Hell (An Alienation from God? No.)

[Sean Gilley]

There has been a lot of discussion recently about whether or not
Hell is simply an alienation from God, or whether it is an actual
punishment.

Charles Hedrick quotes a number of people and sermons and seems to say
that it is an alienation from God. He uses II Thess. 1:9 (mistakenly
called I Thess 1:9) in at least two of these arguments. This verse
reads:

``They will be punished with everlasting destruction and
shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty
of his power''

The arguments he presents say that the punishment is God's being
unhappy with you and the fact that you an then forever away from the
presence of the Lord.

Sorry. It doesn't work that way. The Bible explicitly states that there
will be those in eternal physical agony. Try Revelation 14:10-11:

``He will be tormented with burning sulfer in the presence of
the Holy Angels and the Lamb.''

or Revelation 20:15:

``If anyone's name was not found in the book of life he was
thrown into the lake of fire.''

or (even more explicitly) Revelation 16:10-11:

``...men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of
Heaven because of their pains and their sores...''

Now, you're going to read these passages and *still* tell me that the
unrepentant sinners will not suffer eternal tortures and agony?

Sean.

(All references are from the Gideon Bible, 1975 ed., copyr 1978.)

---

Sean L. Gilley Phone: (606) 272-9620 or (606) 257-8781

{ihnp4,decvax,ucbvax}!cbosgd!ukma{!ukgs}!slg, s...@UKMA.BITNET

I've seen a thousand people kneel in silence
I've seen them face the rifles with their songs
And I always thought that we could end the killing
But now I live in fear that I was wrong

[G...@psuvm.bitnet]

Well, I would not put much store in Revelations. I treat the Bible as an
editted account of folks who could write describing things they heard from
those who were illiterate.

Hell IS Earthly consciousness separated from the Supreme Deity
and being dead is no excuse for past actions...it's just a waiting period
to be reborn into life.

When you achieve awareness of the Father and be united, you will no longer
require a body. Suffering is an element of material existance that is not
dominant in God-realized masters (include : Jesus, Babaji, Sri Yukteswar,
Paramahansa Yogananda, and so on...).

Hell is in you as well as Heaven.
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