Eternal life

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Richard_Kastner said:
It’s guarenteed to believers.

Jn3
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This also says that the wicked will not remain alive in eternal torment, but perish.
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My friend, did you see this post?
campeador said:
Isaiah 66:22-24 :

"As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make Shall endure before me, says the LORD, so shall your race and your name endure.

From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, All mankind shall come to worship before me, says the LORD.

They shall go out and see the corpses of the men who rebelled against me; Their worm shall not die, nor their fire be extinguished; and they shall be abhorrent to all mankind."
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Can you please explain your understanding of “Their worm shall not die, nor their fire be extinguished”?
 
Eternal life is guaranteed to righteousness!

If you are in righteousness, you have eternal life in you.
If you fall from righteousness, you fall from eternal life.
If you die in righteousness, you are sealed for eternal life.

Eternal life is God’s friendship… Unity with God.
 
campeador said:
My friend, did you see this post?
Isaiah 66:22-24 :

"As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make Shall endure before me, says the LORD, so shall your race and your name endure.

From one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, All mankind shall come to worship before me, says the LORD.

They shall go out and see the corpses of the men who rebelled against me; Their worm shall not die, nor their fire be extinguished; and they shall be abhorrent to all mankind."
Can you please explain your understanding of “Their worm shall not die, nor their fire be extinguished”?
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Extinguished means put out by external means. All this is saying is that the fires of hell will not be put out until the fuel for that fire is consumed. In other words until the work of the destructon of the damned is complete.
 
campeador said:
and the worm?
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Here’s what my commentary says.
Worm. Heb. tole‘ah, here probably the maggot. The same Hebrew word is used in Ex. 16:20; Job 25:6; Ps. 22:6; Isa. 14:11. The picture is that of maggots preying upon the dead bodies.
Shall not die. By the same misapplication noted above some have understood this expression as figuratively denoting endless life for the wicked. However, the expression in the Hebrew is a simple imperfect, a tense that denotes incomplete action and merely means that at the point of time under consideration the action of the verb is not yet complete. The tense does not necessarily imply that the action will never be completed. For example, the imperfect tense is employed in Gen. 2:25 in the statement concerning Adam and Eve that they “were not ashamed.” The statement was not a prediction that they would never be ashamed. That they later were ashamed is definitely implied in Gen. 3:7. A suggested translation of the Hebrew tense that conveys this shade of meaning is “their worm had not died yet.”
 
John 5
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, 29and shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life;
and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

everyone (entombed) gets resurrected

There are those who are resurrected to life and this is eternal
“And this is the promise which he promised us, even the life eternal.” 1 Jo 2.25
(God’s Word is true, that which he promises is guaranteed to happen)

Then there are those who receive/undergo the resurrection of judgment
and are “cast into the eternal fire” Matt 18.8
and “suffering the punishment of eternal fire” Jude 7
 
Richard, it would be nice to know where your commentary comes from. I did a google search and couldn’t find it anywhere.

Peace
 
Reuben_J said:
It would help if the OP is more specific because right now we are only guessing his question. Both aspect of life after death has been answered unless we want to go into the semantic. If he is a reverend minister this topic is certainly not alien to him but if he wants to ask question he has to present it in a way that we know what he wants.

As it is, Catholics are starting to give a variety of answers; some say yes while some says no, and some qualify their answers.
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Thats what I’m looking for, a variety of answers.
 
Seachange said:
We are immortal beings on a mortal journey.

We are already eternal beings.

Eternal Life is life with God in Heaven.

Without God, it will be eternal torment, not life.

