[Music] 00:00:00.26\00:00:10.27 [Music] 00:00:10.27\00:00:20.78 learned a lot just through the process of conversing about 00:00:24.79\00:00:27.22 these hard questions, but here we are, coming to almost the 00:00:27.22\00:00:31.69 end, we're on discussion number 12, and we're about to tackle 00:00:31.69\00:00:35.60 something that is genuinely a hard question. 00:00:35.60\00:00:39.73 We're going to delve into 00:00:39.73\00:00:42.70 -- >>JEFFREY: Well, all of them have been hard questions. 00:00:42.70\00:00:44.14 >>DAVID: I was like, and those other ones were those easier 00:00:44.14\00:00:47.94 ones. 00:00:47.94\00:00:49.14 >>TY: Modification, this one's harder than all the others? 00:00:49.14\00:00:51.21 >>JAMES: No. 00:00:51.21\00:00:52.05 >>TY: No, it's not. 00:00:52.05\00:00:52.81 >>DAVID: This is a hard question. 00:00:52.81\00:00:54.02 >>TY: This is a hard question, okay, what is the question? 00:00:54.02\00:00:55.25 The question is this, will God really burn people in hell for 00:00:55.25\00:01:01.19 eternity? 00:01:01.19\00:01:02.26 Now, that's relevant from 2 angles at very least. 00:01:02.26\00:01:07.86 One is, there's a bunch of people in the world who believe 00:01:07.86\00:01:09.66 it and on the other hand, there's a lot of people in the 00:01:09.66\00:01:12.87 world who don't believe it and, consequently, don't believe in 00:01:12.87\00:01:16.20 God at all because of that doctrine. 00:01:16.20\00:01:18.94 >>JEFFREY: Wouldn't you even say that, at least in the Christian 00:01:18.94\00:01:21.78 world, the majority of Christianity probably would lean 00:01:21.78\00:01:25.68 towards that direction. 00:01:25.68\00:01:26.75 >>DAVID: No probably, that's... 00:01:26.75\00:01:30.42 >>JAMES: Fact. 00:01:30.42\00:01:31.39 >>JEFFREY: So, it's clearly a relevant topic. 00:01:31.39\00:01:32.62 >>TY: Since you brought up from that angle, you know, there's 00:01:32.62\00:01:36.49 about 1.2 billion Catholics, probably about a billion 00:01:36.49\00:01:39.69 Protestants and pretty much all of those professed Christian 00:01:39.69\00:01:48.27 believers subscribe to the doctrine of eternal torment. 00:01:48.27\00:01:51.74 Then, if you take in also the 1 point whatever billion Muslims, 00:01:51.74\00:01:56.54 they also believe in eternal torment, you've got basically 00:01:56.54\00:02:00.32 half the human race who believes that God will torture people for 00:02:00.32\00:02:05.05 eternity. 00:02:05.05\00:02:06.29 >>DAVID: Or, maybe to soften it very slightly, that God would 00:02:06.29\00:02:08.99 allow them to be tortured for eternity. 00:02:08.99\00:02:11.19 In other words, God may not be the active agent in it, but he's 00:02:11.19\00:02:14.56 at least, he acquiesces to it, he's complicit. 00:02:14.56\00:02:17.70 He's, hey, look, that's a choice you've made and I'm going to 00:02:17.70\00:02:20.90 allow it to continue to happen. 00:02:20.90\00:02:22.64 In other words, he's not, maybe actively. 00:02:22.64\00:02:23.87 >>JEFFREY: And a percentage of the people who remain from the 00:02:23.87\00:02:27.14 percentage you described are comprised by people, many, who 00:02:27.14\00:02:32.05 have reacted to that and decided that, nah, not into it, not into 00:02:32.05\00:02:36.75 religion. 00:02:36.75\00:02:37.79 >>TY: Well, could we begin by just talking about 00:02:37.79\00:02:40.09 -- >>DAVID: Well, can I say something at the outset? 00:02:40.09\00:02:41.32 >>TY: Sure. 00:02:41.32\00:02:42.49 >>DAVID: This is the most hideous conceivable picture of 00:02:42.49\00:02:45.06 God. 00:02:45.06\00:02:45.79 It's impossibly difficult. 00:02:45.79\00:02:49.93 It's just impossible to reconcile that picture with God, 00:02:49.93\00:02:53.37 a God that would do that, would be capable of that, that would 00:02:53.37\00:02:55.74 take pleasure in that, with the God that we've been exploring in 00:02:55.74\00:02:58.41 the first 11 conversations. 00:02:58.41\00:03:00.08 So, I just wanna put all my cards on the table, right up 00:03:00.08\00:03:02.64 front. 00:03:02.64\00:03:03.55 I was just thinking, I think we're good. 00:03:03.55\00:03:05.61 >>TY: So, you don't believe in hell? 00:03:05.61\00:03:08.88 >>DAVID: I don't believe, I thought the specific question 00:03:08.88\00:03:12.19 was, will God burn or will allow, or, what was the 00:03:12.19\00:03:16.12 question? 00:03:16.12\00:03:17.16 >>TY: Will God really burn people forever in hell? 00:03:17.16\00:03:18.86 >>DAVID: Yeah, I think that's an easily answered question. 00:03:18.86\00:03:21.56 >>TY: What's the answer? 00:03:21.56\00:03:22.86 >>DAVID: No. 00:03:22.86\00:03:23.20 >>TY: No. 00:03:23.20\00:03:24.23 Let us close with prayer. 00:03:24.23\00:03:25.43 Or can we explore 00:03:25.43\00:03:27.57 -- >>JEFFREY: But he would still affirm, to answer your question, 00:03:27.57\00:03:29.50 he would still affirm the reality of hell. 00:03:29.50\00:03:31.71 >>DAVID: Of what scripture teaches about hell, of what it 00:03:31.71\00:03:34.11 is. 00:03:34.11\00:03:35.28 >>TY: So, we'll get to what scripture teaches, but maybe 00:03:35.28\00:03:37.68 it'll be good to begin by just talking a little bit about the 00:03:37.68\00:03:40.72 idea of torture. 00:03:40.72\00:03:42.08 >>JAMES: Well, I wanted to just touch on what David said with a 00:03:42.08\00:03:44.65 story and illustration. 00:03:44.65\00:03:45.72 You said that this is probably the most despicable 00:03:45.72\00:03:48.66 representation of God that you could find in Christianity, 00:03:48.66\00:03:52.73 let's say. 00:03:52.73\00:03:53.83 >>DAVID: In the world, I can't imagine something worse. 00:03:53.83\00:03:55.56 >>JAMES: I was travelling down south in what we understand to 00:03:55.56\00:03:58.67 be the bible belt and the reason it's called the bible belt is 00:03:58.67\00:04:01.20 because this is where the majority of Christians in the 00:04:01.20\00:04:04.71 United States reside. 00:04:04.71\00:04:05.94 They live in this part of the United States, they call it the 00:04:05.94\00:04:08.51 belt because it's just one state after another after another with 00:04:08.51\00:04:10.68 majority of people that are just Christians. 00:04:10.68\00:04:13.88 And I was looking for a radio station because I was travelling 00:04:13.88\00:04:17.29 for a few hours in a car and it's not hard to find 00:04:17.29\00:04:19.75 -- >>DAVID: Christian radio stations. 00:04:19.75\00:04:20.76 >>JAMES: --in the bible belt. 00:04:20.76\00:04:21.96 >>DAVID: Every single time you click it, it's like another, 00:04:21.96\00:04:23.26 another, another one, another. 00:04:23.26\00:04:24.49 >>JAMES: So, it wasn't an issue of finding one, it was an issue 00:04:24.49\00:04:25.86 simply of finding one that was interesting. 00:04:25.86\00:04:28.10 And I came upon this one that was teaching this idea of hell 00:04:28.10\00:04:33.47 and it was a call-in station. 00:04:33.47\00:04:35.27 And in the context of listening, and the reason I was listening 00:04:35.27\00:04:38.97 was because I was just trying to understand why people would 00:04:38.97\00:04:42.08 teach this or believe this. 00:04:42.08\00:04:43.68 I knew that I was raised in a church, I was raised Catholic, 00:04:43.68\00:04:47.08 so I was raised in a church that taught and believed this, but 00:04:47.08\00:04:49.05 once I began to study the bible, it was just obvious to me from 00:04:49.05\00:04:53.69 biblical understanding and teaching that no, this isn't, 00:04:53.69\00:04:56.39 there's a few texts that we need to understand, but this isn't 00:04:56.39\00:04:58.89 the basic general picture. 00:04:58.89\00:05:00.46 So, as I'm listening, I'm learning something that would 00:05:00.46\00:05:05.07 take this one step further and that's why I wanted to bring up 00:05:05.07\00:05:07.07 this illustration, I would say we take it one step further and 00:05:07.07\00:05:10.21 that is that these two gentlemen who were running this talk show 00:05:10.21\00:05:13.21 also believed in 00:05:13.21\00:05:15.61 -- >>DAVID: Pre-destination. 00:05:15.61\00:05:17.98 >>JAMES: Yes. 00:05:17.98\00:05:18.31 Calvinism. 00:05:18.31\00:05:19.45 They believed that God had chosen certain people to be 00:05:19.45\00:05:22.82 saved and certain people to be lost and there was nothing that 00:05:22.82\00:05:25.52 anyone can do about that, therefore, think about this, God 00:05:25.52\00:05:29.26 and his foreknowledge has chosen certain people for, their only 00:05:29.26\00:05:33.93 purpose in life is to burn eternally in hell. 00:05:33.93\00:05:38.33 And I just turned that radio off, I didn't even look for 00:05:38.33\00:05:40.60 another station, I just turned that radio off, tears came to my 00:05:40.60\00:05:42.87 eyes and I just started thinking, there are people in 00:05:42.87\00:05:46.84 this world that are being taught this and believing, and the 00:05:46.84\00:05:50.71 reason why I say this is because people are calling in and one 00:05:50.71\00:05:53.01 person called in trying to say, well, wait a minute, and they 00:05:53.01\00:05:56.12 just shut them down, you know how they do that sometimes, they 00:05:56.12\00:05:58.15 shut them down, and I thought, wow, there are people in this 00:05:58.15\00:06:01.06 world and that is their picture of God, that's the picture 00:06:01.06\00:06:03.96 they're receiving from God. 00:06:03.96\00:06:05.19 >>DAVID: And not only is that tear-inducing and anger-inducing 00:06:05.19\00:06:09.63 and confusion inducing, but then, to call that part of the 00:06:09.63\00:06:13.97 good news, I'm sorry, I missed the good news part. 00:06:13.97\00:06:18.54 Okay, maybe the good news is that you don't have to go there, 00:06:18.54\00:06:21.34 okay, that's the good news, but you have to go spend eternity 00:06:21.34\00:06:25.18 with a God who would superintend that process, who would think 00:06:25.18\00:06:29.18 that that's, both of those are equally unappealing to me. 00:06:29.18\00:06:33.12 >>JEFFREY: That's a good point. 