For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Agnes Massey
I want to let you know my experience of after death which happened during
my tonsils' surgery when I woke up and sharp surgical instrument caused
uncontrollable bleeding.
I saw myself before God. Two angles were standing at my left hand side.
One angel said, " Oh! she belongs to the DAVID'S ROYAL FAMILY."
Other angel said, " Agnes! there is too much bleeding from your throat,
don't take it to your stomach , shout ,as much as you can." I obeyed angel,
miraculously my bleeding stopped and I came back to this world.
My grandpa was a Khan origin from Afghanistan. It transpired to me that
these people are from the tribe of JUDHA and KING DAVID was from this tribe while according to the HOLY SCRIPTURES after last judgement these 12 tribes of JACOB will enter first from 12 doors of heaven.
More over it transpired to me that actually they are all people of Israel and
JESUS came to the world to save them from the of lake of fire , shed HIS
PRECIOUS BLOOD, DIED ON CROSE and saved them before gentiles.
Please, help me to propagate it through your sources of media etc...
Thank you very much for your cooperation. God bless you,
Agnes Massey (KHAN)
William Daniels
Hell comes from the words Gehenna, Sheol, and Hades in the bible. First think about a fair punishment for something wrong. Is burning in fire FOREVER, BILLIONS OF YEARS and longer, a fair punishment for 70 or 80 years of bad behaviour. That is beyond cruel. Gehenna was outside of Jerusalem and was a trash bin of sorts with fire that was kept burning to get rid of refuse. Dead bodies of criminals were burnt there as well. Sheol and Hades are used to refer to the grave and sometimes are translated correctly as grave in the KJ bible and other times as HEll in the KJ bible. This was done to conform to the already existing belief of the translators. There influence ultimately came from Greek mythology. Gehenna is used to mean total destruction (non-existence) while sheol and hades are simply the common grave we all go to until we are resurrected.
Tim Maas
With regard to the "fairness" of an eternity in Hell, Hell (in my opinion) is not a punishment inflicted by God, nor is it cruel in the sense of being unjust or undeserved. It is the logical and eternal extension of choices that we ourselves have made during our earthly lives.
If we have spent our lives in rebellion against God and in separation from Him, and have not availed ourselves of the salvation that He offers in Christ (even right up to the moment or our last earthly breath), then an eternity separated from God in Hell is merely the continuance of that same orientation. (And if someone has rejected God throughout his earthly life, why would he even then want to spend eternity in the presence of that same God?)
As C. S. Lewis put it, to people who never at any point in their lives say to God, "Thy will be done" by accepting Christ, God will eventually say to them, "Thy will be done," and they will be eternally given the same separation from Him that they sought during their lives. (Whether they will "enjoy" that separation is another question, but it is a separation that they themselves will have knowingly and willfully chosen.)