Is the Book of Revelation the only place in Scripture teaching eternal torment?

[Kilk1]

Revelation 20:10 depicts hell in the following manner (NKJV, emphasis mine):

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.​

Also, while it doesn't directly say the torment is eternal, Revelation 14:11 comes close as well (NKJV, emphasis mine):

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.​

Aside from these two verses in Revelation, do any other Books of the Bible depict eternal torment, or is the symbolic Book of Revelation the only source for eternal torment? If not, it could be difficult to know whether we should interpret these verses literally.

Note: I'm not looking for verses that discuss eternal "punishment" (which is vaguer) or verses that speak of just "torment" without saying such is forever/eternal. Rather, I'm looking specifically for verses that depict torment/torture as being eternal/forever.

 

[HTacianas]

Revelation 20:10 depicts hell in the following manner (NKJV, emphasis mine):

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.​

Also, while it doesn't directly say the torment is eternal, Revelation 14:11 comes close as well (NKJV, emphasis mine):

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.​

Aside from these two verses in Revelation, do any other Books of the Bible depict eternal torment, or is the symbolic Book of Revelation the only source for eternal torment? If not, it could be difficult to know whether we should interpret these verses literally.

Note: I'm not looking for verses that discuss eternal "punishment" (which is vaguer) or verses that speak of just "torment" without saying such is forever/eternal. Rather, I'm looking specifically for verses that depict torment/torture as being eternal/forever.

Why now, after two thousand years, do we need to begin interpreting something any differently than it always has been?

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Revelation 20:10 depicts hell in the following manner (NKJV, emphasis mine):

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.​

Also, while it doesn't directly say the torment is eternal, Revelation 14:11 comes close as well (NKJV, emphasis mine):

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.​

Aside from these two verses in Revelation, do any other Books of the Bible depict eternal torment, or is the symbolic Book of Revelation the only source for eternal torment? If not, it could be difficult to know whether we should interpret these verses literally.

Note: I'm not looking for verses that discuss eternal "punishment" (which is vaguer) or verses that speak of just "torment" without saying such is forever/eternal. Rather, I'm looking specifically for verses that depict torment/torture as being eternal/forever.

Possibly....
Jude 1
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

 

[Hmm]

Also, while it doesn't directly say the torment is eternal...

It also doesn't say it applies to people. It mentions only the devil, the beast and the false prophet.

 

[Tolworth John]

Revelation 20:10 depicts hell in the following manner (NKJV, emphasis mine):

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

For ever and ever is very clear language, it does not imply that the torment will ever stop.

There are two vital facts about hell.
1/ God is not there.
2/ Jesus endured a discusting degrading death so we do not end up there.
It is clearly an unpleasent place and we know how to avoid going there, end of discussion.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Revelation 20:10 depicts hell in the following manner (NKJV, emphasis mine):

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.​

Also, while it doesn't directly say the torment is eternal, Revelation 14:11 comes close as well (NKJV, emphasis mine):

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.​

Aside from these two verses in Revelation, do any other Books of the Bible depict eternal torment, or is the symbolic Book of Revelation the only source for eternal torment? If not, it could be difficult to know whether we should interpret these verses literally.

Note: I'm not looking for verses that discuss eternal "punishment" (which is vaguer) or verses that speak of just "torment" without saying such is forever/eternal. Rather, I'm looking specifically for verses that depict torment/torture as being eternal/forever.

There are some things in scripture that we will never understand with our intellect. But in Christ eternal punishment should not be a concern imho.

 

[BPPLEE]

Revelation 20:10 depicts hell in the following manner (NKJV, emphasis mine):

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.​

Also, while it doesn't directly say the torment is eternal, Revelation 14:11 comes close as well (NKJV, emphasis mine):

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.​

Aside from these two verses in Revelation, do any other Books of the Bible depict eternal torment, or is the symbolic Book of Revelation the only source for eternal torment? If not, it could be difficult to know whether we should interpret these verses literally.

Note: I'm not looking for verses that discuss eternal "punishment" (which is vaguer) or verses that speak of just "torment" without saying such is forever/eternal. Rather, I'm looking specifically for verses that depict torment/torture as being eternal/forever.

