Hell's Daily Tally

[NyawehNyoh]

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According to Jesus Christ's testimony as a credible expert witness in all matters pertaining to the afterlife; most of the world's responsible souls haven't been making it to safety when they cross over to the other side.

● Luke 13:22-24 . . And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

● Matt 7:13-14 . . Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

● Matt 22:14 . . For many are called, but few are chosen.

Webster's defines "many" as consisting of, or amounting to, a large but indefinite number; while "few" is defined as consisting of, or amounting to, only a small number; viz: relative to many then, few is the lesser. Bear with me while I flesh this out.

According to the US Census Bureau: as of Sep 03, 2018 @ 09:44 pm New York Time, the United States population was approximately 328,503,154 with a death rate of approximately one every 12 seconds; which translates to an average of 7,200 American deaths of all ages, races, and genders during just one 24-hour calendar day.

According to 2009 US Census data; roughly 27.3% of America's daily deaths are under the age of 19, which would indicate that approximately 5,234 of the current daily death rate per 24 hours are adults.

Giving the "many" the benefit of the doubt by limiting their maximum percentage to 51%, would indicate a minimum of 2,669 American adults transferring to perdition every day: which translates to roughly 111 per hour.

That's a very conservative estimate as Christ didn't really specify exact percentages to represent the quantities of "few" and "many". But just think: by the time CBS completes its half hour evening news report, a bare-bones minimum of 55 Americans become new arrivals in the fiery sector of the netherworld.

Using the ratio of 2,669 condemned souls per 328,506,154 population: computing the number of condemned souls worldwide from a currently estimated global population of 7,496,798,873 people, would suggest something like 60,909 new arrivals in the fiery sector of the netherworld every 24 hours; which translates to approximately 2,538 global arrivals every sixty minutes on the clock.

That rate would fill Yankee Stadium's 51,800 seats to capacity in roughly 20 hours and 24 minutes. In other words: if the world's daily number of condemned souls started filing into the stadium at 06:00 am this morning, then by 02:24 am tomorrow, the stadium would be full to capacity.

Christmas and New Year are even worse. A study done of 26 years of death certificates shows that coronary fatalities are, on average, 11.9% higher on those days than any other days of the year; with non-heart deaths spiking to 12.2% higher.

The hell I'm describing never closes; no, not at all: it's open for business 24/7/365 nonstop and indifferent to global warming, Wall Street crashes, massive layoffs, outsourcing, school shootings, terrorism, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, storm surges, nuclear meltdowns, air, water, and soil pollution, a mission to Mars, freeway pile-ups, brown-outs, threatened species, the price of oil, LGBT marriage, student debt, GMO, trade deficits, Obamacare, protests, North Korean nukes, Federal debt, factory recalls, overpopulation, desertification, genocides, revolutions, civil wars, acid rain, road rage, oil spills, conscious decoupling, ISIS, blood diamonds, fracking, twerking, and/or President Donald Trump's tweets.

If classical Christianity's perception of Jesus Christ and the hereafter is correct; then it's apparent that people never stop cascading into the netherworld's dungeons in an endless procession like the unbelievable millions of poultry broilers passing annually through Tyson chicken-processing plants on their way to Wendy's, McDonalds, Carl's Junior, Jack in the Box, Burger King, Chic-fil-A, KFC, A&W, Arby's, Dairy Queen, Taco Bell, et al; and to supermarkets and restaurants all over the USA and wherever else Tyson vends its meats. The slaughtering and the butchering never stop.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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Through me; the way to the eternal city.
Through me; the way to eternal sadness.
Through me; the way to lost people.

Justice moved my supreme maker:
I was shaped by divine power,
By highest wisdom, and by primal love.

Before me, nothing was created
That is not eternal: and eternally I endure.
Abandon all hope, you that enter here.

The Divine Comedy
by Dante Alighieri
Inferno: canto 3, v.1-9

Dante's poetic epic is called a comedy because it has a happy ending as opposed to a tragedy; at least for Dante anyway. The souls he and Virgil pass along the way through the Inferno portion of Dante's odyssey will never, nor anon, have a happy ending; hence the sign above the entrance to his netherworld: "Abandon all hope, you that enter here."

Webster's defines "despair' as: to no longer have any hope or belief that a situation will improve or change. Well; down in the Inferno section of Dante's concept, despair is a way of life.

One of the hardest concepts to get across is the despair that people in hell must feel in knowing that their situation is a sealed fate with no hope of relief. Dante's odyssey, though of course fiction, is useful for that purpose; especially when it's accompanied by illustrations painted by Gustave Doré.

Jesus warned people that they'd be better off facing eternity with their hands and their feet amputated, and their eyes gouged out, then to end up in a hell he called geena; a much worse place than haides. So in my estimation, Dante's descriptions, and Gustave's paintings, though disturbing enough in themselves, aren't sufficient to impress just how terrible the ultimate hell really is.

TALLY UPDATE: 2 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 121,818 new arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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People have been filtering into perdition not only since the time of Christ, but since before the Step Pyramid of Djoser, and even before the Flood. I won't speculate how many years that might be, but h.sapiens is thought by some to have achieved full behavioral modernity something like 50,000 years ago. (There's new findings suggesting that human existence goes as far back as 150-300,000 years) Anyway; whether that extends clear on back to Adam and Eve I have no clue; but just think: if it does, then Cain and others from his era have been down in the netherworld all this time.

It's difficult for the human mind to appreciate 50,000 years let alone 300,000. I've been on the Earth for just 74, and I've noticed that my childhood is so far in the past to me now as to seem more like a fantasy than a memory. But you know; when you're talking about eternity, 50,000 years isn't even a drop in the bucket. If it were a drop in the bucket, it would be a bucket with no bottom; which is roughly akin to the futility of a gnat attempting to drink up the Atlantic ocean.

But just think: time stands still in hell: it's for the now; it's an existence. People who arrived there yesterday didn't begin doing time in jail like Lindsay Lohan expecting to get out some day; nor is perdition a temporary tour of duty like shipping out to Afghanistan. No, people in hell are in it as perpetual residents; they're in a rut.