00:06:33.12\00:06:34.32 >>TY: And let's just put it out there straight, the fact is, 00:06:34.32\00:06:38.06 you're spending eternity with God in eternal bliss and 00:06:38.06\00:06:44.30 paradise and there are people who, in this life, you have 00:06:44.30\00:06:51.21 known that aren't there, so you have to somehow balance the idea 00:06:51.21\00:06:58.78 in your mind forever and ever that somewhere, in the universe, 00:06:58.78\00:07:01.78 wherever it is, somewhere, people I've known, 00:07:01.78\00:07:05.09 right now, are writhing 00:07:05.09\00:07:06.62 in the agony of the flames as I'm partaking of fruit from the 00:07:06.62\00:07:11.69 tree of life, they're surfacing again in the flames. 00:07:11.69\00:07:15.96 >>DAVID: It's so patently absurd. 00:07:15.96\00:07:20.67 And I'm not saying there are not some texts, as you said, James, 00:07:20.67\00:07:22.77 that we have to wrestle through, and we'll do that, but the more 00:07:22.77\00:07:25.47 that this comes to light and the more you think about it, of 00:07:25.47\00:07:29.38 course, the mind can't comprehend eternity, the mind 00:07:29.38\00:07:31.45 can't comprehend this depth of torture, the pain that would be, 00:07:31.45\00:07:36.02 I mean, but in as much as we can comprehend it, the absurdity of 00:07:36.02\00:07:40.16 it is evident, in my opinion. 00:07:40.16\00:07:43.12 I just 00:07:43.12\00:07:44.36 -- >>JEFFREY: We should probably mention as well that in recent 00:07:44.36\00:07:45.83 years, even within mainstream Christianity where this is 00:07:45.83\00:07:50.17 pretty much a foundational teaching. 00:07:50.17\00:07:52.47 >>DAVID: There's been a kickback against it. 00:07:52.47\00:07:54.07 >>JEFFREY: Well, there's been specific key players, key 00:07:54.07\00:07:58.17 leaders, key preachers that have said, wait a second, wait a 00:07:58.17\00:08:01.54 second, the more I think about this, the less I can reconcile 00:08:01.54\00:08:04.65 it with the life and teachings of Jesus. 00:08:04.65\00:08:08.05 >>DAVID: And not just the more they think about it, but the 00:08:08.05\00:08:09.38 more they go to the text. 00:08:09.38\00:08:10.55 They go to the text and they say, wait a minute, there's 00:08:10.55\00:08:12.99 other ways, better ways to understand these texts and the 00:08:12.99\00:08:17.29 thing that's the most fascinating is not that the, you 00:08:17.29\00:08:20.06 know, the, what's, EW Fudge and Rob Bell and NT Wright and Clark 00:08:20.06\00:08:26.80 Pinnock, these are some of the names, Gregory Boyd, John Stock. 00:08:26.80\00:08:29.64 It's not just they are these well-known, influential, 00:08:29.64\00:08:33.04 evangelical theologians and preachers that are saying, hey, 00:08:33.04\00:08:37.85 let's reconsider that, let's just hold that up to the 00:08:37.85\00:08:41.15 scrutiny of scriptural investigation. 00:08:41.15\00:08:43.15 To me, the most fascinating part is the pushback against them is 00:08:43.15\00:08:47.42 that, oh, you're denying scripture, you're denying the 00:08:47.42\00:08:49.42 truth, you're soft selling the text, and it's like, people 00:08:49.42\00:08:52.83 don't want to give this up. 00:08:52.83\00:08:55.33 They 00:08:55.33\00:08:55.73 -- >>TY: Why? 00:08:55.73\00:08:56.63 What's behind that? 00:08:56.63\00:08:57.83 What's the psychology behind actually wanting for there to be 00:08:57.83\00:09:04.11 a doctrine of eternal torment that is sustained, why would you 00:09:04.11\00:09:07.48 want to believe that? 00:09:07.48\00:09:08.94 >>DAVID: I can't imagine that. 00:09:08.94\00:09:10.58 >>JAMES: I think part of it goes back to, I've studied this out, 00:09:10.58\00:09:12.88 part of it goes back to missing the principle that we've been 00:09:12.88\00:09:15.88 talking about and establishing as a foundation to our programs 00:09:15.88\00:09:19.99 all through the series and that is love. 00:09:19.99\00:09:22.19 If you miss that principle of love motivation, then there has 00:09:22.19\00:09:25.89 to be another motivation and there are a lot of churches and 00:09:25.89\00:09:28.80 a lot of people that I've talked to, spoken to, especially 00:09:28.80\00:09:32.10 pastors, that would say, in response to this, they would 00:09:32.10\00:09:35.47 say, well, we can't teach that, we can't teach what the bible 00:09:35.47\00:09:39.04 teaches, we can't teach what you're saying and understand it 00:09:39.04\00:09:43.45 the way you're understanding it, that would remove the motivation 00:09:43.45\00:09:48.15 that people have, people would not be motivated to stay out of 00:09:48.15\00:09:52.45 hell if we somehow change it to make it sound like, it's just, 00:09:52.45\00:09:57.16 it's a place but it doesn't last forever, it doesn't burn 00:09:57.16\00:10:00.90 forever. 00:10:00.90\00:10:01.70 It is a punishment, but it's not eternal. 00:10:01.70\00:10:03.77 That would really, we'd lose a lot of people, we'd lose a lot 00:10:03.77\00:10:07.17 of members. 00:10:07.17\00:10:08.40 >>TY: I guess what you're saying is without the factor of fear, 00:10:08.40\00:10:11.64 you would have to have such a robust view of the gospel that 00:10:11.64\00:10:16.64 it would serve as a motivation for continuing to love and serve 00:10:16.64\00:10:22.35 God even without that motive of fear, of eternal torment. 00:10:22.35\00:10:27.69 So, you'd have to have a view of the gospel that would completely 00:10:27.69\00:10:32.23 supplant that fear motive. 00:10:32.23\00:10:34.83 >>JAMES: Absolutely. 00:10:34.83\00:10:35.76 >>DAVID: How do you answer that question, Ty? 00:10:35.76\00:10:37.23 >>TY: Which one? 00:10:37.23\00:10:38.43 >>DAVID: Well, the one about what would be the psychological 00:10:38.43\00:10:40.24 motive behind that? 00:10:40.24\00:10:42.17 Why would you wanna keep that? 00:10:42.17\00:10:44.11 >>TY: Yeah, I think that James got at it and that is that if 00:10:44.11\00:10:49.51 we're not motivated by love, you have to be motivated by 00:10:49.51\00:10:53.45 something, and we all know that we have guilt upon our 00:10:53.45\00:10:59.02 conscience, we're sinners, we're fallen, and so, to face 00:10:59.02\00:11:05.93 ourselves off and others with the threat of eternal torment is 00:11:05.93\00:11:09.50 a pretty strong motivation to keep myself in line. 00:11:09.50\00:11:13.23 So, I think that might be what's going on. 00:11:13.23\00:11:16.54 I also think, and we need to be very careful here, there are a 00:11:16.54\00:11:20.84 lot of people who subscribe to the doctrine of eternal torment, 00:11:20.84\00:11:26.85 and they do genuinely love the Lord, but they're not thinking 00:11:26.85\00:11:31.25 about it on a deep, theological level. 00:11:31.25\00:11:35.42 I've met a lot of believers who just assumed that it's true 00:11:35.42\00:11:39.43 because they were raised to believe that it's true, but they 00:11:39.43\00:11:41.60 haven't thought of it very much and there are all kinds of 00:11:41.60\00:11:43.40 churches that simply don't preach it and it's just in the 00:11:43.40\00:11:47.30 background. 00:11:47.30\00:11:48.50 It's a traditional doctrine and they assume that it must be 00:11:48.50\00:11:51.31 right, but they don't wanna preach it, they don't wanna talk 00:11:51.31\00:11:53.94 about it, they don't wanna deal with it because it is, it is 00:11:53.94\00:11:58.05 pretty glaringly uncomfortable, so we don't want to suggest that 00:11:58.05\00:12:04.29 anybody who believes that that doctrine is true does not love 00:12:04.29\00:12:08.79 the Lord. 00:12:08.79\00:12:09.26 That's just not-- 00:12:09.26\00:12:10.73 >>JEFFREY: But we're saying that their love for the Lord is 00:12:10.73\00:12:13.29 incompatible with their belief with this. 00:12:13.29\00:12:15.73 >>TY: So, they do love the Lord. 00:12:15.73\00:12:17.30 >>JEFFREY: Absolutely, it's just that there are certain beliefs 00:12:17.30\00:12:19.77 that are incompatible and we perhaps haven't made the 00:12:19.77\00:12:23.81 connection, but it doesn't take away from the fact that we 00:12:23.81\00:12:25.61 sincerely love the Lord. 00:12:25.61\00:12:26.91 >>DAVID: And I just wanna add to that, that while we can 00:12:26.91\00:12:29.54 vigorously defend the authenticity and sincerity of 00:12:29.54\00:12:35.02 their commitment to Jesus and we would do that, we wouldn't even 00:12:35.02\00:12:37.32 think to undermine, not a Catholic, not a Presbyterian, 00:12:37.32\00:12:41.56 not a Methodist, their sincerity, their commitment to 00:12:41.56\00:12:45.76 God. 00:12:45.76\00:12:47.00 But with equal vigor, we have to insist on what the text actually 00:12:47.00\00:12:50.97 says, and we can insist on the reality of the absurdity of 00:12:50.97\00:12:55.50 trying to merge these two in-- 00:12:55.50\00:13:01.51 >>TY: Congruent. 00:13:01.51\00:13:02.54 >>DAVID: Incongruent, incompatible, antithetical 00:13:02.54\00:13:04.78 ideas. 00:13:04.78\00:13:05.38 >>TY: Right. 00:13:05.38\00:13:06.48 >>DAVID: With your guys' permission in this conversation, 00:13:06.48\00:13:07.92 perhaps more than any other conversation that we've had, we 00:13:07.92\00:13:11.22 just, I wanna just throw biblical text at this. 00:13:11.22\00:13:14.29 I just wanna like, let's just, not that we're gonna in some 00:13:14.29\00:13:18.09 definitive sense solve this controversy. 00:13:18.09\00:13:20.40 But, for those people that have the privilege or the opportunity 00:13:20.40\00:13:23.37 to see this conversation, let's just make it clear. 00:13:23.37\00:13:27.87 By the grace of God. 00:13:27.87\00:13:29.20 >>TY: Yeah, so, first of all, what about, let's just lay down 00:13:29.20\00:13:32.67 a bible verse that we regard as foundational to all biblical 00:13:32.67\00:13:36.61 doctrine. 00:13:36.61\00:13:37.45 1 John chapter 4, verse 8, God is love. 00:13:37.45\00:13:40.38 So, once that scriptural outlook on God's character is on the 00:13:40.38\00:13:45.42 table, then try to couple that with God sayin, I love you, God 00:13:45.42\00:13:51.39 is love and I love you, but if you don't love me back, I will 00:13:51.39\00:13:55.76 subject you, either by permitting it to happen and 00:13:55.76\00:13:58.77 sustaining the system by which it will be perpetuated forever, 00:13:58.77\00:14:03.87 or by inflicting it upon you. 00:14:03.87\00:14:05.44 I love you, but if you don't love me back, I will subject you 00:14:05.44\00:14:09.34 to torture for eternity. 