Jesus ' story about Lazarus and the rich man.

 

[Jipsah]

Why now, after two thousand years, do we need to begin interpreting something any differently than it always has been?

Always has been by whom?

 

[Der Alte]

It also doesn't say it applies to people. It mentions only the devil, the beast and the false prophet.

The false prophet was a people!

 

[Jipsah]

For ever and ever is very clear language, it does not imply that the torment will ever stop.

There are two vital facts about hell.
1/ God is not there.

"If I make my bed in hell, you are there." How does one keep God out of any place He created? "Sorry, God, can't let You in here."

2/ Jesus endured a discusting degrading death so we do not end up there.

Except according to most Christians, most folks do in fact end up there.

 

[Halbhh]

Revelation 20:10 depicts hell in the following manner (NKJV, emphasis mine):

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.​

Also, while it doesn't directly say the torment is eternal, Revelation 14:11 comes close as well (NKJV, emphasis mine):

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.​

Aside from these two verses in Revelation, do any other Books of the Bible depict eternal torment, or is the symbolic Book of Revelation the only source for eternal torment? If not, it could be difficult to know whether we should interpret these verses literally.

Note: I'm not looking for verses that discuss eternal "punishment" (which is vaguer) or verses that speak of just "torment" without saying such is forever/eternal. Rather, I'm looking specifically for verses that depict torment/torture as being eternal/forever.

There's never any problem with reconciling the verses in various books in the New Testament if we will only trust what they say and read fully.

"Fully" means to read all the books entirely through, not just isolated verses/passages only. (To read only isolated verses would mean a person is not listening to scripture, because good listening means to listen to all that is said.)

So, we read that the devil and his angels and the beast and the false prophet will be in eternal torment. And we learn that at least for those fallen angels it's eternal where they will be there forever, for instance in Matthew:

Matthew 25:41 Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

This makes sense in that they are already immortal (already have eternal life) and thus would not perish in that everlasting fire. (one common view is that the beast and false prophet are spirits that could possess humans)

In contrast to those already-immortal but fallen angels, the human souls that are not given Eternal Life won't have it we read:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For a human, either we are given eternal life, or else we don't have it and "perish".

Which fits all the verses, the very many references in many books in the NT saying that humans consigned to that destruction are there going into the "second death", which "destroys body and soul" -- Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

So, the only way to imagine humans there don't die is to read "second death" as metaphor (as if misleading metaphor !? -- that would be unlike every other metaphor in all of scripture, which is never badly worded or misleading)

"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

So, we should just trust the words.

When words don't sound even the slightest like metaphors -- "second death", "kill", "destroy" -- then they are very unlikely to be metaphors.

 

[Halbhh]

Why now, after two thousand years, do we need to begin interpreting something any differently than it always has been?

You mean this? --Early forms of annihilationism or conditional immortality are claimed to be found in the writings of Ignatius of Antioch (d. 108/140), Justin Martyr (d. 165), and Irenaeus (d. 202), among others.

We have to honestly admit that church fathers didn't all agree on every last thing.

 

[lsume]

Revelation 20:10 depicts hell in the following manner (NKJV, emphasis mine):

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.​

Also, while it doesn't directly say the torment is eternal, Revelation 14:11 comes close as well (NKJV, emphasis mine):

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.​

Aside from these two verses in Revelation, do any other Books of the Bible depict eternal torment, or is the symbolic Book of Revelation the only source for eternal torment? If not, it could be difficult to know whether we should interpret these verses literally.

Note: I'm not looking for verses that discuss eternal "punishment" (which is vaguer) or verses that speak of just "torment" without saying such is forever/eternal. Rather, I'm looking specifically for verses that depict torment/torture as being eternal/forever.

The place of eternal torment is eternal, However, I’m not currently sure than any human stays there eternally.

 

[Tolworth John]

How does one keep God out of any place He created?

A song discribes that it is impossible to evade God, using Heaven and Hell as the two extemes.
Not a good place for forming theology.

 

[Tolworth John]

according to most Christians, most folks do in fact end up there.

The majorite vote does not determine what is right.

