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religion · Shared topic · Revision 0

Is Hell Eternal in the Bible?

Is Hell Eternal in the Bible?

Starting explanation, not independently reviewed

The current answer

Three flattened words, and an adjective doing more work than it can bear

What remains uncertain

This starting summary presents the original essay’s position. It has not received independent topic review. Its citations have been imported, not checked. Competing explanations and important objections may still be missing.

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Claims & evidence

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English "hell" flattens three different words: Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna.

Imported citation, not independently checked: Psalm 88; Ecclesiastes 9:10; Joshua 15:8; Jeremiah 7:31

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Aristotle distinguishes kolasis (punishment inflicted for the sufferer's own good) from timōria, retribution inflicted for the punisher's satisfaction (Rhetoric 1.10).

Imported citation, not independently checked: Aristotle, Rhetoric 1.10

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The proof-texts for unending conscious torment lean overwhelmingly on Revelation: an apocalypse written in code, and the most contested book in the canon.

Imported citation, not independently checked: Revelation; I. Ramelli and D. Konstan, Terms for Eternity (2007)

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Anyone who tells you the Greek "settles it" (toward everlasting torment or toward universal restoration) is overselling.

Imported citation, not independently checked: I. Ramelli and D. Konstan, Terms for Eternity (2007)

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