‘Eternal suffering’ is nonsensical

Originally posted by @jacob-verville
I am also very positive that, even if a year or two passes, you will still occasionally call me Jacob just to remind me that you know my original name.

What an excellent idea!

Originally posted by @divegeester
Why not start a thread on it?

I do not think that I would ever start a thread calling anyone out.

I'll start a thread on the general topic later and maybe you will respond.

And by later I mean a very vague later that could be hours, days, or weeks.

Originally posted by @jacob-verville
I'll start a thread on the general topic later and maybe you will respond.

Sounds like you will be busy “later”.

Originally posted by @divegeester
Sounds like you will be busy “later”.

LOL, dude, I am ready to have the debate right here in this thread as it is directly connected to why you deny hell.

You're the one acting like I need to make a totally separate thread for it and am now suddenly shying away from it.

Originally posted by @jacob-verville
LOL, dude, I am ready to have the debate right here in this thread as it is directly connected to why you deny hell.

You're the one acting like I need to make a totally separate thread for it and am now suddenly shying away from it.

If you had been posting here in this forum for longer than a few weeks you would realise that I am very open about my beliefs and quite happy to discuss them. You will find however that the usual Christian arsenal of hooks and barbs about believing the entire bible at face value, attending church, doffing my cap to pseudo Christian authority and abiding by the evangelical traditions won’t have much effect.

Originally posted by @divegeester
I look forward to further dismantling your frilly attempts to justify - the premise of - eternally torturing people whom you love so much that you would die for them -

Somebody should read up on time and how our concept of it may not be correct before assuming eternity as we understand it exists in reality.

Physicists are coming up with some pretty interesting theories about the nature of time and (if I’m remembering correctly) how the past and future may not exist; in other words, time may not flow in the linear progression we are familiar with.

This all has an impact on the concept of eternal torture. God said in Isaiah that He declares the end from the beginning, which many people take to mean His omniscience extends to future events. But if He exists outside of time and time is a human construct or something that doesn’t exist in higher dimensions, eternity may not be what we currently envision.

This all goes back to the idea that humans with finite intelligence and finite understanding really should think twice before drawing conclusions about an omniscient, eternal and completely holy God.

Originally posted by @romans1009
Somebody should read up on time and how our concept of it may not be correct before assuming eternity as we understand it exists in reality.

Physicists are coming up with some pretty interesting theories about the nature of time and (if I’m remembering correctly) how the past and future may not exist; in other words, time may not flow in the linear pr ...[text shortened]... uld think twice before drawing conclusions about an omniscient, eternal and completely holy God.

Do you think that a different definition of eternity will make the idea of burning people alive for that period any less abhorrent?

Originally posted by @divegeester
Do you think that a different definition of eternity will make the idea of burning people alive for that period any less abhorrent?

I’m saying we may not understand time or eternity as it exists in reality. That’s all.

As for my personal belief on this, I haven’t looked into the Biblical support for annihilationism vs. spending an eternity in hell to have a strong opinion about the dispensation of the unsaved one way or another.

Originally posted by @romans1009
As for my personal belief on this, I haven’t looked into the Biblical support for annihilationism vs. spending an eternity in hell to have a strong opinion about the dispensation of the unsaved one way or another.

There is one prominent Christian here who has argued that the threat of spending an eternity burning in hell being aimed at non-believers and then that punishment being administered to non-believers when they die are examples of the "ultimate morality" and "perfect justice" found in Christian thought.

Would you be inclined to not place eternal torture at the very centre of the concepts of morality and justice as propagated by your religion?

Originally posted by @fmf
There is one prominent Christian here who has argued that the threat of spending an eternity burning in hell being aimed at non-believers and then that punishment being administered to non-believers when they die are examples of the "ultimate morality" and "perfect justice" found in Christian thought.

Would you be inclined to not place eternal torture at the very centre of the concepts of morality and justice as propagated by your religion?

I would not place eternal torture at the very center of the concepts of morality and justice as propagated by Christianity.

And as I said, I haven’t looked into the Biblical support for annihilationism and an eternity in hell and have no strong opinion on which is correct.

Originally posted by @romans1009
I would not place eternal torture at the very center of the concepts of morality and justice as propagated by Christianity.

It would be interesting to see you take on the Christian poster who does one day. We shall see.

Originally posted by @romans1009
I’m saying we may not understand time or eternity as it exists in reality. That’s all.

As for my personal belief on this, I haven’t looked into the Biblical support for annihilationism vs. spending an eternity in hell to have a strong opinion about the dispensation of the unsaved one way or another.

I know what you are saying, why are you repeating yourself. My question to you is unanswered

Do you think that a different definition of eternity will make the idea of burning people alive for that period any less abhorrent?

Originally posted by @divegeester
I know what you are saying, why are you repeating yourself. My question to you is unanswered

[b]Do you think that a different definition of eternity will make the idea of burning people alive for that period any less abhorrent?[/b]

Depending on what the different definition of eternity is and if such an abstraction does not exist in reality as we think we understand it, the answer is yes.

Originally posted by @romans1009
Depending on what the different definition of eternity is and if such an abstraction does not exist in reality as we think we understand it, the answer is yes.

What length of time would you say was morally acceptable to you for someone to be burnt alive?

Originally posted by @divegeester
What length of time would you say was morally acceptable to you for someone to be burnt alive?

From my limited understanding of annihilationism, which I prefer in theory to an eternity in hell, the extinguishment of the unsaved would last a second or so. That does not seem so unjust.
But whatever is Biblically supported, whatever is God’s way of dealing with the unsaved is what I support.