They go year, after year, after year, after year, with no relief from the discomfort: no vacations, no recreation, no reading materials, and no hobbies-- there's absolutely nothing to do but reminisce. The mental atrophy, and the boredom that must result from that kind of mindless existence is beyond estimation.

In life, everybody enjoys God's blessings; even the really bad people. We're all breathing fresh air, basking in sunshine, drinking cool water, savoring tasty foods, listening to birds chirp, star gazing at night, throwing snow balls at each other in winter, river rafting, fishing, snow skiing, tending gardens, pruning shrubs, greeting friends during the holidays, spending days with grandkids; and all that sort of thing. In the Bible's hell, there are no blessings of any kind at all: only perpetual sadness, vexation, despair, and want.

In hell's unruly society; it's reasonable to expect quarrels, bickering, hard feelings, vendettas, rivalry, selfishness, insensitivity, irritation, aggravation, and ugly words exchanged between people. Is there really any good reason to be courteous and/or respect your fellow man's human rights in the Bible's hell; or to be kind, forgiving, affable, genial, courteous, cordial, charitable, altruistic, tolerant, generous, and patient? I was once discussing the netherworld with a co-worker and he remarked: "Hell won't be so bad; I'll have plenty of friends down there". Yes, he probably will have lots of friends in hell; but I really don't think he should count on them being friendly.

And the din: think of the volume of noise down there with all the wailing and sobbing, and the screams, shrieks, yelps, howls, and gnashing teeth. I can only imagine how annoying it must be in hell with its thousands and millions of people making all that kind of racket.

But just imagine bringing with you a craving for tobacco with none available. Or longing for a cocktail with no liquor in sight. A desire for music, with no way to produce it. A skill for writing, with no pen and paper. Yearning for a walk out in nature, with no world to do it in.

People in hell will never again smell a sea breeze, sit in the shade of a tree, take deep breaths of mountain-fresh air, play at sports, hear a bird chirp, see a sunset, watch a lunar eclipse, jog in the park, strum a guitar, enjoy a Christmas dinner with loved ones; nor make little pigs of themselves gobbling barbecued spare ribs and corn on the 4th of July.

Sports and recreation are gone: no more World Series, no more Super Bowl, no more Olympics, no more Las Vegas, no more Indian casinos, no more lottery, no more Lego World, no more Sea World, no more NASCAR, no more golf, no more surfing, et al.

No baths, no showers, no sleep, no TV, no radio, no iPods, no computers, no Twitter, no texting, no FaceBook, no Instagram, no YouTube, no MySpace, no internet, no clean sheets, no breakfast, no lunch, and no dinner. No snacks, no gum, no candy, no flowers, no parks, no rivers, no snow, no seasons, no picnics, no malls, no fast food, no trades, no careers, no trendy fashions, no jewelry, no cosmetics, no concerts, no operas, and no hobbies; absolutely nothing of this world that brings people the pleasures and the satisfactions of just being alive.

TALLY UPDATE: 4 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 243,636 new arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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● Jonah 1:17 . . Jonah was in the belly of a fish for three days and three nights

Q: Was Jonah alive in the fish?

A: Yes. (Jonah 2:1)

Q: The whole time?

A: No.

At some point in his nautical adventure Jonah went to a place called sheol (Jonah 2:2) which he sited at the bottoms of the mountains. (Jonah 2:6)

Well; the bottoms of the mountains aren't located in the tummies of fish, no; they're located down deep in the earth. So, the only way that Jonah could possibly be at the bottoms of the mountains while in the belly of a fish at the same time was for the man and his body to part company and go their separate ways.

Just before being cast ashore, Jonah prayed thus:

● Jonah 2:6 . .To the bottoms of the mountains I went down. As for the earth, its bars were upon me for time indefinite. But out of the pit you proceeded to bring up my life, O Jehovah my God.

The Hebrew word for "pit" in that verse is the very same word for pit in Ps 16:8-10; which Acts 2:25-31 verifies is speaking of putrefaction. In other words: Jonah 2:6 tells of Jonah's resurrection. (There's reason to believe that Jonah was already dead from drowning in the sea's depths before the fish showed up to swallow him.)

Christ underwent the very same afterlife experience as Jonah's. The only real difference between the two was that Christ's grave was in a rock while Jonah's grave was in a fish.

The key points in their experiences are that both were dead, both went to the bottoms of the mountains while their corpse reposed in a grave, and both were resurrected within three days and three nights. (Matt 12:40)

Q: What does the story of Jonah have to do with hell?

A: It's widely believed that when people die they cease to exist. Well; were that belief a fact; then Jesus would've ceased to exist when he passed away on the cross. As a result: he would not have been resurrected back to life, instead, Jesus would've been created back to life. Jonah's experience proves that Jesus continued to exist out of body when he pass away; and if he and Jonah did, then everyone else does too.

TALLY UPDATE: 6 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 365,454 new arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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● Ps 146:3-4 . . Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.

Some people honestly believe the passage above teaches that people cease to exist when they pass away; but were their belief true, then Christ would've ceased to exist when he passed away on the cross and in order to restore the Lord's body back to life, it would've necessary to create him back to existence. No; I'm pretty sure it's saying something very different. It's not talking about consciousness. Here's a much better way to say it.

"When their breathing stops, they return to the earth, and in a moment all their plans come to an end."

Consider all those people who perished in the World Trade Center, in the Japan and Indonesia tsunamis, and the Haiti earthquake. None of them woke that day planning on it being their last on earth. No, on the contrary; they had people to see, places to go, and things to do: but before the day ended; whatever was on their minds lost its importance-- their priorities went right out the window and became no more significant than green cheese on the moon.

All their plans, their dreams, their schedules, their appointments, their schemes, their problems, their aspirations, and their loves went right down the tubes as they were suddenly confronted with a whole new reality to cope with.

While preparing for a new world tour, Michael Jackson died in his sleep. As a result; his tour wrapped on the spot.

When my eldest nephew was paroled from prison; he quit drinking, and began going to college with the goal towards becoming a counselor. For 2½ years all went well. His parole officer was happy, and my nephew was on track and getting good grades. His future looked assured. And then on the morning of Sept 25, 2015, he dropped dead to the floor of natural causes. As a result; his college education, and his hope to become a counselor, dropped dead to the floor right with him.

