipments /chastening are tempory and serve a purpose.
“Punished,” “punishing,” or “punishment” is found only three times in the Greek text. And two of those occurrences have to do with Paul punishing the saints. Therefore, there is only ONE time that the word “Punishment” is used with reference to evil doers in the entire Greek Scriptures
Some translation malfunctions
- 1. II Thes.1:8-9 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; (AV)
II thes. 1:8-9 in flaming fire, giving vengeance to those not knowing God, and to those not obeying the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall suffer justice-destruction age-during-from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his strength. (YLT)
The word punishment / destruction DOES NOT appear in the Greek manuscript. It should read. “Who shall incur the justice of eonian (age) extermination…”
- 2. II Peter 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
ii Peter 2:9 the Lord is acquainted with the rescue of the devout out of trial, yet is keeping the unjust for chastening in the day of judging,
- 3. Mathew 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (AV)
Mathew 25:46 And these shall be coming away into chastening eonian (age), yet the just into life eonian (age).”
Chastening definition. Websters dictionary. to prune (as a work or style of art) of excess, pretense, or falsity. Not torture in hell fire for eternity
Chastening someone to a correct their behavior is a lot different to torturing someone in fire for ever. It is only temporally with a purpose and goal in mind. The word Chastisement has always carries the connotation of correcting and bringing things back and making right again.
Can the lost sheep be saved?
- 4. Matt 10:28 And do not fear those who are killing the body, yet are not able to kill the soul. Yet be fearing him, rather, Who is able to destroy the soul as well as the body in Gehenna.”
Those who teach annihilation and eternal punishment use this verse to show that when God destroys, the soul is irretrievable. This, however, is not true. “Destroy” comes from the Greek word Apollumi = FROM-WHOLE-LOOSE, that is, to “lose.” The disciples were afraid that they would perish [apollumi] by drowning (Mk. 4:38). The sheep was lost [apollumi] by straying (Lk 15:4). We may destroy [apollumi] a weak saint by our knowledge (I Cor. 8:11). And Christ destroys [apollumi] both body and soul in Gehenna. Never does the Greek word apollumi mean annihilation! Besides destruction is the prelude to SALVATION! All we like sheep have gone astray. To be “lost” is the same Greek word used for “destroy.” So it is axiomatic that if an apollumi [LOST] sheep can be SAVED, then certainly an apollumi [DESTROYED] soul can be saved also.
Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; But he that believeth not shall be damned [Greek: condemned].”
Matt. 20:18: “… the Son of Mankind will be given up to the chief priests and scribes, and they will be condemning Him to death.”
Being “condemned” is not a final or eternal judgment. Have you not read that our own Lord was “condemned?
Eonian time. What time is it MR Wolf?
Furthermore, the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures had no word that meant, “eternal,” “forever,” or “everlasting,” or any word meaning “endless time.” This is a provable fact of history and etymology. This one marvelous fact alone exposes much of the depraved theology of modern Christendom.
II Tim. 1:9“…according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
The word “world” is not found in the Greek manuscripts, the word “began” is not found in the Greek manuscripts. Here is what the Greek says: “…before TIMES EONIAN.”
So where is the consistency with these translators? Could they not deceive the readers by translating this verse properly? If “aionios” means “eternal” or “evermore” then HOW, pray tell, can there be “TIMES” “BEFORF” “ETERNITY?” Give me a break. This is not translating; this is out and out planned deception! They change an adjective into a noun, then change the noun to a different word, then completely leave out the word “times.”
The Lambs Book of Life. Is this like Schindler’s List ?
Rev. 13:8. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb…”
Our lives must be written in “The BOOK of the LIFE of the LAMB.” It is “The Book of THE LIFE of THE Lamb.” The book is the LAMB’S LIFE. The Lamb IS THE BOOK—JESUS CHRIST IS THE BOOK! When we “take away” from God’s “Book” we take away FROM JESUS CHRIST. We diminish “THE LIFE of the Lamb” down to a mere physical “book”—a book of paper when translators, “take away from the words of the BOOK of this prophecy” (Rev. 22:19).
Gehenna Fire – Where is the eternal flame?
“Gehenna” appears in the Greek Scriptures twelve times (Matt.5:22,29,30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15,33; Mark 9:43,45,47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6). Not one of these passages has reference to the so-called “final state.” The Lord explicitly identifies Gehenna with Isaiah 66:23,24 by speaking of it as the place of “unextinguished fire, where their worm is not deceasing and the fire is not going out” (Mark 9:46). All whose bodies are destroyed in Gehenna will be raised to be judged at the great white throne, and go into the lake of fire.
