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Bible Basics
For Smart People
Who Do Not Want To Be Dummies
About God and the Bible
(Parts I, II, III)
By J. George Cover
Lesson 13 - What About Death? Part II (Cont'd.) (Text Version)
14 Fallacies About Hell (Cont'd.)
5. (Cont'd.) If the word annihilation is substituted for destroy destruction, consume, etc. one can see how utterly senseless some scriptures would be in meaning. Try this in Genesis 6:7; 9:11; 41:30; Job 7:9.
6. That people in hell will suffer absolute destruction.
The Greek word for destruction in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 means ruin but not extinction.
7. That the wicked shall die and be extinct.
Death means separation not annihilation.
8. People in hell will be destroyed, will perish and be no more.
The Greek word for destroy and perish in Matthew 10:28 and John 3:16 is appolumi, meaning to torment, mar, and be lost, not annihilate. In most places it means simply to die physically and this is not extinction of being, but the passing from one state to another or one place to another ( ... ) In other places it means to be cut off from God or be lost. When a sheep is lost from the shepherd, a man is lost from God in sin, or some other material object is lost, does it mean that these are extinct? When bottles are marred by bursting are they extinct (Mark 2:22)? When homosexuals utterly perish in their corruption does it mean they are to be extinct or die and suffer fleshly corruption by going back to dust bodily?
9. That the wicked shall consume away like smoke (Psalm 37:20). The Hebrew for consume is kalah, to end; to finish; to cease; to complete; and to take away; it never means extinction of being of the thing consumed. When famine consumed the land, did it annihilate the land (Genesis 41:30)?
10. That the wicked will be burned up like chaff the fire will go out when it has done its work (Matthew 3:11-12). The comparison of the righteous to wheat and the wicked to chaff, does not prove that the wicked are to be extinct by fire. It merely expresses two destinies at death for two classes. The wicked are not burned up by fire like chaff any more than the righteous are cast into a garner for literal wheat. The picture is merely that of God taking the righteous to heaven and sending the wicked to hell to be punished, as in the many scriptures above.
11. That the wicked will be no more (Proverbs 10:25).
This is no reference to hell. It merely expresses the end of human activity on earth.
12. That the place of the wicked shall not be (Psalm 37:10).
This is another passage which says nothing of hell, but refers to the passing of the wicked from earth so that they and their place in human activity shall soon be forgotten. Because the wicked cease to live among men does that do away with the actual places where they did five on earth? If so, then all the earth would pass out of existence, for wicked men have lived on every part of it. The very fact that men will consider places the wicked used to be proves the places themselves are still here.
13. That the wicked will be devoured by fire (Revelation 20:7-10).
This passage refers to the destruction of living natural people who will seek to overthrow the kingdom of Christ at the end of the Millennium. it does not refer to hell or to resurrected people, for the wicked are not to be resurrected until after this (Revelation 20:11-15). The ones killed will be the nations living on the earth during the Millennium and not the wicked dead who are in their graves and in sheol to remain until after this rebellion (Revelation 20:4-15).
14. That the wicked dead will be given a second chance and then if they do not accept Christ they will be annihilated with the devil and all his angels and demons.
The only scripture used by false cults to prove this is Revelation 20:7-10. But, as we have seen above, this refers to the nations living on earth in natural bodies during the Millennium and not to the wicked dead who are not alive during the Millenium (Revelation 20:10-15). After the Millennium they are to be resurrected, judged, and cast into eternal hell without being given a second probation (Revelation 20:10-15). There is no second chance for any man (Hebrews 9:27), no hope of any final restoration for the wicked. Non-existence would not be punishment, for nonexistent people would know nothing about it. One cannot punish another who is out of existence. Everlasting punishment means perpetual suffering, and this presupposes perpetual existence in a conscious state. Persons to be punished forever must exist in consciousness forever. To annihilate them would be to do away with everlasting punishment. There would be no one to punish forever. Hence, hell is not extinction of being. The punishment of hell is as long as the life of the righteous. "These shall go away into everlasting (aionios) punishment, but the righteous into life eternal (aionios)" (Matthew 25:41, 46; 18:8; Mark 3:29; 9:43-49; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Jude 6-7, 13; Revelation 2:11; 14:911; 19:20; 10: 10-15; 21:8; 22:15; Psalm 52:5; 92:7; Isaiah 66:22-24).
"Please tell me more."
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