Catholicism and their Eternal Hell

An Eternal Fire That Doesn’t Burn For Ever. Is it Possible?

“Eternal”, “for ever”, “everlasting” are terms found in the Bible that could transmit a notion that doesn’t correspond to how we perceive them in our language.
Linguists discuss the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as “eternal” and “eternally” in the Scriptures (olam, in Hebrew; aion, aionios, in Greek). This could seem confusing for a layperson, but a way to understand it more easily is comparing various translations. For example, there are Bible translations that bring in Psalm 23:6: “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever”. Other Bibles say, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for long days”. The original is the same, but while a translator favored “for ever” for olam, others preferred “for long days”, which obviously doesn’t mean the same thing.
This is reflected in foreign translations. In French the Louis Segond version says “jusqu’à la fin de mes jours” [until the end of my days], and in the Spanish Reina-Valera translation it says “por largos días” [for long days].

“For ever” and “eternal, eternally” in Hebrew and Greek

In the Mosaic law there was an arrangement by which a slave would serve his owner “for ever” [olam] (Exodus 21:1-6), but this “for ever” is relative to the lifetime of both slave and his owner, and depends on the longevity of each of both.
Those who criticize the Sabbath observers like to remind them that the divine covenant with Israel was “perpetual”, however it ended on the cross! Thus, how come something that is perpetual could come to an end? In the Hebrew language this is possible. The term olam has a relative connotation regarding that which it refers to.
In the New Testament it is not different. Paul refers to Onesimus, the converted slave, who should go back to serve his lord “for ever [aionios]” (Philemon 15). That “for ever”, nevertheless, means until de end of the slave’s life (or that of his owner)!
And what can we say about the “eternal fire” that burnt Sodom and Gomorrha but are not in flames today? It is said to have been “set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 7).

Two verses that shed much light

Reading carefully the verses below one can see something that probably has not called the attention of many Bible readers and that illustrates the relativity of meaning of Hebrew words translated by “eternally” and “for ever”. Prophesying about Jerusalem, the prophet Isaiah says:

“Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever . . . until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest”. – Isaiah 32: 14 e 15.

Notice the expressions “for ever” and “until” in an immediate context. How could something be stipulated “for ever . . . until” a certain fact occur? This in English wouldn’t make sense, but it does in the Hebrew language.
Another very significant text is found a little beyond. Referring to the edomites, who God had destined “for destruction”, Isaiah utilizes again similar hyperbolic language:

“And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever”. – Isaiah 34: 9 e 10.

It is well known that the edomites disappeared many centuries past. Could it be said that there is burning pitch and smoke going up from Edomland? Obviously not.
Similarly, the punishment to the dwellers of Jerusalem, due to their transgression of the Sabbath commandment, would be a fire that would not be quenched (Jeremiah 17:27). However, such fires has been extinguished long ago and they are not consuming the doors of the ancient capital of Israel in our days. What we have here is what is called hyperbole, a kind of “literary freedom” to highlight the severity of the chastisement. The same occurs in Isaiah 66:24, where the prophet states:

“And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their work shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh”.

In order to stress the horror of the tremendous punishment reserved to the enemies of God, the prophet employs a hyperbole speaking, not of souls that never die, but of worms, in the context of “carcases”. The greatest dishonor for an Israelite would be to die as an animal, without burial. Now, of course the worms that feasted on the unburied cadavers would not be immortal, but they would apparently be so. The language only serves to highlight the gory sight of all those carcases being consumed by innumerable worms. And the inextinguishable fire of the “thrash dump” where these cadavers would be laying has the same meaning as that of Jeremiah 17:27, which we already covered.
Christ used this metaphor in Mark 9:48, and also used other metaphors, such as Matthew 24:28: “For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together”.
It is noteworthy that the apostle John, in Revelation, utilizes the same type of language to describe the final lot of the impenitent ones (Apo. 17:16). The same John, let’s keep in mind, also used varied illustrations from the Old Testament, as when he deals with the evil woman (the corrupt church at the end of history) as Jezebel, and as he refers to Babylon, or depicts the beast of Revelation 13 as being made up of the elements of Daniel 7 (lion, leopard, bear. . .)—see vs. 2.
That is the root of the language somewhat enigmatic that confounds so many good people. The fire is eternal (as the one that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha) and will burn day and night, with its smoke going up “for ever”, as happened in the land of Edom so many centuries ago!

Clear biblical language of full and total destruction of the reprobates

There are clear texts in the Bible on the total destruction of the ungodly ones: the wicked shall perish (Psalm 37:20); will be destroyed (Psalm 145:20); shall die (Ezekiel 18:4); shall be devoured (Psalm 21:9); shall not be any more (Psalm 37:10); shall be cut off (Proverbs 2:22); shall be turned into ashes (Malachi 4:3); shall consume away as smoke (Psalm 37:20); shall melt as wax (Psalm 68:2); those who don’t believe in the only begotten Son of God will perish (John 3:16), for “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
In 2 Thessalonians 1:9 Paul, speaking of those who reject the Gospel, declares: “Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power”.
Now, what the word “destruction” evokes, but the picture of something that comes to its final end? And how about this “destruction” being additionally described as “everlasting”?
Isaiah 14:12ss depicts the king of Babylon in a language that is generally interpreted as referring to Lucifer himself. The same is found in Ezekiel 28:14ff, that pictures the king of Tyrus, but the descriptive language is clearly a reference to Satan. Vs. 18 and 19 speak of its final fall and the eternal destruction with fire that would transform him into ashes, “. . . never shalt thou be any more”, as we find in the King James Version. This is the end of Satan, the “root” that with the “branches” of his followers will meet destruction, as described in Malachi 4:1-3:

“For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch”.