Isaiah 66:23-24. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
The meaning of Gehenna must be established from facts furnished by the Scripture, not by falsehoods foisted by human tradition. To the reader of the Hebrew Scriptures themselves, Gehenna can only mean a verdict which, besides condemning a man to death, also ordains that, after death, his body should be cast into the loathsome valley of Hinnom. This being the sense of Gehenna in the Hebrew Scriptures, we may be sure that this is the sense in which Christ used it.
Being Disqualified from the Kingdom
“Not inheriting the Kingdom of God” has absolutely nothing to do with not ever being saved. Only the CHOSEN FEW will inherit the Kingdom of God, and will rule and reign with Jesus Christ. But ALL will receive salvation in the judgment.
THE PARABLE OF LAZARUS AND THE RICH MAN
But even if we take this parable literally, it still does not support such an absurd and evil teaching. When the truth is seen, the Rich man is overcome with great emotional torment by whatever “this flame” represents, but he is not physically being burned or barbecued in this flame.
The Rich man is in a most distressful situation, there is no argument. But he is not “burning in eternal hell fire.” That Lazarus is being comforted, there is also no argument, but neither is he presently basking in the sunshine of heaven. The two main figures in this parable represent whole nations of people who are either being shown the spiritual things of God or are being blinded to the spiritual things of God. The situation looks particularly grim and bleak for the Rich man, but certainly not hopeless as is taught in the pulpits of mainstream Christianity.
Unfortunately, the parable of Lazarus and the Rich man has become a sort of theological passport to the annihilation of hundreds of plain and exact verses of Scripture.
Let us now see if Jesus gives us any indication whether or not this Rich man will ever come out of this place of torments and what these torments really are:
The Greek word translated “torments” in verse 23 is basanos.
From Friberg’s Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, we are told that basanois which is a form of the noun basanos, means, “strictly, a touchstone for testing the genuineness of metals by rubbing against it…”
From the Greek-English Keyword Concordance we read this, torment, literally a touchstone, used to test metals for alloys, [and] then the examination of persons by torture (Page 307).
What kind of “torment” is God talking about in this parable? Is this physical pain from the flames burning his flesh as is taught in Christendom? Not at all! Note that he does not say “flames,” but rather “flame,” singular! The Greek word translated “tormented” in verses 24 and 25 is a totally different Greek word than is used for “torments” in verse 23. The Greek word here is odunao and it means to be sorrowful or pained, but not physically, but rather EMOTIONALLY! We can easily see how the Holy Spirit of God used this word in Scripture. Adunao is used only two other times in all Scripture and both times it has absolutely nothing to do with physical torture, but rather with emotional sorrow or pain.
- 1. “And when they saw Him, they were amazed: and His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing [Greek: adunao, same word translated "tormented" in Luke 16:24 & 25]” (Luke 2:48).
- 2. “Sorrowing [Greek: adunao, same word translated "tormented" in Luke 16:24 & 25], most of all for the words which he spoke, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him into the ship” (Acts 20:38).
Now then, does anyone believe that they were physically tortured when Paul departed? Does anyone believe the parents of Jesus were physical tortured in their flesh while they searched for Jesus?
Had the KJV translators been consistent they should have translated Luke 16:24 & 25 the same way. He was emotionally “pained” or “sorrowed” and not physically tormented or tortured! The same word cannot mean both “emotionally sorrowed” and “physically tortured.”
The Rich man was emotionally pained or sorrowed by the flame (the testing and trials), not tortured, and that’s why, as we shall see later, he wanted a drop [a symbolic drop of water] for his tongue and not a barrel of water to cool his body. Let’s not be guilty of adding to the Rich man’s woes.
God’s 3 step Approach to Salvation?
1 cor. 15: 23-24: “But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming. Then cometh the end…”
The King James starts a new sentence and a new verse with the words, “Then cometh the end…” It should, however, be a continuation of the previous sentence. There are three items in view here, not just two. The Concordant Version has a better rendering of this:
“Yet each in his own class: the Firstfruit, Christ; thereupon those who are Christ’s in His presence; thereafter the consummation…”
One, two, three. So there are three orders or classes that synchronize with the three festivals of harvest, Notice them:
- “The Firstfruit, Christ” (The Passover, The Wave Sheaf).
- “Thereupon those who are Christ’s” (Pentecost, the Firstfruits)
- “Thereafter the consummation [the end]” (the final Fall Harvest of Ingathering in the end of the year).
These three match perfectly with the three types of harvest in the Old Testament. So yes indeed, there will be a fall harvest at the end, at the CONSUMMATION.