00:14:09.34\00:14:11.55 That should produce some intellectual dissonance. 00:14:11.55\00:14:15.68 >>JEFFREY: There's actually a video on YouTube that mocks that 00:14:15.68\00:14:18.69 where the guy is reading off and he's reading about all of the 00:14:18.69\00:14:20.96 verses in the bible about how God loves us and he cares for us 00:14:20.96\00:14:24.33 and all of this, and then he says, no excuse me, he's reading 00:14:24.33\00:14:27.93 verses about, you know, judgement and so forth and he's 00:14:27.93\00:14:31.40 rehearsing the Christian belief that God will torture people in 00:14:31.40\00:14:34.67 hell, and then he says what you said, and then he says, and I 00:14:34.67\00:14:37.57 love you. 00:14:37.57\00:14:38.11 >>DAVID: PS, I love you. 00:14:38.11\00:14:40.54 >>JEFFREY: Yeah, and the audience just erupts in laughter 00:14:40.54\00:14:42.24 and he's saying, what is this? 00:14:42.24\00:14:43.98 >>JAMES: The second verse I would like us to look at in 00:14:43.98\00:14:46.35 relation to this 1 John 4:8 is John 3:16. 00:14:46.35\00:14:49.18 These are really powerful verses, both of these are really 00:14:49.18\00:14:51.55 good verses, so 1 John 4:8, God is love, second verse, John 00:14:51.55\00:14:56.36 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten 00:14:56.36\00:15:00.53 son that whosoever believes in him should not... 00:15:00.53\00:15:03.00 >>DAVID: Perish. 00:15:03.00\00:15:03.80 >>JAMES: Perish. 00:15:03.80\00:15:05.03 Not, it doesn't say, and I like this, when we read the bible, we 00:15:05.03\00:15:08.14 need to also think about what it doesn't say, what it does say 00:15:08.14\00:15:11.37 and what it doesn't say. 00:15:11.37\00:15:12.61 What it does say is that those who don't believe are going to 00:15:12.61\00:15:14.88 perish, what it doesn't say is that those who don't believe are 00:15:14.88\00:15:17.88 gonna be tortured by God for all eternity in a place called hell. 00:15:17.88\00:15:21.35 It doesn't say that in the text. 00:15:21.35\00:15:22.58 So, I like that because that is a God is love verse, that is a 00:15:22.58\00:15:27.69 God loves the world verse and it's also helping us to 00:15:27.69\00:15:30.59 understand that there is a consequence, there is a 00:15:30.59\00:15:34.73 legitimate consequence to not believing, but that consequence 00:15:34.73\00:15:37.30 has been, I think, exaggerated. 00:15:37.30\00:15:39.77 >>JEFFREY: I think there's more mileage in that verse. 00:15:39.77\00:15:44.57 I've always read that verse, everything you just said, even 00:15:44.57\00:15:49.88 more so, the text, it's not merely what the text doesn't 00:15:49.88\00:15:53.21 say, it's what the text does say, which you were saying the 00:15:53.21\00:15:57.62 same thing, just in my own different way, the text 00:15:57.62\00:16:01.79 explicitly denies, like you were saying, that those who are lost 00:16:01.79\00:16:07.50 have their lives perpetuated because it says, there's a 00:16:07.50\00:16:11.03 contrast there, right? 00:16:11.03\00:16:14.04 Between everlasting life and not everlasting life. 00:16:14.04\00:16:19.61 Right, so that means that, definitionally, to perish is the 00:16:19.61\00:16:24.01 opposite of continuing to live and in the concept of God 00:16:24.01\00:16:28.82 burning people forever in hell, that supposes those individuals 00:16:28.82\00:16:32.55 and their punishment are living. 00:16:32.55\00:16:35.12 So, I think that's a powerful verse. 00:16:35.12\00:16:36.93 >>JAMES: It is and it also supposes that those who believe 00:16:36.93\00:16:39.86 are given something, those who don't believe aren't given, 00:16:39.86\00:16:42.56 everlasting life. 00:16:42.56\00:16:43.50 >>JEFFREY: And to add to that, Romans 6:23. 00:16:43.50\00:16:49.17 >>DAVID: I just wrote that down right here. 00:16:49.17\00:16:50.37 >>JEFFREY: Romans 6:23, for the wages of sin is death, same 00:16:50.37\00:16:54.78 thing, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our 00:16:54.78\00:16:58.08 Lord. 00:16:58.08\00:16:59.31 That's the same point, that the wages of sin is death and that 00:16:59.31\00:17:04.09 death, that the lost experience is the opposite 00:17:04.09\00:17:07.82 -- >>DAVID: Of the gift of eternal life that comes through 00:17:07.82\00:17:10.53 Jesus. 00:17:10.53\00:17:11.19 >>JEFFREY: --of eternal life. 00:17:11.19\00:17:12.36 So, this concept of God burning people in hell forever is 00:17:12.36\00:17:16.93 granting eternal life to the lost. 00:17:16.93\00:17:20.74 Where scripture, the gospel teaches that that is only made 00:17:20.74\00:17:24.64 accessible to those who are saved in Jesus Christ. 00:17:24.64\00:17:28.44 >>DAVID: Let me throw a text that says that very thing. 00:17:28.44\00:17:31.51 1 John chapter 3, verse 15, whoever hates his brother is a 00:17:31.51\00:17:36.28 murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life 00:17:36.28\00:17:40.02 abiding in him. 00:17:40.02\00:17:42.32 You know. 00:17:42.32\00:17:42.99 He said you know that. 00:17:42.99\00:17:44.59 Murderers don't get eternal life. 00:17:44.59\00:17:46.39 Well, whoa, whoa, whoa, what do murderers get? 00:17:46.39\00:17:47.83 Unrepentant murderers receive death. 00:17:47.83\00:17:50.90 Now, we're gonna get into this later, what the bible calls the 00:17:50.90\00:17:53.67 second death, but unrepentant murderers don't get is, you 00:17:53.67\00:17:58.14 know, conscious eternal life in some torturous nook or cranny of 00:17:58.14\00:18:04.35 the universe, that's not what they get, they get death. 00:18:04.35\00:18:07.05 They don't have eternal life. 00:18:07.05\00:18:08.28 >>JAMES: This just makes sense to me, all of these verses just 00:18:08.28\00:18:10.39 make sense. 00:18:10.39\00:18:11.62 These verses aren't specifically talking about hell at all, but 00:18:11.62\00:18:14.29 they are because, what we're doing, as we mentioned it in an 00:18:14.29\00:18:17.39 earlier program is we're moving into this slowly, just inching 00:18:17.39\00:18:22.20 our way inch by inch into this and we're setting up a 00:18:22.20\00:18:24.40 foundation here in understanding the love of God and what it 00:18:24.40\00:18:28.10 means to have eternal life. 00:18:28.10\00:18:30.11 We're setting up the foundation here that logically makes sense, 00:18:30.11\00:18:33.21 and not only connects with the heart of God, but it logically 00:18:33.21\00:18:36.04 makes sense. 00:18:36.04\00:18:36.61 >>TY: Yeah, yeah. 00:18:36.61\00:18:37.78 We have to take a break, but this is getting exciting now 00:18:37.78\00:18:40.18 that we're getting into the text, so we'll come right back. 00:18:40.18\00:18:43.25 [Music] 00:18:43.25\00:18:47.72 >>The bible is a big book. 00:18:49.42\00:18:51.26 It's composed of 66 smaller books, written by more than 40 00:18:51.26\00:18:55.93 different authors. 00:18:55.93\00:18:57.77 It's easy to get bogged down in all the genealogies, ancient 00:18:57.77\00:19:01.47 history and intersecting characters with unpronounceable 00:19:01.47\00:19:05.27 names. 00:19:05.27\00:19:06.51 And yet, the bible is full of rich and powerful truths that 00:19:06.51\00:19:10.91 all of us need to understand. 00:19:10.91\00:19:13.15 Wouldn't you love to have an experienced tour guide take you 00:19:13.15\00:19:17.29 on a step-by-step journey through some of the most vital 00:19:17.29\00:19:20.59 and beautiful truths contained in the bible? 00:19:20.59\00:19:23.46 Well, now, it's here. 00:19:23.46\00:19:25.13 It's called Truth Link. 00:19:25.13\00:19:27.50 Truth Link is a groundbreaking new series of easy to understand 00:19:27.50\00:19:32.33 bible study guides that thousands of 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00:20:32.79\00:20:41.07 >>TY: There must be some logical basis for believing in 00:20:41.70\00:20:46.04 eternal torment and I think we need to approach that in 00:20:46.04\00:20:50.55 scripture because there is a doctrine that is foundational to 00:20:50.55\00:20:55.25 the doctrine of eternal torment. 00:20:55.25\00:20:57.12 There is another teaching and that teaching is natural 00:20:57.12\00:21:01.79 immortality, it's the idea that every human being is an immortal 00:21:01.79\00:21:06.90 soul and even though the human being dies a physical death, 00:21:06.90\00:21:11.87 okay, so the body dies and decays, something survives that 00:21:11.87\00:21:17.51 physical death and goes on to be with God in heaven or to be 00:21:17.51\00:21:23.81 eternally tormented in hell. 00:21:23.81\00:21:26.11 So, what can we say about this idea that human beings live 00:21:26.11\00:21:32.02 forever, no matter what. 00:21:32.02\00:21:33.79 So, you gotta put them somewhere, some go to heaven, 00:21:33.79\00:21:35.72 some go to hell, but if the thing that we are at the base 00:21:35.72\00:21:39.43 level is eternal, we're not all going to heaven. 00:21:39.43\00:21:44.17 >>JEFFREY: It doesn't just disappear. 00:21:44.17\00:21:45.17 >>TY: It doesn't just disappear. 00:21:45.17\00:21:46.37 It doesn't just evaporate, so. 00:21:46.37\00:21:47.60 >>JEFFREY: So, it makes sense why the good would go and the 00:21:47.60\00:21:50.41 bad would go. 00:21:50.41\00:21:51.51 >>DAVID: When you began by saying, Ty, that there's a 00:21:51.51\00:21:53.61 logical basis, it is logical if we grant that premise. 00:21:53.61\00:21:56.98 >>TY: What's that premise? 00:21:56.98\00:21:59.88 >>DAVID: Well, the premise is actually a patently Greek idea, 00:21:59.88\00:22:04.15 and this is important to recognize because many of the 00:22:04.15\00:22:07.16 modern evangelical scholars and theologians who are beginning to 00:22:07.16\00:22:10.36 say, hey, let's reconsider this, the Clark Pinnocks and the John 00:22:10.36\00:22:13.86 Stocks and the Rob Bells and others, the EW Fudges, they're 00:22:13.86\00:22:17.87 actually saying, hey, wait a minute, this is actually the 00:22:17.87\00:22:20.54 importation of a Greek idea into the biblical text rather than a 00:22:20.54\00:22:24.94 wrestling with what the text itself actually says, and this 00:22:24.94\00:22:28.98 Greek idea is called, the technical term is 00:22:28.98\00:22:31.61 anthropological dualism. 