TALLY UPDATE: 8 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 487,272 new arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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Here in America, even the worst among the worst have the right to a lawyer, and if they can't afford one, the system will appoint a public defender for them.

But in hell; people are abandoned. For example: the names of Abraham and Lazarus are given in Luke 16:19-31, but the rich man's name isn't given. He's a forgotten man; but not me.

● Rom 8:33-34 . . Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus who died? More than that, who was raised to life; who is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us?

I will not stand before God alone; but that nameless rich man? He will.

TALLY UPDATE: 10 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 609,090 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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Creeping up the blind side, shinning up the wall,
stealing through the dark of the night.
Climbing through a window, stepping to the floor
checking to the left and the right.
Picking up the pieces, putting them away;
something doesn't feel quite right.

Help me someone, let me out of here.
Then out of the dark was suddenly heard:
Welcome to the Home by the Sea

Coming out the woodwork, through the open door,
pushing from above and below.
Shadows with no substance, in the shape of men;
round and down and sideways they go.
Adrift without direction, eyes that hold despair
then as one they sigh and they moan:

Help us someone, let us out of here.
Living here so long undisturbed,
dreaming of the time we were free
so many years ago
before the time when we first heard:
Welcome to the Home by the Sea

Sit down . . Sit down
As we relive our lives in what we tell you

Images of sorrow, pictures of delight
things that go to make up a life.
Endless days of summer, longer nights of gloom
waiting for the morning light.
Scenes of unimportance, photos in a frame
things that go to make up a life.

Sit down . . Sit down
Cause you won't get away,
no; with us you will stay
for the rest of your days.
So sit down as we relive our lives in what we tell you.
Let us relive our lives in what we tell you.

Home By The Sea
Genesis, 1983
Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford

The lyrics of that song are useful for depicting how one of the few thing that some people have to do down in the netherworld to help pass the time is tell each other about their previous lives. There is, of course, nothing to tell about their lives down there since the colloquialism "get a life" is a non sequitur in that place. Nobody has a life; nor any hope of getting one.

TALLY UPDATE: 12 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 730,908 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[Amo]

Good thing the immortality of the soul is a lie, the first lie told to humanity in fact by the evil one himself. If it were true, God would of course be far more evil than the devil himself, having created countless billions for no other purpose than to burn them throughout the endless ages of eternity. The dead are asleep as scripture plainly states from one end to the other, and the wicked will perish as it plainly states as well.


Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[NyawehNyoh]

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Saturday, June 27, 2010, a 6-month-old baby girl was killed and her mother seriously injured when the pair were struck by a falling tree branch in New York City's Central Park Zoo. The girl's father was taking their picture near the sea lion exhibit when a branch above them suddenly snapped off and fell.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007; nineteen year-old Ramiro Gonzalez was returning home to Nyssa Oregon from a week-end honeymoon in northern California with his bride Idalia asleep in the back seat when their 1997 Pontiac Grand Am hit a cow twenty miles east of Burns. The Pontiac went off the road, through a fence, and burst into flames. Idalia escaped with only minor injuries, but Ramiro died at the Ste. Charles Medical Center in Bend the very next day.

Ramiro and his bride didn't get to live in a home of their own for even one single minute of their marriage-- never had a baby, never joined the PTA, never saved for college, never went to ballet lessons, nor to soccer or little league, never went on family picnics, never took home movies and photos at Christmas, Easter, or birthdays, never went to the beach and built sand castles --no, their entire future, and all their dreams of family life, were shattered in an instant by a lame-brained bovine; and Ramiro wasn't even 20 years old yet. He could've lived another fifty years.

March 20, 2008; fifty-seven year old Judy Kay Zagorski, of Pigeon, Michigan, was sitting in the front seat of her father's boat going 25 knots on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key in Florida, when a Spotted Eagle Ray, with a wingspan of 5 to 6 feet; leaped up out of the water-- for who knows what reason --and collided with Zagorski, knocking her backwards onto the deck of the boat. She died from the impact. Judy's sister, standing next to her, wasn't injured.

On a November morning in 1998, Alan Pakula climbed into his Volvo station wagon and began the 100-mile drive from Manhattan to his Long Island house. The acclaimed movie director of Sophie's Choice, All The President's Men, and The Pelican Brief, had made that trip countless times with no incident.

As the 70 year-old Pakula neared exit 49 on the Long Island Expressway just before noon, the tires of a vehicle ahead of him flipped a 7-foot piece of steel rod into the air. Within seconds, the rod shot through Pakula's windshield, smashing into his forehead, killing him almost instantly.

Death often comes when people least expect it. As a rule, they don't usually get up in the morning planning it to be their last day on earth. The 169,752 killed, and 127,294 listed as missing in more than eleven countries by the tsunami of 2004, were taken by surprise, and given no warning it was to be their last day on earth.

The 2,829 people who perished in a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and the 189 who died in the Pentagon, didn't go in to work expecting their lives to end before lunch that day. No, people's lives often end while they still have obligations and commitments, aspirations, things to do, places to go, and people to see; when a car accident, train wreck, act of nature, plane crash, crime, heart attack, or stroke puts an abrupt end to every plan they ever made.

Tuesday, Jan 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake struck Port au Prince Haiti right out of the blue subsequently causing the loss of more than 200,000 lives. A similar act of nature on March 11, 2011, left 25,000 dead and/or missing in Japan.

Okeechobee woman Dawn Johnston, 38, was killed Wednesday June 30, 2010 after part of a portable toilet crashed through her car's windshield. Dawn was driving south on SR 15 shortly after 11 a.m. when two portable toilets fell from the trailer of a pickup truck traveling north,. The portable toilets shattered when they hit the road, and a piece of one of them crashed through the woman's windshield, striking her. Johnston's car then veered off the road and collided with a tree.

A rain-saturated hillside above the Stillaguamish River on the outskirts of the rural town of Oso in the State of Washington gave way March 22, 2014 leaving behind a current death toll of 41 souls. The landslide happened to suddenly and so rapidly that nobody saw it coming and/or had the slightest chance of getting out of the way. Listed among the dead and missing was a four-month old infant.

