Does God destroy the soul?

[JohnB445]

The soul is eternal, but surely God can destroy the soul as well.

Those who seek God for some reason end up in different places, (Hinduism, other religions). Will God give them credit for trying, and destroy the soul in the end instead of sending it to hell? Some people attempt to seek God and end up in different religions, and most do have good intentions and are trying.

I never had this problem so I don't know how hard it is to find the light of Jesus Christ. Is it really hard to find Jesus these days how deceptive is satan?

 

[TuxAme]

Our souls cannot be destroyed. God didn't create them to be blotted out of existence. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we will either be judged for heaven or hell, not "soul destruction".

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Matthew 10:28 [Full Chapter]
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

 

[TuxAme]

Matthew 10:28 [Full Chapter]
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Read also Matthew 25:31-45, ending with verse 46 which reads, "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

 

[JohnB445]

What happens to people who failed to find Jesus but tried? Is that possible?

Or when people try does the Lord help them so much that they will be able to find them.

 

[TuxAme]

What happens to people who failed to find Jesus but tried? Is that possible?

Or when people try does the Lord help them so much that they will be able to find them.

God has it within His power to save those who sought Him but couldn't find Him. We don't know how common or uncommon it is for someone who didn't believe in their life to enter Heaven, however.

Regardless, a soul will not be destroyed.

 

[SarahsKnight]

Matthew 10:28 [Full Chapter]
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Why bother, Handmaid? Christians who were taught immortal souls and eternal torture all their lives won't budge an inch even when you post Scripture that clearly and directly contradicts the usual cliches and sentiments that fly around in mainstream Christianity, such as the one in an above post that souls are inherently eternal and cannot be destroyed, thus must live forever in one place or another (Heaven or Hell). And this verse you quoted by far isn't the only one that almost couldn't be plainer that unbelievers are ultimately destroyed. I brought up this same verse to someone who once implicitly condemned me by claiming I did not believe in Christ's teachings because he/she did not like the fact that I reject eternal torment and wanted to prove me wrong ..... naturally, I did not get a response or a rebuttal on that as to how I could possibly be misinterpreting Matthew 10:28 by my thinking that it means exactly what it says.

Meanwhile, Matthew 25:46 says nothing definitive about eternal torment. Like it or not, death/destruction is a punishment and would in fact last eternally is there no hope or chance of a resurrection from the second death, especially if it is contrasted with eternal life in this verse. But no, for traditional Christians, punishment must include not just conscious suffering, but must go on forever for their enemies or else it isn't a real punishment.

Too bad DEATH, not eternal conscious torment, was the very punishment God warned Adam and Eve of in the very beginning in the Garden for disobeying Him. (And I already know the semantics dance that is coming in case a traditionalist wants to rebuttal this particular point.)

 

[RDKirk]

The soul is eternal, but surely God can destroy the soul as well.

Those who seek God for some reason end up in different places, (Hinduism, other religions). Will God give them credit for trying, and destroy the soul in the end instead of sending it to hell? Some people attempt to seek God and end up in different religions, and most do have good intentions and are trying.

I never had this problem so I don't know how hard it is to find the light of Jesus Christ. Is it really hard to find Jesus these days how deceptive is satan?

Okay, your real question here is not whether God can or does destroy the soul (and that's two questions in itself).

Your real question is how God handles people who would have become Christians but never heard the Gospel.

There is a scriptural example of that: Job. Paul also alludes to such people in Acts 17 when he preaches to the Athenians. He even quotes one such person.

According to Psalms 19, God makes His existence and character known in creation. It appears that's how Job knows God exists, but beyond knowing God exists and that God's character is virtuous, Job appears to know nothing else about God. Oh, he also appears to know he can never "touch" God--that is, Job knows he can never bring himself to the level of God, therefore he needs a "mediator who can lay hands upon us both." We learn in the book of Hebrews that the mediator Job sought is Jesus.

Job didn't know the name of Jesus, but he knew he needed Jesus.

Between Acts 17 and Romans 1, Paul contrasts two types of pre-gospel people. In Acts 17, he speaks of those who follow the doctrine of the "unknown god." Those were Greek philosophers who saw through creation, particularly astronomy, that there must be a single god who created and controls everything. There might be other spiritual entities, but they believed that the perfect reliability they saw in the heavens--such that they could accurately predict heavenly movements hundreds of years into the future--could not be possible with a pantheon of equally powered bickering gods, but had to be the work of a single god in absolute control. And since such perfect reliability was a virtue, he must be a god of perfect virtue. But they also reasoned that imperfect man could never truly know such a perfect god...so that god must always be "unknown."

Paul said, "You guys are right, but that God you worship in ignorance has made Himself knowable, and I'm going to tell you about it."

So what of those people? Are they saved? Job didn't have the promise of Abraham and never knew the name of Jesus--is Job saved? And if so, what saves Job?

What we see in scripture is that God's judgment takes into consideration what a person knows about Him.