 

[Lukaris]

John 5:22-30 which is a further clarification of Daniel 12:1-4

Matthew 25:31-46

There are various opinions on whether certain Greek words mean eternal as in judgment. I am no linguist, but the Orthodox Church is the Ancient Greek speaking church ( from which others formed) and our hymns on the final judgment are serious about everlasting judgment.


https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/triodion/lstjudg.txt

 

[Kilk1]

There's never any problem with reconciling the verses in various books in the New Testament if we will only trust what they say and read fully.

"Fully" means to read all the books entirely through, not just isolated verses/passages only. (To read only isolated verses would mean a person is not listening to scripture, because good listening means to listen to all that is said.)

So, we read that the devil and his angels and the beast and the false prophet will be in eternal torment, for instance in Matthew:

Matthew 25:41 Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

This makes sense in that they are already immortal (already have eternal life) and thus would not perish in that everlasting fire. (one common view is that the beast and false prophet are spirits that could possess humans)

In contrast to those already-immortal but fallen angels, the human souls that are not given Eternal Life won't have it we read:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For a human, either we are given eternal life, or else we don't have it and "perish".

Which fits all the verses, the very many references in many books in the NT saying that humans consigned to that destruction are there going into the "second death", which "destroys body and soul" -- Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

So, the only way to imagine humans there don't die is to read "second death" as metaphor (as if misleading metaphor !? -- that would be unlike every other metaphor in all of scripture, which is never badly worded or misleading)

"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

So, we should just trust the words.

When words don't sound even the slightest like metaphors -- "second death", "kill", "destroy" -- then they are very unlikely to be metaphors.

It seems to make sense that "second death" is the literal interpretation of Revelation's symbolic imagery, rather than the other way around. With this in mind, since the devil, beast, and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire (i.e., the second death) as well, could it be that they're annihilated, and that being tormented forever is a symbol for everlasting destruction (Revelation 20:10)? After all--correct me if I'm wrong--but isn't the "beast" said to be a city/government in Revelation?

 

[Kilk1]

John 5:22-30 which is a further clarification of Daniel 12:1-4

Matthew 25:31-46

There are various opinions on whether certain Greek words mean eternal as in judgment. I am no linguist, but the Orthodox Church is the Ancient Greek speaking church ( from which others formed) and our hymns on the final judgment are serious about everlasting judgment.


https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/triodion/lstjudg.txt

Thank you for those passages. I will say that Matthew 25:31-46 mentions everlasting "punishment" without explaining what that punishment is. (Eternal torment? Eternal imprisonment? Eternal boredom? Eternal destruction/annihilation?) Same for the John 5 reference. Both contrast the punishment with "death," which, if taken literally, would support annihilation (in which the lost are killed) more than torment (in which the lost live in torment).

The reference to Daniel 12:1-4 includes everlasting contempt, but I'm not sure this passage takes sides on the issue either. The reason is that whether a sinner is annihilated forever or tormented forever, they still, by their sinful example, cause shame and everlasting contempt, whether in the eyes of God or the saved.

 

[Kilk1]

Jesus ' story about Lazarus and the rich man.

I appreciate your response. However, doesn't the story about Lazarus and the rich man pertain to Hades rather than hell? Luke 16:23 uses the word "Hades," not "hell" (unless you use the KJV, which conflates the two for some reason). Moreover, doesn't Luke 16:27-28 suggest the rich man's brothers were still alive on earth, suggesting this isn't the final judgment?

 

[Halbhh]

It seems to make sense that "second death" is the literal interpretation of Revelation's symbolic imagery, rather than the other way around. With this in mind, since the devil, beast, and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire (i.e., the second death) as well, could it be that they're annihilated, and that being tormented forever is a symbol for everlasting destruction (Revelation 20:10)? After all--correct me if I'm wrong--but isn't the "beast" said to be a city/government in Revelation?

Well, it seems there is an enduring torment in that place, at least for the fallen angels we would think in that they may be able to endure that fire in that they are immortal, where it seems it is lasting because the fire itself never dies out: "the worms that eat them do not die and the fire is not quenched.’" Mark 9 NIV

I don't know such a detailed aspect about the beast as it being a 'city' (instead of something else like nation(s)) for instance, but here's one viewpoint if you want to hear one: Who is the beast of Revelation? | GotQuestions.org