Freak incidents like those listed above can happen to anybody in the form of a stray bullet from a drive-by, lightening strike, gas explosion, choking on a piece of meat, electrocution, earthquake, a drunk driver, a fall in the bath tub; bricks dropped from an overpass, a school shooting, or any number of out-of-the-blue surprises.

Because of the uncertainty of tomorrow, people need to start thinking about the afterlife today, while they have the chance; rather than risk being caught off guard by sudden death when there will be no time to think; and they find themselves suddenly thrust into the unseen world quite by surprise.

● Ecc 9:12 . . No man knows when his hour will come: as fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

TALLY UPDATE: 14 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 852,726 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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According to Matt 10:28, the body and the soul are perishable. However; though the body is perishable by any means, the soul is perishable only by divine means; i.e. the deaths of body and soul aren't necessarily simultaneous, viz: the soul lives on until such a time as God decides to give it either a thumb up or a thumb down.

TALLY UPDATE: 16 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 974,544 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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● Mark 9:47-48 . . If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It is better to enter the kingdom of God half blind than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell; where the worm never dies and the fire never goes out.

The "hell" in that passage is a different Greek word than the "hell" of Luke 16:19-31. That one is haides (hah'-dace) which is an afterlife sphere where all the dead go; both the good dead and the bad dead regardless of age, race, color, gender or religious preference. This word here in Mark is geena (gheh'-en-nah) which is where only the bad dead will end up some day: likely the lake of brimstone depicted at Rev 20:11-15

Anyway; Christ's instructions didn't reveal anything new. He simply reiterated information that had already been released by an Old Testament prophet roughly 700 years before.

● Isa 66:22-24 . . From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me-- speaks the Lord. And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against Me: their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.

That rather ghastly scene depicts a sort of tourist attraction similar to the La Brea Tar Pits museum in Los Angeles where the remains of prehistoric creatures, excavated from ancient asphalt deposits, are on display.

A worm that thrives in flame is pretty amazing, but not unreasonable. The 4-inch Pompeii worm lives in sea water temperatures of 176° Fahrenheit; hot enough to kill salmonella and sanitize an egg. So I guess if God could create a worm like the Pompeii, it shouldn't be too difficult for Him to create worms that like it even warmer.

Q: The human body is organic. So then, how can it survive in flame as perpetual nourishment for those worms?

A: The laws of nature are not absolute. They were created in the first chapter of Genesis to control the behavior of created matter, and as such are easily manipulated by the one who designed them.

For example: fire totally incinerated the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah but left unscathed a desert shrub that Moses encountered in the Sinai outback while tending his father-in-law's sheep. (Ex 3:1-3)

Compare Dan 3:8-27 where a blistering hot fire didn't even so much as singe the clothing of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego while slaying the guards that threw them in the furnace.

Q: Won't the worms eventually exhaust their food supply?

A: There are incidents in the Bible where small amounts of food stuffs were miraculously multiplied. One example is 1Kgs 17:8-16 where a tiny bit of flour and oil nourished Elijah and a widow woman, and her son, for a good many days during a time of prolonged drought.

Another incident is at 2Kgs 4:1-7 where a certain widow's husband died and left her deeply in debt. God multiplied her last pot of oil sufficiently to sell enough to pay off her debts, thereby saving her two sons from slavery.

No; I'm pretty sure those worms won't need to worry about running out of human remains with which to sustain themselves.

TALLY UPDATE: 18 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 1,096,362 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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● Ecc 1:2-4 . . Meaningless! Futile! complains the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. What does a man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.

The earth is dumber than a spatula; yet easily outlives its human potentate whose IQ is infinitely greater. Take for example the great granite monuments in Yosemite Valley. Tourists to the valley come, and tourists to the valley go; and one day the grim reaper catches up with those tourists and they're gone; yet Yosemite's great stones abide decade after decade; century after century.

Most children born this day will be dead in 100 years; and Yosemite won't even notice. Though a child born today may be intelligent enough to eventually understand quantum mechanics and play classical guitar like Andrés Segovia; yet Yosemite's sentinels-- stupid, mute, and uneducated --will easily outlast it.

● Ecc 2:15-16 . . I thought in my heart: The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being intelligent? I said in my heart: This is meaningless. For the intelligent man, like the fool, will not be long remembered-- in days to come both will be forgotten. Like the fool, the intelligent man too must die.

TALLY UPDATE: 20 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 1,218,180 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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Judas goats are trained for use in slaughterhouses and herd control. In stockyards, they lead sheep to slaughter; and are also used to lead other animals to specific pens and on to trucks. The term is a reference to the biblical traitor Judas Iscariot.

The phrase has also been used to describe goats utilized to locate feral goats targeted for eradication. They're usually outfitted with a transmitter, painted in red and then released. The goats then locate the remaining herds of feral goats, allowing hunters with tracking devices to find and exterminate them. The red paint marks the goat with the transmitter so the hunters know which one not to shoot.

You know what can be even worse than going to hell? Your own children following you there: and they trusted you.

Here's a sort of cute story I heard once. I don't know if it's true but I guess it's probable.

A farmer went out to the barn in the dead of night after a snowfall to sneak a pull from his liquor bottle. Just as he got to the barn door he heard something behind him. Turning, the farmer recognized his little boy coming towards him. In amazement he asked the little guy how he ever managed to find his way out to the barn in the dark. His son replied: It was easy; I walked in your footprints.

One can only imagine the anguish that parents in the netherworld must feel knowing that they inadvertently raised their children in an ideology that led them down the road to hell and all the while sincerely believing themselves doing the right thing. In other words: they actually Judas-goated their children to follow mom and dad down there. For some families, the only thing they have to look forward to in the afterlife is a sad reunion in fire and despair.

TALLY UPDATE: 22 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 1,339,998 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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● Luke 16:25 . . Abraham said: Son, remember

I should think that one of the negative aspects of hell is memory. How people down there retain their memories sans the brain cells they left behind with their corpse, I don't know; but they do, just as the rich man in that story is able to experience thirst sans a flesh and blood tongue.

The older one gets, the more memories they accumulate, and many of those memories haunt us with terrible regret. However, people in hell not only have to cope with their bad memories, but also the good ones too, and I should think it's remembering the good things they enjoyed in life that makes their situation only worse in the heat.

