The following is something I posted on another forum a while back, but it would probably have been better appreciated here.
I would like to show just another tiny piece of why I quit believeing in eternal torment, and present a little evidence based on Jewish beliefs about hell, and other evidences for a limited duration of "Hell"
Gehinnom - from http://www.torah.org/
QuoteGehinnom is the name given to Hell in the Rabbinic literature. The name was borrowed from that of a real valley (see Joshua 15:2,8 and 18:16; 2 Kings 23:10; 2 Chron.28:3 and 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31-32 and 19:2,6; Nehemiah 11:30) where burnings took place. See also Isaiah 30:33; Jeremiah 19:11-13; Job 17:6. Punishment in Gehinnom lasts only for up to 12 months, except for certain major sinners. Isaiah 66:24 must be referring to it when he speaks of the fire that is not extinguished.
According to Jewish tradition, the soul must spend some time purifying itself before it can enter the World to Come. The
maximum time required for purification is 12 months, for the most evil person. To recite Kaddish for 12 months would imply that the parent was the type who needed 12 months of purification! To avoid this implication, the Sages decreed that a son should recite Kaddish for only eleven months.
Kaddish
Kaddish is commonly known as a mourner's prayer. Judaism requires a mourner to stand up every day, publicly (i.e., in front of a minyan, a quorum of 10 adult men), and reaffirm faith in God despite this loss. To do so inures to the merit of the deceased in the eyes of God, because the deceased must have been a very good parent to raise a child who could express such faith in the face of personal loss.
They only do this for 11 months, because to do so for a full twelve is considered an insult as stated above.
Here is a good jumping off article about what the Jewish people believe about Heaven and Hell. http://www.askmoses.com/article/215,164/Does-Judaism-believe-in-Heaven-and-Hell.html (http://www.askmoses.com/article/215,164/Does-Judaism-believe-in-Heaven-and-Hell.html)
Fact of the matter is, there is more Biblical evidence for some sort of purging than there is for eternal torture:
May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me -- may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day -- and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.". (2 Tim 1:16-18 )
Paul appears here to be praying for the Soul of Onesiphorus. Why?
'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; 33 and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' 34 And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, TILL HE SHOULD PAY ALL HIS DEBT. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." (Matt. 18:33-35)
I know it's a Parable, and not speaking of literal jail...but still, when one thinks about Gehinnom according to the Jews.......Jesus is talking about a punishment beyond death, that is a TEMPORARY PUNISHMENT, or so it seems.
"If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." (1 Cor. 3:14-15)
We know that if someone goes to hell, he will not be saved, so 1 Corinthians cannot be talking about eternal Hell.
What do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?
1 Corinthians 15:29
Quotes from early Church Fathers:
"A woman, after the death of her husband, is bound not less firmly but even more so, not to marry another husband....Indeed, she PRAYS FOR HIS SOUL and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice." Tertullian, MONOGAMY 10:1,4 (A.D. 213)
We offer sacrifices for the dead on their birthday anniversaries." Tertullian, THE CROWN 3:3 (A.D. 211)
"Standing by, I, Abercius, ordered this to be inscribed; truly, I was in my seventy-second year. May everyone who is in accord with this and who understands it PRAY FOR Abercius. Nor indeed, shall any man place another in my tomb." EPITAPH OF ABERCIUS, Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia Salutaris, 180 A.D.
Even C.S. Lewis, an often quoted Protestant, did not believe that Heaven could be entered without a purging.
"Of course I pray for the dead. At our age the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to Him? I believe in purgatory. Our souls demand purgatory, don't they? My favourite image on this matter comes from the dentist's chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn, a voice will say, 'Rinse your mouth out with this.' This will be purgatory." (Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, 107-109)
I believe Purgatory as the Catholics teach it, was invented as a separate entity to allow St. Augustine's eternal damnation theory.....but there is no ETERNAL damnation, St Augustine was wrong, and what the Catholics call Purgatory is simply Hell...Gehinnom.... not a place of eternal torment by any means.
I do see where this argument for a place to have our sins purged is coming from. I agree with it. Many many Christians who have learned that hell is eternal falsely accuse Universalism as being easy on sinners. I believe in Hell. But I cannot find any evidence that it is eternal. If one reads Maccabees, one will see what Jews believed about this 150 yrs before Jesus:
"40:But when they found on each of the dead men under their tunics, objects dedicated to the idols of Jamnia, which the Law prohibits to Jews, it became clear to everyone that this was why these men had lost their lives. 41. All then blessed the ways of the Lord, the upright Judge who brings hidden things to light, 42. and gave themselves in prayer, begging that the sin committed might be completely forgiven. Next, the valiant Judas urged the soldiers to keep themselves free from all sin, having seen with their own eyes the effects of the sin of those who had fallen; 43. after this he took a collection from them individually amounting to nearly two thousand drachmas, and sent it to Jerusalem to have a sacrifice for sin offered, an action altogether fine and noble, prompted by his belief in the resurrection. 44. For had he not expected the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to PRAY FOR THE DEAD, 45. whereas if he had in view the splendid recompense reserved for those who make a pious end, the thought was holy and devout. Hence he had the expiatory sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they might be released from their sin." 2 Maccabees 12:39-46
Often I say the case for eternal torment is weak, and the case for Universal salvation is strong, so I felt I should explain the position a little more, in a different way. The historical case is very strong. Nothing is stronger than the Biblical case, but mistranslations and commentaries have warped the reading of the Bible into strictly confined biases. I do not believe in commentaries, except in the sense where they give us an historical overview of the people or the places. Never as a help in understanding what the text is saying theologically..
"Coming to the Bible through commentaries is much like looking at a landscape through garret windows, over which generations of unmolested spiders have spun their webs." --Henry Ward Beecher
Blessings
Very interesting, thanks for sharing that. I especially like this: "Often I say the case for eternal torment is weak, and the case for Universal salvation is strong, so I felt I should explain the position a little more, in a different way. The historical case is very strong. Nothing is stronger than the Biblical case, but mistranslations and commentaries have warped the reading of the Bible into strictly confined biases."
God's blessing, James.
You Stated: Of course I pray for the dead.
Look at some scriptures this way. Sometimes "the dead" are the ones who have not believed yet....they are dead in their sins.
Next God shows them each in their time...about Him. After making a mess of things in their own brain, and this world....they are ready for something....Really Great! They start knocking/seeking...and God puts someone there for them...to lead them through the next door.
I have a testimony of this and will some day type it up for this forum. I believe that two things are sufficient.
Jesus said: Unless you are born of water and of the spirit you shall NOT SEE the kingdom of heaven.
Acts. 2:38 Repent, and be baptized in the NAME OF JESUS for the remission of sins and you shalll receive the GIFT of the Holy Ghost. Baptized in water (where the blood is applied - under the blood)...In the NAME of JESUS and you shall....you shall...receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost. And I do believe this must be with the speaking in a different tongue(foreign tongue-not familiar) so that you/others will have that for evidence that this miraculous gift was imparted to you. This comes when you are at the point in your life that you want nothing better/more than getting right with God/In Gods eyes. You can learn this at United Penecostal Church International, which I came out of when that learning stopped.
From here on is where God teaches you.
I have Faith in God that he will tell me or show me WHERE there is more. He has so far done this by taking me to different churches.....stepping stones in the River of Life. Some were just a one time, and others a few weeks, months, and years(which was the last one).