00:22:31.61\00:22:33.75 Anthropological, having to do with man or pertaining to 00:22:33.75\00:22:37.12 mankind, dualism that man is made up of two parts, the body, 00:22:37.12\00:22:42.66 which is physical and temporal, and the spirit or soul which is 00:22:42.66\00:22:46.66 immaterial and eternal. 00:22:46.66\00:22:48.33 So, when the body decays and the bones go back to the ground, 00:22:48.33\00:22:52.33 into the dust, there is an immaterial spirit, soul, that 00:22:52.33\00:22:57.04 continues, not for a year or two or ten or 100, but indefinitely. 00:22:57.04\00:23:01.71 So, that's Greek. 00:23:01.71\00:23:02.88 And that idea, the natural immortality of the soul, as you 00:23:02.88\00:23:06.55 call it, or anthropological dualism, has been imported into 00:23:06.55\00:23:09.92 the biblical text so that there are certain passages that seem 00:23:09.92\00:23:13.76 to suggest that that have been used to support this Greek idea. 00:23:13.76\00:23:17.56 But, in fact, the text that we've already looked at, the 00:23:17.56\00:23:20.63 John 3:16, the 1 John 3:15, the Romans chapter 6, verse 23, 00:23:20.63\00:23:24.30 these texts fly in the face of the idea that we possess natural 00:23:24.30\00:23:30.01 or innate immortality. 00:23:30.01\00:23:32.11 Eternal life, or what we might call immortality, is granted as 00:23:32.11\00:23:36.51 a gift, a gift for belief in Jesus Christ, trusting that his 00:23:36.51\00:23:41.65 life, his death, and his resurrection has done for us 00:23:41.65\00:23:43.59 what we could never do for ourselves. 00:23:43.59\00:23:45.29 That's bestowed as a gift. 00:23:45.29\00:23:47.49 It's not natural, it's not innate. 00:23:47.49\00:23:48.69 >>TY: So, are you saying that immortality does not pertain 00:23:48.69\00:23:55.36 naturally to human beings? 00:23:55.36\00:23:58.10 That it's not something that we have in ourselves, but rather 00:23:58.10\00:24:03.94 it's something that is bestowed upon a certain class of human 00:24:03.94\00:24:09.44 beings, namely, those who are eternally saved, okay, so where 00:24:09.44\00:24:13.85 is immortality? 00:24:13.85\00:24:15.28 Does anybody have immortality? 00:24:15.28\00:24:16.42 >>DAVID: Yes. 00:24:16.42\00:24:17.09 You got the text there, James? 00:24:17.09\00:24:18.05 >>JAMES: No, you got it, I got another point. 00:24:18.05\00:24:19.72 You make yours. 00:24:19.72\00:24:20.96 >>DAVID: 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 15, says, which he will 00:24:20.96\00:24:24.69 manifest in his own time, he who is the blessed and only 00:24:24.69\00:24:29.03 potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords, speaking of God, 00:24:29.03\00:24:32.33 speaking of Christ. 00:24:32.33\00:24:33.30 Verse 16, who alone has immortality, dwelling in 00:24:33.30\00:24:38.14 unapproachable light whom no man has seen nor can see to whom the 00:24:38.14\00:24:41.54 honor and everlasting power, amen. 00:24:41.54\00:24:43.51 So, this is as clear as the noonday sun. 00:24:43.51\00:24:45.15 God alone possessed immortality. 00:24:45.15\00:24:47.92 >>TY: Does that mean nobody else has it? 00:24:47.92\00:24:50.32 >>DAVID: Not naturally. 00:24:50.32\00:24:51.92 >>JAMES: There are hundreds of verses in the bible that use the 00:24:51.92\00:24:55.36 word soul and not one of them ever describes the soul as 00:24:55.36\00:25:00.43 immortal, not one. 00:25:00.43\00:25:01.30 >>DAVID: Or eternal. 00:25:01.30\00:25:02.36 >>JAMES: And here's another point, we looked at the 00:25:02.36\00:25:05.67 bookmarks. 00:25:05.67\00:25:06.77 We looked at Genesis and Revelation and we looked at the 00:25:06.77\00:25:09.07 first two chapters and the last two chapters. 00:25:09.07\00:25:10.51 >>TY: In a previous conversation is what you're referring to. 00:25:10.51\00:25:12.31 >>JAMES: In a previous conversation. 00:25:12.31\00:25:13.54 We looked at those two chapters as bookmarks and we said, okay, 00:25:13.54\00:25:15.61 here's the beginning, here's the end. 00:25:15.61\00:25:17.21 Here's what God created, it was very good, here's what he's 00:25:17.21\00:25:19.21 gonna have at the end of all this mess and everything in the 00:25:19.21\00:25:21.35 middle is a mess. 00:25:21.35\00:25:22.55 If you look again at those two bookmarks, you have, in the 00:25:22.55\00:25:26.39 opening of creation, you have what's called the tree of life, 00:25:26.39\00:25:30.49 it's in the garden of Eden and Adam and Eve partake of this 00:25:30.49\00:25:34.10 tree of life and this tree of life is something that is 00:25:34.10\00:25:37.57 actually taken away from them. 00:25:37.57\00:25:39.30 In other words, there's a restriction of access to the 00:25:39.30\00:25:42.70 tree of life when they sin. 00:25:42.70\00:25:44.64 Angels are sent to guard the garden, and this is just 00:25:44.64\00:25:48.48 biblical fact. 00:25:48.48\00:25:49.68 They can't go in and they can't partake of the tree of life 00:25:49.68\00:25:51.85 because God did not want sin to be eternalized. 00:25:51.85\00:25:56.82 But as you go through the whole process, all through the book of 00:25:56.82\00:25:59.52 Old Testament, New Testament, you get to the book of 00:25:59.52\00:26:02.06 Revelation, guess what happens? 00:26:02.06\00:26:03.26 In Revelation chapter 21, in Revelation chapter 22, you now 00:26:03.26\00:26:08.03 have access again to the tree of life in Revelation chapter 22, 00:26:08.03\00:26:10.83 the tree of life. 00:26:10.83\00:26:12.03 >>JEFFREY: One sin is evil. 00:26:12.03\00:26:13.54 Can I read the text that you're referring to because I think 00:26:13.54\00:26:17.27 that's a foundational point. 00:26:17.27\00:26:19.51 James is breaking down Genesis 3:22, where after the fall, this 00:26:19.51\00:26:26.28 is what we read, and God said, behold, the man has become like 00:26:26.28\00:26:30.39 one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put his 00:26:30.39\00:26:33.49 hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live 00:26:33.49\00:26:37.03 forever. 00:26:37.03\00:26:38.26 So, just what you were saying, the reason that that prohibition 00:26:38.26\00:26:43.03 was put in place is so that now man, as a fallen creature, with 00:26:43.03\00:26:49.37 sin, would not have access to the ability to perpetuate sin 00:26:49.37\00:26:54.48 and evil. 00:26:54.48\00:26:55.64 >>JAMES: Sin would not be immortalized and sinners would 00:26:55.64\00:26:56.34 not be immortalized. 00:26:56.34\00:26:57.58 And now we have Revelation 22 and verse 1, and he showed me a 00:26:57.58\00:26:59.31 pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out 00:26:59.31\00:27:02.35 of the throne of God and the lamb of God, in the midst of the 00:27:02.35\00:27:05.69 street of it, and on either side of the river was the tree of 00:27:05.69\00:27:08.29 life. 00:27:08.29\00:27:09.52 So, in Revelation chapter 22, you have the restoration of the 00:27:09.52\00:27:12.79 tree of life that has 12 manner of fruit that we could partake 00:27:12.79\00:27:15.56 of. 00:27:15.56\00:27:16.36 It's for the healing of the nations. 00:27:16.36\00:27:17.60 >>DAVID: And I'm gonna add that Revelation 21 there, the tree of 00:27:17.60\00:27:20.27 life isn't given until after Revelation, excuse me, 22, isn't 00:27:20.27\00:27:23.17 given until after Revelation chapter 20, which describes what 00:27:23.17\00:27:26.71 the bible calls the second death. 00:27:26.71\00:27:28.21 So, when sin and sinners are no more, now you have the 00:27:28.21\00:27:32.51 restoration of the tree of life. 00:27:32.51\00:27:35.02 >>TY: Which is to say the restoration of eternal life or 00:27:35.02\00:27:38.55 immortality. 00:27:38.55\00:27:39.79 >>JAMES: So, it's not that we would just say, oh, there's no 00:27:39.79\00:27:42.16 immortal soul in the bible, or only God has immortality. 00:27:42.16\00:27:44.76 We have a picture here, we have a story, an outline, a picture 00:27:44.76\00:27:47.86 here and we know where eternal life came from, we know that it 00:27:47.86\00:27:51.07 was restricted after sin and we know it's gonna be restored 00:27:51.07\00:27:53.94 after sin. 00:27:53.94\00:27:55.17 >>TY: Well, let me just add a scripture to the one you read 00:27:55.17\00:27:56.74 where Paul says that God alone has immortality. 00:27:56.74\00:28:01.54 >>DAVID: Okay, and I've got another one, too. 00:28:01.54\00:28:02.71 >>TY: Okay, 1 Corinthians chapter 15 explicitly says, in 00:28:02.71\00:28:07.32 verse 53, speaking of those who are redeemed, the saved, at the 00:28:07.32\00:28:12.82 second coming of Jesus, it says, for this corruptible must put on 00:28:12.82\00:28:17.86 incorruption and this mortal shall put on immortality. 00:28:17.86\00:28:24.63 So, here is a very clear statement, Paul regarding 00:28:24.63\00:28:29.24 himself and it applies to all of us, we're mortal. 00:28:29.24\00:28:32.54 >>DAVID: Means subject to death. 00:28:32.54\00:28:34.81 >>TY: Subject to death. 00:28:34.81\00:28:35.84 >>JAMES: You have to read verse 54. 00:28:35.84\00:28:36.95 >>TY: And immortality is conferred upon the human being 00:28:36.95\00:28:42.08 as a gift at this point and it's only conferred upon those who 00:28:42.08\00:28:47.62 are the saved, the redeemed. 00:28:47.62\00:28:49.82 What did you say, James, also read? 00:28:49.82\00:28:51.73 >>JAMES: Verse 54, you have to, yeah. 00:28:51.73\00:28:53.16 So, then, so when this corruptible, again, emphasizing, 00:28:53.16\00:28:56.70 shall put on incorruption and this mortal shall put on 00:28:56.70\00:28:59.43 immortality, and I'm gonna emphasize this, then shall be 00:28:59.43\00:29:02.60 brought to pass, saying, that is written, death shall be 00:29:02.60\00:29:04.74 swallowed up in victory. 00:29:04.74\00:29:05.51 >>TY: Okay, so immortality. 