“Eternal Spiritual Death”

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

     Rev 21:4 says that there will be no tears, no sorrow, and no crying in heaven.  How can this verse be true if a place like ever-burning hell exists?  Also in Rev 21:8, it says the lake of fire is the "second death".  Does that not imply that the people die?

In Matt 10:28, it says "destroy", not torment; I am confused because I have been taught on ever-burning hell my whole life, but I cannot ignore the Word of God.

Sincerely,
‘Hell’p

Dear ‘Hell’p,

There will be no pain in heaven because God will heal us.  Heaven is a place where we show up with tears, and God wipes them away (Rev 21:4).  There will be a great deal of pain that we bring with us to the feet of our Maker, but He is the Great Physician (Mk 2:17).  We here at AYP have no idea how God will heal every wound and sorrow in heaven, but we also don’t know how skilled doctors repair hearts and arteries.  If a surgeon on this earth can repair a body and make it whole, certainly God is capable of repairing our hearts and souls.

As far as hell being a place of eternal torment, the Bible says that it is. Mk 9:47-49 says that hell is a place where “the worm never dies and the fire is not quenched”.  Jesus also told the story of a rich man that died and went to torments (Lk 16:22-23).  In torments, the rich man was in constant, burning anguish without relief (Lk 16:24).  Abraham told the rich man that he would remain in anguish and that there was a great gulf eternally fixed between those in Paradise and those in torment (Lk 16:25-26).  Though some good brethren believe that hell is not an eternal location and that the wicked are destroyed at death, we don’t believe that this holds up to biblical scrutiny.  Hell is a place of death and destruction – spiritual death and spiritual destruction.  Hell is a place where people are forever destroyed and spiritually dead without hope of renewing their relationship with God.

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