Nineveh said:
...and now... for something completely different!
Scripture
In John:
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
No conflict here with the idea that the "resurrection of damnation" is healing and
purgative in nature.
In Matthew
Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels
Now here, you might actually have a concrete argument. To refute it, I would have to
argue that "Depart from me" actually means "draw near to me." Take a lesson from Nin
PK, this is how one discusses points of scripture without deriding and ignoring. Score a
solid point for Nin. Looking at the context, its a parable that illustrates the importance of
acting with mercy and Grace, feeding and clothing the poor.
In 2 Thessalonians
This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.
Well, here, Jesus is blazing fire. Lets look at the Young's Literal:
7and to you who are troubled -- rest with us in the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with messengers of his power,
8in flaming fire, giving vengeance to those not knowing God, and to those not obeying the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ;
9who shall suffer justice -- destruction age-during -- from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his strength,
10when He may come to be glorified in his saints, and to be wondered at in all those believing -- because our testimony was believed among you -- in that day;
See, this is interesting. PK quoted similar text. Your translation
takes texts saying "from the face of the Lord" to mean "shut out from." I'm not a Greek
scholar, but it looks to me like "shut out" is added to the translation, a better understanding might be "destruction, which comes from the face of the Lord."
This understanding would be consistant with the idea that those who suffer
destruction are actually drawn to the purifying fire of God's presence, rather than
cast from it.
OK, now, if we wanted to be intelligent and civil about this, we might each address
each others' text which seem to conflict, and try to draw a meaning which accommodates
both viewpoints, yours the Matthew 25 quote, mine the 2 Cor 5 quote.
If we honor the Scripture, and try not to discredit one quote to prove the superiority of the
other, we might actually get some where.
Civil discourse, what a concept.
