Quote:
Originally Posted by TulsaDavid
The discussion is about annihilation of the wicked, their being obliterated into absolute nothingness. Quite moot at that point, don't you think.
Not at all, but it would be exponentially far less punishment, if indeed the torment would eventually cease, as if the annihilation tale really could trump Rev 14:11. |
Punishment for sin is whatever God says it is, not what you or I or anyone feels is "equitable". And God NOWHERE says sinners will inherit eternal life in hell or anywhere else. He DOES however say the wages of sin is death, and that the wicked will be no more.
You feel it would be "not enough" is sinners were actually destroyed, if they actually perished, if they were actually paid the wages of sin (death). Almost as if such a thing were too...merciful?... or something. Honestly you come across as someone who actually relishes the idea of UNENDING CEASELESS ETERNAL PAIN AND SUFFERING for everyone you think deserves it. But God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ez 33:11). Seems as if your thoughts are not His thoughts, neither are your ways His ways. You WANT people to suffer. Destruction is "too nice", it sounds as if sinners might get away with something, in your estimation.
But again, you aren't God, nor is truth determined by what any of us think or feel. It is what the WORD says. And the Word says the two options are happiness and immortality with God, or SORROW AND DEATH. The options are not immortality with God vs immortality somewhere apart from God. God is life, in Him we live and move and have our being. Our very existence is connected to His presence and His reality. He is EVERWHERE. Yet the wicked shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord (
2 Thess 1:9). The word "from" in the Greek there is "apo" and means "away from". The wicked are banished from His presence. Since His presence is EVERYWHERE, they shall be NOWHERE. They shall no longer have their being.
Rev 14:11 doesn't say the wicked last forever. It says the smoke of their torment ascends forever, thus their punishment is ETERNAL. What is tgeir punishment? DEATH. They will suffer age-lasting DEATH, not age lasting life in misery.