God refused to destroy Nineveh, despite the extent of their evil, until they had had a chance to hear about Him...and He explicitly said it was because of their ignorance.

And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left?-- Jonah 4

Jesus spoke of God's consideration for ignorance:

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains." -- John 9

Jesus also said:

"The servant who knows the master's will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." -- Luke 12

I said earlier that between Acts 17 and Romans 1, Paul contrasts two types of pre-gospel people. In Acts 17, Paul speaks of people who correctly recognized and acknowledge God in creation, and to those Paul said, "God winked [temporarily closed His eyes] at your ignorance."

But in Romans 1, Paul lays blame on pre-gospel men who saw God's existence in creation but chose instead to deny it. Because those men did not want the truth, God sent a delusion to close them off from the truth (see the "lying spirit" in 2 Chronicles 18 and 1 Kings 22). If a man doesn't want the truth, God will see that he gets what wants: No truth.

So we see in scripture that God's judgment takes a man's knowledge into consideration, but that everyone has been given enough information to know that He exists and to acknowledge and accept His existence in some genuine way.

I think, however, two things will be true of such people:

1. They will be discomfited by life and unsatisfied by whatever else their society is presenting to them in place of God.

2. Like Job, they will realize that they do not have the ability within themselves to reach the God they discern but cannot know--they need, somehow, a mediator to cross that gap.

What I've just described is called "inclusivism." CS Lewis and Billy Graham were inclusiveness, as am I. We believe that God knows who He has enabled to receive the gospel but never heard it, and will judge such people according to how they handled the light that they had.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Why bother, Handmaid?

I bother because I love. I believe answering questions about my Heavenly Father with His Word helps people more than my opinion.
Isaiah 55:10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

I just sow the seed/ word of God and leave it to Him to germinate it.
1 Cor. 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

Too bad DEATH, not eternal conscious torment, was the very punishment God warned Adam and Eve of in the very beginning in the Garden for disobeying Him. (And I already know the semantics dance that is coming in case a traditionalist wants to rebuttal this particular point.)

Well death and hell both will be thrown into the lake of fire so, if anyone found in them will suffer the same fate.

 

[corinth77777]

The soul is eternal, but surely God can destroy the soul as well.

Those who seek God for some reason end up in different places, (Hinduism, other religions). Will God give them credit for trying, and destroy the soul in the end instead of sending it to hell? Some people attempt to seek God and end up in different religions, and most do have good intentions and are trying.

I never had this problem so I don't know how hard it is to find the light of Jesus Christ. Is it really hard to find Jesus these days how deceptive is satan?

Interesting question

But what is the Soul?

 

[JerseyChristianSuperstar]

Our souls cannot be destroyed. God didn't create them to be blotted out of existence. No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we will either be judged for heaven or hell, not "soul destruction".

God can and will destroy the souls of the unrepentant in Hell, see Matthew 10:28.

However, destroy does not mean vaporize. If I smashed a vase to the ground, I could accurately say that I destroyed the vase, but that does not mean that the atoms and molecules that make it up were vaporized out of existence.

They were disordered, ruined, and devastated by my smashing the vase to the ground, the integrity of the vase was damaged, etc.

That's what will happen to those in Hell, but they won't be vaporized out of existence. That is why annihilationism is false, and eternal torment is true.

 

[eleos1954]

Read also Matthew 25:31-45, ending with verse 46 which reads, "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

The unsaved will be destroyed. The God I know and Love does not torment anyone, much less for eternity. No one is immortal, only God and the saved will receive immortality at the 1st resurrection. IF eternal torment is believed, then they would have to be immortal as well.

Immortality factor

With a lot of beliefs it is tied to the "original lie". "you will not surely die" ... it is the immortality factor. The Bible teaches you live, you die, you become dust in the earth. All are "asleep" in the grave and the dead no nothing. First resurrection, the saved receive immortality .... and later the second resurrection the lost and are destroyed. All are in the grave until Jesus returns.

There are many "christians" that believe that when one dies their "soul" either goes to hell .... or goes to heaven ... or goes to purgatory or some "limbo" place or reincarnated into something else. The Bible does not teach this. The saved (masses) become "immortal" when Jesus returns. The belief is driven by the belief of a "immortal soul". This belief opens one up to many wrong beliefs such as familiar spirits, contacting the dead etc. Satan and his minions use this belief to deceive many people .... if one "thinks" he she sees and/or contacts the dead ... they are in fact being deceived by a demonic presence no matter how "friendly" it may appear.

A "soul" is not something someone posses ... it is what they are a living being, a person. Any belief that teaches any kind of "immortality" outside of the 2nd coming of Jesus..is based on Satans' "original lie".

1 Corinthians 15:54

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."

Paul describes it here that I refer to as the "nutshell" explanation.

1 Thessalonians 4

15 By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17 After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

No "secret" rapture ... no purgatory, no limbo, no reincarnation. The only "rapture" if one wants to call it that ... is at Jesus' return and the 1st resurrection.