00:29:05.51\00:29:07.01 >>DAVID: Death is dead. 00:29:07.01\00:29:08.24 >>TY: Immortality is something that God alone possesses, it's 00:29:08.24\00:29:11.48 not natural, and human beings do not have it innately naturally, 00:29:11.48\00:29:17.29 and immortality will be bestowed as a gift upon the redeemed and 00:29:17.29\00:29:23.66 they will live forever immortally, but there's nowhere 00:29:23.66\00:29:26.93 in the bible, let me just throw this out as this, okay, there's 00:29:26.93\00:29:31.30 nowhere in the bible where the word immortality or any 00:29:31.30\00:29:35.14 configuration thereof is applied to the lost, to the eternally, 00:29:35.14\00:29:40.14 to the wicked. 00:29:40.14\00:29:42.08 >>DAVID: In fact, the opposite is applied, death. 00:29:42.08\00:29:44.58 Just remember, Spanish, what's death in Spanish? 00:29:44.58\00:29:47.88 >>JEFFREY: Muerte. 00:29:47.88\00:29:49.12 >>DAVID: Muerte, so, it's the same in the Latin, morte, like 00:29:49.12\00:29:51.32 mortuary. 00:29:51.32\00:29:52.85 So, mortal, immortal, so if you're immortal, you are not 00:29:52.85\00:29:57.03 subject to death. 00:29:57.03\00:29:58.26 If you're mortal, you're a dying creature or you're a nondying 00:29:58.26\00:30:02.00 creature. 00:30:02.00\00:30:03.23 Scripture says, we'll go back to John 3:16 just briefly to remind 00:30:03.23\00:30:05.67 ourselves, for God so loved the world that he gave his only 00:30:05.67\00:30:07.94 begotten Son that whosoever believes in him wouldn't die. 00:30:07.94\00:30:11.57 Well, if you can't die or don't die or you won't die, you're 00:30:11.57\00:30:14.48 an... 00:30:14.48\00:30:15.08 >>JAMES: Immortal. 00:30:15.08\00:30:16.21 >>DAVID: Immortal creature. 00:30:16.21\00:30:17.45 We've said, established here, that's something that God alone 00:30:17.45\00:30:19.55 possesses innately or naturally. 00:30:19.55\00:30:21.88 Let me give you another text. 00:30:21.88\00:30:23.22 Romans chapter 2, beginning in verse 5, but in accordance with 00:30:23.22\00:30:26.96 your hardness and impenitent heart, you, speaking of the 00:30:26.96\00:30:31.09 wicked, are treasuring up for yourself wrath against the day 00:30:31.09\00:30:34.36 of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God, 00:30:34.36\00:30:37.10 who will render to each according to his deeds, but 00:30:37.10\00:30:39.00 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing 00:30:39.00\00:30:43.61 good seek for glory, honor, and immortality. 00:30:43.61\00:30:48.31 So, if you're seeking for immortality. 00:30:48.31\00:30:52.11 >>TY: You don't have it. 00:30:52.11\00:30:52.95 >>DAVID: It's because you don't have it. 00:30:52.95\00:30:53.62 God has it. 00:30:53.62\00:30:54.75 We're seeking for it, and according to the text, it's 00:30:54.75\00:30:57.52 sought for by reposing our faith in God, by trusting in Jesus, 00:30:57.52\00:31:04.59 having come and died in our place, having lived the life 00:31:04.59\00:31:07.03 that we didn't live, having died the death that we deserved and 00:31:07.03\00:31:08.66 raised to newness of life. 00:31:08.66\00:31:09.86 >>TY: So, when a human being dies, and the body decays, is 00:31:09.86\00:31:16.04 there a soul or something that survives physical death for all 00:31:16.04\00:31:26.35 eternity? 00:31:26.35\00:31:27.55 No, the bible is very clear, there is no survival of a soul, 00:31:27.55\00:31:31.85 regardless of a person's whether a person is saved or lost, there 00:31:31.85\00:31:37.63 is no soul that survives for all eternity into the future of the 00:31:37.63\00:31:42.80 wicked, only those who are among the redeemed, receive 00:31:42.80\00:31:47.64 immortality as a gift from God. 00:31:47.64\00:31:49.60 Is that accurate? 00:31:49.60\00:31:50.37 >>DAVID: It's extremely accurate. 00:31:50.37\00:31:51.84 Okay, so, in answer of the question, what is the soul? 00:31:51.84\00:31:54.81 And just to further what Ty is saying here, we described the 00:31:54.81\00:31:57.78 Greek idea of anthropological dualism, that man is body and 00:31:57.78\00:32:01.75 spirit, temporal and eternal, what the bible teaches is what 00:32:01.75\00:32:05.45 you might call anthropological monism. 00:32:05.45\00:32:07.69 In other words, one, mono, and that is, that mankind is a unity 00:32:07.69\00:32:13.80 of body and spirit and when those are divorced, when they're 00:32:13.80\00:32:17.67 disassociated, that's it, and that's what we find in the bible 00:32:17.67\00:32:22.77 over and over again, he breathed his last, he gave up the ghost, 00:32:22.77\00:32:25.97 he, because when the breath stops, just as in Genesis, when 00:32:25.97\00:32:29.54 the breath started, the breath of life is breathed into the 00:32:29.54\00:32:31.45 nostrils. 00:32:31.45\00:32:32.65 When that stops, it's not as though just the physicality of 00:32:32.65\00:32:35.55 the man or the woman stops, he, as a being, ceases to exist. 00:32:35.55\00:32:40.69 >>JEFFREY: Can I read that? 00:32:40.69\00:32:41.96 >>DAVID: Please. 00:32:41.96\00:32:43.16 >>JEFFREY: Genesis 3:19 shows us the rewind, what happens at 00:32:43.16\00:32:47.76 death, so we know, let me lead into that first, that in Genesis 00:32:47.76\00:32:52.03 2:7, the bible says that the Lord God formed man of the dust 00:32:52.03\00:32:57.87 of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life 00:32:57.87\00:33:01.84 and man became a living soul. 00:33:01.84\00:33:04.25 >>DAVID: He didn't have a soul, he was a soul. 00:33:04.25\00:33:07.48 >>JEFFREY: He wasn't given a soul, he became a soul, right? 00:33:07.48\00:33:10.22 And then, so that's the play button, that's a, he came into 00:33:10.22\00:33:14.09 being. 00:33:14.09\00:33:15.29 At death, all that happens is somebody presses the rewind 00:33:15.29\00:33:20.50 button and that is Genesis 3, verse 19, in the sweat of your 00:33:20.50\00:33:24.57 face, you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, but I 00:33:24.57\00:33:29.14 wanna emphasize this, until you, you, it doesn't say your soul, 00:33:29.14\00:33:33.74 until you, Adam, your holistic whatever, you, your youness, 00:33:33.74\00:33:40.28 returns to the ground for out of it you were taken, for dust you 00:33:40.28\00:33:46.39 are and to dust you shall return. 00:33:46.39\00:33:50.19 So, basically, the rewind button. 00:33:50.19\00:33:52.73 So, to bring the human race into existence, there was the dust of 00:33:52.73\00:33:58.17 the ground and there was, God breathed life into this new 00:33:58.17\00:34:02.37 being, new creature, and at death, all that happens is the 00:34:02.37\00:34:05.47 rewind. 00:34:05.47\00:34:06.27 >>DAVID: And those two make a one. 00:34:06.27\00:34:08.34 Those two don't remain a two. 00:34:08.34\00:34:10.48 That's dualism, that's monism, and when those two are 00:34:10.48\00:34:14.02 disassociated, the rewind button of, what was verse 19, Genesis 00:34:14.02\00:34:17.52 3:19? 00:34:17.52\00:34:18.19 Then, Adam, you cease to exist. 00:34:18.19\00:34:21.29 Now, God can recreate you, which, hallelujah, that's what 00:34:21.29\00:34:25.79 the word resurrection means, to be raised from that state of 00:34:25.79\00:34:29.53 death. 00:34:29.53\00:34:30.47 >>JEFFREY: Which is what will take place. 00:34:30.47\00:34:31.70 So, God, in some sense, and we don't know this, we can't get 00:34:31.70\00:34:33.90 into the psychology of how this works, maybe you guys know the 00:34:33.90\00:34:36.50 secret or mystery of how this works, but somehow, God 00:34:36.50\00:34:39.11 preserves the character, the personhood of the individual and 00:34:39.11\00:34:45.48 somehow, during resurrection in the end, God restores that. 00:34:45.48\00:34:50.09 >>TY: And I think scripture explicitly says that, two 00:34:50.09\00:34:53.76 scriptures to compare in Ecclesiastes chapter 9, verses 5 00:34:53.76\00:34:57.99 and 6, for the living know, that word refers to consciousness, 00:34:57.99\00:35:03.20 the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. 00:35:03.20\00:35:08.74 They have no consciousness, in other words. 00:35:08.74\00:35:10.54 The dead know nothing and they have no more reward, for the 00:35:10.54\00:35:16.51 memory of them is forgotten, verse 6, also their love, their 00:35:16.51\00:35:20.82 hatred, their envy have now perished. 00:35:20.82\00:35:25.35 And nevermore do they have a share in anything that is done 00:35:25.35\00:35:28.89 under the sun. 00:35:28.89\00:35:29.86 There's a lot there. 00:35:29.86\00:35:31.09 Point number one, the living are conscious of the fact that they 00:35:31.09\00:35:35.03 will die. 00:35:35.03\00:35:36.23 But once a person dies, the dead person knows nothing, zilch, 00:35:36.23\00:35:40.74 there is no conscious thought, and then he goes a step further 00:35:40.74\00:35:44.64 and says, their love is perished, which wouldn't be the 00:35:44.64\00:35:47.38 case if, when you die, you go straight to heaven, because 00:35:47.38\00:35:49.28 certainly, your love would be alive toward God. 00:35:49.28\00:35:50.65 >>DAVID: So, you're emotionally 00:35:50.65\00:35:52.35 -- >>TY: Hatred, perished? 00:35:52.35\00:35:54.75 Well, if you've gone straight to hell when you die, certainly, 00:35:54.75\00:35:57.39 there's gonna be rage and hatred and anger in your heart that is 00:35:57.39\00:35:59.69 perpetuated toward God. 00:35:59.69\00:36:01.46 >>DAVID: Which, I have a point about that, but keep going. 00:36:01.46\00:36:02.76 >>TY: Okay, so, love is perished, hatred is perished, 00:36:02.76\00:36:05.56 envy has now perished, but this is interesting, nevermore do 00:36:05.56\00:36:09.93 they have a sharing anything done under the sun. 00:36:09.93\00:36:13.07 And this connects with what is sometimes referred to as 00:36:13.07\00:36:17.77 spiritualism. 