Originally posted by @dj2beckerIt’s his way to avoid trying to debate substance where the deficient gray matter in his noggin would be revealed. Look at how he responded to my posting of the Hebrews verses. He obviously can’t think of anything substantive to say so he resorts to being a smart aleck. If he would just set aside his foolish pride and allow himself to be educated, he might have a noggin he could be proud of.
What satisfaction do you get from spreading slanderous lies?
That's the real question.
-Removed-And I answered that, sweetie. I myself don’t endorse that view and never said I did. I was simply pointing out what can be found in some Biblical commentaries.
Now proceed to ask me the same question 500 times because you can’t think of anything else to say. That’s one of the more blunt and least effective tools in your trolling toolbox.
-Removed-After being asked by the OP... I will respond.
Let me preface this simply, though. In Orthodoxy, we do not believe in treating these topics too rigorously and as if they are so set. In the East, we have more faith in the concept of the Mystery...
That is to say, the nature of the Final Judgment is not said to be known. You can find many Orthodox who believe that, on the Final Judgment, God will reveal Himself as Light before everyone. The Light will burn the sinners, and the Light will burn the saved alike, but they are saved because they recognize it as "Love" while the others will recognize it only as Fire. How is this followed up by people? It's hard to say.
I subscribe a lot to a Russian Orthodox tradition and have ties to ROCOR folks and so I favored the Michael Pomazansky classical Russian Orthodox explanation of an eternal hell that occurs after the Final Judgment and is reserved for sinners. Pomazansky notes that we have no reason to believe that it is pure symbolism and not true. However, he also notes that perhaps an eternity, as used in the Bible, is not an actual eternity. I know that my father once told me the belief that, at some point, the souls are annihilated and the only people remaining in the eternal fire are Satan and the Anti-Christ.
I am also familiar with Justin Martyr who suggested that a significant amount of people do not have a culpability significant enough to enter into hell and would instead simply enter limbo and eventually reach destruction. This was before much of the 'doctrine' and 'dogma' was set about these things. I wonder if ti si true.
So... I insist that this should generally remain as a mystery.
With that in mind:
(1) Christ does not send people to hell. Their own actions are what send them to hell. Free will exists.
(2) It would be an injustice to not send some people to hell... The justice at the Final Judgment is that the righteous who have been slandered have their names restored or their names otherwise glorified for the truth that was within them.
And that the evil are punished, and that the truth behind them is also known.
It is a just balancing. You can't simply let everyone slip into heaven.
Not sure if this specifically addresses the concept of eternity but to me... I am not so unrelenting on the topic, btu I have no reason to advance a teaching that denies the eternal nature of it.
Originally posted by @jacob-vervilleIsn't this like saying, the state of Texas does not execute people for capital crimes; perpetrators of those sorts of crimes execute themselves.
Christ does not send people to hell. Their own actions are what send them to hell. Free will exists.
Do you not believe that the supernatural 'facility' commonly called "hell" was created for a specific purpose by your god figure?
Originally posted by @dj2beckerYeah, I was just about to say that. Oh wait a minute. I did say it.
Try Revelation 22:15.