Q&A 28 - LAKE OF FIRE

Q - You know how when a body is cremated, the oven is "fired up" really hot, and the body is thrown in until it returns to ashes (ashes to ashes, dust to dust, from ashes you were formed, to dust you shall return)? That's sort of how I think of the Lake of Fire, only SO hot that anything thrown into it is literally "destroyed". Rather be fearful of YHWH, who can destroy both body and soul in the Lake of Fire, like you had never been created/born. The absolute opposite of Eternal Life is Eternal Death. And they will never be remembered again, by God Himself or by us. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever? Well, the same was said of Sodom. Do you still see their smoke rising? Nope... you see nothing where it used to be. Hell/Hades? The grave, where the body will stay until called forth. See what I mean? My views have changed on the subject somewhat. I just couldn't imagine YHWH wanting someone to be literally tormented throughout eternity. Maybe I'm off on this, I'm not really sure... but when He talks about someone "perishing" and never being brought to mind again, I U-turned. :-) I know about Paradise. I believe that is probably where Enoch and Elijah are waiting, since Yeshua said no one has gone to Heaven except Himself ... but I don't think I've ever heard of the opposite of Paradise for those who are NOT in Christ. Have you? Outer darkness I've heard of. It's kind of confusing to me, and I dearly wish YHWH would've told us more about the Millennium and Eternity! I am SO fascinated with them!!! A - I can't say that exactly matches what I've seen, but my views don't match those of most of the church either. :) When Yeshua said to fear the one who could destroy body and soul in "hell", the Greek word for "hell" there is actually Gehenna. I cover my views on that pretty thoroughly in our article titled Bible Verses to Ponder. It is a three part article, and progressive in understanding. There is a whole section (maybe in part two?) regarding the Greek word Gehenna and the fiery abode it refers to. I see this Present Kingdom being the kingdom of the Holy Spirit, the Millennial Kingdom being the kingdom of the Son, and the Eternal Kingdom being the kingdom of the Father, then a transition to a heaven on the other side of a great divide into eternity. I believe each phase (age) or kingdom is a revolution in the patterned cycles of God. It sounds complex, but it really plays out beautifully. I'm not sure what our conscious state would be during transition after physical death, but as Believers, our spirit would definitely go back to God. Yeshua said to the thief on the cross that he (the thief) would be with him (Yeshua) that day in paradise, and Paul said to die was to be present with the Lord. I had always pictured both of these instances to be speaking of a conscious state of abiding with Him. I don't know that I can prove that though, so I'm surely willing to consider what you are saying there. That is how I learn and grow!! :) Regarding the Lake of Fire, neither do I don't believe it is an abode of flames where sinners will burn eternally. I also see complete annihilation of the body there. The spirit though may be another matter. It is energy, and I don't believe it is destructible. I explain all of that in the chapter titled Going Home (http://nethernuggets.com/book/going_home.html) in the Nether Nuggets online book (http://nethernuggets.com/book/index.html). It sums up many of my beliefs in a nutshell version. I do hope you will read both Paradox Alley and Going Home in our Nether Nuggets book. Each is an overview of the book, and the rest of the book just provides the details, kind of going full circle between the two overviews.