Seems to me that given we do not undergo annihilation we automatically shall live eternally. That is to say an eternity in Heaven, or an eternity in Hell! To be in Heaven with our Lord and Creator God and enjoy a rapturous relationship of Bride and Wife, has been characterized as life. We will forever enjoy unbroken relationship in His presence, never more to be removed! Whereas where banishment into the hell fire judgements and being separated from ever again being in the presence of our Creator God has been characterized as eternal death. And so it would seem to be an accurate characterization! We are told that we should fear He could kill both body and soul, rather than physical death who kills only the body. So then, those in Heaven shall indeed retain their souls. Do those banished to Hell also retain their souls. Or are they killed by God?! Hmmm? TR I do not believe their awareness ceases to exist. If that equates to their souls then I would think God does not kill their souls. The Bible speaks of eternal suffering: 2 Thessalonians 1:9 Matthew 25:41 Hebrews 6:2 Matthew 25:46 Mark 9:47-48 Revelation 20:10 My understanding is they retain their souls so they are very much aware of everything as well as have their memory of what they did in their life on earth and of when they could have accepted the free gift of salvation but kept putting it off or just flat out rejected it. They also will get an eternal body that made for burning. As far as degrees of punishment while in the lake of fire ... some say how can there be degrees of punishment if they are all floating on the lake surface ... it could be that the Lord will have those who committed more sins to have more sensitive skin to feel more pain vs those who sinned less. The Lord is just so there hast to be various levels of punishment. Isaiah 57:20 “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.“ Isaiah 48:22 “There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.“ I think that "killed" is used for the sake of comparative language in that instance, being the closest concept to which we can relate the horror of spending an eternity separated from God and life. To kill a living body in this world is to cause it to stop functioning, and not so much to annihilate the physical form. A soul, being eternal, does not cease to exist; however, it does cease to function as it was created to do. Thus, to say it is "killed" or destroyed conveys the idea of being forever ruined or useless. The comparison with what God designed as life is so great, it can only be described as an eternal death, yet never ending. where “‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ In this existence, worms consume a corpse and die off, and a fire dies out if it runs out of fuel. There, a lost soul supplies the fuel for everlasting burning. Unimaginably true, as David states: There (in Hell), a lost soul supplies the fuel for everlasting burning The sheer absence of God's Light upon a soul is Hell unimaginable ~ ' to experience eternity without God? ~ Jesus spoke of Hell more than Heaven, so concerned was He over every soul made in His image ~ to stay 'adrift with no soul searching? ~ ~ how is it, still, many souls think little of eternity and it's never ending reality? . . ~~ ~ `our minds in this earthly life, surely cannot grasp, how 'perishing' Hell is to those rejecting Jesus, its torments unimaginable without the Light of Christ . . lost souls in Hell dying to die but never will . . to live this earthly life and ignoring eternity or the 'why's of this life? . . , incomprehensible ~~ I am rambling, but the seriousness of man's choice is deep . . mankind's natural bent is 'don't tell me how to live and die' . . I stay amazed the Holy Spirit's gentleness to convict (and He convicts all) to choose Life or death . . Thankfully our God graciously offers and is patient imploring souls to take hold the Gift of Jesus Who grants the immeasurable spirit of being born again ~ ~
These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power
"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels
of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
"These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
47And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48where "'the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.'
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
