Narrow-Minded Christians

[Jason76]

God only reveals truth to those with an open heart to it. Look at the situation with the Pharisees. In fact, people narrow-minded simply look at verses and come to their own biased conclusion - because they are narrow-minded.

In my case, I think the verses regarding Christian Universalism, the idea that eternal hell is really some harsh purgatory anyone would want to avoid at all costs, are simply interpreted wrongly since the dawn of the Catholic age, continuing into Protestantism.

But what about the fact a huge number of people believe what I think is a lie?

Well, it doesn't really mean anything. I mean, Noah's family was very small in number compared to the whole Earth. In another example, most Christians are Catholic now, so wouldn't the large numbers mean the Papal doctrine is correct? No.

 

[harmonicat]

In my case, I think the verses regarding Christian Universalism, the idea that eternal hell is really some harsh purgatory anyone would want to avoid at all costs, are simply interpreted wrongly since the dawn of the Catholic age, continuing into Protestantism.

But what about the fact a huge number of people believe what I think is a lie?

NUMBER OF TIMES THE WORD "HELL" APPEARS IN THE BIBLE

OT NT Total

"Authorized" King James Version (KJV), based on corrupted texts
31 23 54
New King James Version (NKJV), still wrong about Sheol
19 13 32
New International Version (NIV) the best-selling English Bible
0 13 13
American Standard Version (ASV)
0 13 13
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
0 13 13
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) Southern Baptist
0 11 11
Revised Standard Version (RSV)
0 12 12
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
0 12 12
Revised English Bible (REB)
0 13 13
New Living Translation (NLT)
0 13 13
Amplified Bible (AMP)
0 13 13
Darby
0 12 12
New Century Version (NCV)
0 12 12
The word hell is not used in the translations below this line.
________________________________________________________________
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) Roman Catholic
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Scarlett's N.T. (1798)
The New Testament in Greek and English (Kneeland, 1823)
Young's Literal Translation (1891)
Twentieth Century New Testament (1900)
Rotherham's Emphasized Bible (reprinted, 1902)
Fenton's Holy Bible in Modern English (1903)
Weymouth's New Testament in Modern Speech (1903)
Jewish Publication Society Bible Old Testament (1917)
Panin's Numeric English New Testament (1914)
The People's New Covenant (Overbury, 1925)
Hanson's New Covenant (1884)
Western N.T. (1926)
NT of our Lord and Savior Anointed (Tomanek, 1958)
Concordant Literal NT (1983)
The N.T., A Translation (Clementson, 1938)
Emphatic Diaglott, Greek/English Interlinear (Wilson, 1942)
New American Bible (1970)
Restoration of Original Sacred Name Bible (1976)
Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, Old Testament (1985)
The New Testament, A New Translation (Greber, 1980)
Christian Bible (1991)
World English Bible (in progress)
Orthodox Jewish Brit Chadasha [NT Only]
Original Bible Project (Dr. James Tabor, still in translation)
Zondervan Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1975)**
Int. NASB-NIV Parallel N.T. in Greek and English (1993)**
A Critical Paraphrase of the N.T. by Vincent T. Roth (1960)
0 0 0

How many times is the word hell used in the bible

Every verse that gnashing is mentioned implies regret and destruction - annihilation. This is a difficult issue and why so many churches differ on the issue. The only way I see to reconcile it and make the bible become non-contradictory is to collectively take what it says - and it says THREE different things!

According to the Word there is...

1. Heaven for those who truly accept Christ;
2. Eternal damnation for the truly evil.
3. Annihilation (non-existence) for those who could care less - AKA those who are not outright evil OR true believers. IOW - whatever cannot be redeemed by God is ultimately put out of existence. Every scripture where eternal punishment or damnation is expressed denotes total annihilation.

 

[atpollard]

3. Annihilation (non-existence) for those who could care less - AKA those who are not outright evil OR true believers. IOW - whatever cannot be redeemed by God is ultimately put out of existence. Every scripture where eternal punishment or damnation is expressed denotes total annihilation.

What is “only a little evil”?

John 3 speaks of the dichotomy starting in John 3:16 and what immediately follows ...

unless one is “born from above”, they CANNOT enter the kingdom of God.
”whosoever believes” and only “whosoever believes” is saved.
belief and unbelief separate those for whom there is “NO JUDGEMENT” from those “ALREADY JUDGED”
The judgement is then described ... sinful men love evil and flee from Christ ... good men reveal their good works are manifest in God.

A person is either a Child (and part of the family) or a person is a rebel (and part of the dominion of evil).
There is no “half Child / half sinner” to occupy some middle ground. Christ will gather His Bride, the Children of God ... there is no place for any others except Gehenna (The burning trash heap).