00:36:17.77\00:36:19.47 Because the idea that the soul survives the body in a conscious 00:36:19.47\00:36:24.78 state of some kind then prepares the way for the idea that human 00:36:24.78\00:36:31.22 beings who have died do have a share in what is done under the 00:36:31.22\00:36:35.69 sun. 00:36:35.69\00:36:36.93 You have this idea that deceased relatives return to speak with, 00:36:36.93\00:36:42.10 to commune with, to interact with, in everything from séances 00:36:42.10\00:36:45.90 to Ouija boards to just a person alone in their home after a 00:36:45.90\00:36:50.41 loved one has perished and having an encounter with a voice 00:36:50.41\00:36:55.58 or an apparition of some kind. 00:36:55.58\00:36:58.18 This scripture says that there is no consciousness after death 00:36:58.18\00:37:02.75 and therefore, the individual has no share in anything done 00:37:02.75\00:37:08.36 under the sun, that is, on planet earth. 00:37:08.36\00:37:10.16 But I said there were two scriptures in Ecclesiastes to 00:37:10.16\00:37:12.89 compare. 00:37:12.89\00:37:14.10 The next one is in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 7 and this 00:37:14.10\00:37:18.50 one is fascinating and this gets to what Jeffrey was raising, it 00:37:18.50\00:37:22.80 says here that the dust returns to the earth as it was and the 00:37:22.80\00:37:28.31 spirit returns to God, who gave it. 00:37:28.31\00:37:31.51 Jeffrey, you posed the question, you said, well, we know that God 00:37:31.51\00:37:35.38 preserves the individual identity, the personality, the 00:37:35.38\00:37:42.09 personhood, the character of a person when they die so that 00:37:42.09\00:37:45.69 that person can be restored to conscious existence in a new 00:37:45.69\00:37:49.36 body at the resurrection. 00:37:49.36\00:37:51.07 Well, check this out, this scripture tells us exactly what 00:37:51.07\00:37:54.10 happens. 00:37:54.10\00:37:55.27 This scripture says that the dust, that is the body, the 00:37:55.27\00:37:58.37 physical dimension, basically, it says that it returns to the 00:37:58.37\00:38:01.61 earth, it decays. 00:38:01.61\00:38:02.58 It just, it rots in the earth, it's compost. 00:38:02.58\00:38:06.41 But the spirit returns, in what form? 00:38:06.41\00:38:10.05 Well, he told us earlier, not in the conscious form, no love, no 00:38:10.05\00:38:12.95 hatred, nothing like that going on. 00:38:12.95\00:38:14.39 It returns to God. 00:38:14.39\00:38:15.59 This is what I think happens. 00:38:15.59\00:38:17.59 I think that a person lives their life and this scripture is 00:38:17.59\00:38:22.66 telling us that there is what you called personhood, 00:38:22.66\00:38:24.97 personality, character, the composite identity of the 00:38:24.97\00:38:28.77 individual, and God, I like your word, preserves that data so 00:38:28.77\00:38:36.21 that at the resurrection, a new body can be created and God can 00:38:36.21\00:38:40.58 take the hard drive, as it were, of that data, that information 00:38:40.58\00:38:44.79 that composed the personality and the identity, and just slap 00:38:44.79\00:38:48.59 it back into a new model, so to speak, a new body. 00:38:48.59\00:38:51.86 >>DAVID: Incorruptible. 00:38:51.86\00:38:53.09 >>TY: Incorruptible, immortal body, that's why Paul spoke of, 00:38:53.09\00:38:55.23 Paul was a tentmaker, he made tents and tents were houses in 00:38:55.23\00:39:00.94 his time, and he said he was looking forward to putting off 00:39:00.94\00:39:03.51 this tent and moving into a new tent. 00:39:03.51\00:39:06.91 >>DAVID: 2 Corinthians 5. 00:39:06.91\00:39:08.14 >>TY: So, he's basically saying, my body constitutes the house in 00:39:08.14\00:39:12.41 which I live and I'm looking forward to the immortal body, 00:39:12.41\00:39:17.65 but I'll be the same person. 00:39:17.65\00:39:19.19 >>DAVID: You know, we actually, thank you for that, Ty, that's 00:39:19.19\00:39:21.96 beautiful. 00:39:21.96\00:39:23.19 We actually have language that communicates that we feel, at 00:39:23.19\00:39:25.79 some level, a disassociation from our body. 00:39:25.79\00:39:28.06 We do this a lot. 00:39:28.06\00:39:29.50 We'll say things like, oh, yeah, my arm, I went to throw, but my 00:39:29.50\00:39:32.50 arm betrayed me. 00:39:32.50\00:39:33.34 >>TY: Who's the me? 00:39:33.34\00:39:34.57 >>DAVID: Yeah, if your arm is you, who is the arm betraying? 00:39:34.57\00:39:39.77 We say these things a lot. 00:39:39.77\00:39:41.51 Just the other day, I was watching a skateboard video, I 00:39:41.51\00:39:44.35 love to skateboard, and there was a skateboarder by the name 00:39:44.35\00:39:46.58 of Trevor Gaulden and he was trying to do this line and he 00:39:46.58\00:39:49.05 kept falling and kept falling, trying to do these different 00:39:49.05\00:39:50.82 tricks, and he said, listen to what he said, because he only 00:39:50.82\00:39:54.06 had so much time to get this trick done, it was a contest, 00:39:54.06\00:39:55.99 and then he said, well, I'll be able to make it, I don't know if 00:39:55.99\00:40:00.50 my body will. 00:40:00.50\00:40:01.66 See, we're communicating that we understand that there is an 00:40:01.66\00:40:06.13 usness that is not our physicality. 00:40:06.13\00:40:10.91 And the illustration I like to use is say you were involved in 00:40:10.91\00:40:12.71 a car accident and you lost your right arm so you became an 00:40:12.71\00:40:14.98 amputee. 00:40:14.98\00:40:16.04 Or maybe you lost both arms, okay, so now, you are 00:40:16.04\00:40:18.08 considerably less by volume, but you're still James, I'm still 00:40:18.08\00:40:24.75 David, you're still Jeffrey. 00:40:24.75\00:40:25.92 So, when God takes that hard drive, as you said, or that 00:40:25.92\00:40:29.29 data, that makes up the youness of Jeffrey and the youness of 00:40:29.29\00:40:32.86 James and the youness of Ty and the meness of David, and injects 00:40:32.86\00:40:35.63 it into a new body, well, that's still me, and I'll be, my 00:40:35.63\00:40:38.43 biceps, I know that's something hard to imagine. 00:40:38.43\00:40:41.14 They will probably be even bigger than they are now. 00:40:41.14\00:40:47.08 >>JAMES: I can't imagine that. 00:40:47.08\00:40:49.24 >>TY: You guys, we're a little bit over, we have to take a 00:40:49.24\00:40:51.58 break, but we have a whole, we have a third segment, so this 00:40:51.58\00:40:55.68 conversation isn't over yet. 00:40:55.68\00:40:57.39 >>JAMES: Good, because I've got an idea I wanna share. 00:40:57.39\00:40:59.32 [Music] 00:40:59.32\00:41:09.03 Announcer: Truth is not merely a list of theological facts, but 00:41:10.20\00:41:13.57 rather the revelation of God's beautiful love in Jesus Christ. 00:41:13.57\00:41:17.01 Truth Link is a series of bible study guides that magnify God's 00:41:17.01\00:41:21.48 love as the center of every bible doctrine. 00:41:21.48\00:41:24.21 To receive your free copy of lesson one, call 877-585-1111 or 00:41:24.21\00:41:31.29 write to Light Bearers, 37457 Jasper Lowell Road, Jasper, 00:41:31.29\00:41:36.16 Oregon, 97438. 00:41:36.16\00:41:38.46 Once again, to receive your free copy of Truth Link lesson one, 00:41:38.46\00:41:42.93 call 877-585-1111 or write to Light Bearers, 37457 Jasper 00:41:42.93\00:41:50.64 Lowell Road, Jasper, Oregon, 97438. 00:41:50.64\00:41:55.08 Simply ask for Truth Link, lesson one. 00:41:55.08\00:41:57.85 [Music] 00:41:57.85\00:42:03.75 >>TY: This has been a pretty great discussion so far, there's 00:42:04.59\00:42:08.12 no doubt, however, that we have raised questions that anybody 00:42:08.12\00:42:13.63 who's biblically literate is saying, but what about this 00:42:13.63\00:42:16.10 text, what about this one, this one, and this one? 00:42:16.10\00:42:18.17 There are verses, let's not pretend that they don't exist, 00:42:18.17\00:42:20.97 there are biblical passages that are challenging, that are 00:42:20.97\00:42:25.27 difficult. 00:42:25.27\00:42:26.51 So, I think in all fairness to the subject and to anybody who 00:42:26.51\00:42:31.58 is studying and looking into this subject, that we should 00:42:31.58\00:42:34.08 deal with those difficult passages. 00:42:34.08\00:42:35.68 So, I'll first begin by pointing out that in scripture, there are 00:42:35.68\00:42:43.12 passages that use words like everlasting and eternal to 00:42:43.12\00:42:48.43 describe the fire that comes upon the wicked. 00:42:48.43\00:42:53.60 Alright, for example, we have Matthew chapter 25 and verse 46, 00:42:53.60\00:43:02.01 and it says here, and these, speaking of the lost, the 00:43:02.01\00:43:06.05 wicked, will go away into everlasting punishment, but the 00:43:06.05\00:43:10.22 righteous into eternal life. 00:43:10.22\00:43:12.02 So, this is using the word everlasting in the Greek, it 00:43:12.02\00:43:18.09 could also just be translated just eternal, eternal 00:43:18.09\00:43:20.73 punishment. 00:43:20.73\00:43:22.46 There are other scriptures, for example, we have in Revelation 00:43:22.46\00:43:27.37 chapter 20, where the word eternal is used to describe the 00:43:27.37\00:43:32.07 fire that comes upon the wicked. 00:43:32.07\00:43:33.98 This one says eternal punishment, that one says 00:43:33.98\00:43:36.18 eternal fire. 00:43:36.18\00:43:37.38 Okay, so, I'd like us to just spend a moment wrapping our 00:43:37.38\00:43:40.02 minds around this idea of eternal, okay? 00:43:40.02\00:43:42.68 For example, when we read, in Jonah chapter 1, verses 17, and 00:43:42.68\00:43:51.13 then chapter 2, verse 6, we have Jonah describing his experience 00:43:51.13\00:43:57.17 in the belly of the whale, and he says, quote unquote, I was in 00:43:57.17\00:44:02.24 the belly of the whale forever, and then he turns around in the 00:44:02.24\00:44:06.94 next breath and he says, I was in the belly of the whale for 3 00:44:06.94\00:44:10.95 days and 3 nights. 00:44:10.95\00:44:12.45 So, is there a contradiction here? 00:44:12.45\00:44:14.85 Or are we dealing with a mode of speech, a usage of language in 00:44:14.85\00:44:20.86 scripture that needs to be taken into consideration. 00:44:20.86\00:44:24.16 Another example would be Exodus chapter 21 verse 6, where a 00:44:24.16\00:44:28.06 slave, a servant, who choses after his time of indentured 00:44:28.06\00:44:34.30 servitude is over, chooses to continue serving his master by 00:44:34.30\00:44:40.44 voluntary choice, when that's done, Exodus 21 verse 6 says 00:44:40.44\00:44:44.65 that he can choose to enter into a relationship with his master 00:44:44.65\00:44:49.15 in which he can serve him forever. 