The two choices in John 3:16 are eternal life or you perish. Hell is destroyed by this verse. Never did believe in ECT. 😳
Hello Johnny,
How is hell destroyed by John 3:16? It is only for those who believe and repent who will not perish. For those who do not, condemning judgment in the lake of fire is their fate.
The word "apollumi" translated as "perish" coming from its base word "olethros" does not infer annihilation or extinction, but is defined as complete loss of well being, ruination. life and death are both states of existence. The word here means "tropically, to incur the loss of true or eternal life; to be delivered up to eternal misery:
Life = Eternal existence in the joy of the Lord in the kingdom of God
Death = Eternal existence in separation from the Lord in the torment in the lake of fire
Everyone who comes into the world exists forever. Those who have faith in Christ have the promise of eternal life. Those who do not believe in Him, will exist, conscious and aware in separation from God.
Below is the definition of the word Olethros and apolleia, translated as "perish or destroy"
Example: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to
destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
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Strong's Concordance
apóleia: destruction, loss
Original Word: ἀπώλεια, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: apóleia
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-o'-li-a)
Definition: destruction, loss
Usage: destruction, ruin, loss, perishing; eternal ruin.
HELPS Word-studies
Cognate: 684 apṓleia (from
622 /apóllymi, "cut
off") –
destruction, causing someone (something) to be
completely severed – cut
off (entirely)
from what
could or should have been. (Note the force of the prefix,
apo.)
See 622 (
apollymi).
684 /apṓleia ("perdition") does not imply "annihilation" (see the meaning of the root-verb,
622 /apóllymi, "cut off") but instead "loss of
well-being" rather than
being (
Vine's Expository Dictionary, 165; cf. Jn 11:50; Ac 5:37; 1 Cor 10:9-10; Jude 11).
Hades/Sheol and the lake of fire, are both very real places of punishment and is the destination for all of those who die in their sins. Consider the following:
"They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name"
In order for an individual to be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb, that person would have to be existing, conscious and aware, in order to experience said torment. The same meaning can be derived from the fact that one would have to be existing in order for the smoke of their torment to rise up forever and ever, as well as having no rest day or night.