So my answer to your question is No, we are not guaranteed eternal life. While we have eternal existence, without God, it is not life.
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But if your soul exists then it lives and if your soul lives it has life and if your soul has life then it is eternal. Therefore all soul’s have eternal life. If one’s soul goes to hell its for eternity and the life it has is of torment. If one’s soul goes to heaven its for eternity and the life it has is undiscribable, wonderful. See it depends on the type of eternal life. It can be a good eternal life or a bad eternal life. No matter what it is eternal life.
 
rev_kevin said:
But if your soul exists then it lives and if your soul lives it has life and if your soul has life then it is eternal. Therefore all soul’s have eternal life. If one’s soul goes to hell its for eternity and the life it has is of torment. If one’s soul goes to heaven its for eternity and the life it has is undiscribable, wonderful. See it depends on the type of eternal life. It can be a good eternal life or a bad eternal life. No matter what it is eternal life.
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I think Isaiah 66:22-24 sums it up nicely.
Richard_Kastner said:
Here’s what my commentary says.
Worm. Heb. tole‘ah, here probably the maggot. The same Hebrew word is used in Ex. 16:20; Job 25:6; Ps. 22:6; Isa. 14:11. The picture is that of maggots preying upon the dead bodies.
Shall not die. By the same misapplication noted above some have understood this expression as figuratively denoting endless life for the wicked. However, the expression in the Hebrew is a simple imperfect, a tense that denotes incomplete action and merely means that at the point of time under consideration the action of the verb is not yet complete. The tense does not necessarily imply that the action will never be completed. For example, the imperfect tense is employed in Gen. 2:25 in the statement concerning Adam and Eve that they “were not ashamed.” The statement was not a prediction that they would never be ashamed. That they later were ashamed is definitely implied in Gen. 3:7. A suggested translation of the Hebrew tense that conveys this shade of meaning is “their worm had not died yet.”
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Here’s what the Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859 edition says (Mark 9):
Ver. 43.* Where their worm dieth not.* These words are taken out of Isaias 66:24; and are to be expounded of the punishments, and fruitless repentance of the wicked in the next world. (Witham)

Ver. 48. [2]For every one shall be salted with fire. The sense seems to be, that every wicked unrepentant sinner (of whom it was before said, that their worm dieth not) shall be severely and continually punished, though not consumed by the fire of hell. — And every victim shall be salted with salt; that is, even good men shall be cleansed and purified by trials and sufferings in this world, as some victims were to be salted by the law. (Leviticus 2:13.) (Witham)
 
rev_kevin said:
But if your soul exists then it lives and if your soul lives it has life and if your soul has life then it is eternal. Therefore all soul’s have eternal life. If one’s soul goes to hell its for eternity and the life it has is of torment. If one’s soul goes to heaven its for eternity and the life it has is undiscribable, wonderful. See it depends on the type of eternal life. It can be a good eternal life or a bad eternal life. No matter what it is eternal life.
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I think there is a problem in the definition of terms. I disagree that existence means living. Life is so much more than just existing or a mere biological process, and eternal life is so far beyond just living that we really cannot fathom what it truly is.

Jesus differentiated between eternal life and eternal damnation. Although souls are eternal, not all receive eternal life.
John 3 10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
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16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
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If we already have eternal life, why does Jesus say that one must believe (among other things) in order to have it?

We have Eternity. It is our choice to make it Life, with God.
 
Seachange said:
I think there is a problem in the definition of terms. I disagree that existence means living. Life is so much more than just existing or a mere biological process, and eternal life is so far beyond just living that we really cannot fathom what it truly is.

Jesus differentiated between eternal life and eternal damnation. Although souls are eternal, not all receive eternal life.

If we already have eternal life, why does Jesus say that one must believe (among other things) in order to have it?

We have Eternity. It is our choice to make it Life, with God.
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If no matter what life it is, a life in heaven or a life in hell its still eternal so that would make it eternal life. Just one is a eternal life of damnation and the other is not.
 