00:44:49.15\00:44:52.15 Now, we know from the text, and just from logic, that it's not 00:44:52.15\00:44:57.39 saying that he will serve that master eternally, we know the 00:44:57.39\00:45:02.03 text is telling us that forever means, as long as his life 00:45:02.03\00:45:05.43 lasts. 00:45:05.43\00:45:07.24 Jonah is in the belly of the whale as long as the experience 00:45:07.24\00:45:11.14 lasts. 00:45:11.14\00:45:12.61 I was on an airplane recently forever. 00:45:12.61\00:45:16.64 It certainly felt like forever, and I'm using the word in the 00:45:16.64\00:45:20.25 sense, I'm exaggerating for effect, is exactly what's 00:45:20.25\00:45:23.75 happening there. 00:45:23.75\00:45:24.92 >>DAVID: And not even just an exaggeration, but the word 00:45:24.92\00:45:27.89 forever or everlasting or eternal, in more, forever and 00:45:27.89\00:45:32.39 everlasting, in these contexts, modify the thing, the nature of 00:45:32.39\00:45:37.00 the thing that they're describing. 00:45:37.00\00:45:38.53 >>TY: Say it again? 00:45:38.53\00:45:39.77 >>DAVID: Okay, so these words modify the nature of the thing 00:45:39.77\00:45:42.80 they're describing. 00:45:42.80\00:45:43.84 >>TY: So, fire, if it's eternal. 00:45:43.84\00:45:45.67 >>DAVID: Okay, let me give what I think is a better example. 00:45:45.67\00:45:49.18 So, if the bible says that the mountains are from everlasting 00:45:49.18\00:45:52.88 to everlasting, as it says in the Old Testament, right? 00:45:52.88\00:45:55.45 You have established the hills. 00:45:55.45\00:45:56.58 They are from everlasting to everlasting. 00:45:56.58\00:45:58.15 Okay, that's true, but the bible also says that the rocks will 00:45:58.15\00:46:01.32 melt. 00:46:01.32\00:46:02.42 So, those mountains will last as long as mountains last. 00:46:02.42\00:46:05.69 The experience in the belly of the fish, that experience, the 00:46:05.69\00:46:11.53 word forever modifies that kind of an experience, so here's 00:46:11.53\00:46:14.40 where people fall into a tricky thing. 00:46:14.40\00:46:15.80 A slave is a slave forever and Jonah's in the belly of the fish 00:46:15.80\00:46:20.11 forever and the mountains last from everlasting to everlasting, 00:46:20.11\00:46:23.04 or forever, or the fire lasts forever. 00:46:23.04\00:46:24.91 Okay, if you take that same word, forever, or eternal, or 00:46:24.91\00:46:28.82 everlasting, and you apply it to God, well, it really does mean 00:46:28.82\00:46:33.29 throughout the ceaseless, eternal ages, because the nature 00:46:33.29\00:46:35.39 of God, the kind of being that God is, is a being that lasts 00:46:35.39\00:46:39.46 throughout unending ages. 00:46:39.46\00:46:41.33 So, when that word is applied to God, it means this. 00:46:41.33\00:46:44.87 When that word forever is applied to an airplane ride or 00:46:44.87\00:46:47.97 to a mountain or to slavery or to the time in the belly of a 00:46:47.97\00:46:50.47 fish, it means, as long as that lasts. 00:46:50.47\00:46:52.91 What it technically means is without interruption until 00:46:52.91\00:46:56.58 susation. 00:46:56.58\00:46:57.41 It's not interrupted until it stops. 00:46:57.41\00:47:01.08 And where people are getting fuzzy is where they say, well, 00:47:01.08\00:47:03.52 God is everlasting, but this is also everlasting, okay, but God 00:47:03.52\00:47:05.89 is a different kind of being. 00:47:05.89\00:47:07.69 >>TY: Yeah, I think there's more, oh, what were you gonna 00:47:07.69\00:47:10.29 say? 00:47:10.29\00:47:11.39 >>JAMES: Well, I was just gonna look at Jude chapter 1. 00:47:11.39\00:47:13.60 >>TY: Yeah, that's exactly where I was gonna go. 00:47:13.60\00:47:14.73 >>JAMES: And verse 7. 00:47:14.73\00:47:15.60 >>DAVID: As an example of eternal fire. 00:47:15.60\00:47:17.83 >>JAMES: Well, I like this because this is actually giving 00:47:17.83\00:47:20.87 us a biblical example, something that happened historically, 00:47:20.87\00:47:24.61 something that happened biblically. 00:47:24.61\00:47:25.91 It's talking about Sodom and Gomorrah here in Jude verse 7, I 00:47:25.91\00:47:30.35 say verse 7 this time because Jude just has one chapter, even 00:47:30.35\00:47:32.51 as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them and like man 00:47:32.51\00:47:36.32 are giving themselves over to fornication and going after 00:47:36.32\00:47:38.55 strange flesh are set forth as an example, suffering the 00:47:38.55\00:47:41.66 vengeance of eternal fire. 00:47:41.66\00:47:43.76 Now, we know that Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed by fire, 00:47:43.76\00:47:47.46 but we know that that fire is not still burning. 00:47:47.46\00:47:50.97 >>TY: But here it's called eternal fire. 00:47:50.97\00:47:53.10 >>JAMES: Right, so the point you're making, biblically sound 00:47:53.10\00:47:57.01 point you're making right here is verified in history, it's 00:47:57.01\00:48:01.84 verified in biblical history at least, we recognize that the 00:48:01.84\00:48:06.25 eternal fire is a fire that came down upon Sodom and Gomorrah as 00:48:06.25\00:48:11.35 a judgement and that that judgement was an eternal 00:48:11.35\00:48:14.26 judgement. 00:48:14.26\00:48:15.09 >>DAVID: The consequences were eternal. 00:48:15.09\00:48:16.59 >>JAMES: The consequences were eternal, the damnation is 00:48:16.59\00:48:18.76 eternal, there's no turning around from that consequence. 00:48:18.76\00:48:22.33 >>TY: Okay, throw this scripture in for Jude 7, 2 Peter chapter 2 00:48:22.33\00:48:27.77 verse 6, again is speaking of Sodom and Gomorrah and it says 00:48:27.77\00:48:31.47 that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were turned into ashes, 00:48:31.47\00:48:36.91 condemned to eternal destruction, or to destruction. 00:48:36.91\00:48:41.68 So, here, you have 2 passages, you have Jude saying, Sodom and 00:48:41.68\00:48:45.52 Gomorrah, eternal fire, you have Peter saying, Sodom and 00:48:45.52\00:48:48.89 Gomorrah, ashes, destruction. 00:48:48.89\00:48:51.19 Is there a contradiction? 00:48:51.19\00:48:52.99 Do you choose based on your theology? 00:48:52.99\00:48:55.36 I like this one better, I like this one better, no, you just 00:48:55.36\00:48:58.67 look at the site on planet earth where Sodom and Gomorrah were 00:48:58.67\00:49:03.14 once situated, yeah, and it's not there. 00:49:03.14\00:49:06.44 It's not burning. 00:49:06.44\00:49:07.64 >>JEFFREY: I've actually been there and it's not burning. 00:49:07.64\00:49:09.44 >>DAVID: Okay, so, go back to a text you've already quoted, Ty, 00:49:09.44\00:49:11.98 the end of Matthew chapter 25, when Jesus says to the lost, 00:49:11.98\00:49:14.78 these will go away to everlasting punishment, but the 00:49:14.78\00:49:19.25 righteous into eternal life. 00:49:19.25\00:49:21.02 Okay, so here we have eternal, defining life, well that is 00:49:21.02\00:49:24.16 unending, because it's describing the nature of the 00:49:24.16\00:49:26.86 thing. 00:49:26.86\00:49:27.60 Life. 00:49:27.60\00:49:28.80 Life is the opposite of death, but everlasting punishment is 00:49:28.80\00:49:33.07 saying, that's a punishment with everlasting consequences. 00:49:33.07\00:49:36.37 We know this because the new heaven and the new earth is not 00:49:36.37\00:49:41.78 a place of fiery, brimstone, torturous. 00:49:41.78\00:49:44.38 >>JAMES: And that is so key. 00:49:44.38\00:49:46.35 David, that is so key, because notice what it says in 00:49:46.35\00:49:49.05 Revelation 14, notice what it says here. 00:49:49.05\00:49:50.85 The third angel follows with a loud voice, warning against the 00:49:50.85\00:49:54.49 worship of the beast and his image and his mark, verse 9, and 00:49:54.49\00:49:57.69 then it says, in verse 10, the same, those who received the 00:49:57.69\00:50:00.80 mark of the beast, the same shall drink of the wine of the 00:50:00.80\00:50:04.57 wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture of his 00:50:04.57\00:50:07.00 indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and 00:50:07.00\00:50:10.61 brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence 00:50:10.61\00:50:14.54 of the lamb and the smoke of their torment ascends up forever 00:50:14.54\00:50:18.48 and ever. 00:50:18.48\00:50:19.71 So, we understand the forever and ever part, but what we don't 00:50:19.71\00:50:22.52 understand about hell, often, is that it actually takes place in 00:50:22.52\00:50:26.76 the presence of the holy angels and the presence of the lamb. 00:50:26.76\00:50:31.09 In other words, there's a description in Revelation 15 and 00:50:31.09\00:50:34.30 it's also in Isaiah 33, I believe, that talks about the 00:50:34.30\00:50:38.30 sea of glass mingled with fire. 00:50:38.30\00:50:40.50 The bible through and through talks about how God is a 00:50:40.50\00:50:43.97 consuming fire to sin and it asks the question in Isaiah 33, 00:50:43.97\00:50:48.18 who's going to be able to stand in the everlasting burnings? 00:50:48.18\00:50:51.45 And the answer is given in Malachi chapter 4, we're told 00:50:51.45\00:50:55.55 there that the wicked won't be able to. 00:50:55.55\00:50:57.32 Let me just read the verse, it says here that you will tread 00:50:57.32\00:51:00.82 down the wicked for they shall be ashes under the soles of your 00:51:00.82\00:51:04.39 feet in the day that I do this, saith the Lord of Hosts. 00:51:04.39\00:51:07.86 >>TY: So, the wicked are ashes. 00:51:07.86\00:51:08.73 >>JAMES: Just like Sodom and Gomorrah. 00:51:08.73\00:51:10.17 So, Sodom and Gomorrah is an example, 2 Peter says, of what's 00:51:10.17\00:51:13.77 going to happen to the wicked. 00:51:13.77\00:51:14.97 They are actually going to perish. 