Research, consider and properly contextualize....
Research, consider and properly contextualize....
The problem is understood or resolved first with recognizing 'aion' and its adjectival forms as referring to an indefinite period of time, an 'age', 'epoch', 'dispensation'...and that the term does not mean 'eternal' or 'everlasting' as in 'never-ending'. Scholarly articles explaining this have been provided. Matt. 25:26 is the only verse in the bible btw that speaks of 'eternal punishment' (but this is a mistranslation of English words, or a
misrepresentation of a subtely peculiar word 'aionion').
Important to study:
Matt. 25:46 re-visited
The punishment ('kolasin') means "punishment, chastening, correction, to cut-off as in pruning a tree to bare more fruit." - this idea of cutting or lopping off as in pruning a tree to bare more fruit is significant, because it speaks of this 'pruning' as being 'corrective' or 'restorative' in nature,...so that a tree will bear more fruit,
nipping off the unproductive parts. This 'chastisment' then is only for a certain season, until its effect is fulfilled. "whom the Lord loves he chastises". A loving parent properly disciplines his children, but only for his own 'good'. Such is the way of love. Love saves. Love corrects. Love heals. From a universalist perspective,....all will eventually/ultimately be transformed by the fire of God's holy and purifying love. All shall be made alive in Christ. This view favors Universal salvation.
From a 'conditional immortality' view,...only those who repent and choose life qualify to be partakers of the divine nature, while some refuse life and make a final decision to embrace death (after all opportunity for salvation has been rejected) and therefore PERISH. Note that in my view,...if 'conditional immortality' and 'soul-death' is true,..it is only after all opportunities in space-time have been finally and completely rejected that a soul could reap the full harvest of iniquity...which is DEATH. This must be so if we believe that the wages of sin is 'death', and that Jesus the Christ somehow saves us from 'death' (from perishing). - this brings an even deeper sentiment towards Jesus love, in that he came to give us not only 'aoinion' (age-enduring) life, but 'immortality' (this being the very nature of 'God' himself), ...the divine nature. In this view we differentiate from 'aionion' life and immortality, because the former is just life that lasts during an age or many ages (age-enduring, or for any given dispensation)...while the latter term 'immortality' refers to the divine nature itself.
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The traditional-orthodox view of hell-fire and eternal punishment has souls being kept in a conscious-state of eternal agony (we can only guess about such a state though), an eternal condition of 'doom' with no hope of salvation, relief or restoration....EVER! It is so insane a condemnation or judgment as to be doubly damning in that it causes FURTHER pain and torment because these conscious beings have NO ESCAPE, no hope, no 'God' available to save them, no 'love' to reach out to them and relieve their torments. Such an enforced program of ECT is insidious...but this is more a 'criminal' act of the believers in such a program, than an actual 'God' of love, that could never impose such a system.
rstrats wrote:
If the punishment is torture for eternity, then the non-righteous will also have to go away into eternal life.
Our problems here again is with our definition of terms. Since 'aionion' refers to an age, age-duration, dispensation, an allotment of time,...it does not mean 'never ending'....so ”kolasin aionion" is an 'age-abiding' or 'age-continuing' punishment or chastisement (a lopping/pruning period),....NOT unending punishment or torment, because chastisement is only for a given period. So if we assume the proposition above,....the punishment does not refer to unending punishment....just punishment for an indefinite period of TIME. But assuming it means 'eternal punishment' (as assumed from its English inflection)...this does not mean the wicked are therefore enjoying "eternal life" because they are being kept conscious for eternity, since only those who are righteous or qualify for salvation enjoy the 'life' of 'God'. This 'aionion zoen' (age-continuing life) is given by 'God',....it is the effect of love (note that this love will chastise the others until they can enter into the ages of light and life as well, assuming that all shall be made alive in Christ, and God will be all in all.) -
and notice folks,....'all' means 'all'. There is none or nothing left out of 'all'.