1st Corinthians 15

50I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

Psalm 1:6 “But the way of the ungodly shall perish”

If one believes in eternal conscious hell, they don’t believe the ungodly perish at all– but live forever in hell.

Psalm 37:20 “But the wicked shall perish… they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.”

If one believes in eternal conscious hell, they don’t believe the wicked will be “consumed.” Instead, they believe the wicked are tortured and never consumed.

Psalm 69:28 says that the wicked are “blotted out of the book of the living.”

This continues the consistency of scripture which tells us the wicked die– not that they are eternally living in a conscious hell.

Ps. 34:16, 21 “evil brings death to the wicked.”

Of course, if one believes in eternal hell, one doesn’t believe that evil brings death at all, but brings eternal life– in hell.

Psalm 92:7 “… shall be destroyed forever.”

If one believes in eternal conscious hell, they don’t believe those who are lost are “destroyed” but again, that they live forever ... tortured in hell.

Prov. 24:20 “the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out.”

To believe in eternal conscious hell means one believes they will not be snuffed out at all.

Dan. 2:35 “the wind swept them away without leaving a trace.”

This continues the theme of totally destroyed– there’s not a trace of the wicked. This is the opposite of eternal life in hell.

Isa. 1:28, 30–31 “rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.”

Obadiah 1:16 It will be as if the evil “had never been.“

This speaks to ceasing to exist– not eternal life in hell. In the traditional hell it will not be “as if they had never been” because they’ll live eternally and still “be.”

Mal 4:1 “All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire,” says the LORD Almighty. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”

Here God is quoted directly– the evildoers are destroyed like straw thrown into the fire, and nothing is left. This shows total annihilation (they no longer exist). To believe in eternal hell, one would have to argue that God was mistaken and that they aren’t destroyed in the fire at all– but live forever in the fire without being consumed, which is the exact opposite of what God claimed.

God Shows, hell is NOT in the Old Testament. Instead, they believed that the wicked are destroyed– that they die and do not get resurrected to eternal life. This is the testimony of the whole of scripture. To believe in eternal conscious hell is to really be at odds with the terminology we see scripture use. These same claims of annihilation and destruction continue in the New Testament:

Matthew 10:28 “Rather, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Here Jesus himself teaches against hell– saying that those who are lost experience the death of their soul. If one believes in eternal conscious hell, they believe Jesus was wrong on this point, and that souls don’t die at all, but will live forever in hell.

John 3:16 “…whosoever believeth in him should not perish”

Again, to believe in hell, one must believe Jesus was wrong in John 3:16 and that people don’t “perish” at all, but live forever in hell.

Matthew 7:13: “broad is the road that leads to destruction“

Jesus in his warnings continues with the repetitive testimony of scripture: the consequence of rejecting reconciliation with God is destruction– not everlasting life in torment.

Jesus on a variety of occasions uses the metaphor of fire that consumes not tortures: Matthew 7:19; Matthew 13:40; John 15:6

Philippians 3:19 “whose end is destruction…“

There’s that word again, “destroyed". Those who believe in eternal hell don’t believe one is destroyed in hell, but lives there forever .... being tortured by a loving God?

2 Thessalonians 1:9 “who shall be punished with everlasting destruction …”

The Bible is getting clear that the consequence of rejecting God is destruction, not eternal life in hell.

1 Cor 3:17: “God will destroy that person”

There’s that word again that doesn’t mean tortured in hell, but just means what it says– destroyed.

2 Cor 2:15-16: “those that perish“

Again, if Paul meant hell, he should have said it– seems like everyone talks about perishing, being destroyed– but doesn’t talk about hell.

Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death..“

It’s perishing, dying, being destroyed.. the opposite of eternal life in hell.

Hebrews 10:39 “But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul (the person).”

Another version of the same term… destroyed.

James 4:12a “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.”

We are to understand to be “destroyed” is the natural consequence…

2 Peter 2:3: “Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

Revelation 20:14 “This is the second death…”

Those who believe in eternal conscious hell don’t believe in the second death– they believe everyone is immortal, and that some will live forever in hell. Revelation 20:14 is clear that they die– they don’t live forever in hell at all.

Come ... let us reason.

We have a Loving God .... not a torturer.

God Bless.

 

[1213]

The soul is eternal, but surely God can destroy the soul as well.

That is correct, because Bible tells:

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matt. 10:28

Those who seek God for some reason end up in different places, (Hinduism, other religions). Will God give them credit for trying, and destroy the soul in the end instead of sending it to hell? Some people attempt to seek God and end up in different religions, and most do have good intentions and are trying.

Bible tells eternal life is for righteous. It may be that person who has not heard of Jesus, can be counted righteous. But I think righteous person would not keep wrong things as his God.

For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it isn't the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified (for when Gentiles who don't have the law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience testifying with them, and their thoughts among themselves accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ.
Romans 2:12-16

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Matt. 25:46

 

[SarahsKnight]

No one is immortal, only God and the saved will receive immortality at the 1st resurrection. IF eternal torment is believed, then they would have to be immortal as well.

Simple, isn't it?