My son and I when together love to discuss and look at Scripture with an invisible magnifying glass. My wife has sometimes referred to both of us as the “Biblical Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson” with our sometimes heated discussions. Here is but one example of discussion regarding spending an Eternity in HELL:
My son: “How could a loving God send someone’s soul and spirit after death to a place like Hell? I’m not confident that there is an actual place of eternal fire for the unsaved. I think that HELL is just a metaphor, a manufactured location by the Church.”
Awhile back ago, there was a SURVEY taken of 7441 Clergy concerning their belief in HELL: 58% of Methodist, 60% of Episcopalians, 54% of Presbyterians and 35% of American Baptists. They believe collectively that HELL is NOT a location after death for the lost, but the experience of self-estrangement, guilt, and meaninglessness in this life.
I don’t know about your belief in a place called Hell, but I know what the BIBLE really says!
Hell Is A Place Beneath Man
EZEKIEL 31:16
[16] I will make the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit…God is speaking of Assyria. `
AMOS 9:2
[2] Though they dig into Sheol (Hades, the dark abode of the gathered dead), from there shall My hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down (Amplified Bible).
Psalm 55:15
[15] Let desolations and death come suddenly upon them; let them go down alive to Sheol (the place of the dead), for evils are in their habitations, in their hearts, and their inmost part (AMP).
David calls this on his enemies knowing that GOD had once done this to Moses’ enemies (Num. 16:30-34).
Matthew 11:23 (NIV)
[23] “And you Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades [the realm of the dead]…
Speaking of the indifference to Christ and His work.
HELL is a place of Eternal Fire –
An Eternal Flame in the Karakorum Desert
God speaks of His JUDGMENT of Sin in Deuteronomy 32:22 (AMP):
[22] For a fire is kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth with its increase. and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
Matthew 18:9 (NIV):
JESUS speaking on REPENTANCE instead of going to HELL–
[9] And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the FIRE of hell.
Luke 16:24 (AMP) – JESUS speaking of the rich man…
RICH MAN speaking: [24] “And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have pity and mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in the FLAME.”
THE PEOPLE OF HELL, WHO ARE THEY?
ANSWER: ALL People and Nations Who Forgot God
PSALM 9:17 (AMP):
[17] The wicked shall be turned back [headlong into premature death] into Sheol (the place of the departed spirits of the wicked), even all the nations that forget or are forgetful of God.
[Bible Hub-Psalm 9:17, The Treasury of David]:
How solemn the seventeenth verse, especially in it warning to the Forgetters of God. The moral who are not devout, the honest who are not prayerful, the benevolent who are not believing, the amiable who are not converted, these must all have their portion with the openly wicked in hell, prepared for the devil and his angels. There are whole nations; the forgetters of God are far more numerous than the profane…and according to the very forceful expression of the Hebrew, the nethermost hell will be the place into which all of them shall be hurled headlong. FORGETFULNESS seems a small sin, but it brings eternal wrath upon the man who lives and dies in it.
“HELL …NO!”
Even the “religious” can make it into HELL!
Matthew 23:33: “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to Hell?”
The Proud and Haughty–
Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
And in case you are wondering…there’s plenty of room in HELL.
Isaiah 5:14, 15: [14] Therefore Death expands its jaws, opening wide its mouth; into it will descend their nobles and masses with all their brawlers and revelers. [15] So people will be brought low and everyone humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.
HELL, a place for the devil and his angels–
2 Peter 2:4: For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
[SEE Matthew 25:41]
The Permanence of Hell–It is Eternal Vengeance
JUDE 7: In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
JUDE 11: Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
The EARTH opened up and took Korah and his family to hell. [Numbers 16:1-3. 31-33]
Those who do evil to us as true believers of Jesus Christ will pay a price of eternal magnitude.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-9
HELL IS A PLACE OF ETERNAL TORMENT –
Revelation 14:11 (AMP): And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no respite (no pause, no intermission, no rest, no peace] day or night–…
Matthew 25:46 (NIV): “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
This QUESTION has been asked and discussed by many over the years regarding eternal destination for all:
“Do babies, infants, go to Hell when they die?”
In order for me to answer that question, I must find a biblical example of when an infant died, and in which his or her ETERNAL DESTINATION is recorded.
In 2 Samuel 12, king David’s newborn son fell terminally ill and after 7 days the child died. Let’s read and listen to a father’s words in verses 22-23:
It is clear that David’s dead infant son never returned to this earth, but David also said that ONE DAY, he would go to be with his son. Through inspiration, David writes in the Psalms
Through inspiration, David writes in the Psalms where his own eternal destination was going to be with his son in the “house of the Lord” (Ps. 23:6).
“Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place” (AMP).
KING DAVID was looking forward to the day when he would be able to meet his son in heaven. There is absolutely nothing in this context that gives any hint that dead infants’ SOULS go to Hell.
“HELL, NO!” is the answer: Do babies/infants souls go hell?
Wishing Away the Reality of Hell Won’t Fly Either –
The Bible is clear in the O.T. and the N.T.
So, is HELL a real place of pain and torment? YES! But, it is also a place where lost sinners will spend eternity.
It’s not God’s fault that humanity sins. But it is God’s JOY & PLEASURE to offer humanity a way out, a way that is provided through the LOVE of His Son, Jesus Christ.
So the CHOICE has to be made by you where you are in life: “HELL YES” or…”HELL NO.”
If you are not saved, today is your day! But, if you are, then you are given the responsibility to SHARE this message with them.
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CREDITS:
Commentaries: [1] Bible Hub – Psalm 9:17; [2] Apologetics Press–Do Babies Go to Hell When They Die?
PHOTOS: Google Advanced Image Search.
Bible Translations: New International Version (NIV) and Amplified Bible (AMP).
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