If everybody was born and raised in hell; and never once ventured out; that would be the only life they've ever known, so they wouldn't have a clue what it's like to really live. For them the old maxim "Ignorance is bliss" would certainly hold true.

TALLY UPDATE: 24 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 1,461,816 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[Ginger Rella]

Am I there yet?

Reading your posts it seems I may be.

Do I have a choice?

Reading your posts it seems I do not.

[NyawehNyoh]

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● Gen 6:5 . . God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

The thoughts of the heart are somewhat different than the thoughts that go through the mind; and are often blocked out, viz: "repressed"; defined as a mental process by which distressing thoughts, memories, or impulses that may give rise to anxiety are excluded from consciousness and left to operate in the unconscious, i.e. the subconscious which, in Freud's opinion, is a repository for socially unacceptable ideas, wishes or desires, traumatic memories, and painful emotions.

● Matt 15:19 . . Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts

So then, it's not how your mind works that defines you, no, it's how your heart works that really defines you; and a man's heart is easily capable of hoodwinking his own consciousness.

● Jer 17:9 . .The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

God is able to peer into the heart's contents. That means He will be confronting people with things about themselves that they suppressed and kept under wraps all their lives; and that's why I sometimes say only a fool would take their chances with God. They have no clue the extent of the psychological tsunami they're walking into.

TALLY UPDATE: 26 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 1,583,634 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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There was a time when everyone went to the netherworld when they passed away: Jesus too because when he passed away on the cross; Jesus didn't go up, rather, he went down. (Matt 12:40, John 20:17, Acts 7:25-31).

When we take into consideration everybody who ever lived and died on this planet beginning with Adam until the day when people started going to heaven; then we're talking about a very large number of people. How did they all fit in the netherworld without overcrowding?

Well; it's evident that people exist in the afterlife as spirits. (Heb 12:22-23, 1Pet 3:18-20).

The feral man of Mark 5:1-13 and Luke 8:26-33 was possessed by a community of evil spirits who labeled themselves Legion. Webster's defines a legion as the principal unit of the Roman army comprising 3,000 to 6,000 foot soldiers with cavalry.

The legion of spirits that Christ exorcised from the man went out and possessed a herd of about 2,000 swine. That's a pretty good example of how spirits take up no room in the physical world; nor do they crowd each other. All 3,000-6,000 of those spirits managed to fit inside the bodily cargo area of just that one man.

That being the case, then the netherworld need not be a void. People can exist down there in solid rock because spirits don't need space, they just need a place.

NOTE: Any attempt to drill down to the heart of the Earth in search of the netherworld would be futile because it isn't a physical world, rather, it's a spirit world. Drilling could, and would, pass right through the very center of the netherworld and still not find it.

TALLY UPDATE: 28 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 1,705,452 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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OBJECTION: Classical Christianity's hell doesn't make sense that a loving God would torment people in a fiery prison forever and ever.

RESPONSE: The human common sense is produced by a 3-pound lump of flabby organic tissue; and not even all three of those pounds are devoted to cognitive processes. On top of that, those three pounds are 60% fat. That fatty, flabby, organic tissue can alter one's personality with little more than an aneurism or a blow to the head.

Just how sensible can a fatty, flabby, organic sense really be compared to the sense of a supernatural being with enough intelligence to invent, design, and construct a fully functioning cosmos with all of its forms of life, matter, and energy? A fatty, flabby, organic sense isn't even a dunce in comparison: it's a sub dunce; if even that.

● 1Cor 3:20 . .The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are empty.

Well; that's certainly not a very flattering evaluation. It's as much as saying that, in God's opinion, the smartest among humanity basically consists of air heads; and if that's His evaluation of the best and brightest, then where does God rank those of us with an average IQ?

TALLY UPDATE: 30 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 1,827,270 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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The human body is fragile; so much so that even something as thin as the air can snuff it out.

● Isa 40:6-7 . . All flesh is grass, and all its grace is like the blossom of the field. The grass shall dry out, the blossom shall wilt, for a wind from the Lord has blown upon it; behold the people is grass.

According to a report released on March 25, 2014 by the World Health Organization; air pollution kills, on average, seven million people per annum; and is linked to one in eight deaths (12.5%) world-wide. Think of it. That percentage represents approximately 940.6 million deaths linked to air pollution per annum out of a currently estimated 7.52+ billion people.

According to a report by the public health agency of the United Nations; an estimated 4.3 million people in developing countries died in 2012 as a result of indoor air pollution, mostly from cooking inside with coal or wood stoves.

Air pollution is so lethal because it exacerbates other conditions like cardio vascular diseases, cancer, and respiratory illnesses. Were people with those conditions permitted to breathe clean air free of hazardous chemicals and toxic particulates, they would live longer; thus the arrival times of many tagged for the infernal regions would be delayed so they could enjoy life a bit longer before beginning an eternity of perpetual anguish.

TALLY UPDATE: 32 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 1,949,088 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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The wrath of God is interesting. For example:

● Isa 13:9 . . Behold, the day of Christ comes-- cruel; with both wrath and fierce anger

The Hebrew word for "wrath" in that statement is 'ebrah (eb-raw') which indicates an outburst of passion. In other words: the wrath of God won't be weeping big wet crocodile tears while it's slamming the dead at the Great White Throne event depicted at Rev 20:11-15; no, they will be terminated with extreme prejudice; viz: their judgment will be administered with choler. (cf. Isa 63:1-6, Rev 19:15)

Webster's defines "fierce" as a behavior exhibited by humans and animals that inspires terror because of the wild and menacing aspect of fury in attack. Ferocity is an aspect commonly seen among roaring, snarling lions savagely attacking prey. There's neither sportsmanship nor sympathy in ferocity; only sheer terror, brutality, and blood lust.

"cruel" is defined as: disposed to inflict pain or suffering; viz: devoid of humane feelings

● Heb 10:27 . . A certain fearful expectation of . . . fiery indignation

"fiery indignation" is quite a bit more severe than ordinary indignation. It speaks of someone who is seriously ticked off; and so angry that they're actually red in the face.

There are people out there in pews all around the world who have been so coddled by sappy versions of Christianity that they have no concept of the magnitude of the lethal tsunami of rage and violence coming their way to get them.