John7 said:
John 5
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, 29and shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life;
and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

everyone (entombed) gets resurrected

There are those who are resurrected to life and this is eternal
“And this is the promise which he promised us, even the life eternal.” 1 Jo 2.25
(God’s Word is true, that which he promises is guaranteed to happen)

Then there are those who receive/undergo the resurrection of judgment
and are “cast into the eternal fire” Matt 18.8
and “suffering the punishment of eternal fire” Jude 7
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Here’s Jude seven
Jude7
7Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

This actually gives us a pretty good idea of what the bible means when it uses the word aiōnios for eternal. Are the fires of Sodom and Gomorrha burning today? No of coarse not.
Here’s what my commentary says.
41. Everlasting fire. Described elsewhere as “unquenchable fire” (see on ch. 3:12) and “hell fire” (see on ch. 5:22). All three refer to the fires of the last day that will devour the wicked and all their works (2 Peter 3:10–12; Rev. 20:10, 14, 15).
The word aiōnios, translated “everlasting,” or “eternal,” once, “for ever,” means literally, “lasting for an age,” in the sense of being continuous and not subject to capricious change. The ancient Greek papyri contain numerous examples of Roman emperors being described as aiōnios. The reference is to the continuous nature of their tenure—they held office for life. It is thus clear that the English words “everlasting” and “eternal” do not accurately reflect the meaning of aiōnios. Aiōnios, literally, “age lasting,” expresses permanence or perpetuity within limits; “everlasting” and “eternal” imply duration unlimited. The duration signified by aiōnios must, in each case, be determined by the nature of the person or thing it describes. In the case of Tiberius Caesar, for instance, aiōnios describes a period of 23 years, that is, the time from his ascent to the throne until his death.
In the NT aiōnios is used to describe both the fate of the wicked and the future state of the righteous. Following the principle stated above, that the durative quality of aiōnios is to be determined by the person or thing of which it is used, we find that the reward of the righteous is life to which there is no end; the reward of the wicked is death to which there is no end (John 3:16; Rom. 6:23; etc.). In John 3:16 “everlasting life” is contrasted with “perish.” In 2 Thess 1:9 the wicked are said to be “punished with everlasting destruction.” The expression does not signify a process that goes on forever, but an act whose results are permanent.
“Fire” is the means by which punishment for sin is inflicted (Matt. 18:8; 25:41). That “fire” is “everlasting,” aiōnios, does not signify that it is of endless duration. This is clear from Jude 7. Obviously the “eternal fire” that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah burned for a time and then went out. Elsewhere, the Scriptures refer to the fires of the last day as “unquenchable” (Matt. 3:12), meaning that they will not be extinguished until they have burned up the last vestiges of sin and sinners (see on v. 12). For ‘olam, the OT equivalent of aiōnios, see on Ex. 21:6.
 
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Richard,

There’s one word here that defeats the above thinking. And that is ETERNAL.

Eternal - without beginning or end; lasting forever; always existing (opposed to temporal) : eternal life or death. 2. perpetual; ceaseless; endless!

Also when God spoke of Sodom and Gomorrah. God spoke of the Souls not the physical citys which He cared not about. And how do we know this? Because He states it clearly in Genesis 18:24-33.

18:23 Will thou also destroy the rightous with the wicked?

18:32 And God spoke, I will not destroy it for the sake of 10 rightous.

The citys were a consequence of the Souls which God was concerned with. 👍
 
rev_kevin said:
You seem to be the only one who don’t understand the question. How much more plain do you need it to be.** Is eternal life guaranteed?** Plain question that my 10 year old answered.

I have no ulterior motive in asking this question. Is eternal life guaranteed to all humans on earth.
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Human beings, by nature, are eternal beings. However not all will spent that eternity in “Life” with their creator. Some will spend eternity in “death” or a state of separation from their Creator.
 
rev_kevin said:
If no matter what life it is, a life in heaven or a life in hell its still eternal so that would make it eternal life. Just one is a eternal life of damnation and the other is not.
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What is Life?

What is Eternal Life?

Before I knew God, I was just existing but all that changed radically when God touched me and I knew that true Life was with Him and no place else. My biological processes did not change in the slightest, so from that standpoint, I was alive both before and after God touched me. Spiritually speaking though, I was not alive until I knew God.
 
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