The words of Jesus

Jesus compared the destruction of the reprobates with weeds gathered in bundles to be burnt (Mat. 13:30,40), the bad fish cast away (Mat. 13:48), the bad plants to be rooted up (Mat. 15:13), the unfruitful tree to be cut down (Luke 13:7), the withered branch to be cast into fire (John 15:6), the unfaithful servants who are destroyed (Luke 20:16), the bad servant who will be cut asunder (Mat. 24:51), the Galilaeans who perished (Luke 13:2, 3), the eighteen people who were smashed by the Siloam tower (Luke 13:4, 5), the ones before the flood who were drown by the waters (Luke 17:27), the people in Sodom and Gomorrha which were destroyed by the fire (Luke 17:29) and the rebel servants who were slayed when their master returned (Luke 19:14, 27).
All these illustrations used by the Savior describe vividly the final destruction of the reprobates. The contrast between the final destiny of the redeemed and that of the lost ones is one of life versus destruction. In Matthew 25:46 Christ shows the ANTITHESIS between the “life eternal” of the redeemed and “eternal death” of the condemned. There is a parallel in the lot of both groups—the eternal character of their future destiny: on one hand, eternal life, on the other hand, eternal death.
Jesus said: “And I give unto them [the redeemed ones] eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:28). And He also said: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat”. Within the context of these texts there is no reason to reinterpret the word “perish” or “destroy” to mean life remaining in unending torments.
In 2a. Peter 3:6-10 we have the parallel set by the Apostle between those who “perished” in the Flood and those who will perish at the end, according to what has been decreed “by the same word” [of God]. The word employed by him is apollumi, or derivatives, in the sense of PERDITION OF THE UNGODLY MEN, as is clearly stated in vs. 7. Did, by any chance, those who “perished” in the Flood remain eternally within water suffering torments in an unending “liquid hell”?

The fire is unquenchable, but not what burns thereof . . .

Those who cite the references to the hellfire-geena (Mat. 5:22, 29, 30; 18:8, 9; 23:15; Mark 9: 48) in support of the idea of eternal torment don’t realize that, as John Stott [popular Protestant author] remarks, “the fire itself is called ‘eternal’ and ‘unquenchable’, but it would be very strange that what is thrown in it reveals itself undestructible. Our expectation would be the opposite: it would be consumed for ever, not tormented for ever. Thus is the smoke (evidence that the fire has accomplished its work) that goes up for ever and ever (Rev. 14:11; cf. 19:3)”.
None of the allusions of Christ to the hellfire-geena, indicates that the hell be a local of unending torment. What is eternal and unquenchable is not the punishment, but the fire which, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrha, as already covered in the discussion on Jude 7, causes the complete and permanent destruction of the ungodly, a condition that remains for ever. The fire is unquenchable because it cannot be quenched until it consumes all the combustible material. In Ezekiel 20:47, 48 we also find mention to a fire that destroys the enemies of God, and would not be quenched. This is so because “I the Lord have kindled it”. In the whole context the language is one of vengeance and has the tenor of “consuming” (see vs. 21:31, e 32—“thou shalt be fuel to the fire”, and 22:20—“into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon . . . thee . . . and I will . . . melt thee . . .”). Thus, the “unquenchable” fire is so in the sense that it proceeded from God and nobody will be able to extinguish. It is, thus, unquenchable in a clear context that deals with total destruction by fire.
Destruction implies annhilation. The destruction of the reprobates is eternal, not because the process of their destruction continues for ever, but because its results are permanent. In the same way, the result of the “eternal punishment” of Mat. 25:46 are permanent. It is a punishment that results in their eternal destruction or annihilation, which is also called “second death”.
Speaking of “second death”, this is what characterizes the “lake of fire”, described by John in Revelation, that occurs on the Earth (see 20: 9, 10 e 14). After depicting the lake of fire that receives death and hell [the tomb], John goes on speaking of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1) in the immediate sequence, without informing anything that such “lake of fire” is transferred to some other part of the universe to keep on burning eternally.

Final thoughts

The apostle Paul said that “in Him [God] we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Every existence of men and animals depend on God. No matter how well elaborated are the arguments employed, within the most refined rhetoric and “logical” explanations, there is no way to justify the Creator preserving the life of billions of His creatures with the sole purpose that they live throughout eternity suffering for errors and shortcomings committed during some decades of life (or even less that a decade). The notion of an eternally burning hell, which will never complete its destructive work, is incompatible with the notion that God is love and justice. And there are those who even teach that God “predestinates” some to be saved, while the ones who are lost is because were not among the “elected”! They were born to live eternally burning later on!. . . . No wonder the quantity of atheists, agnostics and materialists that have inhabited the planet.
In contrast, those who didn’t have the happiness of seeing all his loved ones sharing the blessed eternity (certainly not many) will feel greater solace to know that they are not condemned to spend eternity burning in a fire that will never extinguish. Especially as they are able to access the heavenly records to understand the reasons why they were not saved (see 1 Cor. 6:2 and 3) they will know that in their destruction justice and mercy was fully served.
When someone suffers for years of a terminal disease and come to his/her end, the commentary is often: “At least he/she rested and stop suffering!” Relatives and friends feel comforted. The same will happen when the “cancer” of sin be eliminated once and for all from the universe, to be totally purified of any relics of iniquity, for the Bible promise is that “according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).