Another interesting aspect of the wrath of God is the person appointed to administer it-- none other than the sweet little baby away in a manger.

● John 5:22-23 . .The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

● Acts 17:31 . . For God has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.

● Rev 19:15 . . He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

TALLY UPDATE: 34 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 2,070,906 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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● 2Thes 2:11-12 . . God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

In other words: there's coming a time when God's patience will reach its reasonable limits, and He will purposely, willfully, and deliberately make sure that a certain category of people have no chance whatsoever to be spared the wrath of God.

Back when Noah was preparing the ark, no doubt his neighbors all mocked and poked fun at him like one of those deranged souls that go around with a sandwich board that reads: Repent; The End Is Near! But when the rain started, I bet those very same neighbors panicked and tried to get Noah to open up and let them in. But even had Noah wanted to; he couldn't. The hatch of the ark was sealed from the outside: and God was the only one on earth who could open it-- He chose not to.

● Rev 1:18 . . I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

● Rev 3:7 . .These are the words of him who is holy and true: who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

TALLY UPDATE: 36 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 2,192,724 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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● Acts 2:31a . . his soul was not left in hell

The Greek word for "hell" in that verse is haides (hah'-dace) which essentially means unseen. It refers to an afterlife situation irrespective of one's goodness or badness and regardless of age, race, religion, or gender.

Classical haides is divided into sections where the souls of the dead are assigned in accordance with the quality of their pre-death existence. The worst section is a deep abyss called Tartarus; which is utilized in the New Testament at 2Pet 2:4.

According to Luke 23:13, Jesus' soul vacationed in the better section of haides.

● Acts 2:31 . . neither his flesh did see corruption.

Jesus' corpse was packed in spices but to my knowledge, not embalmed. Had it been allowed to remain deceased longer than three days, decay would've set in. (John 11:39.

TALLY UPDATE: 38 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 2,314,542 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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A forgiven sinner is still sinful, and they'll go right on sinning same as before they were forgiven unless they undergo a radical re-design because human nature is intrinsically bad.

● Gen 6:5 . .Yhvh saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

● Gen 8:21 . . Man's thoughts and actions are bent toward evil from childhood.

● Jer 13:23 . . Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.

● Eph 2:3 . .We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

"You should not be surprised at my saying: you must be born again." (John 3:7)

Well; in light of the passages above, it's certainly no surprise to me that people need to be brought to life all over again from scratch; and I'm not talking about reincarnation; no, I'm talking about an upgrade to the very core of their being so that they would, by nature, be the children of heaven rather than the children of hell.

TALLY UPDATE: 40 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 2,436,360 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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Probably the first thing that most of us think of when we hear the word "hell" is everlasting torture. But the reservoir of burning sulfur depicted at Rev 20:10-15 is actually not so much a rack as it is a gallows. The reservoir is primarily an instrument for carrying out death sentences rather than life sentences.

A death sentence-- although a sentence with lasting effects --isn't perpetual; it's momentary. In other words: criminals are subjected to execution only long enough to end their lives. The primary reason we call the second death "eternal" is because it's permanent; viz: according to Dan 12:2 and John 5:28-29 there's only one resurrection allotted per person. Therefore nobody is coming back from the second death because they will have used up their one resurrection in order to face justice at the Great White Throne event.

NOTE: People walk away alive from the fire spoken of at 1Cor 3:5-15. Nobody walks away alive from the fire spoken of at Rev 20:10-15.

TALLY UPDATE: 42 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 2,558,178 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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Human existence on earth is a composite of body, soul, and spirit. (Gen 2:7, 1Thes 5:23, Heb 4:12)

The body and the soul are readily destroyed by means of hell fire (Matt 10:28) but I have yet to come across a passage in the Bible teaching that the spirit is destroyed by that means; or by any means for that matter.

In what condition people will exist in the lake of brimstone depicted at Rev 20:11-15 minus a human body and a human soul I don't know. It might be that the human spirit is transferrable. What if God is able to move people's spirit around at will and attach it to a body and soul other than a human body and soul; say, the body and soul of a demonic being? The very thought of such a possibility is disturbing.

TALLY UPDATE: 44 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 2,679,996 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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COMMON ATTITUDE: I'm special; God understands me. Although He probably may not let others off; I'm sure God will make an exception for me because I'm not like other people; I'm different.

RESPONSE: Unfortunately, the Bible's God can't do that. If He were to make exceptions, God would be neither equitable, nor honest-- and worse, it would go against His grain, compromise His integrity, sin against His conscience; and cause Him to lose the world's respect. No, God doesn't grade on a curve: everyone is treated equally in God's courtroom. In a system of divine absolutes; there is neither a curve nor an exception: nobody gets any favors, nobody is special, and nobody is a protected species.

● Deut 10:17 . . Yhvh shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

● Acts 10:34 . .Then Peter began to speak: I now realize how true it is that God is impartial.

● Rom 2:5-11 . . For there is coming a day of judgment when God, the just judge of all the world, will judge all people according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who persist in doing what is good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers.

. . . But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth; and practice evil deeds. There will be anguish and calamity for everyone who practices evil-- for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all practice good --for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.

TALLY UPDATE: 46 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 2,801,814 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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Q: Doesn't the Bible say that God's mercy endures forever as per Ps 100:5, Ps 106:1, Ps 107:1, and Ps 118:1, et al?

A: God's mercy is always available; but His good sense knows when to say when. Examples of that are the people swept away by the hand of God in the Flood, and those burned to death by the hand of God in Sodom and Gomorrah; and the firstborn of man and beast slain by the hand of God on Passover night in Egypt.

It's possible to push God too far. For example:

● Hos 4:17 . . Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.

In other words: God instructed the prophet Hosea not to bother preaching in Ephraim. They were too far gone.

TALLY UPDATE: 48 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 2,923,632 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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● Jonah 4:9-11 . . God said to Jonah: Do you have a right to be angry about the vine? I do; he said. I am angry enough to die. But the Lord said: You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?

Had not the adults of Nineveh changed their ways from Jonah's preaching, 120,000 small children would have died through no fault of their own. They would have been collateral damage due to their parents' decadence.

NOTE: Though the city was spared in Jonah's day, a hundred years later in Nahum's day it was destroyed by means of war and conquest; whereby a whole new generation of pre-schoolers died before their time.

