Comment: 

Your Question/Answer topic on hell, and specifically quoting Daniel 12:2 as pointing to the doctrine of hell in the OT, is a serious lie and error. You surely know the Hebrew word ‘oulm’ means eon or age. Why paint the face of God with your destructive and carnal brush strokes. It is a lie that God will eternally torment His creation. God’s passion is to make righteous and He has and will do that for all men in Christ. ‘God is the Savior of all men, especially those who believe’. I was once an eternal torment promulgator but I have repented. Change your thinking on this, John, and ask God what His plan ad purposes for all mankind. You are promoting lies about God. God’s discipline and correction is remedial and not to destroy. Think about this, John! Your mind is caged in a false-doctrine. The Spirit is life and the carnal mind is death. You are promoting death. Where does that come from?

Response:

A little comment before I respond. If you want a reasoned discussion with someone, it is not advisable to attack that person. Jesus said to love our enemies. I really hope you do not consider me an enemy, as I am a sincere Christian, but even if I were your enemy, it still is not a good Christian example to call someone a liar, an eternal torment promulgator and a promoter of death. Such angry, hateful,fighting words do not help promote Christ or produce useful conversation.

Having said that, I am open to the possibility that suffering in hell is for a limited time. I am not completely convinced that the suffering in hell is literally for an infinite amount of time. Yes, I am aware that the Hebrew word which is translated as forever/eternal often carries the meaning of aeon or age. In any case, I believe we can all agree that this word refers to a long period of time. I can assume from your tone that you are a Jehovah’s Witness. Those who are controlled by the Watchtower Society, as far as I know, deny that there is any suffering at all in hell. This is obviously not in agreement with a great number of passages in the New Testament. However, like I said, I believe that the doctrine that this suffering is for a limited time may in fact be correct doctrine.

The passage in question, Daniel 12:2, says that at the end of time, some will rise to everlasting life and others to shame and everlasting contempt. Surely this is a picture of heaven and hell, similar to that at the end of Revelation 20. If we allow for the translation that some will rise to shame and contempt for an age (rather than everlasting), this is still a picture of suffering and punishment. Hell is not about improvement. It is about punishment. I am not one who rejoices at this biblical doctrine, but to say that the situation in Daniel 12:2 is about discipline and correction is not supported by the text, unless you can show that those in this situation pass from "shame and everlasting contempt" to another, more blessed state. There is no biblical evidence, as far as I know, that souls pass from the state of final judgment back to a blessed state. Emotionally, I want to believe this is the case, but I see no biblical warrant for believing that those in hell will later pass to a blessed state. Unless I am shown biblical evidence that those who suffer shame and everlasting contempt will pass from this state to another, I am forced to believe that this is not about discipline, but punishment.

John Oakes