00:51:14.97\00:51:17.07 >>DAVID: Well said. 00:51:17.07\00:51:18.31 >>JEFFREY: That's awesome, you were just in Revelation 14, and 00:51:18.31\00:51:21.28 the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and I 00:51:21.28\00:51:25.71 encountered a passage in Isaiah 34, which, you all will 00:51:25.71\00:51:30.39 recognize, that actually, that that language is borrowed from 00:51:30.39\00:51:35.72 the Old Testament, and the picture presented in the book of 00:51:35.72\00:51:38.39 Revelation, for the end, the judgment at the end, hellfire, 00:51:38.39\00:51:41.83 the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, when 00:51:41.83\00:51:45.17 you look at Isaiah chapter 34, in verse 8, it is the day of the 00:51:45.17\00:51:49.17 Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of 00:51:49.17\00:51:52.34 Zion, its streams shall be turned into pitch and its dust 00:51:52.34\00:51:57.38 into brimstone. 00:51:57.38\00:51:59.01 Its land shall become burning pitch, it shall not be quenched 00:51:59.01\00:52:03.18 night or day, its smoke shall ascend forever. 00:52:03.18\00:52:09.86 >>TY: From generation to generation. 00:52:09.86\00:52:11.36 >>JEFFREY: None shall pass through it forever and ever. 00:52:11.36\00:52:15.73 That's the exact same language used in Revelation chapter 14, 00:52:15.73\00:52:19.93 which just demonstrates what you've all been iterating here, 00:52:19.93\00:52:23.24 that the language being used here is one of finality. 00:52:23.24\00:52:26.68 >>DAVID: That's a great way to say it. 00:52:26.68\00:52:27.94 >>JEFFREY: It's describing a picture where the effects of 00:52:27.94\00:52:31.38 what's taking place are forever, are everlasting. 00:52:31.38\00:52:34.38 Just like in this passage here, where it's speaking of Edom, the 00:52:34.38\00:52:39.85 judgment on Edom. 00:52:39.85\00:52:41.09 >>TY: Well, how about this, the devil himself, Satan, is spoken 00:52:41.09\00:52:47.96 of in Ezekiel chapter 28 and God is addressing him directly and 00:52:47.96\00:52:51.97 says, I will bring forth a fire from the midst of you and it, 00:52:51.97\00:52:56.71 the fire, will devour you and I, God, will bring you, Satan, to 00:52:56.71\00:53:02.08 ashes upon the earth and never shall you be anymore. 00:53:02.08\00:53:09.65 >>JAMES: Oh, praise God. 00:53:09.65\00:53:10.89 >>TY: In other words, the devil, according to this passage, will 00:53:10.89\00:53:14.69 cease to exist. 00:53:14.69\00:53:15.86 The devil will be ashes under the feet of the righteous. 00:53:15.86\00:53:20.40 >>JEFFREY: But that's not the popular picture, the popular 00:53:20.40\00:53:21.56 picture is the devil is in hell... 00:53:21.56\00:53:22.86 >>TY: Presiding over, yeah. 00:53:22.86\00:53:25.37 >>JEFFREY: Or, by victim of God, and his life is prolonged 00:53:25.37\00:53:29.60 through the seasons. 00:53:29.60\00:53:30.84 >>TY: How about this, Obadiah 15 and 16 says of the wicked, they 00:53:30.84\00:53:35.08 shall be as though they had never been. 00:53:35.08\00:53:38.71 As if they had never existed. 00:53:38.71\00:53:40.12 >>DAVID: Okay, so, exactly, Jeffrey, just a moment ago, used 00:53:40.12\00:53:43.95 a great word, he used the word finality. 00:53:43.95\00:53:46.89 For us in this realm that we live in right now, death is a 00:53:46.89\00:53:50.06 finality. 00:53:50.06\00:53:51.26 If somebody close to you dies, they don't go to their house 00:53:51.26\00:53:53.50 anymore, they're not sleeping in their bed anymore, they're not 00:53:53.50\00:53:55.46 driving in their car anymore, there's a, follow this, a 00:53:55.46\00:53:59.00 temporary finality. 00:53:59.00\00:54:00.50 In other words, there's a sense in which that's done, but it's 00:54:00.50\00:54:03.34 only temporary because, according to scripture, there 00:54:03.34\00:54:04.91 will be a resurrection. 00:54:04.91\00:54:06.14 But the bible doesn't speak of just one death, the bible speaks 00:54:06.14\00:54:09.68 of a second death. 00:54:09.68\00:54:11.45 So, if a death is final, in the temporary sense, scripture says 00:54:11.45\00:54:15.38 the second death is final in an eternal sense. 00:54:15.38\00:54:18.99 The second death is the death from which there is no 00:54:18.99\00:54:21.86 resurrection. 00:54:21.86\00:54:23.09 Right, this is Revelation 20, this is Revelation, where's the 00:54:23.09\00:54:25.66 second death on such the second death has no power? 00:54:25.66\00:54:28.03 >>TY: Revelation 20 verse 6 and Revelation chapter 2 verse 14. 00:54:28.03\00:54:33.07 >>DAVID: Right, so, you have this idea of a second death, you 00:54:33.07\00:54:36.37 die the second death, from which there is no resurrection, and 00:54:36.37\00:54:40.01 there's the actual finality. 00:54:40.01\00:54:41.68 When sin and sinners are no more. 00:54:41.68\00:54:43.01 The last thing I wanna say and I'll turn it over to you guys 00:54:43.01\00:54:44.78 here, Ty said something a moment ago that was huge. 00:54:44.78\00:54:47.32 He said, if people go into the fires of hell, they are cursing, 00:54:47.32\00:54:50.22 they're filled with rage, they're filled with anger, 00:54:50.22\00:54:51.92 they're whatever, you know, they're conscious beings, 00:54:51.92\00:54:55.22 they're, if that's the case, then sin is eternal, sin is 00:54:55.22\00:55:00.60 immortal. 00:55:00.60\00:55:01.73 There will always be people blaspheming the name of God, 00:55:01.73\00:55:03.77 yelling against God, yelling against, I mean, really? 00:55:03.77\00:55:07.27 >>JEFFREY: There's no finality there. 00:55:07.27\00:55:08.24 >>DAVID: There's no finality, there's no end. 00:55:08.24\00:55:09.87 There is a perennial, eternal witness to hatred against God, 00:55:09.87\00:55:14.68 blasphemy against God, rebellion against God, no. 00:55:14.68\00:55:17.88 The bible says, the last enemy to be destroyed is death, sin 00:55:17.88\00:55:23.22 and sinners are no more, and God will give us a new heaven and a 00:55:23.22\00:55:27.42 new earth wherein dwells righteousness and peace and joy 00:55:27.42\00:55:31.83 and. 00:55:31.83\00:55:32.43 No, that's it, go. 00:55:32.43\00:55:34.63 >>TY: Have you guys considered Revelation 21? 00:55:34.63\00:55:39.90 It's kind of a roundabout way at coming at the question, but 00:55:39.90\00:55:43.10 after the new heavens and the new earth are created, it says 00:55:43.10\00:55:47.81 God will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall 00:55:47.81\00:55:50.95 be no more death nor sorrow nor crying, there shall be no more 00:55:50.95\00:55:57.99 pain, no more pain. 00:55:57.99\00:56:01.89 >>JAMES: True or false? 00:56:01.89\00:56:02.42 True or false? 00:56:02.42\00:56:03.66 >>TY: So, if there is someplace somewhere in the universe where 00:56:03.66\00:56:08.30 eternal souls are writhing in pain, it cannot be said there is 00:56:08.30\00:56:12.30 no more pain, because in fact, there is ongoing eternal, 00:56:12.30\00:56:16.34 nonstop pain. 00:56:16.34\00:56:17.57 >>JAMES: Every single Christian on planet earth needs to look at 00:56:17.57\00:56:20.78 that verse and needs to pray about that verse. 00:56:20.78\00:56:22.68 >>DAVID: That's right, and let's take it to the next level. 00:56:22.68\00:56:23.98 Jesus was only on the cross for a very short time. 00:56:23.98\00:56:28.12 He was in the tomb for a short time. 00:56:28.12\00:56:29.65 He came out of the tomb. 00:56:29.65\00:56:30.75 Now, the question is, did Jesus pay the wages of sin? 00:56:30.75\00:56:34.06 >>TY: This is so important. 00:56:34.06\00:56:36.93 >>DAVID: If Jesus didn't pay the wages of sin, there is no plan 00:56:36.93\00:56:41.03 of salvation, there is no redemption. 00:56:41.03\00:56:42.73 The whole New Testament, the whole bible falls flat on its 00:56:42.73\00:56:45.23 face. 00:56:45.23\00:56:46.47 So, now think about this, if the wages of sin is really eternal, 00:56:46.47\00:56:50.81 unending, everlasting, conscious torment in a fiery place, that 00:56:50.81\00:56:56.68 didn't happen to Jesus. 00:56:56.68\00:56:57.91 Even if you say as some do that Jesus went into the fiery abyss 00:56:57.91\00:57:02.02 for a time, well, even so, that's not eternal. 00:57:02.02\00:57:04.52 So, did Jesus pay the wages of sin? 00:57:04.52\00:57:08.06 Or didn't he pay the wages of sin? 00:57:08.06\00:57:09.29 He did and the wages of sin is not eternal, conscious torment 00:57:09.29\00:57:13.60 in the fiery depths, the wages, say it with me, of sin is death. 00:57:13.60\00:57:17.97 >>TY: And that's what we see Jesus experiencing on our 00:57:17.97\00:57:20.44 behalf. 00:57:20.44\00:57:21.67 >>DAVID: He died not just, and this is the part that Mel Gibson 00:57:21.67\00:57:24.34 got wrong in the Passion of the Christ, I never saw it, but he 00:57:24.34\00:57:26.68 got it wrong, it's the part that most of us get wrong, when we 00:57:26.68\00:57:29.88 think about the cross, we think, oh, look at the pain. 00:57:29.88\00:57:31.88 Look at the physical, look at the nails, look at the cross, 00:57:31.88\00:57:35.25 look at the crown of thorns, look at the blood. 00:57:35.25\00:57:39.05 It's far more than that, it's this, it's separation. 00:57:39.05\00:57:43.29 Sin causes separation from God, this causes death. 00:57:43.29\00:57:47.83 Why have you forsaken me? 00:57:47.83\00:57:49.80 Jesus is not merely dying the physical death of the 00:57:49.80\00:57:53.44 corruptible humanity, Jesus is dying the second death. 00:57:53.44\00:57:57.44 He is experiencing true hell, separation from his Father. 00:57:57.44\00:58:02.01 Jesus truly paid the wages of sin. 00:58:02.01\00:58:06.05 >>TY: Seems to me like the biblical picture of the final 00:58:06.05\00:58:09.78 demise of the wicked, if really delved into and understood, 00:58:09.78\00:58:13.79 vindicates the character of God, it beautifies the character of 00:58:13.79\00:58:18.49 God. 00:58:18.49\00:58:19.73 We can say, God, even in the way that you deal with your enemies, 00:58:19.73\00:58:23.16 you will be just. 00:58:23.16\00:58:24.33 I mean, we don't regard any earthly government as a just 00:58:24.33\00:58:29.34 government that inflicts torture. 00:58:29.34\00:58:31.91 How could we possibly expect anything less of God? 00:58:31.91\00:58:37.38 God is good, God is love, and therefore, God will deal justly 00:58:37.38\00:58:43.42 and mercifully, even with his enemies, even with those who are 00:58:43.42\00:58:48.02 eternally lost. 00:58:48.02\00:58:49.72 [Music] 00:58:49.72\00:58:52.79 eternally lost. 00:58:52.79\00:58:53.26