Just exactly how God is able to engineer such things is a bit of a mystery; but does make one wonder where else this terrifying work of His goes on. Did God somehow have a hand in the American civil war, and the first and second world wars, and the Holocaust, and in Korea and Vietnam, and in the so-called Arab Spring, and in the pandemics, the ethnic cleansings, ISIS, the housing bubble, and the genocides of the last century, and in natural events like mighty earthquakes, tsunamis, and super storms? I really have to wonder sometimes because Jonah's God is still out there somewhere; and so-called acts of God are still taking young lives.

TALLY UPDATE: 50 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 3,045,450 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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The ordeal that Christ endured on the cross was so brief that it looks like child's play in comparison to the misery of souls in hell. His suffering barely lasted six hours (Mark 15:25, Matt 27:46-50) not even one whole day. People in hell go day, after day, after day, after day, after day, infinitum.

Q: But if Christ suffered only six hours, how can he possibly atone for people facing an eternity in hell?

A: It wasn't his torture that atoned for humanity's sins; it was the loss of his life that did the trick. Christ didn't have to go to the flames himself in order to rescue people from that terrible fate; no, he only had to die in accordance with the law of sin and death.

● Rom 6:23 . .The wages of sin is death

Individual human lives are of such low value that the most that anybody could hope to die for is just one sin. In most cases; that leaves a pretty large balance to atone for. In contrast; the value of the life of God's son is such that his death can atone for an infinite number of everybody's sins.

● 1Pet 1:18-20 . . For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

Peter called the blood of Christ two things: a ransom and precious, meaning it's like rare jewels and metals; very pricey. Nobody else's life is nearly as valuable as Christ's life. Peter would never call regular human life rare and pricey. Ordinary human lives are wholesale: they're cheap as the grass (Isa 40:6-7, 1Pet 1:24) just a dime a dozen and quite useless for redemption purposes.

Christ's life is the only life God will accept for multiple sins: and the alternative is infinite punishment because no amount of limited punishment can ever equal the value of Christ's blood because not only is a life like Christ's rare, but his is the only one like it in existence. (cf. Rom 3:9-20, Heb 4:15, 1Pet 2:22, 1John 3:9)

Serial sinners are up a creek with no paddle because they have but two lives to forfeit for sin-- the life they have now, and the one they'll have later at their resurrection; but unfortunately, one of those lives is ear-marked for Adam's sin so they can't use it to atone for any of their own sins. And when they're resurrected to stand trial at the Great White Throne event depicted at Rev 20:11-15; that'll be their last life because according to Dan 12:2 and John 5:28-29 there's only one resurrection allotted per person. And since the Bible's ratio is one life per one sin, then serial sinners will come up short and never have sufficient lives to atone for a lifetime's accumulation of sins.

The dungeons of hell can be compared to a debtor's prison.

● Matt 5:25-26 . .Come to terms quickly with your adversary before it is too late and you are dragged into court, handed over to an officer, and thrown in jail. I assure you that you won't be free again until you have paid the last penny.

The reason that hell is a debtor's prison is because the only payment for one's sins that God will accept is death. Well; it's death for each sin. So if somebody has say, 200 sins to answer for, they'll only be able to pay for one because according to Dan 12:2 & John 5:28-29 there is but one resurrection allotted per person; not 200.

If absolute justice could be satisfied with torture, then hell's inmates could look forward to a release date. But alas; such isn't to happen because the only "coinage" the Bible's God is in a position to accept in lieu of their own lives is His son's life.

Bottom line: Christ's crucifixion is the final option. Those who refuse to take advantage of it, will cross over to the other side in poverty; with literally no way in hell to pay their debts to God; thus they'll be permanently stuck in the wrong place.

TALLY UPDATE: 52 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 3,167,268 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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● Matt 10:28 . . Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Q: If somebody is already dead, then how can hell kill their body?

A: The current hell doesn't kill the human body because for now when people die, their bodies stay here rather than going there. But out ahead in the future; people in the current hell will be resurrected to face justice at the Great White Throne event depicted at Rev 20:11-15. It is then when people's bodies will be terminated by yet another hell; and since there is but one resurrection allotted per person (Dan 12:2, John 5:28-29) then nobody is ever coming back from that hell.

OBJECTION: The final hell is depicted as a lake of fire (Rev 20:11-15). Sorry; but it's impossible to liquefy flame

RESPONSE: It's also impossible to inundate the entire planet with a global flood. However, according to Rev 20:10 and Rev 21:8, the lake consists of not only fire; but also a substance called brimstone; which Webster's defines as sulfur.

Sulfur melts at 232.36º F and boils at 832.28º F. If sulfur's temperature is maintained in that range; it could easily suffice for an impoundment consisting of both flame and liquid.

Q: What's to prevent the lake's fire from consuming the sulfur?

A: The presence of fire doesn't always indicate combustion; for example the flames in Moses' bush were non consuming. (Ex 3:1-3). I think it's safe to assume that the fire related to the lake of fire is for heating purposes only rather than incinerating.

TALLY UPDATE: 54 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 3,289,086 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[NyawehNyoh]

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Q: Do you not know it is the kindness of God that leads men to repentance rather than threats of justice? (Rom 2:4)

A: If the Bible's God weren't so kind, then He wouldn't bother with giving His creatures advance notice of the horror in store for them in the afterlife.

● Luke 12:4-5 . . And I say unto you my friends; Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into Hell; yea, I say unto you fear Him.

Was Christ wrong to instill a fear of God within people's hearts? No; I think he was 110% justified. For example: when I was working as a professional welder for the US Army Corps of Engineers, we had weekly and monthly safety meetings wherein we were shown some grisly photographs of real life industrial accidents involving burns, chain saws, punctured eyes, explosions, falls, crane collapses, suffocation, crushing, and the like. Let me tell you something: those safety meetings got our attention, and really made a sharp distinction between the fool and the wise.

● Prv 22:3 . . A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.

The kindness of God has given the world fair and adequate notice of what to expect in the afterlife. Those who don't care about it one way or the other would be well advised to use what time they have remaining to begin preparing themselves for the worst when they cross over to the other side.

TALLY UPDATE: 56 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 3,410,904 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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Q: According to the Bible thumpers; it's a "must" to believe in Christ's gospel in order to be spared the wrath of God. How is that fair for peoples of the world who were never afforded an opportunity to hear it?

A: In April of 2018, I watched a movie on NetFlix called "Come Sunday" based upon the spiritual career of a Christian minister named Carlton D'metrius Pearson, DD.

Mr. Pearson underwent a crisis of faith due to pondering the fate of the millions of people in the world perishing in genocides, civil wars, and whatnot who never heard, nor ever would hear, Christ's gospel. It seemed thoroughly unreasonable to him that a reputedly merciful, loving God would condemn so many uninformed people to hell just because they didn't believe in a Jesus about whom many of them likely knew nothing about.

Mr. Pearson's solution to the problem was to simply do away with hell by insisting that classical Christianity's interpretation of the New Testament is incorrect; which is remarkable seeing as how he attended Oral Roberts University and was mentored by Oral Roberts himself.

But Mr. Pearson's thinking is a bit of a puzzle to me seeing as how he was seminary-trained. It seems to me that he should've been aware of the eternal gospel; which is actually Christ's gospel in an elementary form. It reads like this:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." (Ps 19:1-4)

Paul referred to that passage. (Rom 1:18-21, Rom 10:18).

During the doomsday calamities depicted in the book of Revelation, a special angel will fly throughout the world proclaiming, not the cross, rather, a reiteration of Ps 19:1-4.

"Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth-- to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice: Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water." (Rev 14:6-7)

I'm confident that there will be a pretty large number of people whose future will be decided not on the basis of their response to a pulpit pounder's preaching, rather, their response to nature's preaching.

NOTE: In the movie; Mr. Pearson asks the question: Are we more merciful than God? Well; yes, of course we are. Humanity grants itself the liberty to circumvent justice; but God can't do that. In point of fact, were God at liberty to circumvent justice, then Christ's crucifixion was needless.

TALLY UPDATE: 58 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 3,532,722 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
_

[lea]

Whew!  Any good news?  Jesus (Christianity) is the only religion where there is the Son of God offering eternal life. And from the Old Testament, the elect who were in the Book of Life.

Hell, I think, is only for the very evil. For how long? God is a just God. Only He knows and He's not telling me.

We don't need all the statistics. We should try to get as many "sinners" saved as possible.

Don't you agree?

[NyawehNyoh]

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Heaven is sometimes depicted as a mountain with any number of roads around the base heading towards the top. Well; classical Christianity accepts only one of those roads reaches the top; viz: the rest are dead-ends, loops, terraces, circles, and cul-de-sacs, i.e. no outlets and nowhere to go except round and around or back down the mountain.

Hell is depicted as a colossal pit, deep and wide, with many roads around the rim heading towards the bottom. Well; classical Christianity accepts that every one of those roads eventually merge into one big super expressway to the bottom.

● Matt 7:13-14 . . Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

How many people of all ages, races, and genders does the quantity "many" represent? Well, according to my sources there are approximately:

50 thousand Scientologists
15 million Mormons
8.2 million Jehovah's Witnesses
7.8 million Baha'i
515.9 million Buddhists
451.3 million Chinese Folk Religionists
8.4 million Confucianists
258.5 million Ethnic Religionists
974.6 million Hindus
5.6 million Jains
1.7 billion Muslims
14.1 million Jews
64.2 million New Religionists
2.8 million Shintoists
24.9 million Sikhs
14.2 million Spiritists
8.7 million Taoists
1.1 billion Atheists/Agnostics

The grand total of just those categories is 5,174,700,000

If those figures are in the ball park, and if classical Christianity is the truth; then at least 69% of the earth's current population of 7.53 billion people are on a road to hell; and no doubt some of those are people we know: our friends, our relatives, and our associates.

NOTE: Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons are Christians in accordance with Webster's definition; but not in the classical sense.

Joseph Smith's movement is a variation; in other words: there's some classical Christianity in Mormonism, but classical Christianity comprises only a portion of Mormonism. The rest of it is extreme, to say the least.

Neither do Jehovah's Witnesses qualify as Christians in the classical sense. Charles Taze Russell's movement is a variation too. There's some classical Christianity in the Watchtower Society's doctrines, but classical Christianity comprises only a portion of Russell's doctrines; and his slant on it is very peculiar.

TALLY UPDATE: 60 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 3,654,540 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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[NyawehNyoh]

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● Matt 5:9 . . Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Peace is actually one of the negative aspects of heaven because peace is not ideal for people who thrive in a society where behaviors like the ones listed below are the norm,

Discord, hatred, factions, cliques, mistrust, prejudice, bias, caste systems, double standards, partiality, favoritism, deceit, surmising, dishonesty, gossip, slander, sarcasm, cynicism, ridicule, envy, rivalry, resentment, avarice, greed, gossip, character assassination, kangaroo courts, complaining, tattling, meddling, confrontations, activism, quarrels, assertiveness, heated debates, chafing, trickery, grudging, stonewalling, bitterness, silent treatments,

. . . revenge, stubbornness, cold shouldering, snobbery, egotism, dominance, demeaning comments, pecking orders, rebellion, arrogance, attitudes, subterfuge, treachery, betrayal, suspicion, conceit, vanity, superiority complexes, depression, melancholy, panic attacks, bi-polar disorders, antisocial behaviors, sociopaths, crime, war, despotism, oppression, injustice, human rights abuses, character assassination, toxic rejoinders, smart-Alek retorts, snide remarks, etc, etc, et al, and ad nausea.

In addition; there are stand-up fighters for whom every disagreement is either an insult or an act of war. And when they're angry, they just have to give you a piece of their mind. Those people would really be a fish out of water in heaven.

I've heard it said that heaven is a place prepared for a prepared people; i.e. people conditioned for heaven; viz: undergone changes and/or modifications so as to make them suitable for heaven. People whose personalities are by nature detrimental to peace are going to miss the boat if they cross over to the next life in their natural condition.

TALLY UPDATE: 62 days have elapsed since beginning the thread. If the figures in post #1 are in the ball park, then something like 3,776,358 arrivals have checked into the fiery sector of hades since Sept 03, 2018.
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